Jennie's B(ook)log

Title: Broken
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Published: 2006, Bantam
Category: Fantasy
Rating: 7/10

I seem to be going a little nuts with the supernatural novels. It's a genre that's really taken off lately and I do like them. They're great escape books--the best ones create a believable, yet imaginative, complete world (that are way cooler than our own). They have to be full of detail, but not boring. And they have to impose the supernatural elements onto reality in a way that makes the characters bigger and badder but still allows us to relate to them.

Kelley Armstrong does a fabulous job of this world-building. This is the 6th in her Otherworld series. The first one, Bitten, my favorite, introduces Elena Michaels, the world's only living female werewolf. The second in the series, Stolen, is also narrated by Elena and introduces a whole cast of other supernatural beings--witches and sorcerors, vampires, half-demons, even necromancers. The middle books are told by other characters, but Armstrong brings Elena back as the narrator of this installment.

Elena is pregnant with her first child and very nervous about it. Being the only female werewolf in the world, she doesn't really know what to expect. She is sick of being coddled by her husband and the rest of the Pack, so she's glad for the distraction when they start investigating the theif of a letter allegedly written by Jack the Ripper. The letter has somehow opened a dimensional portal, spewing zombies and 19th century serial killers.

This is a good story, but not my favorite. In my opinion, the best books in the series are those where she's introducing new narrators. Bitten introduces Elena, and Dime Store Magic introduces Paige (a witch). They're just more interesting than the sequels.

Armstrong has a website, with additional short stories and novellas that are very good.