Guest Review: Literace Reviews: Crowbones by Anne Bishop

I’ll be honest, it took me halfway through the book before I realized Crowbones by Anne Bishop was a part of a spin-off series of another series. Regardless of that fact, I still enjoyed this book with a bit of filling in the blanks here and there. Continue reading down below to get my take on this supernatural mystery.

Summary

Crowbones will gitcha if you don’t watch out!

Deep in the territory controlled by the Others-shape-shifters, vampires, and even deadlier paranormal beings-Vicki DeVine has made a new life for herself running The Jumble, a rustic resort. When she decides to host a gathering of friends and guests for Trickster Night, at first everything is going well between the humans and the Others.

But then someone arrives dressed as Crowbones, the Crowgard bogeyman. When the impostor is killed along with a shape-shifting Crow, and the deaths are clearly connected, everyone fears that the real Crowbones may have come to The Jumble-and that could mean serious trouble.

To “encourage” humans to help them find some answers, the Elders and Elementals close all the roads, locking in suspects and victims alike. Now Vicki, human police chief Grimshaw, vampire lawyer Ilya Sanguinati, and the rest of their friends have to figure out who is manipulating events designed to pit humans against Others-and who may have put Vicki DeVine in the crosshairs of a powerful hunter–

Review

(Disclaimer: I received this book from Netgalley. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)

As I said, Crowbones is a part of a series that is a spinoff of another series. So technically, this is the third book of the spinoff and the eighth of the entire universe created by Bishop. There were certain people and events that I didn’t know but could use context clues to figure out. Even though I’d not read the other seven related books, it was still overall a good book. 

The narration of the book was from many different points of view. Bishop does a great job of getting the nuances in characters to come through for each of these viewpoints. It was interesting to experience the plot through the different vantage points of the various supernatural beings. Each had its own alliances, loyalties, and overall species-specific motivations. 

I enjoyed the Charlaine Harris and Kim Harrison feelings with supernatural beings living amongst humans (nearly) harmoniously. There is obviously the big wrench in that when the Crowbones impersonator appears and starts throwing people for a loop. People are now unsure of who to trust, including the ogling human newcomers that have come to see supernatural beings. Now everyone is trapped in the town due to some mysterious disappearances and deaths associated with the appearance of Crowbones.

Some parts of the plot I did not entirely understand, but I’m not going to say that was the book’s fault. I could fill in a lot of the basics. The Sanguinati are vampires and anyone with “-gard” in their last name is some sort of were-species, etc. Unfortunately, some aspects and characters such as the Elders and the Five, I could not entirely pin down. As a result, when the mystery was solved in the end, I didn’t feel a big “ah ha!!!” moment where things clicked in place. 

Overall

Considering I jumped in the midst of the series, I did enjoy Crowbones. I enjoyed the world that Bishop created and the very interesting lore that drives the story. Given the opportunity, I would strongly consider reading the other previous books and eventually rereading Crowbones. It speaks to the quality of a book if it takes until halfway through the book to notice that it is part of a series. Honestly, it works as a standalone so I do not see why not as a part of a larger series. 

Find Crowbones on Goodreads, Amazon, Indiebound, Bookshop.org & The Book Depository

Discussion

Would you read a book in the middle of a series you’ve never read?

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