Horror Review: Frostbitten by Kelley Armstrong
July 20, 2010 Book Review, Horror Reviews, Reviews
Not one to slack on reading a good series, I finished Kelley Armstrong’s Frostbitten
The latest installment in Armstrong’s Women of the Otherworld series returns to our first pantheon of characters: Elena, Clay, and their werewolf kin. We’ve seen just about every supernatural you could normally think of in the previous novels. One may think that it would be too much to add any more in to the mix, especially so late in the game. Generally, I would concur with that assessment. Armstrong thinks otherwise, and in the way that she introduces this new race, I definitely need to give her a huge pat on the back. I won’t say too much about the new supernatural race, as it is always better to discover this stuff in the book, but it doesn’t seem like we’ll be seeing too much of them in future novels. I could come up with a couple of interesting plot-lines related to them, but they wouldn’t fit in the main series.
Armstrong does take a few steps in a direction I don’t like as much however. In this novel we’re also partially introduced to another Pack — The Russian Pack. The leader of said pack is doing the same thing Jeremy is doing with the other supernatural races: reaching out to its bretheren and trying to form bonds and friendships. One would think that would be awesome. But I find it unrealistic given how seclusive the wolf packs have liked to be in the past. For the leaders of 2 different (more if you read closely) to be suddenly reaching out to their fellows in other parts of the world, simultaneously, that sounds a little convenient. Something’s fishy here. Maybe we’ll see some sort of strategic backstabbery in future books. I don’t know.
Of course, none of that is the BIG plot of this book. They’re more part of the big series picture. Interesting and I love watching it develop, but not integral to this book on its own. If someone wanted to just read a one-off, they could probably grab this book without too much trouble and enjoy it. Armstrong is pretty good at doing that with most of her novels. Although they lend to one another, it isn’t 100% necessary to read them all. She’s done a good review of Elena & Clay’s relationship in the beginning of this novel to catch us up since it’s been a couple books since we last saw them. It’s a good reminder and a nice technique. The plot keeps us moving forward and confronts a number of uncomfortable situations. You will feel unsettled during some scenes of this book. Work through them, and enjoy.
Much like the new race, the characters of this Russian Pack are not well defined. They’re bit characters at the moment, and Armstrong doesn’t spend much time developing them in our minds. We get a general picture, and that’s good enough. On the main characters of this book, whether they be the series characters or the ones that need to be confronted, Armstrong once again does a brilliant job. Either we know people just like them, or we’ve heard about these people. Admittedly, she does throw in a few characters just to play the role of Star Trek red shirts: dying. But they’re given about as much screen time as those red shirts, the two seconds before their deaths. I think most red shirts had more lines too. I think Armstrong cheated on this front. She added more characters in to up the danger and difficulty. It’s a cheat, but maybe there’s a reason why she wants everyone up in Alaska. Could be preparing for something big in a future book.
All in all, I liked it, though not as much as her most previous two novels. I’m giving this one 3.5/5.
The Women of The Otherworld Series (in order up to this book):
Bitten: Women of the Otherworld
Stolen: Women of the Otherworld
Dime Store Magic: Kelley Armstrong
Industrial Magic
Haunted
Broken
No Humans Involved
Personal Demon
Living with the Dead
Frostbitten
