Broken

Reviewed by: Rabid Reads

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, show more 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. show less

The sixth in the Woman of the Otherworld series sees the welcome return og Elena Michaels. She is the only female werewolf and on top of that she is now pregnant by her werewolf boyfriend and man who turned her, Clay. At the start of the novel Elena is mostly worried about the effect that Changing will have on her unborn baby as well as staving off boredom by Clay and Jeremy not letting her out of their sights. She needn't worry as just around the corner looms a much larger threat.

Half-demon Xavier also returns in this novel to ask Elena to return a favour and steal the legendary "From Hell" letter supposedly sent by Jack the Ripper to the police during his killing spree. A sorcerer has it after an ancestor initially stole it from show more London police and it is guarded by special spells that only the werewolves can penetrate. Gaining the letter has unforseen consequences involving zombies and a time portal to Victorian England which the modern day Toronto locals are getting lost in. Necromancer Jamie and the rest of the Pack are called in to help Elena and Clay face their toughest challenge yet on the hunt for the notorious Jack the Ripper.

Gripping and much sexier than I remembered previous novels in this series, I found this hard to put down. Elena dealt with her accelerated pregnancy well wihlst still kicking ass. There were a couple of interesting new characters and I especially liked vampire Zoe who originally stole the letter from London police. I hope there are more in the series focusing on Elena, I really want to read what happens next for her. show less

Not my favorite, but damn, it's Clay and Elena, my favorites among Armstrong's characters. The book started off a little slower than I expected, and it was weird to see Elena and the pack focusing on something outside of the pack, considering how insular they've been in the past -- but it was a great story once it got going, and I won't lie -- any excuse to read more about Clay and Elena and I am there. I pretty much dance with joy whenever I hear Armstrong's chosen to give us more of these two.

Elena is easily my favourite character so the books where she's the main character are always my favourite. I especially like this one because we get to visit Canada! the downside is Toronto is visited by zombies so that kind of kills the excitement a little. There isn't as much action as there normally is in this book because Elena is now pregnant and even a pregnant werewolf has to be a little careful. I actually really enjoyed the parts where the other werewolves were bring overprotective of her. I thought it was really cute and sometimes pretty funny.

The plot was also really fun in this one because it partially has to do with Jack the Ripper which is always a great topic. There were these zombies that came out of a Victorian show more England time portal and I really loved how the author brought pieces of that world back. For example, there was some diseases that were carried from the zombies into modern day Toronto like typhus and cholera. I found that to actually be more realistic because zombies just feel like they should be carrying lots of gross things. We also got to meet Zoe the vampire in this book who I love and I wish she had gotten her own book. show less

After re-read in 2019, changing rating to 3 stars

“We sacrificed a mosquito. I bet that's what did it. It was probably a virgin too.”

I was happy to finally return to Elena's point of view after being away from her voice for a few books. This turned out to be the weakest of the first three starring Elena's POV, but it's still worth checking out.

We get plenty of Elena, Clay, Jeremy, Jaime, and the setting of Toronto with an unusual historical mystery involving magic. The Jack-The-Ripper lore was certainly unique although not my favorite side-plot of the series. I kind of missed Stonehaven, but the dirty, gritty feel worked well.

The book focuses mainly on Elaine's pregnancy, how overprotective Jeremy and Clay are about it, and her show more personal fears about changing and endangering the child. Some of it got a little tiresome, but overall I liked the overprotective wolves and thought it cute. Elena's fears were justified but I'm glad she got over some of it. I would worry about shifting causing a miscarriage, so can understand the reasoning. Upon my second read of the book, I didn't find it as overpeabring.

Jaime comes aboard and I enjoyed her scenes. She's one of my top favorites and I love her crush on Jeremy. She gets awkward and trips over everything when the alpha shows up. I definitely wouldn't keep crushing on someone like that without some reciprocity by now.

Zoe is a new character...she's fun. I'm not as crazy about the vampires in this series but she's humorous and quirky. Tee fascinated me with her creepy, insane energy. Villains worked - I saw the hidden twist but guessing in advance didn't deter from the story-line.

The zombie angle was definitely different, and the story-line was a little cheesy, but it was over the top creative and well structured. Bumped to 4 stars from 3 based on a re-read. show less

In Kelley Armstrong's 5th installment in the Women of the Otherworld series, we are re-united with Elena Michaels, the only living female werewolf in the world, and the werewolf pack of Stonehaven. In order to find a dangerous non-pack wolf, Elena makes a deal with a half-demon named Xavier to acquire an ancient stolen letter. In the rush to get their hands on the letter, Elena and her pack accidentally open an unknown time portal to 19th century England, unleashing zombies, disease and destruction into modern times. The pack must scramble to right this wrong before all hell breaks loose - literally.

I love Elena Michaels! She is the narrator in the first two books in the series, Bitten and Stolen, and she has always been my favorite show more "Woman of the Otherworld." I am sad that this seems to be the last book from her perspective, but without giving too much of the plot away, I can say that it makes sense to me that her main story ends here in Broken. I want to know more about what happens to her, and I'm sure she will play a part in future books, but things wrap up pretty nicely for her in Broken.

Broken is not my favorite of the series, but it is still a very good book. The story is totally original and continuing character development, delicious. I love the way Armstrong sets us up for the next book with a little more back story on Jamie Vegas. The character dialogue is fantastically witty and at times, downright hilarious - in a good way! Broken is a compelling and fun read that adds new depth to the series. show less

Broken was fantastic. Kelley Armstrong took the usual urban fantasy aspects of her Women of the Otherworld series and broadened them to include both time travel and historical fiction (in the form of Jack the Ripper). Elana's journey through pregnancy and the concerns she has feel very true to life. At least, as much as they can with her being a werewolf and all. I loved how Armstrong wrote a world her readers know well, after five previous series books, and managed to make it feel new and yet so comfortably familiar. The Women of the Otherworld series is always fun and quite enjoyable but Broken stands out and really shines.