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A review by mentat_stem
Bitten by Kelley Armstrong
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Bitten follows a reluctant werewolf as she returns from her life in the human world to help deal with a threat to her pack. She's an orphan. Her "pack" is a family thrust upon her, more than a "found family." She desperately wants to just live in the human world. It's this struggle to decide where she fits into the world that is the core strength of the book. The thriller and romance beats move the story along, but it's that core search for identity that gives the book its heart.
I finished the first season of the TV show before finishing the book. The most glaring difference was the lack of character development in the book for everyone other than the 1st person narrator. I guess that's an inherent issue with 1st person narration. Multiple characters (fleshed out in the TV show) met their demise with hardly any backstory. The book makes it feel like there are only a dozen werewolves in the world. The stakes feel equally small.
This can safely be shelved as romance, I guess paranormal romance in this case, but I think that's where it fell flat. It's spicy when you'd expect it to be. However, the love triangle is painfully skewed and the HFN resolution seems tacked on at the last moment. There's a TON of strong friendships and physical affection and a lack of jealousy amongst the pack. I'd find that WAY more interesting to explore than the simple pairing we end up with.
I finished the first season of the TV show before finishing the book. The most glaring difference was the lack of character development in the book for everyone other than the 1st person narrator. I guess that's an inherent issue with 1st person narration. Multiple characters (fleshed out in the TV show) met their demise with hardly any backstory. The book makes it feel like there are only a dozen werewolves in the world. The stakes feel equally small.
This can safely be shelved as romance, I guess paranormal romance in this case, but I think that's where it fell flat. It's spicy when you'd expect it to be. However, the love triangle is painfully skewed and the HFN resolution seems tacked on at the last moment. There's a TON of strong friendships and physical affection and a lack of jealousy amongst the pack. I'd find that WAY more interesting to explore than the simple pairing we end up with.