BOOK: Bitten
AUTHOR: Kelly Armstrong
PUBLISHER: Time Warner Paperbacks
COST: UK RRP £6.99
AVAILABLE AT: Waterstones, Borders, WH Smith, amazon.co.uk, and probably a whole load of other places
ISBN: 0-7515-3094-8
GENERAL INFO: Bitten is the first book in Kelly Armstrong's Women ... Read review
Elena, heroine of Kelley Armstrong's impressive debut thriller Bitten, never planned that ... more
a casual sexual encounter would transform her into a werewolf. Neither did Clay, her lover and one of the leaders of the exclusive werewolf clique known as the Pa...
Postage & Packaging: £2.75 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Elena, heroine of Kelley Armstrong's impressive debut thrillerBitten, never planned that a ... more
casual sexual encounter would transform her into a werewolf. Neither did Clay, her lover and one of the leaders of the exclusive werewolf clique known as the Pac...
Postage & Packaging: £2.75 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Elena, heroine of Kelley Armstrong's impressive debut thriller Bitten, never planned that ... more
a casual sexual encounter would transform her into a werewolf. Neither did Clay, her lover and one of the leaders of the exclusive werewolf clique known as the Pa...
Postage & Packaging: £2.75 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Elena, heroine of Kelley Armstrong's impressive debut thriller Bitten, never planned that ... more
a casual sexual encounter would transform her into a werewolf. Neither did Clay, her lover and one of the leaders of the exclusive werewolf clique known as the Pack; women do not generally change or survive if they do. Elena's considerable reservations about her new life come to a head and she walks out on the Pack to return to something like normality, finding herself a boyfriend who turns a blind eye to her occasional disappearances in the middle of the night. She may have done with the infighting of werewolves, but they have not done with her; her former family call her back when they find themselves under threat from those they have excluded and dominated. Kelley Armstrong is very good on the sheer exhilaration of shape-changing, of running on four feet through forests, suburban greenery and urban back alleys; if there is a weakness here, it is that Elena's relationship with the taciturn, untrustworthy Clay is sometimes a little too conventionally romantic--but the dark poetry of the best of the book overcomes this entirely. --Roz Kaveney
Postage & Packaging:£2.75 Availability:Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Advantages: Great read! Plus you know there'll be more fun coming in the sequels! Disadvantages: You can't put it down! Addictive, so you'll spend money on the sequels!
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GENERAL INFO: Bitten is the first book in Kelly Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld series. The rest of the novels in the series (in order) are Stolen, Dime Store Magic, Industrial Magic, Haunted, Broken, No Humans Involved, and Personal Demon; with the 9th instalment due in the US in November 2008. As the title of the series suggests, each novel stars a supernatural female living on modern day earth amongst the regular human beings who ... ...werewolf trait genetically. Elena is bitten (hence the name of the book-ha ha! Clever Hannah)-by her then boyfriend, Clayton Danvers, no less-and because, as we find out, few humans ever survive being bitten, she-grudgingly and unwillingly-gains the honour of being the only female werewolf in existence. Hurrah! No, Elena is not pleased. Though Clayton reckons he only bit Elena because he loved her and thought it was the only way that they could be ... more
BOOK: Bitten
AUTHOR: Kelly Armstrong
PUBLISHER: Time Warner Paperbacks
COST: UK RRP £6.99
AVAILABLE AT: Waterstones, Borders, WH Smith, amazon.co.uk, and probably a whole load of other places
ISBN: 0-7515-3094-8
GENERAL INFO: Bitten is the first book in Kelly Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld series. The rest of the novels in the series (in order) are Stolen, Dime Store Magic, Industrial Magic, Haunted, Broken, No Humans Involved, and Personal Demon; with the 9th instalment due in the US in November 2008. As the title of the series suggests, each novel stars a supernatural female living on modern day earth amongst the regular human beings who are completely unaware of the fact that supernatural races exist…at least, most of them.
BACK COVER: Elena Michaels is your regular twenty-first century girl: self assured, smart and fighting fit. She also just happens to be the only female werewolf in the world… It has some good points. When she walks down a dark alleyway, she's the scary one. But now her Pack-the one she abandoned so she could live a normal life-are in trouble, and they need her help. Is she willing to risk her life to help the ex-lover who betrayed her by turning her into a werewolf in the first place? And more to the point, does she have a choice?
