Bishop has taken a slightly different tack with this series. In her original Others series, she stuck with the same characters for all five books. In this second series, we stay in the same world, but each book seems to have a different character focus. There is overlap, but the focus shifts. Both approaches have advantages and I have enjoyed both of them.
In many ways, this is the fantasy version of the science fiction genre's First Contact trope. Humans must learn to coexist with the Others. Unfortunately, it seems there are always humans who don't want to follow the rules or think that the rules can be negotiated. And, as Louis Armstrong said, “Some folks, if they don't know, you can't tell them.” After all the times that the Elders have thinned the human herd, you would have thought that people would have received the memo! Humans are nothing if not stubborn.
Having said all this, I have peeked ahead, and the next book returns to Vicki DiVine and her lodge, the Jumble. I look forward to visiting Vicki again.
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