Wild Country

This spin off from The Others places us in a recovering town. One the Elders are watching, and judging to see if there is any reason to cleanse their lands. This is dark side, after the great tearing, ripping and cleansing. There is distrust, dislike and hate, around every edge in this world, building a new community will be harder. They learned.
I think I have a thing for cranky werewolves. I loved Simon in The Others and now Virgil, both cranky, possessive, protective alpha males. While they have that in common they are very different wolves. Virgil is the head of the law in this new town and Jane is his unwanted human deputy. The rest of the town is made up of various Other’s and surrounded by Elders. When a request to take in more humans comes, not all the humans are good ones.
If you enjoyed the first series you will love this one.

I had to sit back and think about this book after completing it before writing my review. As to returning to the land of the Others, this was a no brainer for me. I looked forward to seeing what happened to those that were chosen from the job fair to go to Bennet. But I found myself to be surprised by this book.

It was a lot darker than I expected it to be. However, when you think about resettling a ghost town you forget about all the personal items left in the houses that need to be cleaned out and confronting the reason they are that way. This has a mixture of the adventure of settling the frontier but still finding there are still humans that try to take advantage. The Others still have a sense of innocence about them and lessons to be learned.

It was a story that I was totally engrossed in and could not put down. There were many storylines but each was a part of the whole. The main character of this story was not a particular person but was the resettling of Bennett itself. I think many have missed that. Anne Bishop had done what she has always done told a great story where at least this reader was enrapt within it and taken away into the world of the Others.

4.75 stars

I’m REALLY behind in this series and the one before it, but I have an inability to resist the nice new books on the library’s recent acquisition shelves, lol. So…I was a little lost, trying to absorb both the world-building and the plethora of characters, but enthralled nonetheless.

What a stark and frightening world that is being winnowed down to the basic elements, but also a fascinating look at adaptability and the richness of bonds that are chosen rather than resultant from blood connection. As always, this author has created believable yet fantastical characters who are caught in the dichotomy between everyday concerns (e.g. finding an appropriate diet for a puppy despite interference from Wolves who have their own way of introducing a new member into the pack, lol) and more far-reaching elements such as gender/race (as in human race) discrimination, dealing with Others, learning what mores and values are shared in common, etc.

Those who are squeamish should be warned that this is a harsh brutal society comprised of apex beings who reduce everyone into “meat” and “non-meat” and it’s still reeling from the upheaval caused by humans who foolishly thought they could tilt the scales in their favor by blood tactics.

If you’re anything like me, and impatient to find out how things turn out, be sure to start reading early in the day…otherwise, be prepared for an all-nighter once you are caught in the spell of the Others!

I cannot recommend Anne Bishop’s latest novel of ‘The Others’ highly enough.
Transported into a very different world where human beings are most definitely not at the top of the food chain, and survival is dependent on the fine line separating them as prey from ‘clever meat’ in the eyes of those who would eat them without a second thought. Ms. Bishop’s world building will take your breath away. Whether walking on two legs or four, blessed with feathers, fur, fangs or skin, she gives each species a unique voice dealing with the frustrating challenges that come with co-existence.

Though ‘Wild Country’ can be read as a stand alone novel, I would suggest, for those readers unfamiliar with the series, starting with the first novel, ‘Written in Red’ Highly enjoyable it is a very different take on the world of shifters.

The world that Anne Bishop has created is so easy to get lost in! I start a book and I never want it to end! I hope she writes more in this series because I’m not ready to leave the Others’ world.

I have been dragging my feet listening to this book because it is the last of the published books from the World of the Others that I hadn’t read or listened to at least once. I savored the idea of one remaining story that I didn’t know the outcome. However, I finally picked it up and tuned in discovering this one had several familiar faces and a partial storyline that I already knew from Etched in Bone that raised my interest nicely.

Wild Country is the seventh of the Others series and the second book in The World of the Others. I remember several folks saying that new readers could begin with The World of the Others books and have no trouble. That might have been true of Lake Silence though I feel that it, too, builds on the previous books, but Wild Country is the sequel to Marked in the Flesh and is running parallel to Etched in the Bone. It shows a good deal of that storyline from the perspective of those events from outside the Lakeside Courtyard. It also brings back several characters from the Prairie Gold Intuit settlement, the Others living nearby, and Jana the woman cop who were all from the earlier books. All that to say, I wouldn’t advice getting this out of order or picking up the spin off series without reading/listening to the first.

Wild Country picks up events following the catastrophic war the Humans First waged on the Others and found themselves and many other humans wiped out. The world trembled under the Other’s might and now is precariously attempting to resettle. But, the world has changed for humans. Many of their cities and towns are gone while others are no longer under human control. Bennett is one of those towns.

