Women of the Otherworld series by Kelley Armstrong

This series is not in my top five, but not too far away from it, either.

Kelly Armstrong approached this series a bit differently in that the same character does not narrate each book. You get a different viewpoint, depending on who the main focus of the book is. The series starts with Bitten and Stolen, both narrated by Elena, the only female werewolf. It took me a little while to get into that first book, but once I did, I enjoyed it.

In the second book our cast of characters grows, and even though Elena is still telling us the story, we begin to understand how it may work for there to be different narrators. I didn't think I would like the change, but it works for this series. I think my favorite books are probably books 3 and 4, Dime Store Magic and Industrial Magic. Though I also liked... oh, I liked them all. I don't know if I can say I have a favorite.

But one of the cool things about this series is that once the author lets two people get together, she doesn't seem to have a problem letting them live happily ever after. So many authors have to put people together and apart and together and apart so that the drama can continue. But in this story the drama is in the storyline, the thing they are trying to solve, and we get to see couples working together instead of against each other.

This series deals with the various races helping each other.. so far there are werewolves, vampires, half demons (demon father impregnated female mother and then skedaddled), necromancers (people who can talk to the dead), witches, sorcerers, ghosts, and shamans. I've probably missed at least one race in there. This series also deals with a bit of prejudice.. witches (females) and sorcerers (males) don't like each other at all. And sorcerers and vampires seem to be in the same boat. So when individual people like each other, but based on their races they are supposed to hate each other, how do they manage that? So far they haven't dealt with how humans might feel about these supernatural races. Of course, they can't, since humans don't know about them.

But, a big part of the series is that when there is a supernatural problem that the supernatural world is going to have to handle because the human world can't - the various races are capable of working together to solve the problem. Mostly capable, anyway.

If you've read the books and haven't played around on Kelley Armstrong's site, you should. She's got a lot of online fiction up, I love this page that goes back in time and gives some backstory for some of the characters.

In February of 2009 her Men of the Otherworld anthology is supposed to be released. I think these stories used to be available online, and if so, then I've read them. But it's been a while and I'm not terribly sure. I do know that there used to be more stories about some of the guys, and now they are gone.

The next Women of the Otherworld book is due out this fall, on October 28, and I've already got it pre-ordered.

Series Rating: 9




1. Bitten (2001)
2. Stolen (2002)
3. Dime Store Magic (2004)
4. Industrial Magic (2004)
5. Haunted (2005)
6. Broken (2006)
7. No Humans Involved (2007)
8. Personal Demon (2008)
9. Living with the Dead (October 28, 2008)