★★★★☆ It's in the blood

Murder of Crows

Anne Bishop

Murder of Crows, the second novel in Anne Bishop's The Others series, begins with Meg kicking Simon out of her bed. That doesn't mean what you probably think it means. Simon wakes Meg up from a scary dream, and in her sudden fright, she literally kicks him. But what was Simon doing in Meg's bed? He was sleeping. Yes, Simon and Meg are sleeping with each other. But that, while literally true, doesn't mean what the phrase usually means.

Near the end of Written in Red, Meg was attacked by a team of kidnappers/murderers and almost killed. In Murder of Crows she's still working through some post-traumatic stress. Having a warm, friendly, scary-safe wolf in bed with her makes it easier for her to sleep. Simon and Meg are not romantically involved with each other, but their relationship was an important plot thread of Written in Red, continues to be important in Murder of Crows, and, I confidently predict, will be important in the rest of the series. I would be shocked if this is a spoiler for anyone.

The most important thing we learned in Written in Red is that Meg is an escaped cassandra sangue, that is, a blood prophet, who has visions of the future whenever an injury draws blood. We also learned near the very end of Written in Red that the blood of the cassandra sangue has intoxicating properties. Two new drugs have appeared in Thaisia, gone wolf and feel good, and the effect of Meg's blood on Simon after he saved her suggested that gone wolf, at the very least, comes from cassandra sangue blood.

This fact makes the cassandra sangue the most powerful political fact in Thaisia, and perhaps all of Namid. Under the influence of gone wolf, humans become reckless and angry enough to attack the Others. The title Murder of Crows is a pun on "murder" being the collective noun for a group of crows, but also you can't help guessing that some Crows (the capital C here indicates shapeshifters) will be murdered in Murder of Crows. We know, also, that the humans of Thaisia live there at the sufferance of the Others, for whom they are just meat.

Lakeside is the most progressive of Thaisian cities. Simon's promotion of commerce and even something like friendship between humans and Others is unique. For this reason, Lakeside, and Simon and Meg's friendship, may have continent-wide, even world-wide importance.

That's what Murder of Crows is about. It's a good story, that elevates the stakes of a personal relationship to, possibly, the most important thing in the world. I will certainly continue to read The Others.

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