Armstrong, Kelley: Bitten
Bitten
Writer: Kelley Armstrong
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 436
Why is it that emerald_ibis keeps daring me to read books that I can't. freaking. put. down?
And I was even worried at first, this being another werewolf novel, simply because I am so fond of Carrie Vaughn's work that I was afraid reading another writer's take on werewolves would taint me somehow. Yes, I'm weird. So I started reading this with a wary eye, but it didn't take me long to get hooked, not at all.
I have to be picky for a moment: the book starts out a bit rough, IMHO. Having read Carrie Vaughn's take on werewolves first, I wasn't enthralled by the prologue, and felt a little snarky at the capitalization of the word Change (I've grown to be very snarky at capital letters in SF and fantasy, even though I do it myself), and I nearly spewed my drink when I read that these werewolves were somewhat telepathic. I also had a hard time with the first-person narrative. Too chatty and too info-dumpy in the beginning. But then things started to pick up and move along.
Don't get me wrong, the first-person is still a bit too chatty and info-dumpy through-out the book, but once I get settled in this world and its rules, I don't mind. And let me tell you what a joy it was to realize just how different these werewolves were from Vaughn's material. Granted, Armstrong did it first, but it's hard not to compare. But I stopped comparing as soon as we reached Stonehaven, and I got to see the inner dynamics of the Pack, of the Alpha-Male, and of course, Clay.
I have to admit, I was a little skeptical of Clay at first. I expected him to be one of those brooding bullies who'd abused Elena or something, so it was an incredibly pleasant (and rather hot) surprise that he wasn't. Even better was learning the depth of the relationship these two people had, and just how human they were in their mood swings. Granted, I came to trust Clay far sooner than Elena did, but their moments together were very well done. And the Christmas stuff? Totally got to me. I'm SUCH a sap.
As a main character, I ended up liking Elena more than I intended to. She made decisions, she fucked up, and in the end, she drove us through the climax. This was no damsel in distress, though there were times I feared it would end that way. Granted, there were times I wanted to smack her, but for the most part, she was a very believable, very human character, despite her wolfish tendencies.
Another interesting difference between Armstrong's wolves and Vaughn's (I'm sorry, I have to compare) was the fact that 1) Armstrong addresses the whole "wolves mate for life" bit, WHICH I LOVE TO PIECES and 2) Elena's reaction to killing as a wolf. Where Kitty is squeamish about killing anything no matter what her form (which works perfectly for her character and situation), Elena is only squeamish about humans, but wild game is fair game, pun intended.
So the differences are good, but the books stand on their own, which is great. Now I have two werewolf series to enjoy. Damn it, emerald_ibis.
I'm starting to realize how much of a sucker I am for this particular genre, the pop-fantasy/supernatural/romance fiction. Course, any book with a good romance added to the speculative element makes me happy, and any book with strong human relationships period makes be equally pleased. But this is a book I'll easily recommend to fans of Vaughn's Kitty series, as well as Kim Harrison's work. Much fun, solid romance, and a strong heroine full of flaws.