Stolen (Otherworld, #2)

by Kelley Armstrong

[Amber]

This review was originally posted on Books of Amber

You might remember that I was forced into reading this series. Tatum bought me Bitten for my birthday because she loved it after Lauren made her read it last year. I was hesitant about it, and I had a few issues with the book after reading, but I really enjoyed Bitten. So, obviously, I had to read Stolen so I could get more Elena.


E-L-E-N-AAAAAAAAA. Oh my god, I love her. Probably even more so in this book, because she’s started to deal with the issues that were made apparent in Bitten. Her storyline is absolutely brilliant, and I’m loving her character growth in this series.

And I am so sorry, Lauren, but I still can’t ship Elena with Clay. I feel like I’m failing all the books fans with this, but Elena/Jeremy is where it’s at. Clay by himself is great. A little angry and hot headed, but great. But when it comes to Elena he gets all possessive and it grosses me out. I know that he’s a werewolf, and he’s more ~wild than the others, but I really don’t want to read about a guy who follows his girlfriend around everywhere she goes.

And it doesn’t matter (to me) that Elena doesn’t listen to Clay when he tries to tell her what to do, it’s the fact that he tries. Those are just my feelings, I know everyone else loves them, but Clay/Elena makes me want to bash my head against the wall. Very hard.

This instalment was approximately 60% less info-dumpy than the first book. My main problem with Bitten was the extreme amount of information that was told in one go. Stolen was paced so much better, and it was a thrilling ride. There were fewer long, draining paragraphs taking away from the story.

What I really liked about Stolen was the introduction of the new characters and supernatural creatures, with the demons being the most exciting to me, of course. Stolen is a great set up for the rest of the series in this respect, since other female characters start to take the lead in the following Women of the Otherworld books.

Most importantly for now, Stolen introduces Paige, who is the protagonist of the next two books in the series. While I didn’t love her straight away, I thought she was a really interesting character and I was looking forward seeing more of her and the witch stuff. However, I was quite hesitant to continue with the series because I didn’t want to leave Elena. Because Elena is AMAZING.

I’m now on book five of Women of the Otherworld, and I’m loving it. If you are hesitant about continuing with the series then I would suggest carrying on, because it gets so much better after Bitten!