Waking the Witch (Women of the Otherworld, Book 11) by Kelley Armstrong

 

Some of the books in the Women of the Otherworld series really work for me, some don't. I'm not sure how to classify Waking the Witch. Somewhere in the middle, perhaps.

On the one hand, I really enjoyed hearing from Savannah, seeing her grown up and responsible. On the other hand, it's been so long since I read the books about her, that there were times I was a touch lost. Dime Store Magic came out six years ago, that's a long time to be expected to remember details.

Also, there is the problem that apparently it is going to take two books to tell this story, and we're half way through the story. The next book, Spell Bound, isn't due out until July or August of 2011. If I'd known that I'd have waited until next year to read both books together. I detest cliff hangers. And Waking the Witch would have been less expensive next year, as well.

Here's the blurb:

The orphaned daughter of a sorcerer and a half-demon, Savannah is a terrifyingly powerful young witch who has never been able to resist the chance to throw her magical weight around. But at 21 she knows she needs to grow up and prove to her guardians, Paige and Lucas, that she can be a responsible member of their supernatural detective agency. So she jumps at the chance to fly solo, investigating the mysterious deaths of three young women in a nearby factory town as a favour to one of the agency’s associates. At first glance, the murders look garden-variety human, but on closer inspection signs point to otherworldly stakes.

Soon Savannah is in over her head. She’s run off the road and nearly killed, haunted by a mystery stalker, and freaked out when the brother of one of the dead women is murdered when he tries to investigate the crime. To complicate things, something weird is happening to her powers. Pitted against shamans, demons, a voodoo-inflected cult and garden-variety goons, Savannah has to fight to ensure her first case isn’t her last. And she also has to ask for help, perhaps the hardest lesson she’s ever had to learn.

It's a good plot -- I did not know for sure who any of the bad guys were until the very end, and then at least part of the plot gets wrapped up. One of the bad guys is taken care of, but that leaves at least one more bad guy running around, and a whole lot of other loose ends flaying in the wind, and one huge cliff hanger sentence at the end of the book.  (The term "bad guy" in this instance is not supposed to hint at the gender of said "bad guys", BTW, so don't look at that as a spoiler or a hint.)

As for the other writing elements: the pacing had serious issues, prose and dialogue were good but not great, character development was fine but I'd honestly hoped for just a bit more spunk from Savannah, and world building was fine. The world is already mostly built, so all Kelley Armstrong had to do was stay consistent, which I think she did.

I'm going to give Waking the Witch a 7 of 10 for the pacing issues, for the general lack of oomph, and for not really wrapping the book up. It's okay to leave some loose ends for future books, but this was a bit much. I've rated the series a 9 of 10 for a long time, I think Waking the Witch brings it down to an 8 of 10.

Book Rating: Waking the Witch: 7 of 10
Series Rating: Women of the Otherworld: 8 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)
__. Angelic (Women/Otherworld) Kelley Armstrong (Dec 2009) __. Tales of the Otherworld by Kelley Armstrong (April 2010)
11. Waking the Witch
12. Spell Bound
.

Book Covers: Tales of the Otherworld, Vampire Mistress, Dead in the Family

I wasn't terribly excited about the Men of the Otherworld book when it came out, and then I was pleasantly surprised by it. For that reason, I'm looking forward to Tales of the Otherworld when it is released on April 13.

The cover doesn't really tell us anything. It kind of looks like a younger girl, maybe a teen? Possibly Savannah? With that necklace it's likely one of the witches.

Here's the blurb for Tales of the Otherworld:

Have you ever wondered how lone wolf Clayton Danvers finally got bitten by the last thing he ever expected: love? Or how the hot-blooded bad-girl witch Eve Levine managed to ensnare the cold, ruthless corporate sorcerer, Kristof Nast in one of the Otherworld’s most unlikely pairings? Would you like to be a fly on the wall at the wedding of Lucas Cortez and Paige Winterbourne, as their eminently practical plans are gradually upended by their well-meaning friends? Or tag along with Lucas and Paige as they investigate a rather gruesome case that looks to be the result of a rogue vampire?