The Others represented by Sanguinati and several shifter Guards as well as a Plague Rider are joined by humans of all stripe to bring the frontier town of Bennett back into functioning order. It sits on the edge of the Wild Country in sight of the Elder Hills where the Elders watch the progress carefully and are prepared to rush down from the hills and wipe it all out if the humans get out of hand again.

Tolya Sanguinati as mayor works directly with Virgil Wolfguard and Jessie an Intuit to hopefully bring in the right people to settle there including Barb an ‘almost’ vet for the quickly growing feral pets from the previous owners and Jana, a rookie police officer who can’t get hired elsewhere. Things are uneasy, but progressing when the human scavengers start to descend on Bennett and those there are in danger from both these outlaws and what will come to punish when lines get crossed.

Wild Country had me wildly enthusiastic at first. I love frontier stories and this one was a modern Old West because of Bennett now on the edge of civilization with danger and adventure surrounding its resettlement far from many of the usual modern conveniences where going by horseback and wagon and trading for goods and rough justice are the thing of the day. I even loved seeing Jessie and her son, who gets a romance of his own, Tolya and the rest of the Sanguinati along with Virgil and several shifter guards while meeting Scythe a new character. Some of the early plot build was welcomed and I really wanted to see what happened.

However, about a third of the way in, I was shaking my head and even though I finished this book and found it exciting, it disappointed me greatly. I’m about to go on a rant so feel free to skip down.

First of all, several human characters- with Jana and Barb at the top of the list- were as annoying as all get out. Barb was just too ignorant and naive to believe. She grew up in Lakeside and went through all the harrowing events that occurred there with the knowledge her police officer brother gave her, but she acts dumb enough to walk out into traffic without supervision. She’s wigging out about don’t hurt the doggies when the Others have to go after feral dog bands that are a danger in the town. Then there is Jana who, I’ll grant her that she got short shift back in her city when she was treated badly by fellow police cadets and then couldn’t get hired. But, again, we run into someone who isn’t a ditz like Barb, but she still is ignorant and worse, belligerently and impulsively so, when she gets to Bennett and starts throwing her weight around among the Others trying to force them to do it her way. She’s never been outside her city, never done a day of regular duty, never engaged in a situation requiring her gun, never even given out a traffic ticket. Where does she get off challenging her boss all the freaking time and acting like they have to follow her idea of regulations for the job? Of all the characters in this book, Jana was the one that made no sense and I just wanted to duct tape her mouth, bundle her up, and toss her on the first train heading east. Fly. Swatted. Virgil the sheriff thinks her mouth and antics are mildly annoying, but cute and calls her the Wolverine. Uh huh…

Now, that pair and their antics would have been seriously irritating and shouldn’t have been allowed, but then things really started to fall apart for me from half-way on. After the events in previous books and what everyone knew happened, the whole last part of this book should have never happened. Every form of human scavenger descended upon Bennett and they were expected since everyone knew there were only so many places these types would find to go, but between Jana and some other humans yapping about waiting until they actually broke HUMAN law and being heeded and the ruling Elder Others sitting back and handicapping the ones in town instead of crushing the trouble, it was tough to watch it all unfold.
I couldn’t stop thinking of the analogy of parents with spoiled brat children distractedly saying, “Now, junior stop, stop junior, I told you to stop, you know the rules, stop…” and on and on without turning full attention to the child, getting them to see you mean business, and enforcing the rule.

The Others behavior made no sense to me the way they indulged humans when they knew it would end badly. Instead of doing what was promised, the Others are docile and let it get out of control. Oh yes, we get a huge confrontation and exciting climax, but the people who paid the price were the innocent. This book made me angry and I hated the way it portrayed the Others as wimpy, stupid, and ineffectual. This is not how they were at Lakeside or other Eastern cities nor at Lake Silence. I was left with a teaching story of how not to let the little snot-locker humans run riot including the supposed good ones like Jana. I saw no point to this story in the series or even as a separate standalone story in the series by the time it concluded. .

It wasn’t all doom and gloom. The friendship that came between Tolya Sanguinati and Jessie the Intuit absolutely sparkled for me. They were from different backgrounds and races, both have responsibilities that burden them, and even share one of the most surprising scenes in the series when they share one sensual night without it ever becoming a cliche romance. Then there is the grieving wolfguard from the hills and Virgil and his brother in the town who must overcome their hate and need for vengeance after their people including mates and children were wholesaled slaughtered. The entrance of Scythe who was lonely as a being whom everyone feared and yet Tolya and Virgil gave her a chance to be part of the community. I was deeply engaged with these particular characters and they are what kept me reading.

