Haunted

After "Bitten" I think "Haunted" is may favorite of the Women of the Otherworld series. I'm not really sure I could tell you why exactly. Maybe it's because the setting is so different-it's the real world with a hidden layer, it's literally the underworld, or multiple underworlds. And it's just so well built. The afterlife world of Kelley Armstrong draws a lot from Greek mythology. First there are the three fates, who determine the outcome of mortal lives, but they basically run the ghost lives as well and act as a sort of supernatural enforcing agency for pesky ghost-such as our new narrator, Eve the half demon witch ghost who makes a real pest of herself. Then there are different levels of the underworld, hell dimensions of varying badness, places for the angels (yup there are angels) a whole world for the supernatural departed, maybe more than one, and even some opportunities for reincarnation-if you deserve it. It's a little bit like Hades, only more modern. Now, as you may recall from "Industrial Magic" Eve owes the Fates a major favor for getting them to send a misplaced Paige and a very dead Lucas back to earth, now they've decided to collect, which interrupts her bust schedule of Savanna watching. Kristof, Savanna's father (from "Dime Store Magic" and yes, he's dead too, remember?) is not too pleased Eve can't let go of mortal life and join him in happy dead love (apparently they really did love each other) and thinks this will be a great distraction. Except it turns out Eve's favor is to hunt down a demi-demon serial killer called the Nix who gives people who want to kill that extra will power. This turns into a fabulous action packed story with Jamie Vegas, our favorite celebrity necro, a demon in a castle, an angle who reads entertainment weekly and the freakiest and most imaginative hell ANYONE has ever come up with. Serious props to Kelley Armstrong for this book, her imagination was working way overtime. And you gotta love the ending. I mean not only is just plain fall down laughing ironic, but its pretty damm sweet. Another five star novel.

I'm a huge fan of the Kelley Armstrong books. But more so the werewolves. I wasn't as much interested in Dime Store Magic and Industrail Magic (though i did relate more to Paige than Elena). Haunted got me excited about the Kelley Armstrong witches again. There was even a cameo of one of the dead werewolves from Bitten (Daniel if you didn't catch it). Haunted was fast paced and action packed all the way through. In Stolen we heard of Eve Levine from the point of view of others. Others who saw her as a dark magic practitioner and evil. But looking through her eyes, I got a whole new view on Eve Levine and I liked her a lot more. This was a stay up all night read. I liked it a lot and highly recommend it.

Like most fans, I got hooked on this series with the very first, the book that introduced the werewolves, "Bitten". When Kelly left the werewolves to tell the story of Paige, who I couldn't stand in "Stolen", I was annoyed. And I ended up loving the Paige oncw we had the story from her view and the stories of both "Dime Store Magic" and "Industrial Magic". I was a bit skeptical I would have the same change of heart towards Eve though after hearing over and over again in the previous books how evil she was. But in the end, Kelley Armstrong managed to do it again. Eve is a strong, fun, quick-witted charecter who shares many traits with both Paige and Elena while still being her own person. I think in the end, Eve's my favorite yet and I really hope in the future we get another story from Eve. Hopefully one where she can interact with the charecters from previous stories more as I found the chapters where she was with Lucas some of the most fun of the book. It was a fast paced, very fun read. I can't believe I feel this way but I'm kinda not looking forward to leaving the witches to go back to the werewolves for the next book!

I have loved all of the 5 books in this series. I like this one the very best. Contrary to what some reviewers have said, I like the familiarity with the characters and I also like the growth and development of the characters. This book was interesting with unexpected plotlines. Usually by the 5th book in a series, plots tend to become a rehash of the same old thing. However, with this Armstrong's books, it goes beyond what has gone before in new and surprising ways. The development of the supernatural worlds is always enjoyable. I dont expect Faulkner or Hemmingway when I read an Armstrong book, I expect fun and pleasure and that is what I find always.

This is Eve's story, with some mention of the characters from Industrial Magic and Dime Store Magic. Her daughter Savannah is focused on now and again. A slight mention is made about Jeremy, Elena, and Clay from Bitten and Stolen. Jamie Vegas, the necromancer, is also back. The book isn't about them though. This is about Eve. Eve has been painted as a good mother to Savannah, but pretty bad in every other aspect from her leaving the Coven, her affair with Savannah's father, her practice of black magic, etc. Eve is in the afterlife or at least a region of it ruled by the Fates. The favor she asked to restore Lucas and Paige has been called in by the Fates. She is being sent after the demi-demon, the Nix, who is inhabiting unbalanced individuals and making them into serial killers. She's basically a ghostly bounty hunter. There are angels and demons thrown in too. A good read and I'm glad that I read it.