Thirteen (Women of the Otherworld, #13)
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Publication Date: 7/24/12
Publisher: Penguin
[Goodreads|Amazon]
Blurb: It’s been more than ten years, a dozen installments, and hundreds of thousands of copies since Kelley Armstrong introduced readers to the all-too-real denizens of the Otherworld: witches, werewolves, necromancers, vampires, and half-demons, among others. And it’s all been leading to Thirteen, the final installment, the novel that brings all of these stories to a stunning conclusion.
A war is brewing—the first battle has been waged and Savannah Levine is left standing, albeit battered and bruised. She has rescued her half brother from supernatural medical testing, but he’s fighting to stay alive. The Supernatural Liberation Movement took him hostage, and they have a maniacal plan to expose the supernatural world to the unknowing.
Savannah has called upon her inner energy to summon spells with frightening strength, a strength she never knew she had, as she fights to keep her world from shattering. But it’s more than a matter of supernaturals against one another—both heaven and hell have entered the war; hellhounds, genetically modified werewolves, and all forces of good and evil have joined the fray.
Uniting Savannah with Adam, Paige, Lucas, Jaime, Hope, and other lost-but-not-forgotten characters in one epic battle, Thirteen is a grand, crowd-pleasing closer for Armstrong’s legions of fans.
Review:
Have Kelley Armstrong's books always been like... this? So superficial, so packed with mindless action? I know I didn't particularly like her YA novels or her last two adult novels, but were her earlier works this bad too, and I was just too inexperienced and liked them in spite of their flaws? I will have to investigate this and read her earlier books one of these days and for now just assume that they used to be better, and I had a legitimate reason to become a fan of both Women of the Otherworld and Kelley Armstrong.
Thirteen is just meh. I feel like gone from this series are hot romances, spunky heroines and interesting mythologies. What's left are: family reunions and running around.
I have the vaguest memories of the two previous books in the series - Waking the Witch and Spellbound. It's hard for me to remember anything except the feelings of disappointment in Savannah, her romance with Adam and the hectic, cliff-hangery plots. This disappointment carried over into Thirteen.
There is nothing "stunning" about this conclusion, IMO. The gist of this story is that this group of supernaturals (The Supernatural Liberation Movement) is creating havoc, trying to force the rest of supes to come out and take over the world. And, of course, only Savannah and hew crew can save humanity. The thing is, the balance of power from the get-go is so much in our friends' favor, I don't know why anyone would worry about the outcome. For goodness sake, they have an angel (Eve) and Lucifer on their side! With no suspense, no mystery and no real danger, the novel reads like a mix of numerous kidnappings (I am pretty certain that any book shouldn't have any more than one kidnapping; this one has at least three!), escapes, betrayals, main characters doing and saying what they've done and said in every book already (they are, in a way, their own cliches) and the stupidest villains ever who reveal their plans to anyone who asks.
The only thing Thirteen accomplishes successfully is a HEA FOR ALL, with love proclamations and babies. Armstrong even manages to give each and every woman of the Otherworld the last word by letting Elena, Jaime, Hope, Eve and Paige narrate one needless chapter each. Otherwise Thirteen is a poor hide-and-seek extravaganza with people getting kidnapped and released/rescued every ten pages and not a moment of contemplation, a piece of cool world-building, or even some decent sexy times to shake things up. (I don't think one measly, passionless "slide in" is worth mentioning.)
A sad conclusion to the series, to be sure. I am tired of repeating this, but I wish authors would cut off their series while they are ahead instead of producing low-quality junk and losing their credibility. My adieus to this series, which is going to migrate from my series-still-like to series-abandoned-lost-steam shelf, and to another author who I once respected but am not sure now I would care to support any more.
2.5/5 stars
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Publication Date: 7/24/12
Publisher: Penguin
[Goodreads|Amazon]
Blurb: It’s been more than ten years, a dozen installments, and hundreds of thousands of copies since Kelley Armstrong introduced readers to the all-too-real denizens of the Otherworld: witches, werewolves, necromancers, vampires, and half-demons, among others. And it’s all been leading to Thirteen, the final installment, the novel that brings all of these stories to a stunning conclusion.
A war is brewing—the first battle has been waged and Savannah Levine is left standing, albeit battered and bruised. She has rescued her half brother from supernatural medical testing, but he’s fighting to stay alive. The Supernatural Liberation Movement took him hostage, and they have a maniacal plan to expose the supernatural world to the unknowing.
Savannah has called upon her inner energy to summon spells with frightening strength, a strength she never knew she had, as she fights to keep her world from shattering. But it’s more than a matter of supernaturals against one another—both heaven and hell have entered the war; hellhounds, genetically modified werewolves, and all forces of good and evil have joined the fray.
Uniting Savannah with Adam, Paige, Lucas, Jaime, Hope, and other lost-but-not-forgotten characters in one epic battle, Thirteen is a grand, crowd-pleasing closer for Armstrong’s legions of fans.
Review:
Have Kelley Armstrong's books always been like... this? So superficial, so packed with mindless action? I know I didn't particularly like her YA novels or her last two adult novels, but were her earlier works this bad too, and I was just too inexperienced and liked them in spite of their flaws? I will have to investigate this and read her earlier books one of these days and for now just assume that they used to be better, and I had a legitimate reason to become a fan of both Women of the Otherworld and Kelley Armstrong.
Thirteen is just meh. I feel like gone from this series are hot romances, spunky heroines and interesting mythologies. What's left are: family reunions and running around.
I have the vaguest memories of the two previous books in the series - Waking the Witch and Spellbound. It's hard for me to remember anything except the feelings of disappointment in Savannah, her romance with Adam and the hectic, cliff-hangery plots. This disappointment carried over into Thirteen.
There is nothing "stunning" about this conclusion, IMO. The gist of this story is that this group of supernaturals (The Supernatural Liberation Movement) is creating havoc, trying to force the rest of supes to come out and take over the world. And, of course, only Savannah and hew crew can save humanity. The thing is, the balance of power from the get-go is so much in our friends' favor, I don't know why anyone would worry about the outcome. For goodness sake, they have an angel (Eve) and Lucifer on their side! With no suspense, no mystery and no real danger, the novel reads like a mix of numerous kidnappings (I am pretty certain that any book shouldn't have any more than one kidnapping; this one has at least three!), escapes, betrayals, main characters doing and saying what they've done and said in every book already (they are, in a way, their own cliches) and the stupidest villains ever who reveal their plans to anyone who asks.
The only thing Thirteen accomplishes successfully is a HEA FOR ALL, with love proclamations and babies. Armstrong even manages to give each and every woman of the Otherworld the last word by letting Elena, Jaime, Hope, Eve and Paige narrate one needless chapter each. Otherwise Thirteen is a poor hide-and-seek extravaganza with people getting kidnapped and released/rescued every ten pages and not a moment of contemplation, a piece of cool world-building, or even some decent sexy times to shake things up. (I don't think one measly, passionless "slide in" is worth mentioning.)
A sad conclusion to the series, to be sure. I am tired of repeating this, but I wish authors would cut off their series while they are ahead instead of producing low-quality junk and losing their credibility. My adieus to this series, which is going to migrate from my series-still-like to series-abandoned-lost-steam shelf, and to another author who I once respected but am not sure now I would care to support any more.
2.5/5 stars
