After winning the trust
of the terra indigene residing in the Lakeside Courtyard, Meg Corbyn has
had trouble figuring out what it means to live among them. As a human,
Meg should be barely tolerated prey, but her abilities as a cassandra
sangue make her something more.The appearance of two addictive drugs has sparked violence between the humans and the Others, resulting in the murder of both species in nearby cities. So when Meg has a dream about blood and black feathers in the snow, Simon Wolfgard - Lakeside’s shape-shifting leader - wonders if their blood prophet dreamed of a past attack or a future threat.
As the urge to speak prophecies strikes Meg more frequently, trouble finds its way inside the Courtyard. Now, the Others and the handful of humans residing there must work together to stop the man bent on reclaiming their blood prophet - and stop the danger that threatens to destroy them all.
Murder of Crows starts where the last book left off. Meg became
an accepted part of the Courtyard. More focus was given to the mystery of the
drugs that cause the humans and terra indigene to go aggressive or the polar
opposite, passive. Simon found out it was due to the use of blood from the cassandra
sangue. With the murders of crows occurring across Thaisia, the terra indigene were
questioning whether having a trade agreement with humans was worth the loss of
life. Also the Controller still had not given up on getting Meg, dead or alive.
I liked how we got to see more of the relationship between
Simon and Meg. Although we did see growth from Simon's character, we did not
see much from Meg’s. She didn't change much from the first book. I expected her
to take charge of her life and be more in the forefront of the problems, kind
of like Monty I suppose. Instead she was time and time again sheltered by the
Others and the police. As for the secondary characters, you didn't get too see
much evolution of the terra indigene that were in the first book. I didn't see
Meg interacting with the Elementals much. They did play a role, but no
development of their characters. However, there were a slew of new characters
that were very unique. You also got to know more about Thaisia in a roundabout
way. The humans in the Courtyard, human pack, as Simon likes to call them, were
given a more prominent role as well. Not so forgettable now.
I read reviews that said there wasn't enough “tension” in
the book. As soon as something was going to happen Meg saw it and prevented it.
So a lot of the “tension” was lost. In my opinion this was not true, I think
there was an added layer to the complexity.
Overall I really enjoyed this book. I read it in one
sitting! I am looking forward to the release of the third one.
