Review: Broken by Kelley Armstrong

Title: Broken
Series: Women of the Otherworld #6
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Publisher: Random House of Canada
Format: Trade Paperpack, 400 pages
Published: February 23, 2010
ISBN #: 9780307358400 / 0307358402
Genre: Urban Fantasy
My Copy: bought

In this thrilling new novel from the author of Industrial Magic, a pregnant werewolf may have unwittingly unleashed Jack the Ripper on the twenty-first century — and become his next target…

Ever since she discovered she’s pregnant, Elena Michaels has been on edge. After all, she’s never heard of another living female werewolf, let alone one who’s given birth. But thankfully, her expertise is needed to retrieve a stolen letter allegedly written by Jack the Ripper. As a distraction, the job seems simple enough — only the letter contains a portal to Victorian London’s underworld, which Elena inadvertently triggers — unleashing a vicious killer and a pair of zombie thugs.

Now Elena must find a way to seal the portal before the unwelcome visitors get what they’re looking for — which, for some unknown reason, is Elena…

After a three book break, the Women of the Otherworld series returns to my best-loved narrator, Elena Michaels. In this installment my favourite preternaturals (werewolves) go head-to-dead against my ultimate bad guys (zombies) and all out awesomeness ensues. There’s some interesting role reversals going on in this story, Jamie steps up to the plate and proves that necromancers are not to be trifled with and Jack the Ripper is really a sorcerer! Okay, that last one’s a lie but it sounded good!

Clay and Elena never disappoint and Broken is a prime example of that. Michaels is knocked up and bored; a dangerous combination! To help fill the void she begs Jeremy to allow the pack to complete one, seemingly easy, mission to help break up the monotony of her pregnancy. Ha! Can you say catastrophe waiting to happen? In this installment, my favourite werewolf couple undergoes a bit of a role reversal. They’re both strong, pig headed characters who find themselves in a weakened state; Elena because of her pregnancy and Clay because of a zombie attack. I enjoyed watching them adapt to their changing circumstances; forced to rely on others and their smarts instead of only their brute strength. The whole ordeal also felt like a pre-parenthood test.

What starts off as an easy snatch & grab job quickly morphs into the Apocalypse. Yeah… leave it to Elena and Clay to turn a simple situation into the end of the world! I liked the domino effect behind this story’s plot; one little screw up and all hell breaks loose. Every time you start to feel like things are wrapping up, the lens zooms out and you realize that there’s an even bigger problem. Also, the fact that there are hundreds of pages left to read kinda blows the “fake” conclusion’s cover. I’m curious as to how much of the Jack The Ripper storyline is fact vs. fiction. Armstrong doesn’t go into vivid detail but there are a few interesting aspects that I wouldn’t mind looking into, namely the From Hell letter. I thought she did a good job of incorporating period problems (syphilis, cholera, etc) into modern day society.

I enjoy this series’ side characters almost as much as the main ones. Jamie Vegas is amazing and is next up as a narrator in this series. At first glance she comes across as a ditzy celeb but under her showbiz exterior hides a true friend and she’s always able to put a positive spin on a doomed situation. Jeremy, the pack alpha, is a complex and fascinating character. I can never get enough of him! He’s the polar opposite of Clay but still incredibly sexy in his own way. Readers also get little snippets of half-demon, Xavier Reese, and Zoe the vampire. The latter isn’t your typical undead; she’s rather wimpy and has the hots for Elena which I found quite comical at times.

Broken isn’t my favourite installment in the Women of the Otherworld series but I enjoy Kelley Armstrong’s storytelling and characters so much that it’s still a 5/5 for me. I’m re-reading this entire series so that in itself speaks volumes to me.

Books in this series:
Review	Review	Review	Review	Review
Review	Review	Review	Review	Review
Review

Recommendation:	Ideal for the werewolf obsessed, dynamic couple lovers and/or Canadian author supporters.
Like this, like that:	Shifters series by Rachel Vincent, Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs and Tales of an Urban Werewolf series by Karen MacInerney.

Related Posts