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No longer available online - now in the anthology, Men of the Otherworld


Savage is about Jeremy Danvers finding Clay.

174 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 2004

4 people are currently reading
1714 people want to read

About the author

Kelley Armstrong

302 books33.5k followers
Kelley Armstrong has been telling stories since before she could write. Her earliest written efforts were disastrous. If asked for a story about girls and dolls, hers would invariably feature undead girls and evil dolls, much to her teachers' dismay. All efforts to make her produce "normal" stories failed.

Today, she continues to spin tales of ghosts and demons and werewolves, while safely locked away in her basement writing dungeon. She's the author of the NYT-bestselling "Women of the Otherworld" paranormal suspense series and "Darkest Powers" young adult urban fantasy trilogy, as well as the Nadia Stafford crime series. Armstrong lives in southwestern Ontario with her husband, kids and far too many pets.

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews
Profile Image for Jessica ❁ ➳ Silverbow ➳ ❁ .
1,293 reviews9,002 followers
March 30, 2022
4.5 stars

So here's the deal: I'm not a dog person. I'm a cat person. No offense to dog people, I just find dogs too high maintenance, with the walking and the grooming, and the lack of anything resembling a litter box . . . If you want to think me a snotty cat person, then go ahead. You might even be right.

BUT. As long as they don't drool on me, I do like big dogs.

My younger middle sister finished her undergraduate degree a few weeks ago, and while we were up there, we met one of her neighbors who had an Old English Sheepdog--I bloody loved it. My dad has always had a black lab for the last twenty years, and I've loved them, too. And every single time they kill another dire wolf on GoT, I die a litt bit inside.

The point of telling you all of this is that many of the best parts in SAVAGE, in any of the OTHERWORLD stories and novels, really, are the parts when the Pack are in wolf form, chasing each other around at Stonehaven, playing like overlarge puppies, and tricking each other into doing hilariously ridiculous things:

He released my neck and turned, as if to run, presenting me with his flank. I shouldn’t have fallen for it. Only the most incompetent wolf would turn from his opponent like that. I was young, though, young and hopeful.
When Jeremy turned, I scrambled up and dove at his flank. At the last second, he dropped to the ground and I flew over his back and pitched muzzle-first into the ground. While I lay there, sulking with a noseful of dirt . . .

In SAVAGE, Clayton Danvers is a wolf pup for a significant portion of the novella. Even when he's in human form, he's more pup than human, b/c alone in the Louisiana bayou for who knows how long during and after the change.

Watching Jeremy patiently and determinedly win Clay's trust, realizing that Jeremy wasn't much more than a kid himself when he took on the responsibility of a feral child werewolf, and seeing him stand up to Malcolm for the first time, to protect Clay, is . . . profound in the way that can only be experienced through brilliantly brought to life characters.

Then there's the feral child himself:

The car ride itself was uneventful. I clung to the door handle, closed my eyes, screamed now and then, but only sent Jeremy swerving into opposing traffic once.

Just the once. *giggle snorts*

At the time, it seemed to me that Jeremy was spending a lot of time with a piece of plastic pressed against his ear, talking to himself. Which was fine by me. We all have our eccentricities. Jeremy liked talking to plastic; I liked hunting and eating the rats that ventured into the motel room. Or, at least I did like hunting and eating the rats, until Jeremy caught me and promptly kiboshed that hobby. Some of us are less tolerant of eccentricities than others.

The "piece of plastic" obviously being a phone.

Jeremy and I were in the backyard replacing a section of stone wall that had crumbled over the winter. Actually, Jeremy wasn’t so much fixing it with me as in spite of me. I’d already knocked two stones out of the fresh mortar, one of which had landed on Jeremy’s foot. But I wanted to help, and enthusiasm always overruled ability with Jeremy.

Being inside Clay's head as he slowly, begrudgingly allows himself to be turned back into something resembling a human is at times eye-opening, while also consistently being hilarious.

But as much as I enjoyed the hilarity, it's the deeper understanding of Clay and Jeremy, both as individuals and as a family unit, that makes me so highly recommend reading SAVAGE to any fan of the OTHERWORLD.
Profile Image for Faye.
459 reviews47 followers
April 13, 2022
First read: Jan 2009 (in Men of the Otherworld anthology)
Re-read: April 2022
Rating: 5/5 stars

Story #3 in my chronological re-read of the Women of the Otherworld series.

Savage is the longest story so far and jumps forward twenty-one years from the previous novella (Infusion). It focuses on Clayton, detailing his journey into becoming a werewolf, how he found himself under the care of Jeremy and how he found his place in the pack.

