Women of the Otherworld
Created | Updated Feb 17, 2013
Women of the Otherworld by Kelley Armstrong
Urban Fantasy (n): vampires/werewolves/fairies/demons/sorcerers/other r in ur world, stealin’ all ur wimin.
I read the first book of the Women of the Otherworld series, Bitten, back when I had no idea there was such a genre as urban fantasy , probably because it didn’t really exist in a coherent way back then, which would have been sometime in the very early 2000s.
Then a few years later, I found it again, read it and noticed that there seemed to be a number of other titles listed as sequels. At the time, this rather surprised me. Bitten is a story of a female werewolf, Elena, the only female werewolf in the world, coming to terms with having been turned to this animal/ human hybrid not so much against her will as without warning a number of years before. She’s been existing largely in a state of isolation from other werewolves in Toronto, but events at the beginning of the book drag her back into the pack, and into the sphere of the man who made her a werewolf years before. He thinks she’s his soul mate, will she finally agree yada yada yada, but aside from the angst there is also a decent action adventure slash mystery plot going on, and the book is surprisingly well-written.
The pack, however, is small and there are no references to any other supernatural beings so it came as quite a surprise to find that in the second book it turns out there are, in fact, a whole host of other magical races to be explored. I think in the series, this is explained by the fact that the werewolves have cut themselves off from the rest of the world for some time, and Elena, as the narrator of the first book, didn’t know anything about it what with having come into the pack late and reluctantly and all. In fact, a bit of poking around on the Internet reveals that Kelley Armstrong never really expected to be able to sell it as a series, and it was only when the market became more receptive to this kind of book that she and her publisher decided to expand on it.
So the series world building only really gets going in the second book. This isn’t much of a problem since Armstrong takes her time with that anyway, and it’s only towards the very end of what turned out to be a thirteen book series that it becomes obvious there is an over arching story line reaching its conclusion at all.
Part of the reason for this is that the series has a host of characters, many of whom get to narrate their own book or series of books. There are more werewolf books, some witch and sorcerer books, a ghost book, and stories featuring half demons and necromancers. Many of the stories have a romance element to them, with each of the main characters finding or regaining their one true love during the series, but the driving force for each book is the solving or overcoming of some supernatural related crime, mystery or disaster. There is a great variety of these. Some books are more detective stories, some are more action adventure, and the series is pretty unpredictable as a result. I rather like it – there really is not any way to predict what is coming next and the change of focus from character to character also keeps me on my toes. It even means that even if I have been a trifle under whelmed by any of the leads themselves, the fact that they are in a new setting or looking at the seemingly established world from another angle means that there is still plenty for me to amuse myself with. Plus, you know, the mystery. I like a good mystery.
Armstrong has finally finished this round of Otherworld books (she says there may be more), with a trilogy of books featuring a young adult witch, Savannah, who has grown up over the course of the series. I haven’t actually read the last one yet. Do not tell me how it all ends. There seemed to be quite a lot t resolve at the end of the last book, and I am quite enjoying spinning the ending out.
When I do finally break down and read this last one, Thirteen, it seems that Armstrong, a prolific writer, has already plunged into a new adult series, and also has another book in an existing side project I also like about an entirely unsupernatural assassin coming out soon.
Just what I like in a writer. A serious work ethic.
Anyway. I recommend this series. It’s pretty good.
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