Wild Country

Anne Bishop

Mar 2019 · World of the Others, The Book 2 · Sold by Penguin

About this eBook

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.

Ratings and reviews

It's not long after Namid's teeth and claws wiped out huge swathes of humanity in Thasia as retaliation for the slaughter of the Wolfgard and other shifters. Bennett is a small town close to the Wild Country, run by Toly Sanguinati there is a small population of terra indigene (non-humans) and a Wolfgard sherriff. Jesse Walker is the unoffical leader of the nearby Intuit village (people with special skills like ESP or hunches), she tells Tolya that the towns need to get bigger, to replace those eliminated by the Elders, or it will stagnate and die. Accordingly Tolya opens up the land to a select group of people chosen by the Courtyard. But what Tolya and Jesse don't realise is that there is a viper in their midst, a wolf in sheep's clothing, and opening the town to settler will also bring outlaws and strife. Into the mix strides Jana Paniccia, a newly qualified police officer who can't get a posting anywhere, until a mysterious call tells her to travel to the Courtyard for a jobs fair. Now this human is assisting a hostile Wolfgard sheriff and learning about life on the edge of the Wild Country. I really enjoyed this book, it felt more accessible than the other books in the two series, maybe because it didn't flick backwards and forwards between seemingly unrelated people quite so much. Or maybe because the relationships were explained earlier? The only thing I found a little confusing was that I couldn't really tell who was the focus of the novel, I assume it was Jana but she felt a little off-centre. Also, I get this is fantasy rather than romance but the romantic leads seemed a little blurred, almost as if the relationship between Jana and the sheriff was of more interest than the instalove. Anyhoo, this is like saying there are too many toppings on my ice-cream - a nothing complaint. I loved it and can't wait for the next one, although I think there are more stories to tell in Bennett.

I e'njoyed the whole series of the others. I am so looking forward to many more books to come, ( crossing fingers and saying a little pray,). I will keep watch for future books by Anne Bishop. I can't get over how her mind works, it is fantastic. I would just like to say thank you for sharing with us.

This is just what I wanted to read about after finishing with Meg and the others from the past series. I loved the book, the characters are incredible and fascinating. The rhythm is incredible although the end left me nostalgic, sad. But from there on out, I really enjoyed reading this book.

About the author

New York Times bestselling author Anne Bishop is a winner of the William L. Crawford Memorial Fantasy Award, presented by the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts, for The Black Jewels Trilogy. She is also the author of the Ephemera series, the Tir Alainn trilogy, and the Novels of the Others--including Etched in Bone, Marked in Flesh, Vision in Silver, Murder of Crows, and Written in Red. She lives in upstate New York.