The story opens in Baton Rouge in 1967, where young Clay is holidaying with his parents and older brothers. In this era of freedom, his parents and the others on their campsite aren’t worried about keeping the kids close by; as long as they come home at bedtime they are allowed to roam without adult supervision. There are hints of something darker going on in his home life; Clay’s older brothers read horror stories to him, and he identified with the monsters, because the monsters were powerful and he was not, especially when his parents were drunk and fighting. It is also strongly implied that his parents were physically violent with him too.

I love the fact that Clay’s strong, wild spirit is so present, even before he was turned. Instead of being terrified when he meets an actual werewolf, he asks to be bitten. The werewolf does as he asks but was clearly not planning on letting him live. Through sheer luck and the intervention of some passers-by, Clay escapes and ends up living a feral life out in the wilderness.

While his first encounter with the pack is a bad one , things improve once he meets Jeremy. Clay’s interactions with Jeremy are incredibly sweet and funny; Jeremy is so patient with him, the polar opposite of his father. Clay soon develops a hero worship of Jeremy, while at the same time understanding that Malcolm is a cruel, lazy, coward. .

The rest of the novella deals with the day-to-day issues in pack life, the dynamics of pack politics, issues with mutts, Clay’s continuing education and socialisation. It is also here that the foundations are laid for events that happen twenty-five years later between Clay, Nick Sorrentino and Daniel Santos.

I really enjoyed Savage - as the length of this review attests! I am looking forward to the next re-read, which will be Ascension.

General trivia:
- Clay was bitten when he had two weeks left at the campsite before the end of summer in 1967 on a Saturday night. In America, the end of summer is 1st September, which means, looking back at a 1967 calendar, the date Clay was changed was Saturday 19th August 1967.
- Things Clay ate before Jeremy found him: roadkill, mice, sparrows and other birds, trash from bins and dumpsters (which included half-eaten hamburgers), rats and, when he was desperate, a dead homeless man (not killed by him). He also tried – and failed – to hunt down a cat.
- When in wolf form, Clay has yellow fur. In human form he weighs forty pounds and has blonde, curly hair and blue eyes.
- According to Clay, Malcom and Jeremy have dark hair and look very similar, but Jeremy is taller and less muscular. In wolf form, Jeremy is tall and rangy with black fur.
- Jeremy didn’t find Clay until January 15th 1969, meaning Clay survived on his own for over two years.
- Jeremy gives Clay a new birth date of January 15th 1962, meaning he was around five and a half years old when bitten, and seven years old when Jeremy found him.
- Jeremy’s full name is Jeremy Malcolm Edward Danvers.
- The address of Stonehaven is 13876 Wilton Grove Lane, near Bear Valley, New York
- Jeremy’s birthday is in January, he turned 22 in 1969, he enjoys archery and works as a translator
- Werewolves are not tied to the moon for their shifts but they need to shift around once per week in order to keep control of their changes.
- Clay was the first and only child werewolf that could change before puberty because he was bitten, and not born, a werewolf.
- Jeremy home-schooled Clay after one disastrous term in school
- Members of the Pack in 1969: Dominic (alpha), his sons Gregory and Antonio (24), Gregory’s son Jorge (18), Antonio’s son Nick, brothers Wally and Raymond Santos, Raymond’s sons Stephen (16), Andrew (13) and Daniel (7), Ross Werner, Cliff Ward, Peter Myers, Dennis Stillwell, and Dennis’ son Joey (12). Dominic’s other son Benedict left the pack to live in Europe.
- Peter Myers left the pack around 1970 aged 20
Profile Image for Maud.
771 reviews190 followers
February 1, 2018
This was the perfect short story. It had a good size and the content was so interesting! Ever since Bitten I have wondered how Clayton and Jeremy met and how Clayton grew up at Stonehaven. This short story answers that question. There are plenty of funny scenes but what is even better is that we get to know Clayton and Jeremy a whole lot better and maybe even Nick and Antonio a bit too!
65 reviews22 followers
December 11, 2011
Savage tells the story of Clay, when he was bitten as a child and then rescued and adopted by Jeremy. I enjoyed reading more about Clay's history and it kind of explains why his wolf is stronger and takes over so many aspects of his life...
Profile Image for Pam Nelson.
3,800 reviews124 followers
January 24, 2019
Savage – I LOVED, this was Clay as a young boy getting bit how he survives and how Jeremy finds him and teaches him.
It’s entertaining and sad because he had so much “human” things to learn and adapt to. I don’t think anyone realizes how hard that was for him.
You understand Clayton more after this story.
LOVED!
Profile Image for Charles.
652 reviews62 followers
January 16, 2024
16.01.24
> The nutria or coypu (Myocastor coypus) is a large, herbivorous, semiaquatic rodent from South America. Classified for a long time as the only member of the family Myocastoridae, Myocastor is now included within Echimyidae, the family of the spiny rats. The nutria lives in burrows alongside stretches of water and feeds on river plant stems. Originally native to subtropical and temperate South America, it has since been introduced to North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa, primarily by fur farmers. Although it is still hunted and trapped for its fur in some regions, its destructive burrowing and feeding habits often bring it into conflict with humans, and it is considered an invasive species. Nutria also transmit various diseases to humans and animals, mainly through water contamination.

