Trigger warning for this series: self-harm
Trigger warning for this book: graphic violence, mentions of gore

5 ⭐️

I think we've established how much I love Anne Bishop's series. No need to repeat how I admire her world-building and her characters development.

This novel felt like the summum of the series. I know there are still 2 books left (the last one coming out this year), but I don't know how she could manage to make the story as meaningful as she did so far. This book was fast-paced, with the action building on both sides with each twist and turn. The POV changes make you sad for the victims in one chapter, rage against the aggressors in the next.

Marked in Flesh is the "final" showdown between the Others and the HFL movement. It's the Others retaliating for everything the humans did to them in the first 3 novels. It would have been a perfect ending to the series, with Meg and Simon's relationship a bit clearer, but still a mystery left to the characters' knowledge only.

I will definitely read the next novel, but I just don't know how Bishop can beat what she did with this one.