Spellbound (Women of the Otherworld #12) - Building to a climax
Book 12 in Kelley Armstrong’s successful series is shaping the plot for a big finale. Like book 11, Waking the Witch, the focus is still on Savannah Levine, a witch (not surprisingly) with unique powers. Her powers led to catastrophic events in the prior novel; they were so terrible that she decided to give up her powers for good. Unfortunately she did it at the wrong time. The enemies are more formidable than ever, threatening her and the whole Otherworld as they know it. To prevail she will have to call upon a number of old friends, and even then it may not be enough.
While I felt as if book 11 stood on its own pretty well, this particular novel practically requires having read the prior novels. While I wasn’t completely lost, I felt as if there was a lot I missed out on. Because of this I don’t think I can give a concise review, but I will try anyway.
There are a number of cameo appearances from what I assume are past characters. Not being quite attached to their back stories made it a little more difficult to connect to the characters. I love characters with a lot of personality, and while I think the other ones had some, I didn’t get to see it develop over the course of their respective novel, so it’s a little lost on me at this point. It’s not very good either because their plot lines appear to be converging in this book.
For what I can relate to, it’s pretty apparent that Savannah and Adam love-interest angle is not going to be a walk in the park. This book isn’t really the place where it flourishes best. I have a feeling that Armstrong will save any kind of pay off for the last book. It is just a matter of patience on the reader’s part.
Savannah experiences her own personal growing pains as she deals with being powerless. One questions her decision to want to give them up knowing that there are dangers out there and no matter the tragedy, it’s always best to protect oneself,.
There are a lot of loose ends, so brace yourself for a cliffhanger. But on the plus side, the final book is now available so there’s no need to wait. Hopefully by next year I can start this series from the top. I may read this one again to see if it gives me a different impression.
*Review copy provided by publisher
Waking the Witch - Giveaway Winner Announced!
Hi everyone! As usual, I wanted to thank all of you for participating, but now we have a winner. If you posted in the comment section of the announcement thread, you were entered for a chance (or multiple chances for those following the blog multiple ways) to win. And the winner is:
noraadrienne
Please check your email, Nora! Hope you enjoy! Thank you everyone for participating and I look forward to the next giveaway, which is coming very soon so stay tuned!
Review + Giveaway: Waking the Witch (Women of the Otherworld #11) - Small town, big problems!
Review
Oh the shock. I must confess that I’d never before read a novel by Kelley Armstrong. Though I’d heard about her often and saw her books on the shelves, I just never got around to her stuff. But now I understand what I was missing.
Waking the Witch is my first foray into the Women of the Otherworld series. The central character is Savannah Levine, an orphaned but proud and skilled dark witch. She must put her abilities to the test as a Private Investigator, looking into a string of peculiar murders in the small town of Columbus, Washington. Only to the supernaturally trained eye can we see that there’s a little more than foul play involved. And it will take a member of the otherworld to catch this serial killer. But Savannah must watch her back as she makes herself a target as well as those whom she holds dear.
One of the qualities I enjoyed about this was how easy to is to become immersed in the book. I thought the balance of mystery and magic was handled well. If you removed the magic elements, it would make for a pretty fascinating mystery and suspense novel. But because I love all things paranormal, the magic makes it even more interesting. Though I hadn’t read a prior novel, it wasn’t necessary to enjoy this particular story; yet I do want to go back and read the prior novels at some point. I get OCD like that sometimes, but I really like Armstrong’s writing.
For a long time Savannah’s been carrying a torch for her friend Adam, but her feelings have gone unreciprocated. I really liked their moments as friends, and found this to be an interesting approach to build a love story. The only potential problem is that really do feel like friends to me aside from her internal monologue desiring more. I think they need a little more romantic chemistry for me to buy them as a couple, but I want to see how this is resolved.
Serving as an introduction to bigger problems, this book isn’t necessarily a cliff hanger, but the story ends making it very obvious that there is more in store for the next one. And I will certainly read it right after this.
*Review copy provided by publisher
Giveaway
I am collecting entries through June 25, 2012. I will announce the winners on Tuesday, June 26, 2012.
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