MurderByDeath
Written on Apr 13, 2019
In this New York Times bestselling powerful and exciting fantasy set in the world of the Others series, humans and the shape-shifting Others will see whether they can live side by side...without destroying one another.
There are ghost towns in the world—places where the humans were annihilated in retaliation for the slaughter of the shape-shifting Others.
One of those places is Bennett, a town at the northern end of the Elder Hills—a town surrounded by the wild country. Now efforts are being made to resettle Bennett as a community where humans and Others live and work together. A young female police officer has been hired as the deputy to a Wolfgard sheriff. A deadly type of Other wants to run a human-style saloon. And a couple with four foster children—one of whom is a blood prophet—hope to find acceptance.
But as they reopen the stores and the professional offices and start to make lives for themselves, the town of Bennett attracts the attention of other humans looking for profit. And the arrival of the outlaw Blackstone Clan will either unite Others and humans...or bury them all.
- ISBN10 0399587276
- ISBN13 9780399587276
- Publish Date 7 March 2019 (first published 5 March 2019)
- Publish Status Out of Stock
- Out of Print 12 March 2021
- Publish Country US
- Publisher Penguin Putnam Inc
- Imprint Ace Books
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 384
- Language English
Reviews
Quirky Cat
Written on Feb 22, 2019
Wild Country is the latest novel by Anne Bishop. It’s also the latest in her Others series, though the numbering may be confusing. Its #7 in the Others series, and #2 in the World of the Others series. Two books ago, Anne Bishop finished the main plot for the Others, and thus the last two books have been focused on others stories within the same world. That’s the reason for the odd numbering system here.
This novel takes place in Bennett – it’s a town that has come up in previous novels. The one that got trashed by the Elders. Bennett has since become a mixed community, with terra indigene, Intuits, Simple Folk, and humans all in one place. Based on events in the last few novels, we already know that this is a recipe for trouble.
I know not everyone loves that the last two books have included different characters, but I personally have really enjoyed seeing other parts of the world. It’s also been fun to learn more about characters related to the cast we already know.
Warnings: Like the novels before this one, there are a lot of heavy and sensitive subjects included. The blood prophets don’t play as big of a role in this one, but they do make an appearance, so there is some self-harming included. There are also kidnappings, torture, rape, and animal death. A lot of these scenes you can mostly see coming, but consider yourself warned.
Wild Country was an amazing and fast-paced read. I mean it when I say that I didn’t want to put this novel down. I wasn’t able to read it in one sitting, so I did have to cave and do exactly that. But my thoughts were constantly drawn back to the book every time I was away from it.
I went into this novel expecting a fair amount of brutality. I mean, based on what caused this town to be empty, can you blame me? It ended up being slightly calmer than I expected, but not by a whole lot. So don’t go into this book expecting an easy read.
Having this novel be all about rehabilitating Bennett was an interesting choice. I loved the concept, and honestly, I was looking forward to seeing the mixed community in action. I knew that it wouldn’t be perfect, and I also expected that any problems that came up would likely be the fault of the humans. That seems to be the case a lot, huh?
It was so much fun learning about some of the characters we’ve seen mentioned before, like Barb (Barbara) Debany, Virgil, Toyla, and all the others. Most of these characters were merely mentioned. A couple had a small appearance previously, but that was about it. So it was refreshing to see their part of the world get fleshed out.
A lot of the newer characters introduced were fascinating. Even if, at this point, we had a good understanding of their species. I kept looking forward to all the scenes including Scythe, for example. I thought she was a really interesting character and honestly wouldn’t mind seeing more of her.
Anne Bishop did a good job of building up the tension in this novel. There was always something going on, either to distract the characters or to pit them against one another. It kept things moving forward swiftly. And it obviously made me concerned about the conclusion of this novel. That’s the real reason why I didn’t want to put this book down.
She also did a brilliant job showing the prejudices from all side. I actually feel like she did a better job here than in previous novels. Which is saying something. The humans had reasons to be afraid. Virgil had reasons to hate humans. Jana had a reason to have a bit of a chip on her shoulder. And Toyla had reasons to be frustrated with everybody. It all worked, and it helped to add to the tension. The fact that they all had reasons for their biases helped to show us that there’s so much more going on here than meets the eye.
