Crowbones by Anne Bishop
The Others #8, World of the Others #3
Fantasy
March 8, 2022, by Ace
ARC

Review by Angela

It seems like forever since the release of the last Others book by this author, but it was really only 2019. When I tell you I was excited to jump back into his world, that would be an understatement. Crowbones was one of my most anticipated releases of 2022.

Once again readers find themselves in Lake Silence and Sproing with Vicki, Julian, and the people who live and around The Jumble. Since the events of Lake Silence, where these characters were first introduced, Vicki has settled into The Jumble and in her role as The Reader. The Crowguard who work for her are eager to participate in human traditions and are looking forward to Trickster Night. The other leaders of the community, not so much. They know that when humans and terra indigene mix, bad things usually happen. When a mysterious Crow bogeyman, Crowbones, shows up at Vicki’s door it sets off a series of events that ultimately leave Lakeside and the village of Sproing cut off from the rest of the world. As bodies of both human and Crow are found slain in a ritualistic manner and seem to be connected, it’s a race against time to find out the identity of the killer.

The Elementals and Elders have called in their Hunter and they want the contamination in the area rooted out and terminated.

The police chief, Wayne Grimshaw, intuit bookseller Julian Farrow, and leader of the local shadow Ilya Sanquinati have to work together to protect Vicki Devine and discover which new resident has brought this trouble on all of their heads. They have plenty of suspects and not a whole lot of time.

Crowbones will be a familiar read to fans of this series. The back and forth POV switches from chapter to chapter are comfortable and move the story along at an even pace. The mystery itself was well done, the human bad guys in these stories are always quite stupid, (evil, but stupid), so as a reader you know the terra indigene will ultimately mete out justice and all will be well in the end. This book however had its own otherworldly bogeyman and the villains weren’t always who you would expect. I would have liked a bit more character development with Vicki, and maybe some movement in her relationship with Julian, but I do know that this author likes to take their time with these things, so I’m willing to wait a bit longer.

If you are jumping into this book without having read the previous installment in the series, I would caution against it and urge you to start from the beginning. The world of the Others is complex and is made up of a variety of unique supernatural beings, all of which can be confusing if you have no backstory. But if you are like me and have gobbled up each and every new book on release, I believe you will be satisfied with this latest adventure.

Final grade- B

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