Review: Thirteen

Reviewed by Jen
 

I've been a fan of the Otherworld series ever since I picked up Bitten and fell in love with the hot, complicated and largely dysfunctional romance between Clay Danvers and Elena Michaels.  Over the years, I have liked some stories more than others. Some had better narrators, others had a stronger story arc, and yet others appealed more to the romance lover in me.  But these last two Otherworld books took the series to an entirely different level.  Thirteen was everything I wanted... everything I needed... for a fitting farewell to these characters I have come to care so much about.

I will do my very best to keep from spoiling you on the particulars.  In broad strokes, I can tell you that the story picks up where Spell Bound left off.  It follows Savannah on her journey to recover her powers and stop the faction of supernaturals trying to out themselves to the human world. This, of course, as she tries to finally snag the man she has loved all her life.

But while Savannah is the anchor of the story, this book belongs in part to everyone we have come to know in the Otherworld universe. We spend time with Elena, Paige, Eve, Hope, Jaime, Cassandra and the men who love them.  We get bits and pieces in their POVs --enough for me to remember who I love and why.  We see how far everyone has come, the evolution of their lives, but all folded seamlessly into the framework of this current crisis.

And it is a crisis.  The action is almost non-stop. The danger is very real.  In fact, there is one heart stopping moment, where I felt like Kelley Armstrong stabbed me in the heart with a rusty butterknife. It was that wrenching.  It's also a testament to how deeply connected I feel to these characters and their lives.

Armstrong weaves together so many threads from so many of her previous books. We see (or at least hear about) all the major players that have shaped the series.  Some, I never thought we would ever see. Some I thought we had seen the last of.  They're all connected by our core cast of characters either by blood, by friendship or by feud.  It's brilliant.

I wouldn't change a thing.  Well, that's not entirely true. I would have liked to see a page or two of payoff on the relationship we have waited on between Savannah and Adam.  I didn't need (or even want) the romance to take over the story, but I felt robbed with a love scene that fades to black.  Armstrong has given us good love scenes in the past, but here, for whatever reason, she opts not to.

When all is said and done, our characters lives are still a work in progress.  But we have enough closure that I was very satisfied. And a little sad. I will miss this series... but at least it went out with a bang instead of a whimper.

Rating: A-

*ARC Provided by Dutton

Click to purchase: Amazon

Thirteen

by Kelley Armstrong

Release Date: July 24, 2012

Publisher: Dutton