This was my first chance to listen to a book from the series and I do wish I had listened to earlier books because as angry and disappointed as I got with this book, even the narration didn’t pull out much enjoyment for me. I thought Alexandra Harris showed so much talent voicing several races, genders, ages, and scenes. I liked the way she read the scenes and hit the right tone and pacing for the story. I need to pick up more of her work.

So, all in all, no this was not a hit with me. I love the series and the world and everything about it, but I want to pretend this book never happened. I will whole-heartedly recommend the series and will be anxiously hoping there are more stories in the World of the Others.

4.5 stars.

Anne Bishop has created an amazing world in her “Others” series. The consistency and depth of detail bring the world to life, while the fascinating “others” who populate it give it character.

Wild Country explores life in a border town that is perched on the brink of collapse. The town’s previous residents were exterminated during the events of previous books in the series, and it is now an experiment in whether humans and others can find a new balance that will allow them to live together. Both sides have a vested interest in the outcome.

Probably my favorite part of this book, and this series in general, is the skill with which Bishop writes from the perspective of the others. She is able to create characters that are at once totally alien in their thinking and yet completely relatable. One thing I will mention is that people who don’t like large casts probably won’t enjoy this story as it is populated with dozens of secondary characters that pop up and disappear at a somewhat confounding rate.

My one complaint about the book is that there wasn’t much in the way of plot driving the story. I one hundred percent enjoyed reading about the characters and the world, but I didn’t find the thread of the strangers who come to town and disrupt the peace to be very compelling. The antagonist “Blackstone family” felt secondary to the more “slice of life” story of just characters trying to build a community, and the way the story wrapped up left me a little . . . meh. So if you’re a very plot-driven reader, be warned. That said, the character and world exploration coupled with the compelling prose was quite enough to keep me engaged.

the latest in the world of the Others. Once again Anne Bishop delights us with a new world but problems that still can be associated with the real world to some degree

Wild Country is the second book in The World of the Others series and the seventh book in the Others series. This book takes place in the same world as the Others series and happens around the same time as Etched in Bone the fifth book in the Others series so if you’ve previously read that book you’ll see some overlap. This book takes place in Bennett which has previously been mentioned in the Others series. This book introduces some new characters as well as featuring ones that we have previously met in other books in this series. I just loved getting to reenter this world with these characters. My emotions were just all over the place while reading this story. I was just drawn into this world and I just didn’t want it to end. I immediately wanted more after turning the last page. I just couldn’t get enough of this story and I hope the author will revisit this town and its characters. I can’t wait to see what’s next from this author.

The second book in The Others series is more exciting than the first. There’s a lot going on, many new characters with their stories, though only a few eventually had theirs told. The town of Bennet is being repopulated after the Elders killed every human. The start is good, but then outlaws start arriving. It’s a bit like an old western story — those are referenced throughout the book — and there’s even a final showdown on the town square. But the outlaws aren’t dealing with humans; they’re facing the Others.

There were many main characters with their point of view chapters: Tolya Sanguinati, the vampire mayor who’s in charge of finding the best people to live in his town; Virgil Wolfgard, the seriff whose entire pack was killed by humans and who isn’t exactly happy to be surrounded by them now; and Jana Paniccia, a human deputy who has to learn to be law enforcement in a frontier town and a member of a wolf pack. They are all interesting people who it was easy to root for, as are the couple of other characters that have their point of view chapters but no stories of their own. Then there are the bad guys, and people like Abigail, who is more a tragic character than bad, even if she’s treated like the latter. On top of that there are a number of side characters who seem like they should have entire storylines, but which are sort of left hanging with no closure. Maybe there will be another book set in Bennet where they have a larger role. As it stands, the book left a slightly incomplete feeling, even with the main story finding its conclusion.

Like in all the books in the series, the first series included, there’s attempt to build romantic relationships between the characters, but that doesn’t seem to be Bishop’s forte. The wrong people are paired and more important relationships — friendships and romances — develop in the background between characters that aren’t suppose to end up togheter, mainly because humans and the Others simply don’t match in that way. In this book, Jana is paired with Tobias, a human rancher, who is a nice man, but their interaction is mostly based on the idea that they should be compatible with no real chemistry. Jana’s interactions with Virgil, the wolf, are much more interesting, and although a friendship forms in the end, there is room for much more. However, I doubt that it’ll lead to anything, because the author is strongly pushing the story to the other direction. Virgil was my favourite character though, so I hope he’ll have a happy ending of some sort in subsequent books.