I was just wondering what people thought of the Women of the Underworld series by Kelley Armstrong. I haven't read them yet, and I was just wondering if people recommend them or not.

I definately recommend them. Armstrong's series is one of my favorites. With great characters, adventurous plots, and hot sex scenes I think Women of the Underworld is a must read for urban fantasy/paranormal romance fans.

I've only read Bitten, but I liked that one. It's good reunion romance (Clay is very, ahem, insistent, LOL) and there's definitely action chasing down a murderer.

Personally, I love the wolf books that focus on Elena, Clay, and Jeremy, but find some of the other books less appealing. The wolfy books (so far) are Bitten, Stolen, and Broken. "Bitten" is the first book in the series.

I love the wolf books as well. I was just going to skip the witchy stuff and continue with Clay and Elena's story. Stolen was a little tedious since it wasn't focused on Clay and Elena and the whole captivity thing just dragged on.

I have also read the wolf books, Bitten, Stolen and Broken. I really enjoyed them, and I love Clay! I agree with Jael, and think Stolen was tedious. I liked the other two more.

I have yet to read the others in her series, but I will eventually

I haven't read any KA yet, but I'll get around to them eventually...

I like Jaime, the necromancer. But Paige seems young and naive to me, and I'm in the mood for strong confident heroines.

It seems like they are definelty worth giving a try! Thanks for the advice! One quick question, several people have mentioned just reading some of them. Does that mean that they don't have to be read in order?

The series starts out like a traditional urban fantasy series, where one person is going to be the point of view character. That's Elena. With the third book, she switches the POV character to Paige. The fifth books she switches again. And so on and so forth.

So, I'd want to read the Elena books in order, and/or the Paige books in order, but I can see skipping the books with a different POV character if you don't like their story.

In other words, I'd read in order, potentially skipping books. But I wouldn't just pick up the books randomly.

I've got and idea for you. If you want to see if you'll like her books, check out her website. She has quite a few short stories that you can read - you'll know by those if you'll like her novels or not. The same characters pop up, so you're not lost. www.kelleyarmstrong.com/

I'm a huge stickler for reading series in order. But I don't understand, mlady, how you can understand what's happening in the next book if you didn't read the previous? I've never thought of doing that.

i found the series (what i've read so far) is definitely worth reading.
i think that in some parts of the series you might get lost if you didn't read in order. like with character development. but i guess that if you wanted to you could, just those parts you might want to reread after reading the ones you skipped.

I have enjoyed the ones that I've read. I need to buy more. LOL

-Joe-

Not bad for a Canadian author, eh? LOL! She lives in rural Ontario, which would put her anywhere from 7 to 10 hours away from me.

She also started another series, Nadia Stafford. I enjoyed the first book very much. The second will be out April '09. Can't wait! Nadia is an ex-cop turned hired assassin.

But I don't understand, mlady, how you can understand what's happening in the next book if you didn't read the previous? I've never thought of doing that.

So far I've read all but "Haunted", which I abandoned half way through. (And I haven't picked up the latest book.) But I don't think Paige's books were very good. I think I could have dropped them without missing anything.

Normally, I'm big on reading order, but these books aren't like normal urban fantasy. They don't focus on the same characters. If all I care about is what is happening in Elena's world, why should detail's of Paige's life make any difference?

To me, it's like they should be separate series, even if they are set in the same universe. *thinks* Like the Star Trek series. Just because I followed "The Next Generation" didn't mean I had to follow "Deep Space Nine".

I don't know. Maybe I'm souring on the series, in general. I just know I would recommend any of Elena's books (especially "Bitten"), but I wouldn't necessarily single out any of the other books.

mlady_rebecca - I have all of the books WOTOW in my to-be-read-pile right now. Can you tell me which books are about who in reading order please.

I agree on the reading order. I read all of Elena's books first, and then I read Haunted. I haven't gotten to Paige's books, but I will eventually

The books are:

1) Bitten - Elena (werewolf)
2) Stolen - Elena
3) Dime Store Magic - Paige (witch)
4) Industrial Magic - Paige
5) Haunted - Eve (witch, who is now a ghost)
6) Broken - Elena
7) No Humans Involved - Jaime (necromancer)
8) Personal Demon - Hope (half-demon)

By the way, I was looking at the author's official website, and she chimes in here on the idea of skipping books and why she changes narrators so often.

I happen to like all of them - and read them as they're released since some of the previous characters show up or are referenced in each.

The author has also started a YA series - the first book being The Awakening. I thoroughly enjoyed it even though it was YA, and she incorporates her "otherworld" into the story. I'm looking forward to the next installment.