I kinda assume she's referencing the savage of Aveyron here?

3.03.22 This is all covered in short in Bitten, pretty much, it's just an expansion. There aren't really any new ideas except for fleshing out the relationships between Malcolm and Jeremy and Jeremy and Clay, which are worthy topics, but still, it would have had a lot more impact if there were new subjects being dealt with. If the mentions had been cut from Bitten, or even just the effects noted then this would have been really good.
Profile Image for Siobhan.
5,034 reviews598 followers
May 14, 2016
This is a great story for fans of the Otherworld series.

Savage tells the story of Jeremy finding Clay – and any lover of the characters will thoroughly enjoy what takes place throughout this story. Honestly, I could say so much, but it all boils down to the same thing: if you enjoy the Otherworld series then this short story is more than worth reading.
Profile Image for sandra.
677 reviews
June 28, 2020
Esta historia ayuda a conocer y comprender muchísimo mejor a Clay. Explica muchas cosas de su comportamiento en general. Su trato con el mundo, con las personas a su alrededor, con Jeremy. Pobre niño, todo lo que ya ha pasado con solo ocho años... ay, Clay... Ahora quiero leer más de él, y también de él con Elena. Ahora entiendo muchas cosas de él, su comportamiento y actitud, la verdad. Se ha criado como un lobo, sin poder controlar los cambios, sobreviviendo como puede gracias a sus instintos. Se ha alejado tanto de su parte humana y ha pasado tanto tiempo siendo un lobo, que mira al mundo desde un prisma diferente. Me ha inspirado mucha ternura. Casi que me dan ganas de releer Jauría e incluso Stolen... y eso que solo hace un par de meses que los leí.
Profile Image for Theresa.
4,118 reviews16 followers
December 9, 2017
Clayton’s story from his changing, his spiral down into being a feral wolf. Then how Jeremy finds, rescues and brings him back to the pack. Jeremy has one year to civilize Clayton to not be threat to the pack’s secrecy. The process of doing this is a fascinating lesson in the growth of child and inner workings of social dynamics.

This is a really complex, heartbreaking and heartwarming tale of survival. Jeremy’s patience is boundless. The description of the life of a feral were wonderfully detailed but parts of the retraining were obviously sped up for the story’s sake. I both felt badly and proud of how Clayton handles his new life and cried for Jeremy.

Fave scenes: sleeping in the doorway, meeting Nick, the Guinea pig and the elevator.
Profile Image for Tamara Van dishoeck.
1,356 reviews5 followers
April 14, 2019
ik ben dol op de tv-serie Bitten en heb de boeken gebeten en gevangen gelezen en daar hoor je wel iets over dat Jeremy Clayton als kind vond nadat hij gebeten was en hem mee nam naar Stonehaven. dit boek vertelt het verhaal over hoe Clayton gebeten werd en hoe hij Jeremy leerde kennen en met hem mee ging naar Stonehaven. maar ook Nick en zijn vader en opa komen er in voor net als Malcolm de vader van Jeremy. leuk boekje en je leert ze een stukje beter kennen.
Profile Image for Heather.
2,764 reviews19 followers
September 23, 2021
Savage is about Jeremy Danvers finding Clay

Heather's Notes
This book is quite a bit more than just Jeremy finding Clay. It is about how Clay got turned into a werewolf, his early life, how Jeremy found Clay, and then about Jeremy and Clays early life together. It was nice to see how it all started for Clay.
Profile Image for Girlgeorge.
713 reviews
June 16, 2023
This novella about young Clay and Jeremy was simply amazing. The details and depth of the story told in such a short time were incredible. I’m more in love with both of them now than I ever was before.

From Men of the Otherworld
Profile Image for Juhi C..
4 reviews2 followers
May 20, 2018
This really made me come to love Clay. I loved the tone of this book. Found myself smiling and/laughing several times. :)
Profile Image for Claire.
210 reviews9 followers
October 21, 2024
1) This is now in the bundle of novellas Men of the Otherworld
2) Highly advise reading at least Bitten first, even if Savage happens chronologically before the events of Bitten, as it's interesting to meet adult Clay first, then go back to Savage and also experience the stories that are told about him in Bitten.

