Men of the Otherworld by Kelley Armstrong

This book is part of the Women of the Otherworld series. It was billed as a collection of stories giving us some of the history of the men. But it's not what I expected. I expected it to jump around, but instead if focuses on Jeremy and Clay.

I don't normally like "collections" of stories. I like to get started on a book and then follow it through. The stopping and starting of a collection of smaller stories doesn't work for me. But I didn't have that problem with this book. This book holds a theme: we see Jeremy's conception and birth, we see when Clayton was bitten and hear his story from being bitten until he is in college. We see first person accounts through Clay's eyes of Jeremy's relationship with his father. Clayton tells us his story, from being bitten until college. We get to watch Clay grow up. And then the final story, a present day one with Jeremy and Jaime as told by Jeremy, is probably leading up to a plot line in a future book.

Men of the Otherworld makes me want to pick up Bitten and read it again. I enjoyed hearing Jeremy's voice. I was a bit afraid of hearing Clayton's voice. Curious, but still wary. I needn't have worried. I loved hearing Clayton tell the stories that we've heard about in the form of legend. Like the story of getting kicked out of school for dissecting the classroom's pet guinea pig. And of course, the stunt he pulled that made every mutt on the planet terrified of him. I won't tell you whether hearing him tell the tale makes him appear more or less psychotic, you'll have to read it for yourself.

I'm giving Men of the Otherworld a 10 of 10. I'll keep the series at a 9 of 10.

And I've got a few days before Bone Crossed arrives, so I do think that I'll pick up Bitten again while I'm waiting. It will be a new experience, knowing more of the backstory as I read it.

Book Rating: 10 of 10
Series Rating: 9 of 10






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 (2008)
. Men of the Otherworld (2009)
. A Fantasy Medley (anthology 2009)
10. Frostbitten (Nov 2009)