I hope the author decides to write another book about Elena. I"m curious to see how her and Clay's story continues

Diana, actually the first in Armstrong's YA series The Darkest Powers is "The Summoning." "The Awakening" is book 2. I'm looking forward to seeing how her new series continues too.

I've read them all in order -- it's one of my favorite series -- and I highly recommend them. (I actually just finished Living with the Dead yesterday.) I'm looking forward to Men of the Otherworld in January, and then Frostbitten in July.

I just requested the first Nadia Stafford from the library, and had a request in for the first one in Darkest Powers until I saw it was YA. I was wondering if it might be good just the same -- and from Diana and Joseph's comments, I'm thinking it might be and it'll go back on the request list!

(Hi all -- I'm new to Goodreads and just joined this group tonight.)

So, I haven't been reading the books in order, and although I haven't been lost, I am really wondering about a few things (like when did Jaime show up and how did you get involved with the pack). So, I think that I need to go back and read the ones that I skipped. So far I've read Bitten, Stolen, Broken and No Humans Involved.

I agree that I would love to see more of Elena and Clay. Also, I would love to see Nick in a relationship. I really like him. He kinda gets pushed to the background and is just the best friend, but I think that it would be interesting to see him as a main character.

Bonnie - First off, welcome to goodreads! It's addictive, and you will find that you read more books than ever before because you always hear about more and more great books! I love it! Second, question about those two books that you mentioned (Men of the Otherworld and Frostbitten). Are both of those going to be in the same series and do you know who the main characters are? I have just barely gotten into this series so maybe that's a stupid question.

Ok, never mind, I answered my own question. Jess, Frostbitten is about Clay and Elena. But I read that it comes out in Nov '09

I think Men of the Otherworld is Clay's story - pre-Elena or maybe up to when he meets Elena.

SPOILERS for BROKEN

Kelley Anne - that's awesome to hear. I am glad she's continuing the series, I want to know if the girl is a werewolf or not!!!

I kind of want to see Jeremy put into a relationship. He's so alone!

I want to read the story about Clay. I have to look into getting that book, thanks for the tip Diana

(SORT OF A SPOILER RE: Jeremy)

Thanks Kelley Anne!

Yes, Frostbitten is Clay & Elena -- sorry about the wrong date (Goodreads has it as July, but Kelley Armstrong's website says November, as you noted).

Men of the Otherworld (February per KA's website -- not January as Goodreads has it) is an anthology -- looks like starting with Clay's introduction to the Pack. KA's website says it will include "Infusion, Savage, Ascension and a new story narrated by Jeremy."

Jess -- As for Jeremy in a relationship...maybe you want to read all the books.... :)

hmmm... intriguing Bonnie. maybe I will read all the books :)

:) If you're not up for reading all of them, you might want to check out No Humans Involved sometime. No particular reason. I'm just sayin' you might want to check it out is all. ;)

lol, I am really reading these in a VERY convoluted order! #1, #2, #6, #7, and now I just started #4. I am usually really pretty good with always reading a series in order. lol, I'm kinda confusing myself!

And Jess, read No Humans Involved, you'll like it! :)

Okay - my next book once I finish the.... 11 books waiting for me right now, I will be reading No humans involved. thanks guys!!!

I agree with Bonnie and Kelley Anne - No Humans Involved... you'll like!

I found Bitten to be way too slow for my taste. It actually turned me off on the whole series for a while until my sister told me that the others are a whole lot better then the first.

I'm interested in the Men of the Otherworld book that is coming out in Feb. I think it's going to be about Clay

I'm torn because I loved Bitten and Stolen, so I went out and bought several more books in the series. I'm usually really big on reading them in order, but I find I just want more Clay and Elena, so I'm tempted to skip ahead. =/

The books are sort of seperate. I read the books about just Clay and Elena first and then I read some of the others. I had no trouble understanding what was going on. I think you could skip ahead to Broken and be okay

I like the creativity of this series, but I had a horrible time making it through the first book and truely couldn't read more than a few chapters of the second book because of the extremely cruel violence. The online stories were all lighter and I enjoyed them, but are any of the books happy stories? (Or at least not sadistic ones?)I love the characters, just not all the horrors they are exposed to.

IMO all of her books are somewhat the same yet a little different I think she tends to write according to the main character. Elena and Clay are totally my favorite but reading Bitten is different then reading No Humans Involved I think because she tries to draw you into the main characters POV.

Anita I would not say any of the stories are "happy" stories I think they all have a dark edge but I like to watch how these women grow. Sorry is this is not helpful