Audiobook: Written in Red by Anne Bishop

Written in Red
Author: Anne Bishop
Narrator: Alexandra Harris
Publication: Penguin Audio (March 5, 2013)
Length: 18 hours and 33 minutes

Description: No one creates realms like New York Times best-selling author Anne Bishop. Now in a thrilling new fantasy series, enter a world inhabited by the Others, unearthly entities - vampires and shape-shifters among them - who rule the Earth and whose prey are humans.

As a cassandra sangue, or blood prophet, Meg Corbyn can see the future when her skin is cut - a gift that feels more like a curse. Meg's Controller keeps her enslaved so he can have full access to her visions. But when she escapes, the only safe place Meg can hide is at the Lakeside Courtyard - a business district operated by the Others.

Shape-shifter Simon Wolfgard is reluctant to hire the stranger who inquires about the Human Liaison job. First, he senses she's keeping a secret, and second, she doesn't smell like human prey. Yet a stronger instinct propels him to give Meg the job. And when he learns the truth about Meg and that she's wanted by the government, he'll have to decide if she's worth the fight between humans and the Others that will surely follow.

My Thoughts: WRITTEN IN RED is one of my favorite books. I have lost count of the number of times I have read it and I have listened to it twice.

It is urban fantasy with more than a touch of romance. Meg Corbyn is on the run from the man who has imprisoned her and used her all of her life. She finds herself in Lakeside during a terrible snowstorm and wanders into the Others' Courtyard where she gets the job as the human liaison - an interface with the human world.

Simon Wolfgard is in charge of the Courtyard and has opened some businesses in order to learn more about the humans who live there. The Others consider humans just to be another kind of meat who also happen to invent and create things the Others like.

Meg's owner - the Controller - definitely wants Meg back since her prophecies make him quite a large amount of money. He has political influence because a number of his clients are in politics and other influential people. So he puts pressure on the government to try to find Meg and return her to his compound.

Lieutenant Crispin James Montgomery is a new police officer in Lakeside. He had to leave his post in Toland because he killed a man who had kidnapped a young Terra Indigene wolf and Monty rescued her. This made him very unpopular with his fellow officers and caused problems for his live-in girlfriend and his young daughter. His new boss in Lakeside assigns him the duty of being the one who works with the Others. Monty decides to try to change the dynamic between humans and Others to make things safer for humans.

Besides the Controller, there is another villain in this story. Asia Crane has been hired by her backers to try to find information about the Courtyard and the Others which might give them leverage with the Others. She has tried seducing Simon with no success and has tried to become friends with Meg with little success too. That doesn't stop her scheming though. She teams up with the Controller's men to help them recapture Meg and to capture Sam Wolfgard who is Simon's young nephew.

Sam had been locked in his wolf form since he witnessed the death of his mother a couple of years earlier. It takes Meg's unconventional thinking to find a way through to Sam and let him get over the fear which trapped him and arrested his growth. They become very good friends and Meg is willing to do anything to save him when he is threatened.

The story is filled with interesting characters including Vladimir Sanguinati - a vampire who is Simon's business partner in the bookstore they run together, Erebus Sanguinati - an old vampire with a love of movies and lots more power than Simon knows about, Henry Beargard - a sculptor and the Courtyard's spiritual guide, Jester Coyotegard who takes care of the Elemental ponies who have names and powers like Thunder, Lightning, Earthshaker, and Tornado. Then there are the Elementals like Winter, Air, Fire and Water who all become interested in Meg and her well-being.

Alexandra Harris does a good job giving all of these characters unique voices though the male characters fare less well than the female. Harris's vocal range doesn't really have the male characters sound male. This would have been a good time to have a second male narrator to handle the male voices.

I am not quite sure why I love this book and series so much. I do find the characters intriguing. I especially like Meg who wants so much to have a life and a job and to make friends. I also like watching Simon fall in love with her and learn to see at least some humans as more than just meat because of his relationship with Meg.

I bought this one. You can buy your copy here.