I seriously didn't think I'd be so into it. I mean I've so far read 5-6 of the novellas in this universe and most were good because I liked the world and characters, but this one was amazing! We find Clayton as a child, we see how and why he is Bitten, how he comes to meet Jeremy and how Jeremy slowly and carefully rescues Clay. Clay is a literal child who can no longer really make the difference between his human and his wolf form, and once you've read Bitten, you know what this means for him, you know what being a mutt that cannot control itself mean. The story covers everything in such captivating manner, especially the process in which Jeremy approaches Clay both as if he was taming a wild dog and as someone who is trying to provide for a child. The novella cements strongly why Clay is so entirely devoted to Jeremy, but also why he is the way he is portrayed in Bitten. It even shows incredibly fun and cute moments with Antonio (I loved Antonio already but he is hilarious in this one), and Nick (as it turns out some of the stories we hear of in Bitten are partially the fault of Nick. And their dynamic, despite the fact that much of it is due to Clay's wild nature, is very sincerely childlike and I loved it so much).
Jeremy is so kind and he is such a wonderful altruistic character, I loved him, this story also shows how their temperaments work weirdly well together.

Also, for anyone who read Bitten and was wondering, the guinea pig story was accurately described by Clay.

If you liked Bitten, and you liked Clay, I guarantee you won't regret reading Savage.
Profile Image for Kirsten.
276 reviews17 followers
June 28, 2013
Review from the perspective of not having read the main series - the novels - but reading from the beginning of the short stories that predate the first novel of the series

Savage is the story of Clayton (Clay) from when he first volunteers to be bitten to become a werewolf It continues to a period of his life where his human side is nearly completely forgotten as he lives in a Bayou away from civilization. It then continues on to what happens when he is discovered by a member of The Pack and then later adopted by another member of The Pack and taught to essentially be human again.



I enjoyed the way Kelley wrote this story so we got the sense of Clayton's primative nature and thoughts but narrated by an older form of himself which reflected with more recent understanding of those past events.
Profile Image for Kristine (The Writer's Inkwell).
515 reviews12 followers
September 30, 2015
This is by far one of my favorite, if not the favorite short story from the Women of the Otherworld series. When it comes to origin stories, too often authors are afraid to go into detail or to spend an adequate amount of time actually making it a story. Most just use it in passing, but for Kelley Armstrong, it's clear how much she truly loves not only Clayton Danvers, but the North American werewolf Pack. Because to call this a short story, would seem a bit ridiculous considering it's one-hundred and seventy-three pages long. It borders on being a book all to itself and it's a fantastic read.

Taking place a few decades after Infusion, this story is about not only about Clay being bitten, but how he came to be a vital member of the Pack. It also helps to further show the strained relationship between Jeremy and his domineering father, Malcolm, who uses Clay as a pseudo-son and a pawn to control his disappointing son.

If you have never read any of the books in this series, this is the short story I would suggest you start off with. This short story helped me to love more than just the Pack I knew from the series, but the history that came with it. Sure, Malcolm is an ass, but he's no match for Jeremy's calm demeanor and Clayton's intelligence and cunning ability to manipulate everyone to fear him.

If you are looking for something short to read... this isn't a short short story. But it's definitely a page turner that you will love if you are like me and like worlds built around the supernatural.
Profile Image for Kat Klein.
989 reviews25 followers
March 12, 2019
This is Clayton's backstory, from childhood. Having spent the first 6 years of his life in a situation of child abuse and neglect, when he comes across a 'monster' in the woods, he asks to be bitten. Granted, no mutt is going to purposely turn a 6 year old child but thru luck and overconfidence Clay managed to escape into the Bayou, surviving by shifting without control between wolf pup and human.

When Malcolm Danvers comes across him and relays his story back to the Pack, Clay's life was again in danger. However Jeremy Danvers realizes the risk that a child werewolf poses to werewolves everywhere. He heads to the Bayou and 'tames' Clay, finally bringing him into the Pack.

Clay and Elena are a couple of my favorite characters, and so are Jeremy and Jaime, so getting backstory on both Clay and Jeremy makes this well worth the read
September 27, 2012
I didn't realize at first the age of Clay. But this story, it was about a young boy who asks to get bitten by an old man when he finds out that he can turn into a wolf.

Years pass and the boy, now savage as it denies his human self, changing back and forth into a wolf or a human boy, finds himself back to the place he was bitten. Jeremy is another werewolf who tries to lure him back into civilization.

It was a really weird story and it made me think about the domestication of the different animals back in history.
Profile Image for Michelle Tempted By Books.
1,718 reviews27 followers
August 26, 2012
The story of how Jeremy found and raised Clayton as his own. I thoroughly enjoyed this story. I gained an in depth understanding of how Clayton's mind works. I also saw Jeremy in a less overbearing light. Well I guess I saw him as more of a mother than anything else. I laughed quite a bit while at the same time I found some parts evoking other emotions. Overall its an excellent story, a must read.
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