Vision in Silver

A Novel of the Others

By: Anne Bishop

Narrated by: Alexandra Harris

Length: 16 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's Summary

The New York Times best-selling author of The Black Jewels Trilogy transports readers to a world of magic and political unrest - where the only chance at peace requires a deadly price....

The Others freed the cassandra sangue to protect the blood prophets from exploitation, not realizing their actions would have dire consequences. Now the fragile seers are in greater danger than ever before - both from their own weaknesses and from those who seek to control their divinations for wicked purposes. In desperate need of answers, Simon Wolfgard, a shape-shifter leader among the Others, has no choice but to enlist blood prophet Meg Corbyn’s help, regardless of the risks she faces by aiding him.

Meg is still deep in the throes of her addiction to the euphoria she feels when she cuts and speaks prophecy. She knows each slice of her blade tempts death. But Others and humans alike need answers, and her visions may be Simon’s only hope of ending the conflict.

For the shadows of war are deepening across the Atlantik, and the prejudice of a fanatic faction is threatening to bring the battle right to Meg and Simon’s doorstep....

©2015 Anne Bishop (P)2015 Penguin

Weakest in the series

After reading the previous books, Vision in Silver was a disappointment. We left the story after just having freed a whole bunch of blood prophets, and this book picks up right after that. This slows down the pacing of the series to a crawl since the author suddenly has to make up reasons why the free prophets aren't doing so well. To do so she rewrites Meg's personality.

In the previous books we see her deal with the outside, unknown world very well. Suddenly, after months, Meg starts having difficulty dealing with everything so that there can be a contrived plot device to find out how to help the other prophets. It is a very lame and transparent way to manipulate the plot, and it rewrites Meg's character.

There's another story arc woven into it all about the one human cop, but it's uninteresting and unsurprising. The lines between 'bad guy' and 'good Other' are so clearly drawn none of the plot arc was a surprise.

The narration was okay overall, but Harris felt the need to wholeheartedly howl when the characters did. It's obnoxious.

I have a beef with the author

What made the experience of listening to Vision in Silver the most enjoyable?

Everyone's different perspectives on the situation. Some things you can guess ahead of time but the reveals are always perfect.

Which scene was your favorite?

I love all the scenes when Simon and Meg are confused.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

During one scene, one of the girls spends time on the porch. I cried; her description of her joy was beautiful.

Any additional comments?

My beef is, these books are so long that when they are over, I feel like I have binge-watched a show. I don't want to leave the world created for us. I wouldn't want them shorter, in fact, longer would be preferred. I love this series.

More Please!!!

I really love this series. I cannot wait for the next one. The first book is one of my all time favorites and I have listened to it multiple times. This book continues the story from the first two and is just a as addicting. It is not as good as book one, but I think it is stonger than book two. I hope it is not another year before we get the next installment.

The Title says it all

Would you listen to Vision in Silver again? Why?

Yes I would because it takes us to another world that is seen through several eyes. It is exciting and I really look forward to what happens next.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Vision in Silver?

I have to say I enjoy Simons jealous of others. I really liked it when he got jealous of Sam because he got to rub Megs head. I also I am enjoying how the story is taking the friendship of Meg and Simon toward romance but in a slow place were they are learning to become more together. I also love seeing how the others are learning to except some of the humans and there ways enough to ask them questions.

Have you listened to any of Alexandra Harris’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes and she did a great job.

Any additional comments?

I have enjoy all three of the others series and I love Anne Bishop world. I really look forward to learning and getting to know some of the new members we have meet in this book and also I hope to see Meg and Simon grow more.

the flow of the series is painfully boring

I love Anne Bishop's series, my favorite being The Black Jewels Trilogy.
This serie is different and so far my favorite novel in this serie has been the first one : Written in Red.

I like : the idea for the serie is amazing. A world where the humans aren't the most conscious entity? Brilliant. Meg the victim depicted as an addict? Wonderful. One of the sweet blood being able to draw instead of cutting? Zootherapy? Genius.

I find painfully boring : the writing. It seems it's always the "good guys" viewpoint that we have since the 2nd novel (meaning mainly Simon's and if so, maybe a male narrator might be a better fit ?).

