betty reviewed Broken by Kelley Armstrong (Bantam Spectrum fantasy)
Review of 'Broken' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
Book 6 in a series I haven't read the rest of, but don't worry, I knew that going and won't be complaining about it.
Elena is pregnant, pleased to be so, and in an established relationship with Clay. If only Elena weren't the first female, (and therefore, the first pregnant) werewolf, that they knew of, they might be able to relax and stop worrying. And maybe the men in her life, Clay, and the Jeremy, the alpha of the pack of werewolves they belong to, will stop treating her like spun-glass.
I'm assuming Elena and Clay's tumultuous (I gather) courtship is covered in one of the preceding books, but in this one, they're pretty settled and domestic. In fact, it's even more domestic than that: Clay and Elena live with Jeremy, and although the book doesn't so much as hint at it, and explicitly denies it, their relationship really …
Book 6 in a series I haven't read the rest of, but don't worry, I knew that going and won't be complaining about it.
Elena is pregnant, pleased to be so, and in an established relationship with Clay. If only Elena weren't the first female, (and therefore, the first pregnant) werewolf, that they knew of, they might be able to relax and stop worrying. And maybe the men in her life, Clay, and the Jeremy, the alpha of the pack of werewolves they belong to, will stop treating her like spun-glass.
I'm assuming Elena and Clay's tumultuous (I gather) courtship is covered in one of the preceding books, but in this one, they're pretty settled and domestic. In fact, it's even more domestic than that: Clay and Elena live with Jeremy, and although the book doesn't so much as hint at it, and explicitly denies it, their relationship really reads more like a well settled and stable triad where for some reason Jeremy has been edited out of all the sex scenes. (Note: Has someone written this? Someone who is not [author:Laurell K Hamilton]?)
Anywho, I like that the book depicts a woman whose life continues after she falls in love, and I like that the heroine is pregnant. I'm trying to remember the last time I read a book where the heroine was pregnant, and I think it might have been the Countess Vorkosigan.
The book is well grounded in place: if Armstrong doesn't live in Toronto, she has (or possesses the secret of really good research skills), the characters are moderately clever, and although the villain is pretty much obvious from introduction, the plot is coherent, and at times even gripping.
One of the problems this book has that it is book six, and Armstrong spends a bit too long (in my estimation) keeping track of characters introduced in earlier books who don't really do much in this one. I assume part of the reason is to prevent the reader from going "Hey, wait a second, two novels ago this problem was solved handily by that person she met in Kitchener, why doesn't she just give him a call?"
Also, srsly, what's with the title? One-word titles shouldn't be this hard to de-code, but nothing really gets broken in this story, physically or mentally. Maybe Elena's water?
Decent contemporary fantasy, Elena's likable, will definitely try to find more.
