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107 of 111 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A WOW(!) Of A Read!, November 1, 2004
A friend had been urging me for months to read Kelley Armstrong's "Bitten," the first book in the "Women of the Otherworld" series. She told me that the novel was well written and unusual, with a fresh take on the same old werewolf/shapeshifter tale. So I finally got around to reading the book and all I have to say is "WOW!" I can't think of one negative comment to make, not that I'd want to. I only have praise for this terrific read and for the author. The plot is excellent; the dialogue is at times serious, at others very funny, filled with dark humor. And it's all very believable - if you believe in werewolves, of course.
Elena Michaels is a young, attractive, athletic journalist who lives in Toronto, Canada with her older lover, Philip, an architect. He is very serious about her and wants to marry her. Elena thinks she might care for him enough to marry him, except for one problem. Elena is a werewolf. As a matter of fact she is the only female werewolf...in the entire world. The werewolf gene has always been passed down from father to son - never to daughter. Almost all females bitten by werewolves have died before their bodies could adapt to the change. Elena's body adapted, which is more than can be said about her mind. She almost lost it for an entire year after her transformation. Then she finally accepted her fate. But she couldn't accept the betrayal, the bite, that made her other than human.
Ms. Armstrong's werewolves live in packs. They do not kill human beings. Those who choose the life of a loner, eschewing the pack, are called mutts. They are not to be trusted because they can become very violent, unpredictable, and sometimes kill people, just for the love of the kill. Therefore a special pack, the one Elena belonged to, tracks and monitors the mutts, worldwide.
Elena left her pack over a year before and is trying to make it on her own in the big city. However, the wild still calls to her and exerts a powerful pull. When a serious problem arises, Elena is called home to her pack's large forest estate in upstate New York, to assist them in their need. Then the real adventures, struggles and romance begin.
Ms. Armstrong's characters are marvelous. Elena is a feminist and holds her own among the males. She gives as good as she gets. She is sassy, cynical, realistic, good in combat, but inside she's about as tough as a marshmallow. The other characters are every bit as strong and complex. Their lives and histories unfold as you read. And there's a wonderful sense of comaraderie and caring among the pack. After you finish the book, you will care about them too. I have already ordered the next two books in the series: "Stolen" and "Dime Store Magic." This is a real find! Very highly recommended!
JANA
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70 of 74 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Terrific debut novel!, January 1, 2002
This review is from: Bitten (Women of the Otherworld, Book 1) (Hardcover)
Bitten is a terrific debut novel, and a great werewolf tale that sucks you in and keeps your attention. I'm a fan of Laurell K Hamilton, but Bitten gave me a new appreciation for the limitations of the lycanthrope portrayals in the Anita Blake series. Perhaps it's to be expected, since so many creatures and monsters exist in Anita's world, no one group can be fully developed and explored. One of my difficulties with Anita's tales is that it's hard to focus sometimes. She careens from one problem to the next so quickly you barely have time to assimilate the differences between the monstrous groups she's dealing with. That problem doesn't exist in Bitten. To the contrary, Bitten is so focused on the werewolves, and on one small group of them in particular, you are able to get much more involved with them, their lives, their struggles. One of the things I really enjoyed about Bitten was Ms. Armstrong's attention to detail, including emotional detail. All of the characters rang true to me in their reactions and dealings with each other. Elena is a wonderful character. She's not always likable, but she's real. She is a reluctant werewolf who just longs to be human, and her uncertainty and anger at her situation are palpable. It's a miracle she functions as well as she does in the human world, though we actually see her less there than you realize at first. Despite her longing to be human, she revels in her wolf characteristics and is continually troubled by the duality of her nature. She tries to delude herself, but she's rarely successful and I respected that even when I didn't particularly like her actions at times. I appreciated the nature of the relationship between her and Clayton, the werewolf who bit her and still wants her, despite Elena's continued resentment toward him. Their bond is fascinating and multi-faceted -- in many ways they are reflections of each other. I was happy with the initial resolution of their conflict and hope to see more of them. Likewise, the relationships between Elena and Jeremy, and Clayton and Jeremy are well-drawn and fully realized. Antonio and Nick suffer a bit by comparison, but their roles are lesser, so it's not a fatal flaw. Philip was weak too, but I suppose he had to be. I was very pleasantly surprised by Bitten and hope that it is the first of a series which will expand on the well-crafted themes and give us new insights into the absorbing characters. Great job, Ms. Armstrong!
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31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amazing Debut!, March 12, 2002
This review is from: Bitten (Women of the Otherworld, Book 1) (Hardcover)
Bitten is one of the best first novels I have read in a long time. Kelley Armstrong proves that you can still take an old, tired and overused storyline and make it great and entertaining. Her book is sexy, intelligently written and highly entertaining. Elena is a young woman who was once bitten by a werewolf, which inevitably turned her into one as well. Only problem is that in Armstrong's world, only males are allowed to be werwolves as the curse is passed down through the male line. But she survives the change and The Pack, an organized group of werwolves, decide to keep her alive. She does not like her life as much as she ought to and so she escapes to Toronto, only to be brought back to her New York dwellings (the home of The Pack) when strange murders start occuring. She is quickly thrown into a plot involving a group of Mutts (werewolves who are not part of The Pack and who only want to cause trouble for the organization) who only wants to see The Pack disappear. Violent, dark and often wittingly funny, Bitten is a very original novel that takes the werewolf legend and plays with it amazingly well. The book reminded me of the early efforts from Anne Rice; Armstrong, just like Rice did with vampires, rejuvinates the legend on her own, putting a much-needed life back into the genre. Any fans of the genre should be pleased with this book. And non-horror fans will also find something to like here; Armstrong's prose is very beautiful, straight to the point and extremely colorful. This one is not to be missed!
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