Men of the Otherworld is a collection of stories about men from the Pack. They're all about characters we've seen before but now we have stories from their perspective. Three of the stories have been published before, on Kelley Armstrong's website, as free e-fiction, but one of them is new.

The first story is Infusion. Set in 1946, it's the story of Jeremy's birth, told from Malcolm's perspective. It's a short story but a really good one. I don't remember reading this one when it was online, so it was a nice treat. Malcolm's not a nice character but it was neat to see him and how he interacted with his father.

The next two stories are longer and centre around Clay. The first one, Savage, is set in 1967 and it explains how Jeremy found Clayton and set about civilizing this wild child. It's all in first person perspective so you really get to see how Clay's mind works, and how raising him affected both his life and Jeremy's.

In Ascension, set in 1972, talks about the race to become Alpha and how the Pack ended up splintered. These events are hinted at in the other werewolf novels in the series but it was really neat to see it unfold.

The fourth story, Kitsunegari, is set in 2007, after Living with the Dead (Otherworld #8), and explains a lot more about Jeremy's mother's side of the family. In Infusion, we learned that she was Japanese and had some mystical abilities; in Kitsunegari, we learn exactly what she was. It's also a great little vignette into Jeremy's relationship with Jaime, which I've always liked.

All in all, this is a great anthology. The proceeds go to World Literacy of Canada so paying to have these previously free stories in book form doesn't bother me at all. In fact, I think it's pretty awesome of Kelley Armstrong to do this, and encourage everyone to run out and get this book. (It should be out in paperback now. I bought this a while ago but hadn't had a chance to review it before now.)

Also published at http://ireadgood.wordpress.com ( )

Opening Sentence: '…"Antonio"...'

I have long been a fan of the 'Woman of the Otherworld' series. The women all have a support cast of gorgeous kick-arse men as well, as friends and lovers. This book takes us into the past of a couple of them - the werewolves, Clay and Jeremy.

The four stories start with the conception of Jeremy - a mysterious start to life, it hints at something mystical. The next two stories are Clay's introduction to werwolfdom and then through Clay's eyes we watch Jeremy's journey to becoming the pack Alpha These tow stories gave me an insight to the workings of werewolf pack life. The final story then reveals who, or should I say what, Jeremy's mother was, and her ultimate fate.

The last story was not my favourite - came over as a bit contrived - so this brought the book back to a B. But overall was a very good book - and I understand there will be more background stories on some of the other men soon. ( )

A supernatural theme or two presented in the form of short stories which provide, as I understand it, some back stories for characters who show up in the series of supernatural books. Not my cup of tea but I was interested in trying out the genre.

A nice switch for supernatural novels: the male perspective. While this isn't my normal genre (I actually requested this for my daughter), I found the stories engaging. Unlike a lot of supernatural books I've heard her talk about, the "magical elements" are actually interesting and necessary here, not just pasted on to fit within the genre of the moment.

From Kelley Armstrong comes the background stories of the Men of the Underworld. It was interesting to learn the back stories of characters like Jeremy and Clay and how they became who they are. ( )