Customer Reviews

Broken (Playaway Adult Fiction)

5 star:		(40)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I was super excited for this book to come out-I even ordered it a year in advance. I've loved the Woman of the Otherworld series from the get go, although I have never read another horror novel. This book is about my favorite of the narrators, Elena, the only female werewolf.

Centered around her first (and difficult, seeing as both parents were werewolves) pregnancy this book is the story of what a mess Elena got into because she was bored. There was this letter that a half demon wanted her pack to steal so he could sell it. But somehow the letter contained a time cell, a little piece of Victorian England that pops out in modern Toronto. Including such fun things as zombies, cholera and possibly jack the ripper.

So what will the pack do? Well, naturally they try to fix it. Only to find out that the zombies want something specific-Elena. As usual her narrative and sarcastic observations are the best part of the book, especially since this one is not as sex-scene heavy as those previously written. There are a whole lot of chase scenes though, with lots of fighting. Add in a lesbian vampire thief with the hots for Elena, Jamie Vegas the necromancer with the hots for Jeremy, the pack Alfa, and a sorcerer who doctors the poor and presto! Another wonderful book by Kelley Armstrong.

This isn't the best of the series (I'd call that one Bitten) or the scariest (for me-Industrial Magic) or the most action packed (Haunted.) But it is another very good, if not great, novel from Kelley Armstrong. I strongly recommend this book to fans of her series and encourage new readers to start at the beginning. [...]

If this is the last of Elena's books, as some reviewers mention, it makes me quite sad. But with this author I am sure there are more, and maybe better, things to come.

As always with this author-I'll read this book again and again, so five stars.

I have read all of the Women of the Otherworld books and had enjoyed them all. I loved the first two books about Elena Michaels, the only living female werewolf on the planet, and was thrilled to know that she is back in Broken. Elena Michaels has settled into a stable life after her awful experience as a prisoner at an experimental compound (Stolen). But things get confusing for her after she discovers she's pregnant. She has more than just the average pregnancy angst; she is downright terrified that her change to werewolf form might harm the baby. And there is also the question over whether or not the baby will be a werewolf or not. As if there weren't enough problems, she receives an impromptu phone call from demon Xavier with a very strange request. He wants her to steal a letter that was supposedly written by Jack the Ripper. The assignment seems simple enough, except that the letter has a portal to Victorian London that unleashes zombies, former human beings that had been used as a ritual sacrifice. Now all of those creepy crawlies are on the loose in Toronto and Elena, Clay and Jeremy have to do whatever is possible to catch them and close the portal for good. They especially have to do this because the zombies are for some reason after Elena. There are various twists throughout the novel.

I am not as into paranormal/fantasy novels as I used to be, but there are certain authors of the aforementioned genre that will forever be on my must-read list, and Kelley Armstrong is one of them. This is another enthralling installment of the Women of the Otherworld series and I was entertained from beginning to end. This novel contains the paranormal and horror aspects combined with action, humor and romance that I've come to expect from this wonderful series. Elena is as tough as ever, Clay is antisocial as usual and Jeremy is enjoyable as the taciturn, sensible alpha werewolf. The novel also brings back our favorite characters from previous books, like Paige, Lucas, Xavier and Jaime Vargas. There are some new characters here as well. I get a real kick out of the characters, especially Jaime and Xavier. And I of course LOVE the witty dialogue. The dialogue has always been one of the biggest highlights in these novels and the bantering here is as fun as it was in the previous novels. As for the plot, the whole Jack the Ripper letter and portal thing was quite interesting. I admit, however, that this isn't my favorite storyline in this series. There have been so many fictional accounts on Jack the Ripper that I wish Armstrong had come up with something different. I very much enjoyed the subplot centered on a pregnant Elena though. It was an excellent source of conflict for her, for she doesn't know what to expect once she gives birth, being the only female werewolf alive and all. It gave her a sensitivity that she hadn't shown in previous books. She has always been tough and tomboyish, but I have a feeling that motherhood will change that. I also have a feeling this will be the last we'll read of her as a main character in the series and I'm disappointed with that. I do hope that we'll read a novel about Cassandra the vampire or Jaime the necromancer. I especially want one about Cassandra. She is such an interesting character and I want to read more about her and Aaron. The vampires in this series sound quite unique. Anyway, Broken is another awesome offering in this enthralling series. Kelley Armstrong is still one of the best fantasy authors I have read. She remains on my must-read list and I look forward to reading her next book in the series.

