Frostbitten by Kelley Armstrong
A Spoiler Free Reread Review
Back on form with this one after the travesty that was Living With the Dead. I enjoyed this one so much I barely put it down. Elena’s gone through a lot of growth since Bitten, for which I am grateful. She’s much more enjoyable as a character now than she was at the beginning. I’m also glad her relationship with Clay has steadied and I’m sure motherhood did some good, too.
The plot was rather bog-standard, really, but I felt like it was lifted by Elena having to work through some issues during it. Also the addition of the new supernatural race was good. Always nice to see world building even this late in the series run.
Really my only complaint about this book is the cover. The one with Elena and a wolf on the front with the blue-grey background. God awful coloring on her hair. It’s muuuuch too yellow. Bugs me so much.
I was actually pleasantly surprised by the lack of child-focus. This is the first book after Elena had the twins, so I think I was expecting them to have more focus than they did, maybe even be part of the overall plot somehow… cuz that’s how it tends to go in series where the main character has a child. This was not the case. Sure, the twins were mentioned and Clay and Elena talked to them on several occasions, but there wasn’t any “motherly instinct” crap that can often bog down stories about mothers. I found that refreshing.
Waking the Witch by Kelley Armstrong
A Spoiler Free Reread Review
In all honesty, the ending of this book makes much more sense (as in has actual lead-up) if you’ve read the short stories/novellas in Armstrong’s anthology catalogue. Even though this is my second read of the book, I didn’t remember what happened, and so actually spent some of the book wondering when … was going to show up. That’s all I’ll say about that though. Highly recommend reading those anthologies in chronological order though.
Anyway, Waking the Witch is perfectly serviceable as a mystery novel. The supernatural stuff is largely incidental. Definitely better than Living With the Dead, though. More entertaining.
I do feel the need to mention that, at the time I’m rereading this, the overwhelming whiteness of this series is poking at me. Poked at me real hard when Savannah offhandedly remarks on her independently wealthy status. Hope and Lucas are really the only main characters in the series who aren’t white, but they’re also ridiculously wealthy (even if Lucas likes to pretend he isn’t)… the privilege is rearing its head in my consciousness this time around. Doesn’t stop me from enjoying The Women of the Otherworld, but it’s definitely on my mind.
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