Also, I've noticed that Bishop is fixated on alpha males like Simon (or in The BJW, Daemon). While they are interesting characters, they usually aren't the ONLY ones and it's far MORE interesting to discover how someone like Meg (an addict who barely knows about the outside world) managed to color her hair, escape the compound and survive well enough to get to the Courtyard. OR how CS-821 found another way to cutting.

Heroes aren't heroes because they are strong. They are heroes because they make it an habit to overcome their weaknesses.

I love Anne Bishop, but why?

The pacing of this series has been fairly slow from the beginning, which I didn't mind, but this book took the slow paces of the previous two and then added very little in the way of plot development. There were a few political developments, it's true, but at the end of the book we leave things much the same as we did at the beginning, with just a little more information.

We also must have had the hierarchy of the Others explained to us 3 or 4 times in the course of the book. I'm pretty sure that was not the only thing that was repeated over and over again. (You guys Simon Wolfguard is SUPER UNIQUE DID YOU KNOW THEY JUST TOLD US AGAIN.) Overall I found it repetitive, and adding very little in terms of development. Though if anything I thought the main character grew weaker in this book, less capable, which was also a surprise.

I was very disappointed in this addition to the series, and I will likely hold off reading the rest until they are all released.

Also, I have to turn the reader speed up to 1.25 for these books to be bearable. While not terrible, I don't feel like the narrator adds much to the experience. .

Disappointing!

The first two books were awesome! The author really created a unique world with interesting plots and fascinating characters. I was really looking forward to this book but I found it seriously lacking. The story was boring, the characters were flat, and the whole plot was just short of ridiculous. What was a huge problem for Meg in this book was non-existent in the previous books. I struggled to get to the end only to find that most of the issues were left unresolved. The book just kind of fizzled out, and I was left scratching my head.

Anne Bishop has done it again, and again, & again

In this 3rd of the series of "The Others", Anne has continued to write a story that builds on previous books. In each book the characters come to life and you learn something new about each one. I keep waiting for Simon and Meg to get together romantically, but in each book the author gives you just a little bit more of their relationship together. Not too much, which I actually like. The author, Anne Bishop, does a great job in developing the characters even from one book to another. The storyline is the same as in the other books, but very different. You get additional information about the cassandra sangues and new characters in the vampires, the cops, the Government and even the crows.

The story focuses around the rift between the humans and the terra indigene. The plot to kill off the terra indigene and the introduction of Montgomery and his daughter, Lizzy. There is the development of Simon's dedication to the human pack and what will happen to them if the terra indigene kills off all the humans? Where will they stand their relationship to the Lakeside courtyard?

Anne Bishop has done a terriffic job of creating a story and placing the reader/listener in the middle. I love these books and can't wait to listen to the next one. The narrator does a great job of making each individual different in her voice and comprehending and relaying the personalities of each individual character.

Great author

I love Anne Bishops books. They are great. If you love fantasy you will love this series.

Best one yet!

That sounds so kitschy I cringe at my own title for this review, but I'm not the one writing a book here...

Like most authors that succeed with a serial, I feel like creating an interesting and well thought out world is as important as interesting and relatable characters. The world Anne Bishop has created is a fascinating overlay/alternative to our world, and she leaves enough of a shadow that we can recognize things. From the names of the days and months to the names of places, the fantasy of a world where human conquerors had limited success against nature and natives, having to settle for compromise.

At no point did the edges of this illusion curl up for me. I happily sat immersed in the fantasy throughout the book. When the end came, it was bittersweet. I had hoped this book's plot would have resolved rather than end in a cliffhanger, but at the same time I'm thrilled to have another to look forward to.

Great story

I have read this book so many times and enjoy it every time. In this book we meet lizzy and find out war is coming.

LOVE LOVED IT

Great story. Brilliant characters. Wonderful story flow, with useful rehash of previous happenings. LOVED IT

Very good but not quite as good as the first 2

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

yes its a great series - a different take on the paranormal with great characters and a compelling storyline

What was one of the most memorable moments of Vision in Silver?

hard to answer without introducing spoilers

Which character – as performed by Alexandra Harris – was your favourite?

Meg of course, but I do love the Aroo's from the wolves

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

yes its really compelling and you really do care about the characters - it has funny moments though its not really a funny book

Any additional comments?