After enjoying all of Kelley Armstrong's 'Women of the Otherworld' novels...yes, even 'Haunted'...I picked up 'Broken' with anticipation. The lead character in her werewolf series, Elena, was great and I looked forward to another installment of her adventures.

What 'Broken' turned out to be was a big disappointment. Elena went from an action heroine to an 'omigod I'm pregnant and have to clutch my stomach in worry every other page so the reader doesn't forget that fact!!!' wimp. Hence the title of my review. With 'Broken' Ms. Armstrong's werewolf series has in fact "jumped the shark".

As for the plot itself, the combination of zombies and the appearance of Jack the Ripper through a portal in time just didn't do it for me.

If you are diehard fan of the character and of the werewolf series then pick it up & read it. I hope a new book in her 'witch' series is forthcoming, but please can plot make sense and not revolve around Paige getting pregnant?

I have to say, if this book hadn't been about Elena and Clay and if I hadn't already followed their story in Bitten and Stolen, this book would have been mediocre at best.

In my opinion, Armstrong has a LONG way to go before she becomes one of my "must read" authors. Small (and not so small) inconsistencies in the story trip her up. For example, about 20 pages into the book I'd already picked up a few mistakes - Elena tells Jeremy about a spell, then two pages later he mentions the spell and Elena says "Spell?" like it was new information. Elena references just receiving some information from Lucas, when a few pages before hand we were told Paige and Lucas were out of town and not answering their phone.

These are very minor editorial issues, but they detract and distract from the overall story. I also disliked the whole "Jack the Ripper" angle - especially when it didn't even pay off in the end. There was just something about this book that was messy and hard to follow - to many scattered storylines, too many red herrings, too many distractions with Elena's pregnancy and Clay's health issues.

The bottom line for me is that I'm done with Armstrong. Dime Store Magic and Industrial Magic were okay, Haunted was embarassingly bad and I have to say that Broken was a disappointment, especially given how much I'd enjoyed Bitten and Stolen. Oh, and why was the book called "Broken"? Exactly what was broken? The spines of the zombies when they were killed (and killed, and killed)? Or my heart, when I realised that I'll never read another Armstrong book again?

*sigh*

FYI:

1. One reviewer stated that Clay and Elena had done the wild thing in wolf form. In Broken it is specifically stated that they had never had sex in wolf form and apparently niether have been interested. All lovemaking for them seems to take place after changing back into humans. There would be a curiosity factor though - it seems as sexual as the two of them are it's a bit hard to imagine they never got busy as werewolves.

2. Another reviewer said that the angle with Jamie (necromancer and TV psychic) and Jeremy never went anywhere. Apparently this is because Jamie is getting her own book and in typical Armstrong fashion, Jamie has been a "background" character in Haunted, and now Broken. It's a clever way to get people to buy the next book as the author isn't asking the reader to warm to an all new character.

I won't be buying the next book though. Farewell Clay and Elena - it was nice knowing you.

I must admit I'm a little confused by the reviews of this book. Most everyone agrees that it is "not one of her best", or "a little tired", or a "redundant plot line", yet everyone gives it 4 to 5 stars. Huh?

For me, I'd pick the book up, read a few chapters, get bored, and put it down. Read some books by other authors, then pick up Broken again. I finally finished it, but it definitely took determined perseverance, not an overwhelming interest to do so.

Evidently the new buzz word among popular fantasy authors is "hell portal". I can name six authors who are now using this contrivance in their newest books. First a rush of vampires, then were-animals, witches (black white and gray), fairies, dragons, now portals to Hell. Is everyone (at least the same six authors) getting together by chance? Or, are the publishers giving their bestselling authors the subject line of their next book to increase sales? Is there no one out there with an original idea? Inquiring minds want to know.

I loved Bitten and Stolen, but this book was a serious departure from those rather clever plots. This was slow moving, had "Groundhog Day" repetition (I lost count on how many times they killed the same zombies-and quit caring), and I became as bored with Elena's pregnancy as she was. The villain was obvious, yet the heroes didn't figure it out until he literally tapped them on the shoulder and said "hey there". Even childbirth at the end was staid and anticlimactic.

