13

I had been putting off reading Kelley Armstrong's 13, as I didn't want my adventures with the inter-racial council to end, but I couldn't wait any longer to crack open my beautiful hardcover addition.  I'd started reading a few pages here and there but the turning point was when I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't get back to sleep.  Therefore early morning logic dictated that I should read a few chapters and drift back off to my much needed slumber.  Instead, I read over half the book and by the end I was in tears, proper sobs, trying to stifle them so I didn't wake anyone else up.  Now, I'm not saying that this is my favourite entry in the Women of the Otherworld series (my heart will always belong to Jamie Vegas and book no.7 No Humans Involved) but I don't think I would have wanted such a great urban fantasy series to end any other way. 

War is coming to the Otherworld.  A sinister cult known as The Supernatural Liberation Movement is hell-bent on exposing the truth about supernaturals to the rest of the world.  Their violent, ruthless plan has put everyone at risk: from werewolves to vampires, from witches to half-demons.
  Savannah Levine - fiery and unpredictable - stands at the heart of the maelstrom.  There is a new, dark magic inside her, granting her the power to summon spells of terrifying strength.  But wether this magic is a gift or a curse, no one knows.
  On the ever of battle, all the major players must come together in a last, desperate fight for survival - Elena and Clay; Adam and Savannah; Paige and Lucas; Jeremy and Jamie; Hope, Eve and more...
They are fighting for their lives.  They are fighting for their loved ones.  They are fighting for the Otherworld.

  I was a bit miffed as the blurb had implied something much bigger was brewing and about to be revealed.  Plus I wanted an old style Buffy season finale or something akin to the showdown in Jim Butcher's Changes.  However, what I got was something that enabled my beloved characters to get together and fight for their right to stay anonymous.  There's plenty of action and gore, especially at the start, but there's a lot of heart to 13 and plenty of character development.
Armstrong has said that this is isn't the end for Elena and company, they'll appear in short fiction, but I'm glad she's resting the series so it won't have the chance to enter Sookie Stackhouse or Anita Blake territory.

The Awakening

 The second book of Kelley Armstrong's Darkest Powers series, The Awakening, sees fifteen year-old necromancer Chloe plotting her escape from the Edison Group.

I can't say too much without giving both the plot of the first book, but The Awakening is definitely a slightly weak bridge between The Summoning and The Reckoning, which is the final instalment in the series.  The first book definitely had a stronger story, this one tended to get a little repetitive in places, but The Awakening wasn't any less enjoyable.  I noticed the hints that Chloe will probably have to make a choice between the charismatic Simon or his grouchy but protective older brother Derek, but these possible romantic feelings were still a side note to the main plot.  Questions left from The Summoning about the Edison Group were answered, but enough were unanswered so that hopefully all can be revealed in what should be an interesting finale.   

Spell Bound

Starting directly after the events of Waking the Witch, Savannah Levine has lost her most powerful asset - her magic.  With a witch hunter after her, and something much bigger brewing in the supernatural world, now is not the best time for her to feel powerless.


Kelley Armstrong's penultimate Women of the Otherworld series did not disappoint.  If anything I grew sadder that the series is about to end when she can deliver a novel like this.  It was filler, tying up loose ends and setting up the endgame, but proper filler with a core story: Growing Up.  Yes Savannah is 22, and she's an adult in a literal sense but emotionally she's still been that cocky twelve year old girl I first read about in (book 2) Stolen.  Nearly everyone from the series makes a cameo of sorts, but it never felt forced or unnecessary, each meeting was helping the story edge along.

I was getting to the end and was like, hang on, I want more!  Which is always a great feeling.  I hope Armstrong can wrap up the Otherworld, not neatly or too mushily, but with the amazing flair that has kept me hooked for 12 books.