Bitten (Otherworld, #1) in Challenge Overload (PNR and UF Edition)

Oct 30, 2008 Gaijinmama rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction

#41 Bitten by Kelley Armstrong
rating 4 of 5
436 pp

This is the literary equivalent of eating potato chips. Not terribly filling or nutritious but lots of fun, and it sure is hard to stop once you get started. I have already read the author's third and fourth books, Dime Store Magic and Industrial Magic and I have to say I wish I'd started here, at the beginning.
Note to self: read a series in order! Regardless of when you manage to pick them up at the used bookstore, forbear until you can begin at #41 Bitten by Kelley Armstrong
rating 4 of 5
436 pp

This is the literary equivalent of eating potato chips. Not terribly filling or nutritious but lots of fun, and it sure is hard to stop once you get started. I have already read the author's third and fourth books, Dime Store Magic and Industrial Magic and I have to say I wish I'd started here, at the beginning.
Note to self: read a series in order! Regardless of when you manage to pick them up at the used bookstore, forbear until you can begin at the beginning, otherwise you're just plain missing out.

Bitten is pretty unique. There are quite a few books out there with strong, female Witches or demon-fighters or vampire slayers as protagonists, but not many where the heroine is a bonafide werewolf. Actually, Elena is more of an antihero. She's not really a very nice person; that's why I like her! She's funny, grumpy, sarcastic, and has very little compunction about ripping up a rapist or pedophile. She also gets to engage in a couple of pretty hot love scenes (in human form, don't worry). Neither these parts nor the violence are overly graphic. I'd say this series would be OK for a 14 or 15 year old, since they see much worse than this on TV, but parents please use your own discretion with your own kids!
I think what I like best about this book is that Armstrong's take on werewolves is pretty sensible. Their need to Change is a biological function that is either genetic or contracted by being bitten. As one character puts it, it's "about as much fun as having a bowel movement." Well, he doesn't actually say "bowel movement," the vocabulary is definitely PG-13.
No need for silver bullets, either. Armstrong's werewolves can be killed in any manner that would kill any other living creature, including knives, regular bullets, or being run over by a truck. They don't magically return to human form after death, either. A dead werewolf is just roadkill. And human predators (see aforementioned rapists and pedophiles) are far scarier than anything the supernatural can produce.

All in all, a highly entertaining read. I'm in the mood to open another bag of chips and start right in on Stolen, the next book in the series.
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Jul 20, 2009 Natasha added it

Bitten is the first installment in the supernatural women series called Woman of the Otherworld by Kelly Armstrong.
Let me start off by saying I love this series. The moment I started reading this I knew I'd be hooked. I love the way Kelly Armstrong writes and her characters are intriguing and fun to read. Her plots are well written and well-paced.
Elena leads a double life, she has a job as a journalist, has a regular boyfriend but beneath this she's the only female werewolf to exist, turned by Bitten is the first installment in the supernatural women series called Woman of the Otherworld by Kelly Armstrong.
Let me start off by saying I love this series. The moment I started reading this I knew I'd be hooked. I love the way Kelly Armstrong writes and her characters are intriguing and fun to read. Her plots are well written and well-paced.
Elena leads a double life, she has a job as a journalist, has a regular boyfriend but beneath this she's the only female werewolf to exist, turned by a previous lover Clayton's bite. The werewolf gene is male with only the females converting by being bitten and almost all die from the Change. Elena does join Clayton's pack in the remote Stonehaven, New York for awhile but decides she wants a more human life, so she moves to Toronto, Canada. (And meets human boyfriend.)
Elena's boyfriend doesn't know she's a werewolf and she finds it really hard to be herself when she lives in an apartment with him in Toronto and has to sneak out at night when she needs to make the change. Not to mention he doesn't like the fact that she's changing in a city when her heart is in the woods of the country. City's just aren't made for werewolfs.
Elena is a strong individual who is used to doing things herself. Shes written in the third person, but I love the change from third person to first when reading from werewolf perspective.