Hopefully now the entire wolf pack will stay at home and live happily every after. It's time for the rest of us to move on to yet another author with a mysterious "hell portal", which of course we will all read and shower with four or five stars.

You might accuse werewolf Elena Michaels of being many things, but sedentary would never be one of them. Pregnancy hasn't dulled her sense of adventure. If anything, it seems to have heightened it. So when Xavier Reese contacts her after a three-year silence and calls in an old favor, she's intrigued despite her better judgment. Soon Elena is off to Toronto but not without her fiercely protective lover, Clayton, and her Pack Alpha, Jeremy Danvers. Their mission: to quietly retrieve (ahem, steal) an old letter rumored to have been written by none other than Jack the Ripper.

Of course plans go awry and a seemingly simple mission turns into a complicated adventure. Through a strange chain of events, our small group of werewolves unwittingly triggers an old spell tied to the stolen letter, and open a portal to Victorian London right in the middle of downtown Toronto. With the portal opened, the city is turned upside down, first by a pair of murderous escapees who seem more than a little fixated on Elena, then by an outbreak of cholera.

For the werewolves, time is of the essence. They want to close the portal as soon as humanly (or in-humanly) possible, end the chaos and get back home. But for that, they'll need help from old and new friends alike. 'Broken' sees the return of many familiar Otherworld alumnai, including Jaime (a necromancer whose experience with the walking dead certainly comes in handy) and fellow pack members, Nick and Antonio Sorrentino.

The werewolves usually like to keep to themselves, but desperate times call for desperate measures and reluctant alliances. There's Anita Barrington, a knowledgeable old witch who claims she might be able to help; Zoe, a vampire with a long list of supernatural acquaintances; Matthew Hull, a mild mannered portal escapee, and Dr. Randall Tolliver whose medical expertise is required on more than one occasion.

But how many of these new friends have hidden agendas of their own? The question remains unanswered until the very end when lives hang in the balance.

Kelley Armstrong-true to form- has written a novel that has it all: adventure to make your heart race, a little romance to make your heart race faster, spine-tingling suspense to tickle your brain, and a few well placed laughs to pepper the drama with comic relief. Rabid readers of the Otherworld series have waited anxiously for this latest Pack-centered novel, and 'Broken' does not disappoint. Elena's familiar wit and fierce determination make her a heroine readers love to root for. I'll be waiting for the next book in the Otherworld series with bated breath.

In many ways, this was a top-notch book. The story was quite compelling and the action was enough to keep me reading. When Elena, the only female werewolf, becomes pregnant, it is a big deal and the Pack decides to try to keep it secret as long as they can. However, when Elena starts to show very early and balloon quickly, that becomes difficult. Also, Elena freaks out early on about Changing - when she discovers that this will not harm the fetus, she is OK, but the first few are rough. At any rate, the Pack goes out of their way to try to coddle her as much as possible and keep her from exerting herself if they can help it.

However, a call from Xavier Reese - a demon whom Elena met while being held during Stolen (Women of the Otherworld, Book 2) - changes things. He wants to call in his favor; he has the whereabouts of a "mutt" the Pack has been hunting and in return, he wants them to steal a letter for him (so he can sell it to a collector), reputedly written by Jack the Ripper and sent from Hell. Since Elena is going more than a little bit stir crazy, she talks Jeremy, her Alpha, into going out and stealing the letter. However, obviously, everything does not go according to plan and soon odd people start showing up and strange occurrences are in abundance. That's as much as I'll say as far as basic plot, in order to avoid spoilers.

Now, as far as what I did NOT like. Elena's attitude. She would be fretting about causing damage to the baby in one paragraph, and in the next she would be sneaking off to do something incredibly stupid, like try to run down the bad guy by herself. She would then try to do something like a round-house kick and fall on her butt. Even though she's done this something like five times already. With the exact same results. Is she just incredibly STUPID or what? No, we know she isn't stupid, so why is she being written this way in this book? If she is truly concerned over the well-being of her babies, she should not let her pride and desire to be able to protect herself go so far as to be putting herself into these sorts of situations when she KNOWS she cannot protect herself adequately! I cannot count the number of times I was reading along and she would do something like that and I just had to stop for a moment and go GOOD GRIEF are ye DAFT girl? True strength is knowing when you need to ask for help.

