Otherworld Chills - A Review

OTHERWORLD CHILLS by Kelley Armstrong

“The fifth and final collection” in Ms. Armstrong’s Otherworld series.  I’ve been a fan of the Otherworld since the publication of Bitten (I even watched the three season television series … ick! … Greyston Holt being the only saving grace) so when I saw that this was to be the ultimate LAST visit to the Otherworld I knew I wanted to read it.  The book consists of seven short stories each telling the story of characters from the books.  For Ms. Armstrong’s emphatic “constant readers” this book will come as somewhat of a disappointment as only one of the stories (Baby Boom) is a first time publication.  The others have been available in other compilations or on line.  I do not do much reading on line so, for me, five of the stories were new reads.

BRAZEN

Nick Sorrentino teams up with a new ally to track the “Big Bad Wolf” himself, Malcolm Danvers.  Malcolm has been the supreme villain in the books about Stonehaven and the werewolves and it looks like this time they may finally have him.  But Malcolm might not be the only one caught – has Nick finally found a woman who can make him give up his wolfish ways?

CHAOTIC

A wild chase through a museum during an opening night gala and the story of how (half demon) Hope and (werewolf) Karl met. 

AMITYVILLE HORRIBLE

Yes, it’s the same town but a different house.  It was all supposed to be staged for a “Ghost Hunters”-like reality show starring Jaime, who for a necromancer does everything in her power to avoid ghosts.  Sometimes the ghosts, and her manager, have different ideas.

This is one of the stories I had not read before and I can honestly say the first part of the story was one of the creepiest stories I have come across from Ms. Armstrong.  Definitely goosebumps material!  Then … pffft!  I was left hanging.  I even went back and checked if two pages of the book were stuck together and I had missed something.  Nope.  The story just seemed to lose its thread. 

SORRY SEEMS TO BE THE HARDEST WORD

A revisit with Toronto vampire Zoe and her visitor the virtual queen of the vampires, Cassandra.

Cassandra needs a favor from Zoe and Zoe needs an apology from Cassandra.  Which one will get what she wants in the battle of vampire wills?

THE PUPPY PLAN

I loved this Christmas story featuring Logan and Kate, Clay and Elena’s twins.  It was a cute reworking of “The Gift of the Magi”.

BABY BOOM

This is the original novella included in this book.  With Savannah and Adam together and expecting Benicio is putting more pressure on Lucas to step up in the Cabal and possibly also pro-create.  Lucas and Paige can’t really get on board with that request.  But in the world of the Cabal, witches and demons … things don’t always go according to plan.

“The fifth and final collection” in Ms. Armstrong’s Otherworld series.  Nick has a new love interest.  Logan and Kate are growing up.  Adam and Savannah are having a baby.  Hmmm – with so many loose ends and new beginnings is this really going to be the final visit to the Otherworld?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR (from www.kelleyarmstrong.com)

I’ve been telling stories since before I could write. My earliest written efforts were disastrous. If asked for a story about girls and dolls, mine would invariably feature undead girls and evil dolls, much to my teachers’ dismay. All efforts to make me produce “normal” stories failed. Today, I continue to spin tales of ghosts and demons and werewolves, while safely locked away in my basement writing dungeon.

12/30