Genres: Urban Fantasy
Published by Roc
Released on March 8, 2016
Pages: 416
Format: eBook
Source: Purchased
The Delight
Things have been building up to a crisis point between the Humans First and Last movement led by Nicholas Scratch and the allied group of Terre Ingene (the Others) and other human groups. The HFL movement crosses the line into war by their overt hostile and murderous actions. The only thing is, they utterly misunderstood whom they were messing with and discovered there were old and very powerful beings living in the wild places who are now ready to unleash their fury. They may not even spare any humans from extinction let alone the lesser others like the shifters and vampires living in the Courtyards. I was all in as things hit the boiling point.
Review
Marked in Flesh is book four of The Others series and this unique Urban Fantasy series works best taken in order as its one story progression through the books.
In the last book, I noticed that we were starting to get more narrators added as the series world is opening up wider and wider to encompass places outside the Courtyard and outside Lakeside. The cast of characters has grown to include more Others, humans friendly to Others, and of course the villainous humans, too. It might have gotten over-extended or bogged down the plot with too much, but it really didn’t. The focus shifts from group to group showing different facets of what is happening, but the plot never stopped advancing.
Meg, the first Cassandra Sangue to break free, is busy honing ways for the blood prophets to live out in the world, provide better help with their prophecies, and keep their blood-letting to a minimum. So much is riding on her and she starts to crack as she feels she isn’t doing as good a job and might be putting her new makeshift family and ‘pack’ in danger if she doesn’t get her prophecies perfect and understandable.
Simon Wolfgard is also feeling the pressure of being the Other who is leading the way in forging an alliance with the humans like no Other has ever done in the past. The connections he has made might very well be what endangers all those living at the Courtyard and in similar courtyard and outposts or it might be exactly what saves some humans from extinction. He worries that he might become too human for himself and for Meg. He has drawn her closer toward considering him as a mating possibility because he is her friend, but it is his very wolf nature that makes their more than friends situation possible. Meanwhile, he works with the rest of his Other friends and some of the human police pack to keep their people safe from the HFL movement actions and they are all preparing for the wild country elders and elementals to exact revenge when the HFL declares war with their deadly, brutal actions.
Jackson Wolfgard, Hope Wolfsong, Joe Wolfgard, and Vlad Sanguinati all share most of the main narration with Meg and Simon. There are a handful more new narration voices. I really enjoy all of them and getting their views.
This was war and it got brutal. I shed tears at one point because war brings losses and good people were lost under the HFL’s greedy power grab. The retaliation actually made me want to cheer because of the pain and destruction and hardship the HFL villain’s caused.
I loved the gentle and happy epilogue chapter with Meg and Simon when they draw a baby step closer after all the turmoil that came before it. It will be interesting to see what the aftermath will be and I didn’t miss that there was no confirmation on one large loose thread so I look forward to seeing what comes next in the next series installment.
The Others series is an interesting blend of genres though it mostly falls in the Urban Fantasy camp. The author excels at building a world that is vastly different, but is also quite familiar along with her sensational character and slow-build plot developments. I can heartily recommend this whole series.
Challenges Met
Mt. TBR #66
COYER Summer #53 cover 51% gray
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Good to see this site posting again! I have wanted this series from the start gah, need more time 🙂 Great Review Sophia Rose
You are in for a real treat when you get the chance with these, Debbie.
And, yay! We love seeing our posts go up and readers visiting, too. 🙂
Catching up to you!
Haha! The race is on. 🙂
I am so glad you enjoyed this one, Sophia Rose. I remember being very nervous about how things would work out in this one. I just love Simon and Meg. Great review!
There was such meanness among those HFL humans and I just wanted the Others to blast them off the planet. Oh yes, love Simon and Meg, too. 🙂
I’ve seen this series and was curious about it. From the sounds of your review, it is one that I should really look into and soon. Great review.
Oh yeah! You don’t want to miss out on these, Jenea! They just keep getting better. 🙂
I’m thrilled you’re enjoying the series! It was brutal and heartbreaking in parts, right? Loved Meg and Simon’s relationship so much, even if every baby step was about a centimeter long! They seemed integral/vital to each other even if you subtracted romance.
Yeah, I balled my eyes out over that scene with the Joe and the wolves. It has definitely been a minute forward progress for Simon and Meg, but with her abused past history, makes sense, plus so much more to keep me into the story. But, this next book… I have hopes for progress with them.
Have to start this series sometime. Sounds good.
Oh yes, you really must, Velvet. 🙂
I was really glad I finally dove into these when I did when there was already a couple of books out. Then I had to wait for the next books. The thing is, they are such good books that I would always take waiting over dropping out of the series. So unique!
That is exactly the best part about coming to a series late. I got to read these as soon as I was ready for the next one. Still have the last two and then I’m caught up. 🙂