Other than that, though, I enjoyed the story. We got to see a bit more of Jaime, which was cool. And Zoe, a new vampire, was fun to meet - she was an interesting character who introduced us to yet another interesting one, in the person of Tee, who was all kinds of creepy.

I just ordered the 7th in the series today, so I'm eagerly awaiting it to see where else Kelley Armstrong takes this series! A recommend, overall, from me.

As Kelley's literary agent, I am going to give her book 5 stars! But I am really here to tell everyone definitively that this is not the last of the Otherworld series and it's not the last of Elena. I'm not sure how that rumor got around--maybe because of the first review of this book that appeared here and said that was the case. It's not, and that reviewer was wrong.

The next book in the series will star Jamie the necromancer and Jeremy the werewolf. I hope you all enjoy it!

I have been a loyal fan of The Otherworld series, especially to Elena. I loved Bitten and Stolen...I actually read Bitten again not too long ago to refresh my memory knowing that I'd be reading Broken.

I am actually a little surprised that other loyal fans are giving 5 stars for Broken. It doesn't even compare to Bitten.

To Kelley: In my opinion, when Elena was younger, and had not yet accepted her position in the Pack or as Clay's mate, I fully expected Elena to act the way she did. You wrote her character as an independent woman, struggling to regain that independence after being bitten, yet also was able to portray her as vulnerable. I loved her in Bitten and Stolen.

However, now that she has fully accepted her position in the Pack, as well as Clay's mate and mother to his children, you are still portraying Elena in much the same way as you did in Bitten, but now it makes her seem flighty, immature and extremely predictable. I knew what Elena was going to say and do before she said or did them. I found myself speed-reading through her conversations that she was having with various characters, because I felt I didn't need to focus.

I was hoping to see a more "grown up" Elena who's pregnancy and commitment to Clay and the Pack has empowered her, made her smarter and less naive.

I am still a fan, just a little disappointed.

As much as I hate to say it, but "Broken" is the weakest "Women of the Otherworld" installment so far. My dislike has nothing to do with the main characters (I remember not really liking "Dime Store Magic" strictly because I didn't really care for Paige or Lucas), but has a lot to do with the fact that "Broken" has a wish-fulfillment/filler quality about it. Allow me to elaborate.

The focus of this novel is... Elena's pregnancy. That's right, not a zombie outbreak accidentally caused by Elena when she opens a Jack the Ripper's old letter, but her growing stomach. I am all for babies and weddings and such fluff, but not in so much detail. The constant clutching of Elena's stomach, the vitamins, the eating, the buying of baby furniture, Clay's and Jeremy's relentless hovering over her, it just gets annoying very, very quickly. Even more, the way both guys act in this novel totally emasculates them IMO, they behave like two middle-aged aunts instead of paranormal hunks I've known them to be. I think Elena's pregnancy should have been completely edited out of this book, with the exception of a couple of flashbacks maybe. It has a place in the Otherworld universe, but it should have been realized as a short story/novella (a la "Beginning" and "Savage"). As a part of the novel, it overpowers the story in a painful similarity to "Breaking Dawn."

My second complaint is the story itself, or rather lack of it. Normally Armstrong's books are filled with fresh mythology and engaging mystery of some sort. Not here. No new mythology is introduced. The zombie lore is paper thin and evasive and even Elena's strange pregnancy is never explained (it is accelerated and what happens during the Change is still a mystery to me). The case itself is convoluted, there is a lot of running around and reuniting with various familiar characters from other Otherworld book for no other reason than to help fill the pages because they obviously add very little to the investigation. And finally, the bad guys are just a joke. Two zombies who can be killed with no efforts and the main guy (whom I will not name) who wants to get to Elena for some stupid reason.

After this assessment you'd think I totally hated the book. That's not the case. It is somewhat enjoyable. I still love the characters, the old ones (Elena, Clay, Jeremy, Jaime, Antonio and Nick) and the new ones (Zoe Takano). There is some great dialog and overall the story is fast-paced and a quick read. But I just expected Elena's and Clay's novel to be much better. "Broken" is nowhere nearly as good as "Bitten" and "Stolen." Although I am disappointed, I am however not giving up on the series yet. I've already flipped through "No Humans Involved" and there is quite a bit of hot Jaime/Jeremy action. Something to look forward to!