Have you been Bitten lately?

I'm a huge fan of urban fantasy.  Were-creatures, vampires, magic users and gods and demons showing up and mingling in our everyday world?  What's not to love?  I can't pinpoint where my love of urban fantasy started, but I know who has fostered it: Laurell K Hamilton, Simon R Green and Mercedes Lackey are just a few that spring to mind.  Kelley Armstrong is another author who has built an amazing world using ours as her foundation.

The first book in her Women of the Otherworld series is Bitten and she's finishing off her series with the aptly titles Thirteen, the thirteenth book in the series.  In celebration of this I've decided to be a part of a reading challenge to read one book from the series per month, until I'm done.  Here's a link to the challenge for those who are curious: Otherworld Reading Challenge

I love rereading books.  Especially when it's been long enough that I can't remember everything that happens in them.  Makes things all fresh and new.  Alright, on to the review.  I'll try to keep the spoilers to a minimum, but they'll probably happen.

Things I liked: The protagonist is a strong female character who doesn't want to be protected by the hulking guys around her.  Elena's trying to live her own life and get away from the insanity of being a werewolf.  I can't say that I blame her.  This book is a very good opener to the series and Elena is a character you can root for.

Things I didn't like: I'm not a fan of some of the relationships in the book.  They take codependency to a whole new level.  Actually, that sums up pretty much everything that I don't like about the book.  The relationships were crazy making.  Oh, and at least one interesting sounding character never gets actual screen time, dying before they get the chance to come to fruition.

Overall, a fun read.  If Ms. Armstrong couldn't make her characters real, I wouldn't care about their relationships or how frustrating they are to read about.  If I didn't want to befriend Elena, I wouldn't have finished the book.  If I hadn't rooted for them to win, I wouldn't be looking forward to the next book and seeing what happens next.  If you like urban fantasy and are looking for a new series to read, I recommend starting with Bitten and seeing where it take you.

Comments

  1. UnknownApril 2, 2012 at 9:16 AM

    Great review hun! Thank you so much for taking part in the challenge!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JenApril 2, 2012 at 12:52 PM

      Thanks for sponsoring it and for stopping by! I've never taken part in a reading challenge, but couldn't resist this one. :-)

      Delete

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