Now, Otherworld reader can share these moments with some of their favorite characters—as well as catching welcome glimpses into the minds of some of the lesser-known players. But even readers new to the Otherworld universe will find much to love in these seven tales of friendship, adventure, and enduring romance.

Anthology contains: Birthright, Beginnings, Ghosts, Expectations, Wedding Bell Hell, The Case of El Chupacabra and a new story narrated by Eve.

Vampire Mistress, the next Vampire Queen book by Joey W. Hill, is set to be released on May 4.

Here is the blurb for Vampire Mistress:

Sometimes desire works three ways...

Joey W. Hill returns to the dark and seductive landscape of her Vampire Queen novels as a desperate woman finds herself trapped between the desires of two men, each with his own mission of the night.

Gideon Green is a hardcore vampire hunter. But in the past year, his only family, his little brother, became a vampire queen’s servant – and then a vampire himself, giving Gideon a different view of the vampire world. Since Gideon’s sole purpose for over a decade has been killing vampires, the violence that has scarred his soul now haunts his conscience.

Then he crosses paths with sexy BDSM night club owner, Mistress Anwyn. Their connection is immediate and intense, but she has a silent partner--the vampire Daegan Rei. When Anwyn is viciously attacked and turned by a rogue vampire, Gideon and Daegan join to protect her through a dangerous transition. As the bonds between the three of them draw tighter, Gideon faces an unbelievable truth...that the path to meaning in his life may be found in surrendering to the desires and needs of two vampires.

Do I think I'll be reading Vampire Mistress as soon as it comes out? Ummm, yeah. I'm pretty sure I will. I first discovered Joey W. Hill with her Nature of Desire series, and I have to admit I've been a bit disappointed that she's chosen to be a bit more mainstream with her BDSM since then. This blurb sounds like she's returning to her roots. Maybe. You can read an excerpt of this book here. The excerpt just convinces me that much more of how much I'm going to want to read Vampire Mistress.

The 10th Sookie Stackhouse book will be called Dead in the Family and there is already a very nice blurb to give us an idea of what to expect:

Sookie Stackhouse has finally settled into a relationship with the Viking vampire Eric, and her errant brother Jason seems to have his life in order, too. But all the other people in Sookie’s life – Eric himself, her former lover Bill, her friend and boss Sam – are having family problems. Eric’s maker shows up with Eric’s ‘brother’ in tow, the ailing Bill can only be healed by a blood sibling, and Sam’s brother’s marriage is about to take place . . . or will it? The furor raised by the coming out of the two-natured has yet to settle; some people are just not ready to sit down to dinner with a man who turns into a dog. And Sookie herself is still recovering from her last ordeal. She’s definitely improving, physically and mentally, but she’s always going to have some dark moments now. The werewolves tell her that there have been strange and ominous passers-by in the Stackhouse woods; now Sookie is about to come face-to-face with one of her more distant relatives...

Sookie and Eric in a relationship? At last? Dead in the Family is due to be released May 4th, and that's way too long to wait for this one.

Frostbitten (Women of the Otherworld, Bk 10) by Kelley Armstrong

I like Elena, but to be honest I never really liked Clay all that much. Truth is, that's because I didn't understand him. After reading Men of the Otherworld, I think I understand him a lot better. Since this is an Elena and Clay story, that's kind of important.

I think one of the things that authors of the Urban Fantasy genre struggle with is how to make their supernatural characters vulnerable. I mean, let's face it - someone with the strength and healing abilities of a werewolf, and who regularly uses force (or death) to intimidate werewolves who get out of line.... that's not someone you'd normally use the word vulnerable to describe.

But Kelley Armstrong does a wonderful job of keeping Elena human, and all humans have insecurities and hangups and baggage. Or at least, all of the humans I know, do. Elena may be super strong and super fast and an excellent fighter, but she's no Mary Sue.

I believe that Kelley Armstrong has used Frostbitten to set us up for several new plotlines. Many of the old plotlines have been resolved, and it seems the author has gone back to the beginnings in order to start new plotlines. The series started with Elena, and now the next stage of the series will once again start with Elena. Even the title is similar (Bitten, now Frostbitten). I wasn't terribly excited about the release of Frostbitten, and in part that is because the series had grown a bit... not stale, but it was beginning to be more of the same. I can see several new possible plot lines stemming from this book. Frostbitten was a pleasant surprise, it was really good.

