Wild Country by Anne Bishop

Wild Country (The Others, #7) (World of the Others, #2)

by Anne Bishop

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.

Reviewed by kimbacaffeinate on

5 of 5 stars

Share
Narrated by Alexandra Harris, Bishop takes us to the town of Bennett, set at the base of the Elder Hills. Once a robust human occupied town along the railway, it is now almost abandoned after the Teeth and Claw annihilated the humans in retribution for the slaughter of shapeshifters. (mostly the Wolfguard) It is now being resettled as a mixed community for Others and Humans.

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

Last modified on

Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • Finished reading
  • 5 February, 2019: Reviewed
  • Started reading
  • Finished reading
  • 5 February, 2019: Reviewed