I’m pretty sad to have already finished Wild Country. I know there probably won’t be another novel for a while since I’m pretty sure that Anne Bishop is now working on the next Black Jewel novel. Not that I’m complaining about that, of course. I do hope that we’ll see another novel in this world at some point. Here’s hoping she hasn’t gotten tired of that world just yet!
For more reviews, check out Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks
Melanie
Written on Feb 13, 2019
My review and an extended sample of the audiobook are posted at Hotlistens.com.
This is a favorite series of mine. I was in the middle of another book that I was enjoying, but had to stop to fit this book into my queue immediately. That is just the way it is for this series and me.
So this book starts off with an author’s note about the timeline. This book, chronologically, takes place before Lake Silence and overlaps with Etched in Bone. There are some scenes from Etched in Bone that are mentioned in this story.
So, here we have the terra indigene living in Bennett. They have decided that the want to allow humans to return to this town and keep it running, but it will be controlled by the terra indigene. They work with the Lakeside Courtyard to find humans who have the skills that are needed and are vetted before they are given papers to move to Bennett. However, there are humans who show up without going through that vetting process.
This was an interesting story. We get to meet new terra indigene, mostly sanguinati and wolves. There are also birds, but we don’t get to know them really well. There were hawks, eagles, ravens and more. There were also the Simple Life folks, intuits and regular old humans. Also a panther and coyote. We also learn that Snakeguard exist, but we don’t meet any in this story. There are more, but I don’t want to give everything away.
I really enjoyed this story. I liked the characters that we get to meet. I liked learning more about the intuits and their abilities. I’m still amazed after what happened to humans after The Humans First and Last group did, they are still dumb enough to think they can outsmart and bully the terra indigene. Will humans ever learn? It is hard to feel sorry for humans when you read these stories.
Another great addition to this world. I hope this isn’t the last we see of Bennett (also Prairie Gold, though we didn’t see a lot of it). This story doesn’t feel like it is done. It needs more. I have to know where Bennett goes from here. **patiently awaits next book**
Narration
Alexandra Harris continues to do a great job for this series. I can’t imagine anyone else reading this series. I love her why array of voices. The pup sounds she makes are cute. If you haven’t given her a listen, I highly recommend her.
**I like to thank the publisher for providing me with a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.
kimbacaffeinate
Written on Feb 5, 2019
Jana Paniccia recently graduated from the police academy and is hoping to secure a job. In the human world acceptance of female officers isn't welcome, something she can attest to during her training, but Jana is determined and more than qualified. When one of the Intuit, tells Tolya, the Sanguinati leader of Bennett that they need more humans to fill jobs, he puts out a call to the Lakeside community. They send a call out far and wide as they begin pre-screening candidates to send on the train. Jana get's a mysterious phone call about a job in the Bennet police department. With nothing to lose, she heads to Lakeside. She soon finds herself with papers and headed to Bennett.
I loved the previous book, but this story reminded me of the Lakeside community. The timeline for this tale overlaps with Etched in Bone from the Others series and there will be scenes and moments you recognize.
Virgil Wolfguard is Sheriff of Bennett and will bite anyone who misbehaves. He has a chip on his shoulder and collects orphans. He doesn't know how to react to Jana and I loved the snarls, barbs, and friendship that developed. We meet different residences of the town, including an LGBT couple, a blood prophet, intuits, elementals and more.
Bishop's world building is fantastic from settings to characters. Combined with Harris' narration I could settle into this world for a long spell.
I tried to savior Wild Country, but suspense, lies, darkness and more kept me listening into the wee hours. The sleep deprivation and extra cups of coffee was worth it!
Delivered from multiple POVs we really get a sense of all sides from the terra indigene to the criminal elements that work their way towards the town. The climactic scenes had me holding my breath and feeling a mix of emotions. The climatic scene at the end was hard, and I played the scene, reactions and actions out in my head changing the scenario each time. While, I hated the losses I think Bishop stayed true to the series. This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Reviewer
EBookObsessed
Written on Jan 25, 2019
The timeline for Wild Country blends with the happenings of Book 5 of The Others series. In Etched in Bone , Simon and Vlad are interviewing possible candidates to resettled the western town of Bennett which lost all it humans citizens in retaliation of the attacks by the Humans First and Last Movement.