HANNAHJEX THINKS: In Bitten, Kelly Armstrong provides a refreshing new perspective on the whole idea of werewolves. In most films and books featuring them, werewolves are presented as disgusting, scary, huge, half man-half wolf monster…things. But in Bitten, werewolves change into regular, four-legged wolves-with the exception of their eyes-if you look closely enough, you'll know they've got to be human. Awesome. And by writing in the first person, from Elena's point of view, Armstrong creates quite an endearing and appealing heroine: you want things to go her way. Not saying she humanizes werewolves altogether. No, no. Her werewolves are feral and super strong. They hunt and run at will. Though they do retain a trace of humanity and are capable of living undiscovered among humans, when in their wolf form, they are thrillingly wild.
Of course there is also the added twist of the 'hierarchy', for lack of a better word, of werewolves. First, there is the Pack, the most powerful, most important group of werewolves. Membership of the pack is quite a sought after privilege, but is very limited. Within the pack there is an Alpha, the leader of the pack and then other Pack members with varying degrees of importance below the Alpha. They are very organized, with regular meetings and hunting trips together. They have strict rules: never do anything to call human attention to yourself, never kill humans unless it is strictly necessary, never go for 'runs' in public places, etc., etc. Though the Pack do not condone the hunting, killing and eating of humans (hunting deer and rabbits instead), they are very loyal to each other and kill anyone or anything that presents a threat to any member of the Pack or to the Pack as a whole. Then there are non-Pack werewolves, referred to as 'Mutts' by the Pack.
Mutts are inferior to Pack wolves in a few ways: partly because they are not as strong and partly because they lack the ability to 'change' at will, but mostly because the Pack say so. Mutts are not as kind to humans as Pack wolves. No, they're the more violent, bloodthirsty, ruthless-killer type. Because of this Mutts are not allowed to claim 'territory' and settle in one place for too long. Unlike the Pack wolves, Mutts are loners and do not live in groups. Mutts are not always very good at covering their tracks, and when one of them does something too risky, with the potential to expose werewolves, one of the Pack members (usually Elena) goes and uh, 'disciplines' them. The Mutts get tired of being 'controlled' by the Pack, and when they decide to team up and 'overthrow' them, even going as far as to recruit human serial killers to add to their 'army'…well I won't tell you anymore, but things certainly get interesting. And alongside the whole Pack vs. Mutts story, another interesting plot runs parallel.
There are only two ways to become a werewolf: hereditarily-the most common way-or by being bitten. Only males can inherit the werewolf trait genetically. Elena is bitten (hence the name of the book-ha ha! Clever Hannah)-by her then boyfriend, Clayton Danvers, no less-and because, as we find out, few humans ever survive being bitten, she-grudgingly and unwillingly-gains the honour of being the only female werewolf in existence. Hurrah! No, Elena is not pleased. Though Clayton reckons he only bit Elena because he loved her and thought it was the only way that they could be together, Elena feels cursed and betrayed and cannot forgive him. After allowing the Pack to nurse her back to health and living with them for years, trying to fit in and accept her werewolf status, Elena still feels innately human and leaves the Pack, determined to make it on her own as a journalist in the human world. But when she comes back to help the Pack fight the growing threat from the Mutts, Clayton thinks they can just pick up where they left off. Elena has other ideas. Hmm, …interesting.
Bitten is very well written and a truly enjoyable read. The narrative and dialogue is laced with fantastically witty and sarcastic humour; a perfect dose of comic relief for when the plot thickens the tension and excitement builds to the point where you feel as if you'll explode from wondering what happens next. I read the book in one 10 hour sitting, and loved every minute of it. The first thing I did when I was done was to go out and buy every other book in the series! Bitten is a truly original piece of work, and comes highly recommended. Great stuff.
PLEASE NOTE: I have this review on dooyoo.co.uk as well under a different username (hannah_banana) but I guarantee it IS my review, I've not just randomly copied someone elses work!
Advantages: A fresh angle on an old legend, brilliant story Disadvantages: i know i always say this, but there are no disadvantages to this book
...In Elena's case, she was bitten by her ex-fiancé, Clayton Danvers, foster-son of Jeremy Danvers, leader of The Pack, so luckily she had a helping hand!
