Review: Broken by Kelley Armstrong

Broken by Kelley Armstrong
(Women of the Otherworld #6)

4 out of 5 stars

Published by Orbit Books
This review may contain spoilers for the previous books in the series

Part six in the extremely diverse Women of the Otherworld series, Broken is sad to say, not the best one.

Elena, only known female werewolf, is pregnant of werewolf boyfriend Clay. This makes her more vulnerable, having to rely on her Pack to protect her. When they are sent to Toronto on Pack business, they get tangled up in supernatural troubles, including rampaging Victorian serial killers, a bunch of long-extinct diseases and a multi-dimensional portal spitting out zombies. The Pack can use every supernatural help they can get.

After all this focussing on the witchcrafting part of the Women of the Otherworld family (Dime Store Magic, Industial Magic, Haunted) I was glad to be back to the reason I love this series. The werewolves! As far as the narrators go, I still enjoy Elena the most. She is so utterly kick-ass that I just love being in her head. And I guess that's why I didn't like Broken as much as say, Bitten; Elena can't kick butts with a baby on board. I had to say it, but Awesome Elena has become Elena the Clumsy Pregnant Lady. And I don't really like her. All of a sudden Clay is this cutesy protective guy. I miss my socially retarded Clay, he was much more fun.

Apart from my grumbling on the character-changes, the plot was of the calibre we are used to by Ms Armstrong. It has intrigue, betrayal, friendships, plot-twists you don't see coming. Even though there was a lot of meaningless running around, doing research and calling people, I still enjoyed this part a lot. It was good to see a decent plot again, after a little bit of a meh one in Haunted.

A minor concern I'm starting to have is that there are too many characters in this series. Every book, we meet new ones, and it's becoming really hard to keep track of them all. At some parts of the story, I was rather confused to who they were calling to now. Having had a few months break between books, I could use a memory-refresher.

Broken is very nice read and a great addition to the urban-fantasy genre. I hope kick-ass Elena is still down there somewhere. I would love to see her back.

Blurb

When half-demon Xavier calls in the favour Elena owes him, it seems easy enough, steal Jack the Ripper's 'From Hell' letter away from a Toronto collector who had himself stolen it from the Ripper evidence boxes. But nothing in the supernatural world is ever as simple as it seems. Elena accidentally triggers a spell placed on the letter, and opens a dimensional portal into Victorian London, releasing zombies, disease, and maybe a notorious serial killer himself.

Other reviews you might be interested in

• Review: Haunted by Kelley Armstrong (4/5 Stars)
• Review: Industrial Magic by Kelley Armstrong (4/5 Stars)
• Review: The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong (4/5 Stars)
• Review: Every Which Way But Dead by Kim Harrison (4/5 Stars)

More links

• Author page
• Press
• Goodreads

Review: Haunted by Kelley Armstrong

Haunted by Kelley Armstrong
(Women of the Otherworld #5)

4 out of 5 stars

Published by Orbit Books
This review may contain spoilers for the previous books in the series

Whether you like the Women of the Otherworld series or not, one thing is certain; the books all have something that makes them unique. The most intriguing aspect of this book was our new narrator: Eve Levine.

What makes Eve so special is that she's dead, and has been dead quite a while now. She's a ghost, living in the supernatural plane. She can visit the world of the living, but she is unable to actually influence anything there. She is ripped from her obsessing over her 15-year-old still living daughter by divine influence, and sent on a not so divine mission to catch a rampaging demonic serial killer.

What I liked about this book is how it adds to the series. I found it very interesting to read about a world after this life. It was new and something I had never read before. Even though there are a lot of angel and half-angel stories out there, none of them really show what happens after someone dies. There were a lot of imaginative solutions to keep the supernatural system running smoothly and I loved reading about the structure of this worlds afterlife.

As we are used to, this book is one action-packed hunt to capture the bad guy. This keeps the pacing high, but at some point the constant running around gets a bit tiresome. There was some space for character development but at times I wished there was some more, to get a bit diversity in the story.

Which brings me to the major problem I had with this book. As much as I like Eve, and as much as I like her voice and overall character, I just don't feel for her. For some reason I don't see her as a narrator. This book seemed a bit like a sidestep from the running plotline. There was some of the usual cast present but at the end of the book I and I looked back, I didn't see it really change anything.

Still, an exiting read that doesn't bore at all. There were quite a lot moments that had me giggling which is always good. Does contain some pretty gruesome serial killing fantasies, but nothing extreme. Maybe not the strongest part of this series, but I would still certainly recommend the Women of the Otherworld books.

