Sunday, July 25, 2010

CBR Book#55: Frostbitten by Kelley Armstrong


Alright, you can mock my choice of reading materials all you want, but Kelley Armstrong is a hell of a writer. I know that some people are over the whole supernatural lean that most everything has anymore. But her books are different. There are relationships that one can actually relate to. The characters are not just one-dimensional men and women that happen to change into werewolves or cast spells. They change and grow and develop as the books go on. They realize mistakes and work to make sure they don't repeat them (for the most part).



I'm not going to go into too much detail as to what this book is about. Just know that it deals with the Pack werewolves, specifically Elena and Clay, heading to Alaska to see if mutts are murdering humans. As with all of the books in this series, there is more going on then they could have suspected. There are also changes coming within the Pack and decisions to be made. If you take away all of the supernatural elements, you have a story about people dealing with their comfort zones, their relationships, and how far they are willing to go to protect those they love. I think that we can all understand those situations and decisions. I also think that is why I'm so addicted to these novels and especially the werewolf stories.

Past this point thar be SPOILERS. Elena starts out in the first book as someone angry with who she is. She's someone that wants to be what she thinks normal should be, even though she clearly isn't made to fit into that mold. Elena is then pulled away from her family and her mate when she is kidnapped in the second book. She has to take a situation and the time that it gives her to really think about who and what she wants. She has to face up to her own insecurities and the ways that she self-sabotages and throws the blame to others. In the third book, she's come to terms with who she is and where she wants to be. And who she wants to be with. She has to adjust to impending motherhood and the changes that come with that. And then we have this book. Elena has normal now. Her normal. She has Clay. She has her kids. She has her pack. She's made a transformation in these books and it has been great fun to follow. For the most part!

There were some sections of this book that had me upset because of the perils that Elena had to face. I do think that Armstrong handled it well and also clearly made a distinction between choosing to play at dominance with a lover and having dominance forced on you through sex. She has such strong female characters and has such a way of writing that it is sad to me that I've barreled through all of these books. Of course, I have her other books that focus on other supernaturals to read. I also have information that I can use to better understand her young adult series that I read a while back. I hope to see even more from Armstrong, even if it isn't in the supernatural vein.

4 comments:

  1. I really enjoyed this one, much more than Broken. It's nice to see Elena really accepting who she is. And I thought the story was more interesting this time around. I'm sad I'm finished with them, but hoping there'll be more Pack stories in the future.

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  2. I'm hoping that Armstrong will do a book that combines characters from her young adult novels with their adult counterparts. Or catch up with the adult versions of her YA characters or Elena and Clay's children. Or ALL OF THE ABOVE, ha!

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  3. I'd love Elena and Clay's kids, but then Elena and Clay would be older and I am scared that it wouldn't be the same. Don't kill them off Kelley! Oh my god, if Clay died...Let's us not even think of it. :)

    I haven't read her YA ones yet but I might. I'm running out of books.

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  4. I love Clay so much that he can NEVER DIE. NEVER! Yeah, it would be weird with Clay and Elena older, but they age more slowly, so...

    You should definitely check out the YA novels. I wish I'd read the adult series before the YA because they would have made more sense, but I wasn't lost totally. There should be a new YA book out soon as well.

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