Review: Rebirth (Otherworld #1) by Kelley Armstrong

Rebirth is no longer available online (so says Goodreads)


I don't really like short stories so I tend to avoid them, even if they're by my favourite author. I never know how to review them, especially ones that begin a series. Sometimes the writing is completely different than the next installment, and not in a good way. I usually only read them if I really need to for the story. I read this one because I was so confused about the reading order and the whole concept of the otherworld, and women of the otherworld series so I thought it best to start at the beginning.


To tell the truth I had no idea what was going on, and I thought it was total rubbish. The only reason I finished reading it was that it was short. If I'd seen that book cover (I read it on my kindle) I wouldn't have gone near it. And yes I am claiming it towards my reading goal!


You want to know what the story is about? Um it's about a guy who's mother tells him -on his deathbed (I think) that he won't die but become a vampire instead. However, he has to kill a person and drink their blood once a year, every year, to stay alive. He vows not to but then does so, vowing that would be the first and only time. He meets another vampire, a female and I think they team up. The end. And this is where I regret not making some kind of notes while I read, and not writing up reviews in a timely manner.


Okay, I know I'm a little rubbish at reviews but I think I hit an all time low this time. I really wouldn't bother reading rebirth (or this review for that matter) if I was you.


Rating: 2/6 - Struggled to Finished

Review: Stolen (Women of the otherworld #2) by Kelley Armstrong

Description (from Goodreads)

Even though she's the world's only female werewolf, Elena Michaels is just a regular girl at heart -- with larger than normal appetites. She sticks to three feasts a day, loves long runs in the moonlight, and has a lover who is unbelievable frustrating yet all the more sexy for his dark side. Like every regular girl, she certainly doesn't believe in witches. Then again, when two small, ridiculously feminine women manage to hurl her against a wall, and then save her from the hunters on her tail, Elena realizes that maybe there are more things in heaven and earth than she's dreamt of.

Vampires, demons, shamans, witches -- in Stolen they all exist, and they're all under attack. An obsessed tycoon with a sick curiosity is well on his way to amassing a private collection of supernaturals, and plans to harness their powers for himself -- even if it means killing them. For Elena, kidnapped and imprisoned deep underground, separated from her Pack, unable to tell her friends from her enemies, choosing the right allies is a matter of life and death.

This is the second book in the Women of the Otherworld series, and another great read.

I'd read some reviews before I started this (I know but I couldn't help myself) and I was a little apprehensive. I'm reading this series for the werewolves and some reviews imply that there wasn't much of the wolves. But I needn't have worried. There was plenty.

I got totally absorbed. Again. I love clay and elena and I'm going to miss them until I can read Broken.

I adore Armstrong's writing style (well the style these first 2 books are written in at least). She doesn't seem to waste words, or emotions. She doesn't repeat things over and over until her point is slapping you in the face. She doesn't spoon feed you, she expects you to feed yourself, and I like that. I definitely like that.

That's not to imply that it's devoid of emotion, it's so not. Infact I teared up a few times, its just that Armstrong make you work for them. It makes reading her books (or these books) such a pleasure. I don't think it was as good as Bitten, but it still great.

Rating: 5/6 - Really Liked It

Review: Bitten (women of the otherworld #1) by Kelley Armstrong

Description (from Goodreads)

Ever since her parents were killed in a car accident when she was five, Elena Michaels has longed for a normal family life. Smart, beautiful, and engaged to be married, Elena hopes to fulfill that dream when disaster strikes. Not only has her fiancé lied about his secret life as a werewolf, but he's made her one, too. She has no choice but to join him at Stonehaven, the upstate New York home of an elite pack of werewolves.

In an attempt to break away, she moves to Toronto to lead a normal life. Working as a journalist, Elena now lives with her new architect boyfriend, works out in the basement gym of their high-rise apartment, lunches with girlfriends from the office, and —once a week, at four in the morning —runs naked and furred through a downtown Toronto ravine, ripping out the throats of her animal prey. But when a band of outlaw werewolves threatens the Stonehaven pack, Elena's feral instincts drive her back there to join the defense. What follows is a war for territory, for pride, and ultimately for Elena herself.

I'll be blunt; I LOVED this book. I loved Elena, in fact I loved all of the characters. Armstrong writes wonderfully. The emotional pull you feel is subtle. Armstrong doesn't give it to you easy, the clues are there you just have to see them. She doesn't tell you, she shows you. You feel everything Elena feels.

I must admit I'm apprehensive about the rest of these books. I don't know how this series is going to pan out; the reading order seems confused; the otherworld, women of the otherworld, short stories; are they seperate yet together? I read a short (rebirth) Which starts these books (or did it, did it start the men of the otherworld?).  It was okay, not my style but then again shorts aren't my style. So this series may take a wrong turn for me somewhere along the line but I'm willing to try. I have to try. I loved this book too much not to try. I just hope the rest are as good as this.

Rating 6/6 - It Was Amazing