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love the series, but not this one.... Nov 6, 2008 (20 of 22 found this helpful)
Kelley Armstrong is one of my favorite authors. But "Living with the Dead" makes me wonder if her series has jumped the shark. Too many characters. Too many shifting P.O.V.S. Too much confusion all around. I like twists and turns, but I found myself working too hard to keep up for too little pay off in the end.
I liked the Robyn character and thought her plight was well written, but I didn't feel like I got to know her well enough because just when things got juicy, we were shuttled off into someone else's mind. I also missed the sensuality of the earlier novels in this series. I'll certainly try Ms. Armstrong's next story, but I hope the author returns to using only one or two POVs per story and focuses on a strong but understandable plot.
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Not entirely successful Oct 31, 2008 (13 of 15 found this helpful)
I have been a Kelley Armstrong fan for years and always finish the newest book looking forward to the next one. Her characters are interesting, quirky, and believable and her plotting is strong. While followers of her series will enjoy the book, with its focus on Hope and Karl, I wouldn't recommend it to new readers.
The multiple points of view aren't entirely successful, the villian isn't entirely believable in her own voice (this would be an instance where distance would have been a better choice) and there are too many characters who tell rather than show. Finally, while I appreciate an author who can disorient me with unexpected but entirely plausible last minute characters, it works better if keeping the reader off balance is part of the complete reading experience rather than a one-off.
This is not a bad book at all, but any of the other Women of the Otherworld books would be a better entry point for this series.
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Still going strong after nine books! Nov 6, 2008 (12 of 15 found this helpful)
Kelley Armstrong was one of the first Urban Fantasy authors I read as an adult. Bitten made me fall in love with the characters, the world, and caused me to drool all over myself, waiting for more.
As her series has progressed different narrators have been introduced, but she's stayed mostly in the first person. Living with the Dead (Women of the Otherworld, Book 9) is the first one I can think of where it is completely third person. With multiple, multiple narrators. I normally can't stand it when the author does that, but Kelley managed a smooth transition from narrator to narrator even though they had such differing personalities.
There was Hope, my favorite half-demon, whose role was helping Robyn, the completely human, normal narrator the story focused on while being pursued by Detective Finn, a man who sees ghosts but doesn't quite know why. Of course where there's Hope there's Karl, the most fascinating werewolf second only to Clay. I've loved Karl since he helped Elena escape during Bitten while remaining unapologetic. Also joining the ranks were Colm and Adele, two clairvoyants whose relationship and family life made the guys from Deliverance look almost normal.
The negative of this barrage of voices culminated in the ending. Though the brunt of the story focused on Robyn, a story arc was created for Hope and Karl and their strained relationship. I'll admit I'm becoming a sex fiend when it comes to my books, so the fact that there wasn't any lovin' depicted did rankle a bit, but the romance Armstrong infused helped fill the hole. Hope and Karl's relationship was brought to a new level in this installment and you're allowed into Karl's heart more while secretly wanting to throw Hope against a wall and shake her while yelling, "For the love of God woman, how blind can you be??" But the back and forth between the two arcs didn't allow the reader to fully connect with any of the speakers.
Living with the Dead introduced a few new characters (Robyn and Finn) that should be interesting to explore and pushed forward the Hope/Karl arc. I'm left chewing my nails, wondering what effect this book is going to have on the Otherworld and its inhabitants, and if we'll be allowed to see it to the end.
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An extended chase scene with multiple points of view (2.5 stars) Jan 22, 2009 (3 of 3 found this helpful)
The story starts out interesting enough, Robyn Peltier is the PR rep for the current hot celebutante. Unfortunately, her client is murdered over a cell phone picture and Robyn is forced to run. She next seeks aid from a private detective who is also killed.
Robyn keeps on running throughout the story. She's chased by John Findlay "Finn", a police detective who talks to dead people in this particular instance, Robyn's late husband, Damon. Also in pursuit is Adele, a clairvoyant from the 'kumpania'(essentially a psychic enclave and breeding ground. Hope Adams (chaos demon) and Karl Marsten (werewolf) are trying to aid Robyn in her flight and find out who the real killer is. Interspersed also are points of view from Colm, a kumpania psychic that Adele is using for her own nefarious means, and other bit players.
While the story is interesting, readers don't have a chance to get to know anyone before the chapter changes and a new point of view is in play. The breathless pace should keep you turning pages and it does, but you're never as connected to the characters as you are in other Kelley Armstrong novels.
Adele, the sociopathic psychic, is an interesting pursuer, but she loses her mystery as a point of view. This is one case where revealing the 'bad girl' too soon takes away the mystery.
Overall, the story does add something to the "Women of the Otherworld" mythos, but it's a lot harder read than the other, better written stories. "Living with the Dead" is definitely not a good entry point for new readers interested in Kelley Armstrong. I'd start with "Dime Store Magic" (my personal favorite). I hope the next installment in the series has a little slower pace and a better chance to get to know the protagonist.
Rebecca Kyle, January 2009
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Kelley Armstrong is back ... Jan 16, 2009 (3 of 3 found this helpful)
Well ... almost, anyway. Although she doesn't quite reach the heights of her earlier work, Armstrong's latest instalment in the "Women of the Otherworld" series is much more gripping and entertaining read than its predecessor(Personal Demon), with more interesting and varied characters. As always, it's beautifully written too.
I'm not going to attempt to provide a plot summary here, at the risk of giving away too much - it's quite intricate, and it appears other reviewers have done a much better job than I could in that respect! There is less eroticism in this novel than previous novels, but a lot of action makes up for that; while I have no issue with eroticism in novels, too often it's overdone, and in my view wouldn't have fitted in too well with the plot and structure of this particular story.
This is the first of the series, if I recall correctly, in which the story is told in the third person, from a greater variety of perspectives; in the main, this narrative choice is successful, though it might have been better had the points of view been limited to three or at most four characters. I have to agree with a previous reviewer that there is a little too much telling rather than showing, but it's not excessive. The ending also felt a bit rushed, as though the book had suddenly run out of steam in the last 20-odd pages.
The new characters - such as Robyn, the very human PR agent who unwittingly becomes a murder suspect, and Finn, the copper with an unusual gift - are engaging (though Robyn's habit of making Spectacularly Stupid Decisions got a touch frustrating after a while), and I'd like to see Finn, at least, make an appearance in later novels. I also found myself warming much more to Hope and Karl this time around, although I still don't find them quite as fascinating as Elena and Clay, or Paige and Lucas, for example; Hope's perspective, to me, is the least interesting, and I just don't buy her romance with Karl at all. He does not have the depth of the other werewolf characters such as Clay or Jeremy, and I struggle to care much about either of them.
I suspect the WoTO series is probably due for a bit of a rest - certainly Hope and Karl are, being the least appealing of Armstrong's supernatural characters - as the later novels have not been quite as strong as the earlier ones. Nonetheless, Living with the Dead is definitely worth reading and highly enjoyable. For those new to the series, though, I'd strongly advise starting with Book 1 (Bitten) first, and working your way through chronologically; the books can theoretically stand alone, but make much more sense when read in order.