Blurb

Eve Levine—half-demon, black witch and devoted mother—has been dead for three years. She has a great house, an interesting love life and can't be killed again—which comes in handy when you've made as many enemies as Eve. Yes, the afterlife isn't too bad—all she needs to do is find a way to communicate with her daughter, Savannah, and she'll be happy.

But fate—or more exactly, the Fates—have other plans. Eve owes them a favor, and they've just called it in. An evil spirit called the Nix has escaped from hell. She feeds on chaos and death, and is very good at persuading people to kill for her. The Fates want Eve to hunt her down before she does any more damage, but the Nix is a dangerous enemy—previous hunters have been driven insane in the process. As if that's not problem enough, the only way to stop her is with an angel's sword. And Eve is no angel…

Teaser Tuesday #19: Haunted

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• Make sure you do not include spoilers
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Teaser Tuesday #19: Haunted

I was less than a half-dozen paces behind, but they never turned around, never even peered over their shoulders. Sometimes that really pisses me off. Sure, all teenagers ignore their mothers. And sure, Savannah had a good excuse, since I'd been dead for three years.
 
Taken from the first chapter of Haunted by Kelley Armstrong. This is the fifth book in the Women of the Otherworld series, and this time the narrator is the dead witch Eve. You don't see that much ghost-narrators in books.

Feel free to leave your teaser below!

Updating..

O my, it's almost Christmas, and pre-Christmas time always brings so much to do! For some reason it always seems those two last months of the year you have more obligations than those ten other months together. So, I'm behind on my review work *ashamed*, but I also have some very exciting news!

More reviews coming up for The Romance Reviews, including:

More YA reviews, including:

This blog's first guest posts and interviews!

And last but not least, my very first giveaway!

It will be international so anyone can join in on the fun.


So stick around for some more updates in this very busy time!

Follow Friday #3

   Hosted by Parajunkee This week's feature: Monica @ The Bibliophilic Book Blog

Weekly Question:

Who are your favorite authors?

There are so many great authors out there so this is a hard one. The ones I like most at the moment are Kelley Armstrong, Kim Harrison, Charlaine Harris, Stephen King and Darren Shan. That is a strange combination indeed.

Leave a comment so I can follow you back!

BR: The Summoning

The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong

4 out of 5 stars

Amazing. This is young-adult as it should be. It isn't written in a condescending petty way, but challenges us as reader, without the gory details and sex.

I'm a great fan of Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld series, and I was afraid I would be disappointed with her Darkest Powers series, like I was when I read Kim Harrison's YA-book. And I'm very proud to say, I was not. This is a great book for both young adults and the well, not so young adults.

Our protagonist, Chloe, is a necromancer. She can see ghosts. And that scares the shit out of her, so when she freaks out at school because a melted janitor-ghost pursuits her, she is put in a group home, Lyle House. And finally, FINALLY the main character understands, the best way to get out, is to fake it! I can get so incredibly annoyed with the stupidity of people in books, like in Fingersmith (by Sarah Waters), where the girl that is put in an asylum, keeps telling the doctors the truth. While it sounds crazy. Don't they get that the doctors think they are mentally ill and won't listen, especially if you totally freak out and struggle and scream the whole time?! I am so glad that Kelley Armstrong has finally created a main character with BRAINS.

Apart from portraying a likeable, realistic fifteen year old girl, I also have to give the author credit for evoking a quite sinister, spooky (no pun intended) atmosphere. I always love writers that make you feel uncomfortable, without going into all those gross and horrific details. Sometimes a setting and a feeling is enough to get afraid. Laurell K Hamilton should learn a lesson from this. There doesn't have to be a lot of blood and some intestines meandering around. It is nice to read something where you don't find yourself saying "this author must be totally messed up in his head". Sometimes the horrors they come up with are just freaky.

It's fast paced and interesting, just like we are used to from Kelley Armstrong. I would surely recommend this to anyone that needs a breath from all the freaky psychopaths out there and likes some suspense.

BR: Industrial Magic

Industrial Magic by Kelley Armstrong

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Having been ousted as leader of the American Coven of Witches, Paige is reluctant to do anything more than hide under her duvet for a few months. However, a murderer with superhuman skills and a grudge against the supernatural community is on the loose and targeting children. With her own ward, Savannah, a potential target; she and her lover, sorcerer Lucas Cortez, attempt to track down the killer. In the process Paige finds herself in a world of sorcerers, necromancers, druid gods and vampires.

This is one of those books where plot is actually secondary to characters. It is fast paced and well thought through, but a little predictable at times. The great strength of this book is all the little quirky manners that make every character so unique and makes it have them their own distinct voice. The dialogue flows and feels natural and made me laugh out loud at times. Eve seems like an interesting person, I'll enjoy reading more about her in the next instalment, Haunted.



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