Frostbitten starts out with Elena, while she and Clay are in different cities. I appreciate that, as Elena seems to do a lot more introspective thinking when Clay isn't around. Elena's chase takes her to Alaska, and Clay meets up with her there. The pacing of the very beginning is a bit off, as we are brought up to speed on things, and the pacing has a bit of an issue about two thirds of the way through. Not enough to say the book's pacing as a whole had issues, just that there were a few places that it didn't quite work.

The twins are back home with Jeremy and Jaime, but there are phone calls so we get an idea of how the twins are growing up. I have a feeling that eventually we'll learn a lot more about them, but for now we're given enough of a glimpse into their lives that we begin to get an idea of their personalities. Not really a part of the plot of this book, but I was glad we got to "meet" them a bit at this point in their lives.

I should probably post the blurb before I go too much farther:

Smart, sexy, supernatural—the men and women of the Otherworld live and love, fight and die, among us. Unseen and unsuspected, this realm of witches, ghosts, and werewolves is now threatened with exposure by a brutal series of bizarre murders that has left even the supernatural world baffled—and cold with terror….

Being the world’s only female werewolf has its advantages, such as having her pick of the Otherworld’s most desirable males. And Elena Michaels couldn’t have picked a more dangerously sexy and undyingly loyal mate than Clayton Danvers. Now their bond will be put to the ultimate test as they follow a bloody trail of gruesome slayings deep into Alaska’s frozen wilderness.

There’s nothing the werewolf community dislikes more than calling attention to itself. So when a pair of rogue man-eaters begins hunting humans, it’s up to Elena and Clayton to track down the predators. But any illusions their task would be simple are quickly dispelled. For even in werewolf terms, there’s something very disturbing taking place in the dark Alaskan forests. A werewolf more wolf than human and more unnatural than supernatural is on the hunt—a creature whose origins seem to spring from ancient legends of the shape-shifting Wendigo.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, Clayton and Elena find themselves confronting painful ghosts from their pasts—and an issue neither of them is eager to discuss. For one of them has been chosen to become the new Pack leader, and as every wolf knows, there can be only one Alpha. They’ve always been equals in everything. Now, when their survival depends more than ever on perfect teamwork, will instinct allow one of them to lead…and the other to follow?

That probably gives you a few ideas of what I'm talking about with new plot lines. A completely new supernatural race who leave with a woman, anyone else think she may one day be telling us her story?, and a new Alpha of the North American pack. Yeah, that's two plotlines I'd love to see followed. There is also something we learn from a Russian wolf that might mean Elena has family she doesn't know about, and I'm really interested in seeing where that may lead us. (Select the spoiler text to view it.)

We also meet several new wolves, some good and some bad (and some really, really bad). I'm betting that one of the wolves in particular has quite a story, possibly even a pack somewhere in North America that so far has flown under the North American Pack's radar.

I seem to be thinking about future books more than I'm reviewing the book I just read. Is that the mark of a good book, one that makes you consider what might come next? I think so.

Back to Frostbitten: Elena is a fully three dimensional character. She has been in past books, and this book just goes that much deeper into who she is, and who she is going to be (but there I go again, thinking about future books). The plot in this book was very well done. The action was also very well done, though in a few places it felt like I'd watched a particular scene in a few action movies (for instance, chasing a bad guy along the top of a moving train). The pacing was mostly okay, and the book tied in well with the rest of the series. There are phone calls with Jeremy (who is with Jaime), there is a phone call with Hope, and Paige is helping to run down credit card transactions as Elena chases her prey across country at the beginning of the book. These other characters aren't a big part of Frostbitten, but they are around, and that's a nice touch.

I can easily give Frostbitten a 10 of 10, though I'm keeping the series at a 9 of 10.

Book Rating, Frostbitten: 10 of 10
Series Rating: 9 of 10

As for future books, Kelley Armstrong's site shows two upcoming books, a novella and an anthology of short stories, but does not tell us what the next full length book will be about. However, Amazon has Waking the Witch posted already, and tells us that this will be Savannah's book. So much for new plotlines, huh? I mean, I knew all of the old plotlines weren't finished yet, and this is one we've known would come eventually. I'm still looking forward to seeing where Kelley Armstrong takes us with the new possibilities she raised in Frostbitten.


