Written in Red by Anne Bishop

Published: March 2013

Publisher: NAL Hardcovers

Pages: 433

Copy: Library

Summary: Goodreads

No one creates realms like New York Times bestselling 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:

Why haven't I read anything by Anne Bishop before now?  I really don't know!  I've seen her books at work and thought 'Hmm, looks interesting' but never got around to reading any of them.  I think I even took this one home on one occasion and took it back unread.  Why now? Well I was reading some of the blogs I follow regularly and in one of them the virtues of Anne Bishop were being extolled - yep you're right, I can't remember which blog I was reading, sorry, but this person was waxing lyrically about how much of a fan she is of Anne Bishop and I thought to myself, 'self, maybe it's time to try her books?  Then I happened to notice that the third book in this series is due out soon and  I have an advanced copy to read, so I just had to start the series. The rest is history.

Written in Red was so much fun.   It's Urban Fantasy at it's best.  A more or less contemporary world that is peopled with supernatural monsters.  But these are not quite the same werewolves and vampires as we are used to.  In Ms Bishop's world the 'supes' are very much in charge and merely tolerate humans instead of the other way around.  

Meg, the main protagonist,  had just the right blend of knowledge and naivety to make her seem very plausible and I loved the way that she so quickly tried to fit in, without being pushy or presumptive.  At heart, this novel is about accepting people for who, or in this case what, they are and the message comes across clearly without being in any way preachy.

I've already downloaded the second book 'Murder of Crows' - ok, I've not just downloaded it, I've read it and it is just as good as this one, so I feel I can do justice to number three 'Vision in Silver' which is due out March 3rd.  Btw, these are adult books, and there are some gruesome parts, so I definitely would not recommend them to younger teens, but they would be fine as New Adult if you enjoy Urban Fantasy.