Amazon.co.uk Review
Elena, heroine of Kelley Armstrong's impressive debut thriller Bitten, never planned that a casual sexual encounter would transform her into a werewolf. Neither did Clay, her lover and one of the leaders of the exclusive werewolf clique known as the Pack; women do not generally change or survive if they do. Elena's considerable reservations about her new life come to a head and she walks out on the Pack to return to something like normality, finding herself a boyfriend who turns a blind eye to her occasional disappearances in the middle of the night. She may have done with the infighting of werewolves, but they have not done with her; her former family call her back when they find themselves under threat from those they have excluded and dominated. Kelley Armstrong is very good on the sheer exhilaration of shape-changing, of running on four feet through forests, suburban greenery and urban back alleys; if there is a weakness here, it is that Elena's relationship with the taciturn, untrustworthy Clay is sometimes a little too conventionally romantic--but the dark poetry of the best of the book overcomes this entirely.

Stolen is the next book in the series and it follows the story of Elena the werewolf again which I loved! The third story is Dime Store Magic and it follows the story of Paige Winterbourne, a witch. (but some fo the characters from the previous stories make appearances.
Broken which is book 6 follows Elena again and also book 12 Frostbitten follows Elena!
It's a great series, each woman's story is a great interesting read. I recommend this series, especially to supernatural and shapeshifter lovers!

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Feb 28, 2010 Nairabell rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: urban-fantasy, 5-star, read-in-2011, read-in-2012

Elena Michaels has a devoted boyfriend, interesting job and cute apartment but she still sneaks out at night to preserve her darkest secret. Elena is a werewolf, the only female one in the world. Betrayed by someone she trusted and turned against her will, Elena has now broken away from her Pack and is trying to live as normal a life as possible. But when the Pack contact her in need of her help, Elena is faced with a choice - stay away or return to help the only family she's ever known?

This wa Elena Michaels has a devoted boyfriend, interesting job and cute apartment but she still sneaks out at night to preserve her darkest secret. Elena is a werewolf, the only female one in the world. Betrayed by someone she trusted and turned against her will, Elena has now broken away from her Pack and is trying to live as normal a life as possible. But when the Pack contact her in need of her help, Elena is faced with a choice - stay away or return to help the only family she's ever known?

This was the first urban fantasy series I ever read, and remains to this day one of my favourites. The plot is brilliantly written and full of intricate twists and turns. The books starts out setting up the idea of the civilised pack werewolves and the uncontrolled mutts who give in to their more animalistic desires. Then the plot thickens and things become more complicated. I liked how the author made it feel as if no character was truly safe, and several scenes caught me completely by surprise.

All of the characters are given an incredible depth of backstory, both as individuals and as a group, and the author manages to avoid info-dumping the reader. I really liked how the author distinguished the werewolves as different to humans, whilst still showing that certain groups within any society will still act in twisted depraved ways.

Elena is a great narrator and her struggle for a normal life is really well written and believable. Clayton is really well written as the quasi-romantic interest. His relationship with Elena is tempestuous at best and it is really fun to read. The other pack members are equally well written, from the calm controlled Alpha Jeremy to the fun-loving flirt Nick. I loved how the bonds between the pack members where shown, translating the concept of a wolf pack into slightly more human tones while still remaining distinct.

The book builds the tension throughout and leads up to an action packed showdown. Had the book ended after the showdown I probably would have been happy, but the author continues the story on showing the consequences and letting Elena choose her own path.

All in all this was an awesome read, and I can't wait to get stuck into Stolen.

Plot: 10/10
Characters: 9/10
Ending: 10/10
Enjoyment: 10/10
Cover: 10/10

Overall: 49/50 ...more

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May 10, 2009 DarkHeart "Vehngeance" rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobooks, 2010

I really enjoyed the narrator. She did a good job on the different voices, even if it did reinforce the fact that Clay has a southern accent (he never does in my head). ;)

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Sep 10, 2010 RockStar PH rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy

I like this book alot due to the fact that not only was there a good storyline but it wasn't clouded with too much romance. I miss strictly paranormal books, what with all the hype over paranormal romance following the "Twilight" phenom. Very well written and a very engaging read. ...more

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