Murder of Crows, how you could you make me love The Others more than I already do? With strong themes, necessary violence and tension that makes my heart ache - oh yes, Anne Bishop you hurt me so good. Plus the title is a double entendre. *smirk* 
 Every little cut I make brings me closer to you... 
 - Have you ever heard of a 'cutter'? If you haven't then go watch that movie The Secretary (a favorite of mine) and you'll learn about what it means to be a cutter. Essentially its a disorder where a person cuts themselves, it isn't suicidal attempts. So take that disorder and combine and twist it for the purposes of urban fantasy and you have the Cassandra sangue aka blood prophet. Never before have I run across a blood prophet in fiction I've read. So the fact that this fresh new series gives me something new mixed with something I already love (urban fantasy) made both Written in Red and Murder of Crows un-put-down-able! These girls see the future when their skin is cut, as they speak their visions they are given orgasmic type ecstasy, but if they don't speak them they are wracked with extreme bodily pain. One can see why these girls would become addicted to the cutting euphoria. 
 We humans are strange... 
 - Come, come now, you know it's true! Humans overall are destructive creatures. For as much as we invent and create we also reek havoc on the world and destroy it's resources. I only wish there were such a race of Others in existence that would keep humanity in check from destroying the planet. There are some harsh things that happen in these books and I think by reading from the perspective of Simon Worlfgard (the wolf Other) you really come to sympathize with the harsh methods they have in place over humans. Then it makes you wonder who is really the enemy - because I know whose side I was on in these books. That's right I'm a wolf lover. 
 We women are even stranger... 
 - Women, bah, we complicate thing, misunderstand things, read too much into things. Ladies don't tell me I'm alone in this! But hey that is what makes things all the more interesting. Men can't live with us and certainly don't want to live without us. Alright they really couldn't live without us - who would make sure everything got done? Anyways, Meg Corbyn is even more confusing because she grew up locked in an institution with only the images and people there that she was exposed to. Simple social interactions are new to her, so imagine how she might react to possibly intimate ones? There is a whole lot of tension in Murder of Crows due to Meg's and Simon's confusion and I loved it. The feelings that are growing between these two cannot be denied even if they both fight it. 
 Nothing like a hot splash of blood to get this party started... 
 - If you're expecting fairy farts and rainbows this is not the series for you. There are strong themes of rape, sexual abuse, child abuse and no shortage of blood and violence. There isn't a ton of violence, indeed I thought it was just the right amount. Though we see the darker side of human nature we also see some really wonderful things. For me, Murder of Crows toes the perfect line of gritty urban fantasy with marvelous splashes of humor and compassion. Read it and I dare you not to love it!