Written in Red by Anne Bishop

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Content: Strong Language


As a cassandra sangue, or blood prophet, Meg Corbyn can see the future when her skin is cut—a gift that feels more like a curse. Meg’s Controller keeps her enslaved so he can have full access to her visions. But when she escapes, the only safe place Meg can hide is at the Lakeside Courtyard—a business district operated by the Others.

I was looking for something fresh and new to read in the urban fantasy genre for a while and considered several, but just couldn't get interested in any of them enough to pick them up. I finally came across this one when a friend read and liked it enough to give it 5 stars. I'm happy to say I got what I was looking for. Right from the beginning I could not put Written in Red down. The world and the characters are all interesting and it felt like something no one else has written even though it has several similar elements to other urban fantasies.

The shape shifters seem a lot less human in this than most other fantasies, and I liked that. I loved the elemental ponies. I loved the crows and their shiny objects and the way they referred to Meg as "The Meg". There was enough humor in the book to balance out the darker parts, which I always appreciate. Ponies and crows with shiny objects aside, this is a pretty brutal world that includes shape shifters, vampires, elementals, and apparently a few unknowns. Most of them consider humans meat, and will not hesitate to eat a human if they are crossed.

I like the way potential romantic relationship is evolving slowly, I haven't seen that in any of the books I've read in a while. By the end of the book we are in on the way they feel about each other and they haven't even realized it yet. Shape shifters don't fall in love with humans in this world as far as I can tell - the whole food thing I suppose - so this will be interesting.

If this book has a weakness I would say it is the Asia Crane part of the plot. I just had a hard time buying that she would be taking all of those chances just to become an actress on a TV show and didn't really get how it tied together. She was mostly annoying and I felt like the author could have come up with something better to advance the plot.



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