Bitten (Women of the Otherworld, #1) in SOS: Serious Overload of Series

Oct 30, 2008 Gaijinmama rated it really liked it · review of another edition

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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Jan 28, 2010 Christina T rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: paranormal-romance, 5-stars, 2004, 1-in-the-series, canada, shelfari-favorites

The first book in the women of the otherworld and a fabulous addition to the ever growing Paranormal genre. Being the only female werewolf in existence makes Elena's life extremely hard. Fighting for independence from her pack and trying to fit in with the human world are only some of Elena's challenges.
Kelley Armstrong's writing is what Laurell K Hamilton fans miss about the more recent Anita Blake books. Armstrong does a wonderful job of introducing Elena's life and world to the readers withou ...more

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Jan 02, 2010 Samantha rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: ebook-own, 2010, group-reads

Elena is a werewolf, but all the more interesting because she's the only known female werewolf at that. She wasn't born a werewolf and Bitten follows her discovery of what it means to have lived in both worlds and the impact it's had on her human life. All this while trying to fight rouge werewolves with a nefarious plot to destroy her Pack.

Overall I would say that this was a really fun read. I liked the fact that Armstrong was able to have both Elena's inner and outer turmoil juxtaposed so wel ...more

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Aug 12, 2022 Marla rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: series, adult, romance, with-reservations, challenged, serial-killers, zz-2022, mystery, recommended-to-me, paranormal

3.5 stars.. This book had mixed reviews so I was cautious in my expectations and was not disappointed. It was good, but not great. I think my big gripe is Elena herself, she is so impulsive and illogical. Elena's disregard of anyone else's feelings or safety would be more realistic in a 14 year old. Clay also is immature, so they should be a perfect couple. Clay was a puzzle that he could be an expert in his specialty, a meticulous torturer and a skilled killer.

Likes:
* Elena is a tough chick
* P ...more

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May 01, 2011 Kaity rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, urban-fantasy, shapeshifters, owned, paranormal

The werewolf lore, community, history etc. in Bitten was really interesting and unique. There are only 35 werewolves in existence and only three of them are werewolves due to being bitten. Elena was not only bitten, but is also the only female. She abandoned the pack in an attempt of having a normal human life. Reading about Elena's struggle with being human and werewolf has probably been the best paranormal internal struggle I've read yet. Elena is raw, emotional and so believable because she i The werewolf lore, community, history etc. in Bitten was really interesting and unique. There are only 35 werewolves in existence and only three of them are werewolves due to being bitten. Elena was not only bitten, but is also the only female. She abandoned the pack in an attempt of having a normal human life. Reading about Elena's struggle with being human and werewolf has probably been the best paranormal internal struggle I've read yet. Elena is raw, emotional and so believable because she isn't perfect or pretty about it. She wants normality so desperately but it isn't possible for her and yet she can't fit in with the other werewolves either.

"I want to know why I'm here and I want to know now. If you walk out that door, I'm not going to promise you'll still find me here in the morning."
"So be it," Jeremy said, his voice so cool I shivered in the draft. "If you decide to leave, have Clay drive you to Syracuse."
"Yeah, right," I said. "I'd be more likely to get to the airport by thumbing a ride with the local psychopath."
Clay grinned. "You forget, darling. I am the local psychopath."

Wow, Armstrong created some very dynamic, intriguing, perplexing characters. Upon introducing each of them, and even for quite a long while later, I couldn't decide what to think of them. Elena is bitter and angry so learning about the pack from her perspective was a like untangling a web. I liked that the characters weren't clear cut though, it made the story have a darker feel to it and heightened my anticipation for the next sentence since I couldn't predict reactions. And then there was Elena herself. She's trying so hard to be normal, human. She's got a job, a place to live and a boyfriend. Before she decides how to act, she asks herself if a good person would do it. On the inside she's aggressive, angry, hurt. Every day is a struggle and when she's in her other skin... killing is in her nature. I loved that Elena wasn't perfect. Armstrong made Elena's thoughts and feeling so compelling that it was impossibly not to love her even with the darkness clinging to her.

This time, the weeks had turned to months, then to a year. I thought they'd figure it out, know I wasn't coming back, but maybe they hadn't, maybe they'd still been waiting, like Clay waiting all day at the front gate, confident that I'd eventually return because I always did and because I hadn't said I wouldn't. I wondered how long they would have waited.

Clay would be so unacceptable to me in real life but since this is fiction... guh! I adored him. He was absurdly stalker-ish and way too intense but his actions could all be taken as dog-like. A dog will sit and wait forever for its person to come home and its world is centered around them. Clay is an oddball like Elena. He was bitten while he was a child and because of this has lost what makes him human. He's intelligent but acts only on instinct. I definitely prefer judging his actions on wolf standards than against human ones because they're much sweeter that way.

I was extremely conflicted about the last quarter of Bitten. It didn't sit well with me how Elena treated Clay or Philip. I don't want to spoil anything but let's just say that three's a crowd. But at the same time the storyline of the book was at it's highest peak and WOW. It was intense, perfectly executed, compelling, quite the adrenaline rush. I thought the plot was well done throughout the whole novel but the ending was out of this world.

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