One of the main characters is police officer Jana Paniccia, who graduated the police academy as the first woman officer but who couldn't find a job in a men-only profession. The Lakeside Courtyard is unconcerned with the fact that she is female, they are more concerned that the Wolfguard sheriff in Bennett would eat he new human deputy. They need a human officer in Bennett because the current sheriff is wolfgard and after losing his pack, including his mate and pups to the attacks by the HFL, Virgil is still hostile to the humans arriving in Bennett. Jana simply hopes that she can find acceptance in the mixed-town of Bennett but more importantly, she wants a chance to be a real police officer.
Both are law officers, but Jana and Virgil aren't always on the same side of the line. Virgil's beliefs are usually to bite anyone who is causing trouble and even eat them if they cause too much trouble, and while still a shiny, new officer, Jana is trying to veer Virgil towards arresting and prosecuting bad guys. Jana desperately wants to be accepted into the Police pack but she first has to understand the wolves. Virgil and Jana's dominance battles can also be noted when Jana adopts a puppy and they don't agree on the proper way to raise him. It is Tobias Walker, the Intuit from Prairie Gold, who tries to make Jana understand that she is thinking like a human and Virgil thinks like a wolf; Jana needs to understand her boss, a dominant wolfguard enforcer if she is going to survive and be accepted in Bennett.
The funniest part is that while Virgil continues to have issues with humans, he is not sure how he feels about Jana. Is she, as a human, an enemy; or is she, as an officer, part to his pack? But he is convinced that, even though it is impossible for terre indigene and humans to breed, his feisty deputy must be part wolverine since she acts like she is a bigger predator than she is and while he most often wants to bite her, he respects that she isn't easily cowed.
We have met several of the characters in Bennett in Etched in Bone. There are several people from Prairie Gold (the small ranching town to the South) as well as John Wolfgard to leaves the Lakeside Courtyard to run the bookstore in Bennett and help repopulate the Wolfguard pack. Tolya Sanguinati who left Toland to run Bennett. We also find out that some of the nice people from Prairie Gold are hiding dark secrets. While the Elders (Namid's teeth and claws) purged a lot of humans after the HFL attacks, they can't tell good humans from bad, so not everyone heading for Bennett is looking for a new life...some humans are arriving looking to see what they can fleece from the abandoned houses and the naive citizens of Bennett. Some are even looking to take over the town from the terre indigene, not knowing that the only reason the town is allowed to have human citizens is because the terra indigene control it. If these new arrivals take over the town, then the Elders will simply finish where they left off. After all, humans are still only clever meat.
While we want to see harmony between the humans and terre indegine, there will still be a part of you siding with the Others and saying "someone eat that guy."
This town is portrayed as being like an old frontier town which gives this story a whole different flair than the other stories. Towns have been but off across Thaisia. Communication between cities is limited and towns like Bennett in the west, cannot contact cities like Lakeside or Ferryman's Landing in the east. The only safe way to travel is train. Horses are used within the town limits since gasoline is scarce and expensive. The saloon has everyone dressed in costumes to promote the old-time frontier theme.
We also see that while Bennett is a mixed community of terra indigene, humans, simple life and Intuits, it is not just humans who are closed minded. We still see prejudices, and not just in the outlaws coming who want to take the town from the terre indigene. We meet one of the pantherguard and his adopted brother who is part Intuit and part cassandra sangue and while they are accepted by the town, Jana has to step in to protect two human males who adopted some orphaned terre indigene children and hope to find acceptance in this new community.
It was so intriguing to watch the reemergence of this new/old frontier town and absolutely tension-filled as we watch the outlaws work their way toward Bennett and Prairie Gold and see their intentions for the town become darker and darker. It was such a great story and such a great series which is a must read for Urban Fantasy/Fantasy lovers. I enjoyed the audiobook narration but couldn't pass up the change for an ARC except now I have to wait another year to see what happens next. The pain of waiting is a direct indication of how good a series this is.
See more at EBookObsessed.com
Linda
Written on Nov 16, 2018
While I truly love The World of the Others, I wish these books also stayed with the same characters for more than one book, and I truly hope there will be more books in the series.