Gaijinmama's Reviews > Bitten

#41 Bitten by Kelley Armstrong
rating 4 of 5
436 pp

This is the literary equivalent of eating potato chips. Not terribly filling or nutritious but lots of fun, and it sure is hard to stop once you get started. I have already read the author's third and fourth books, Dime Store Magic and Industrial Magic and I have to say I wish I'd started here, at the beginning.
Note to self: read a series in order! Regardless of when you manage to pick them up at the used bookstore, forbear until you can begin at the beginning, otherwise you're just plain missing out.

Bitten is pretty unique. There are quite a few books out there with strong, female Witches or demon-fighters or vampire slayers as protagonists, but not many where the heroine is a bonafide werewolf. Actually, Elena is more of an antihero. She's not really a very nice person; that's why I like her! She's funny, grumpy, sarcastic, and has very little compunction about ripping up a rapist or pedophile. She also gets to engage in a couple of pretty hot love scenes (in human form, don't worry). Neither these parts nor the violence are overly graphic. I'd say this series would be OK for a 14 or 15 year old, since they see much worse than this on TV, but parents please use your own discretion with your own kids!
I think what I like best about this book is that Armstrong's take on werewolves is pretty sensible. Their need to Change is a biological function that is either genetic or contracted by being bitten. As one character puts it, it's "about as much fun as having a bowel movement." Well, he doesn't actually say "bowel movement," the vocabulary is definitely PG-13.
No need for silver bullets, either. Armstrong's werewolves can be killed in any manner that would kill any other living creature, including knives, regular bullets, or being run over by a truck. They don't magically return to human form after death, either. A dead werewolf is just roadkill. And human predators (see aforementioned rapists and pedophiles) are far scarier than anything the supernatural can produce.

All in all, a highly entertaining read. I'm in the mood to open another bag of chips and start right in on Stolen, the next book in the series.