Thursday 9 October 2014

REVIEW - OTHERWORLD NIGHTS BY KELLEY ARMSTRONG

Title: Otherworld Nights
Series: Otherworld Stories
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Publisher: Orbit
Release Date: 7th October 2014

BLURB from Goodreads
This short story collection will include many brand-new tales and others only previously available on Kelley Armstrong's website. Most of the stories will feature the werewolves of the Otherworld, Elena and Clay, Jeremy, Karl and other members of the American Pack. These are some of Kelley Armstrong's best-loved and most enduring characters, from bestselling books such as BittenStolen and Frostbitten.

1Demonology - Adam's mother discovers what he is
2Stalked - Clay/Elena honeymoon story from "My Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon"
3Hidden - SubPress 2012 Elena/Clay novella
4Twilight - a Cass story from "Many Bloody Returns"
5Chivalrous - Reese's backstory from SubPress's long sold-out "Tales of Dark Fantasy 2" (the Dec'14 SubPress graphic novella picks up this storyline)
6Lucifer's Daughter - Hope/Karl story from "Blood Lite II: Overbite"
7From Russia with Love - Elena bonus story included with hardcover of "Thirteen"
8Vanishing Act - brand-new Savannah/Adam novella set after "Thirteen"



PURCHASE LINK
Amazon US
[link unavailable at time of this post]


INITIAL THOUGHTS
As the Women Of The Otherworld  is one of my favourite series of books, I'm really looking forward to this anthology and have very high expectations. I have only read up to and including book ten, Frostbitten in the Women Of The Otherworld Series so am hoping there's not a lot of spoilers in the anthology of novella's. I think I may have read a few of these novella's as I have downloaded them from Kelley Armstrong's website.

MY REVIEW
Originally I requested this one from Netgalley and didn't hear anything back. So I was super lucky as well as excited when I received a paperback of this book and then sadly discovered that the print was on the small side for me to read, so I was kindly sent an e-copy from the fantastic people at Orbit. I then discovered I had been accepted for a copy on Netgalley. So I was obviously meant to read this book!
There are three different cover's for this novella anthology I have chosen to feature the one I love most. I love the full moon on the cover, it really draws you in. It also suggests there will be some werewolves tales inside. I like the font of the title and authors name. There's also the line that promises a brand new novella. So I know for sure there is at least one novella I will not have read.
The novella's are of different lengths. The longest, and in my opinion the best novella in the anthology is Hidden. Of course it is about my favourite characters of the otherworld, Clay, Elena and their twins Logan and Kate. I really enjoyed the indecision that Clay and Elena had about whether to explain what they and the pack are to their children. It is both serious, yet amusing too. In the end the decision is somewhat taken out of their hands. 
I also enjoyed all the other novella's within the book too. I had already read Stalked but still thoroughly loved re-reading it. 
There really is something for everyone within this novella anthology. Whether you love Clay, Elena and the Pack, or if you prefer Hope and Adam or reading more about Cabals, or vampires it's all in this novella anthology.
There was the odd thing within the novella's that I thought what's that referring to? I guess that's because I am yet to read the whole series of the Otherworld. I wouldn't say it was really confusing or spoiler-ish. I did enjoy learning a little more about the younger characters within the Otherworld too. 
In anthologies you usually find that there are one or two stories that you either really didn't like or just thought were ok. However in this novella anthology I really did actually enjoy reading  every one of them. This was an Anthology that I just didn't want to put down, so much so, I abandoned my usual note taking and just continue reading.
So did I enjoy this book of novella's? I really did love it.
Would I recommend this anthology? Definitely a must for fans of the Otherworld Series.
Would I read more books/novella's by Kelley Armstrong? I already have read other novella's by Kelley and hope to do so in the future as well. The novella's are a great way to re-visit favourite characters.
Would I read other books by Kelley Armstrong? Definitely. I will be checking out her other books series soon. Her style of writing really suits my reading tastes. I've also discovered that this anthology was actually Bk3 in the Otherworld novella's so I'd like to read the other two soon, if I can find out where they are available.
Would I read other anthologies of this sort? I have read other anthologies though usually containing books or novella's by different authors. I think anthologies are a fantastic way to discover new authors and see if you enjoy their style of writing in a less expensive way, than committing to buying a whole book or series by them.


PURCHASE LINK
Amazon US
[link unavailable at time of this post]

1 comment:

  1. Great Review! Mine is up for tomorrow :)
    I also really loved this anthology and especially 'Hidden' and 'Vanishing Act'. I really loved Elena and Clay. I only read three books in the otherworld series so I didn’t know them. I definitely need to do more reading ;)

    ReplyDelete