This book is really book 3 part 1 - it is clearly setting up for much more action in book 4 and doesn't really have such a complete end as the previous 2 in the series.
As other reviewers have said this also concentrates less on Meg and the focus of the story is spread around many more characters. Good in some ways but I do like the way the earlier books are more centred on Meg

vision in silver

i love this whole series and cant wait for the next one!!! this series has definately made me think about the nature of humans and how we could look to an outsider. brilliant.

Good but not as good as I'd hoped

I had mixed feelings about “Vision In Silver”, the third “Novel of The Others”.

I enjoyed “Written In Red” because it was new and fresh, it focused closely on “Our Meg” and her discovery of a world beyond the compound that she’d been kept in, her personal growth and the drama of the plot. It remains one of my favourite fantasy books.

“Murder of Crows” -which could have been subtitled “the humans strike back”- was less intense but provided a much deeper and broader view of this world and put Meg’s background in context. It was an extension of “Written In Red” and helped me see the humans as much more monstrous than the Werewolves and Vampires who provide the public face of The Others.

“Vision In Silver” continues to give a wider view of the world: its inhabitants, its politics, and the strange and strained truce between humans and The Others, but I felt that, in becoming broader, it had lost some of its intensity. I wanted more focus on Meg. I wanted the characters and their relationships to deepen in the same way that the world view does. Although I found out a lot about the characters, more and more of them seemed like plot devices rather than people.

Compared to many Fantasy books I’ve read, “Vision In Silver” is a high quality novel that is satisfying to read, it just didn’t deliver as much as I’d hoped.

There are some very strong scenes in the book: an attack at a market place, the decision of rescued Cassandra Sangue to live when those around her see death as their only way out of an unbearable situation, humans and The Others gardening together, at peace but still very alien to one another. I particularly enjoyed the story of the Cassandra Sangue who finds an alternative to the cutting that shortens their lives: it was told with compassion and empathy without being simply mushy. The story of the little girl and her mother, which forms the central plotline, was also well delivered.

Yet… I felt a little distant from this book. The balance of ideas to emotions tipped a little the wrong way. I felt it was like a sponge that hadn’t quite risen – still tasty and edible but disappointing.

Enjoyable as always!

Enjoyable as always! I agree with the other reviewer who says the book feels a bit like a filler - there’s no crash bang ending this time - that’s very much to come. However, there’s some nice development of various characters, relationships and friendships, some new characters introduced, and the overall story arc definitely is definitely moving forwards. There are more shifters to come to Lakeside and I look forward to seeing Simon trying to manage some of the big cats!

Well read, I love the various “Aroooo”s she manages for the different wolfs, and even Meg at one point, and her characterisation of the main players is consistent and good.

This is an interesting mix of writing style, some seemingly aimed at the younger end of the YA market, and yet it covers some mature subjects and uses some robust language… I do find the concept of the all-powerful Others tamed by cookies or sugar lumps a bit Disney’esque though!

However, as a not so young A, I enjoy these books, and this is a series I shall definitely stick with.

A Brilliant but different story

Would you listen to Vision in Silver again? Why?

Yes I would listen to this series again as it is refreshingly different from the normal paranormal series with the Monsters as the good guys

Who was your favorite character and why?

There are to many characters to pick one favorite. Simon and Meg are the two leed characters. Skippy and Jenny crowguard provided the fun. All the vampier sanginate are somewhat sinister but a pleasant change from the normal super sexy or downright evil of other series

What does Alexandra Harris bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

Alexandra has a plesant voice and over the first three book she has become the voice of Meg and all the other characters. It would be very strange to hear anyone else reading future volumes

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

The whole of the series has been books you just don't want to put down. The story drags you along with it and you just can't wait to find out whats comming next

Any additional comments?

To Anne Bishop. Having now listened to the first three books I can't wait for the next. Please get the next volume out ASAP but don't compromise the story for speed

Love love love!

This series is one of the best I've ever read & this book has been no exception.
It felt a little bit like filler but that didn't mean that it wasn't still really good & wasn't an important part of the series, I had just expected it to be the last book (so glad it wasn't) & so expected more conclusions