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)
__. Angelic (Women/Otherworld) Kelley Armstrong (Dec 2009)
__. Tales of the Otherworld by Kelley Armstrong (April 2010)
11. Waking the Witch

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)

Full Review: Living with the Dead (Women of the Otherworld, Book 9) by Kelley Armstrong

I've finally finished the book, and... WOW. The last third of the book totally makes up for it being hard to get into at the beginning. A very, very, very, recommended read.

The premise of the book has Robyn Peltier as PR person for what sounds like a Paris Hilton clone. Robyn's husband was killed six months earlier and the young lady is still deep in the throes of grief. She moved to LA to escape, and now she's just surviving day to day, using her PR job to keep her so busy she can't think about much else.

When the Paris Hilton clone gets killed though, Robyn ends up as the number one suspect, and then her best friend Hope Adams has to try to solve the mystery to clear her. But people keep dying, and Robyn keeps getting into more and more trouble. 

Hope and Karl begin solving the mystery, only to discover that (of course) this is another twisted case involved supernaturals and secret societies and Cabals and... yeah. 

But it is very well done. Very. Well. Done.  The plot twists and turns and we see more and more people we know or have heard of and then there is the grand finale. But that's not the end of the book. No, there are still a few more chapters until the end of the book, wrapping things up nicely, not dropping us and making us imagine it for ourselves, but giving us completion. And then setting things up for the next book. Thank you Kelley Armstrong for not making us imagine the stuff after the grand finale, I'm glad we got to see that resolution, too.  

I especially liked being privy to how Hope is dealing with her inner demon. And being half demon, she actually does kind of have an inner demon. She is using some of Karl's tricks to control it, doing it much the way a werewolf controls their inner wolf. Whether you are werewolf or half-demon, it's a trick, getting the human part and non-human part to coexist in the same body. As Hope's powers grow, her control has to grow as well. Kelley Armstrong does an incredible job of showing us how Hope feels, how the chaos feels, drinking it in, and yet dealing with her human side at the same time. It was brilliantly done.

We have to wait another year for the next Women of the Otherworld book, titled Frostbitten, and which is an Elena and Clay story, but which hopefully will give us the answers to what happens to Hope next. The Men of the Otherworld book is due out in January, but I don't believe that will continue this story where it leaves off. I could be wrong, but that's not the impression I've had from what I've read so far.  At the end of this book we are set up so we have a very good idea of where things are going, and we see a larger plot that will probably take several more books to reach as well. But I had expected the next book to be another Hope book, not another Elena book. I wonder if there is a way to get the next book out before next November? Please?

Book Rating: 9 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)

10. Frostbitten (Nov 2009)

Living with the Dead (Women of the Otherworld, Book 9) by Kelley Armstrong

This isn't a total review yet, since my UPS driver decided that my house doesn't exist so I didn't get it until late yesterday evening when I drove myself to the UPS office to get it. But, I've read enough to have a feel for it. (I could do a whole rant on UPS right now. I have an idiot for a driver in my area. It's been a problem all summer, but no one at UPS seems to care. Every third or fourth package has a problem. Sometimes he can find me, sometimes he can't. Grrrr.)

But, back to the book. First off, I like it where I'm at now, but I wasn't so sure about things in the beginning. One of the good things about reading a series is that you know most of the characters so picking one up is like getting to see an old friend again. This series is a bit different since different books focus on different people, but it has still mostly fit into that definition. Haven't we always met someone in one book before they get their own book? But this book started out with a bunch of people we haven't met before. And, it kept switching back and forth between them. I had a hard time getting engrossed in it.

Sure, we know Hope and Karl, but there are three or four other main players that we've never met before. And the book starts with them. One chapter for one of them, another chapter for another one, then another chapter for another one. It was hard to keep up.

I'm about two thirds of the way through now and I'm fully into it. It just took a while for me to get to the point where I was enjoying the book.

As of now, it's a good book and I wish I didn't have to go to work today. But, I do. So I'll probably get it finished late tonight.

I'll do a complete review when I'm through with it.






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)

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)