But she is tired of living a life were she is constantly protecting and hiding, where her main priority is to hunt down renegade werewolves who draw too much attention to themselves. She leaves the Pack and returns to Toronto to pursue a career in journalism, to regain her dreams of a normal life: ... ...lost when she herself was a child and her parents died in a car cash.
The story begins with Elena sneaking out in the middle of the night to Change, which she doesn't have to do every full moon, but at least once a week. Her live-in boyfriend, Phillip, is extremely understanding about her peculiar nocturnal habits, but it is becoming increasingly harder for her to live the pretence. As a werewolf her metabolism is faster than a humans, so she has ...
aphenderson 06.11.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Bitten - Kelley Armstrong
Advantages: Great storyline, lots of wit Disadvantages: None, This book is fantastic
...The only female werewolf - Bitten by her partner clay - Joint 2nd in command in the pack - Works as a Journalist - Pack member.
Clayton Danvers
Joint 2nd in command - Jeremy's foster son & bodyguard - Bitten as a child - Bit Elenawho he is still in love with Elena - Pack member.
Jeremy Malcolm Edward Danvers
Hereditary Werewolf - Pack alpha (leader) - Clay's foster father.
Nick Sorrentino
Hereditary Werewolf - Clay's best friend - Antonio's ... ...mutt.
Thomas le blanc
Bitten Werewolf - mutt - Serial killer.
Scott Brandon
Bitten werewolf - mutt - serial killer.
Jimmy Koenig
Bitten werewolf - mutt - man killer.
Victor Olsen
Bitten werewolf - mutt - Pedophile.
Elena is the only female werewolf in the world and she is not afraid to let the pack know just how much she resents it. Bitten by her lover clay, having no idea that he was a werewolf, she was accepted into his pack at Stonehaven ...
phoenix221984 26.02.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Bitten - Kelley Armstrong
Advantages: Fresh approach to an old theme. Disadvantages: Not really horror, if that's what you're after.
...the chances of surviving being bitten are extremely slim. She is trying to live a normal life, with a boyfriend (who is unaware of her abilities) and a job. However she gets a phone call from the werewolf pack leader, calling her back to their territory to assist in dealing with a threat to the pack. In responding she finds herself drawn back into the pack world, her old life and old relationships, both wanted and unwanted.
The author creates nice ... ...female character without making the males around her appear weak. The storytelling is concise, setting each scene neatly before going on with the plot.
It's a good tale about accepting yourself for what you are, learning to live with that, and understanding the types of relationships you have with other people and why you have them. ...
dracoiratus 29.12.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Bitten - Kelley Armstrong
Bitten – Kelley Armstrong
This is the first in the Women of the Underworld series. Elena Michaels is the only female werewolf in the world, she was turned against her will by her fiancé Clay. For ten years she stayed with the pack Clay belonged too. But found she had to get out. So Elena made a life for herself in Toronto, just a regular women living her day to day life, going to work and enjoying her life, except for having the urge to Change every ... ...until she gets a message from Jeremy, the pack leader saying there is trouble. The pack are under attack by a group of mutt werewolves who have turned dangerous criminals into werewolves. So she packs herself off to New York to help her friends. She won’t stop at anything to save her pack. Elena struggles with her desire to stay in New York or separate herself from the pack, but one person helps her see what she needs to do.
This is a re-read for ...
gemsey83 21.08.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Bitten - Kelley Armstrong
Advantages: Everything about this book is great, plot, characters, settings!! Disadvantages: it makes you want more
Being the only female wearwolf is hard, not only that but she wants to lead a normal life, but the man she loves (though she won't admit it even to herself) is a little bit psycho! this is an amazing book, so well written with a great plot! i've read it about 10 times and it still grabs me and has me on the edge of my seat. it would make an excellent movie!!! all the characters are very well fleshed out and you fall in love with each. Elena is a ...
fishton 21.04.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of Bitten - Kelley Armstrong
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I discovered this novel when I ordered a set of four KelleyArmstrong books as part of my freebie offer when recently joining a book club. (Yeah, yeah I know. I'm paying for it now!) The other three books were entitled: Bitten, Stolen and Industrial Magic. The BC editors quote was ...
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