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Review: Wild Country by Anne Bishop (World of the Others #2)

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Wild Country by Anne Bishop // VBCWild Country (World of the Others #2/The Others #7)
Anne Bishop
Published: Mar. 5, 2019 (Ace)
Purchase: Book Depository or Amazon
Review source: copy provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review 

Reviewed by: Margaret

Rating (out of 5): 3.5 stars

Note: While review will be spoiler free, it does make reference to previous books in the series. If you haven’t started yet, check out VBC’s review of Written in Red.

In Etched in Bone, book five of The Others series, we met Jana Paniccia, a recent police academy graduate who interviewed for a sheriff’s deputy position in the small town of Bennett. Wild Country follows Jana and the rest of Bennett’s new residents, as well as those in the nearby village of Prairie Gold, as they try to rebuild after the Great Predation which left the town deserted.

Wild Country was slow starting as I got to know the large cast of mostly brand new characters in both towns. But once I felt invested, I couldn’t put it down. This world and its characters continue to fascinate me, even seven books in. I especially enjoyed the relationship between Jana and her new boss, Sheriff Virgil Wolfgard.

But even with all the new characters, I don’t feel like there’s much newness in Wild Country. Despite having three different settings, the plots of the last three books are quite similar with a human resident’s family member coming to town and causing trouble with the Others. The timelines of all three books also overlap so events from Etched in Bone are repeated in Wild Country from Bennett’s POV. I’m left feeling like the series hasn’t progressed at all in that time.

And that lack of progress is driving me crazy! At the end of Etched in Bone, I was all set to follow Jana to her new home. But the first spin off book, Lake Silence, took us to the town of Sproing instead. I spent that book getting invested in those new characters and was looking forward to learning more about the shifters there, only to go back to Jana and back to events in the previous book.

As much as I love the world of the Others, I’m frustrated by the seeming lack of a series plot. Admittedly, I’m a very series-focused reader. I suspect that the first series arc also gave me certain expectations for the next one. But I can’t help but wonder if Bishop plans to alternate between the two new towns or go to another new place entirely, or if there’s another book in the works at all. I hate the idea of leaving these characters that I’ve spent so much time getting to know.

Sexual content: sex, rape

8 Responses to “Review: Wild Country by Anne Bishop (World of the Others #2)”

  1. MR says:

    According to her official website, she is planning to return to one of her older series (Black Jewels) for her 2020 book.

    https://www.annebishop.com/a.news.html

    • Margaret says:

      Which just makes the uncertainty worse because if we’re coming back to these characters, it will be at least two years from now.

  2. Amy M says:

    I was surprised that we went back to Bennett instead of Sproing as I was ready, like you, to learn more about those characters. I’m wondering why the change.

    Regardless, I found myself being drawn into the day-to-day routine Anne Bishop has developed with this series. I hope she continues to build up this set of characters.

    I also thought that she took more risks with the characters.

    • Margaret says:

      I’m not sure if it’s what you meant by risk, but there’s more sexual content in this one. None of it’s explicit, but it wasn’t even on the page in previous books. I thought that was an interesting change.

  3. Tammy R says:

    I, unfortunately, have to agree that I was a little disappointed in the abrupt shift from Sproing to Bennett. Though I LOVE the new characters and their dynamics, I feel like I’ve lost the new friends I found in Spoing.

    I am DEVASTATED that it will be at least a year before any other Others’ adventures. I am not a fan of the older works.

  4. Diana says:

    I too am fascinated by the world of The Others; it is absolutely unique among many other paranormal series. However I feel that the first five books had more depth of both plot and characters. I think the series came to a natural conclusion in Etched in Bone but its popularity caused the author to continue it, with the result that the last two books feel somewhat forced and a re-hash, at least to me.

    • Margaret says:

      I’ve enjoyed both of the spin off books while I was reading them. I think the characters could be just as strong as the Courtyard crew if they had more books to develop. It’s just not clear if that’s going to happen.

      I think the word rehash is a little strong, but I did think that we, and the humans in the boooks, learned the same lesson in all of the last three books. It’s acknowledged in the text too, when they talk about the “teaching story” not reaching Bennett yet.

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