Living with the Dead (Women of the Otherworld)

I have not been able to read the last couple of books in this series, even tho Bitten was one of my all time favorite books. This is the first book of the last installments in this series that I have been able to finish. Contrary to most of the reviews, I enjoyed the multiple POVs and third person narration. I felt intellectually challenged by this book. Maybe it was just good timing, but I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

Public Relations expert Robyn thinks she knows everything she needs to about what the world is like - until the socialite she works for is murdered, and Robyn winds up the prime suspect. Her friend Hope Adams is the only one who can help her, but Hope's world may have far stranger threats then Robyn can handle.

Kelly Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld books have featured werewolves, necromancers, witches and ghosts - but Robyn is the first 'ordinary'woman we've seen. It's an interesting new view to the world - things seem a lot stranger and darker from an outside perspective. Robyn herself is likable enough, but the split viewpoints don't leave as much room for getting attached to the several new characters. In some ways, this felt like the first book in a new spin-off series - I wouldn't mind seeing more of Robyn, but I hope future books are more focused.

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.

I found myself getting frustrated with this book, just putting it down, walking away only to pick it up and try again days later. I just was not invested in the characters they way I have been in previous KA books I've read. Several times there was potential for something moving or powerful to happen, but instead we changed to a different characters point of view. I felt this especially happened with Robyn's character. I'll continue to read KA, because I loved her previous books.

Like all Kelley Armstrong's books, her writing style and characters are wonderful, by this story doesn't have enough content for a full length novel. It drags on when the end is obvious and the events repetitive. It would have worked much better as one of her novellas than novels.

I have been a fan of this series since I first read "Bitten" years ago. I own all the books (most in hardcover) and am a regular visitor to Kelley Armstrong's website. This book, however, is a big disappointment.

The storyline is extremely chaotic, told from 5+ characters' points of view. Furthermore, each of these characters is trying to figure out what's going on, with the reader one step ahead of them. This makes watching them come to the wrong conclusions and do the wrong things somewhat tedious. It also doesn't give you enough time to really get to know any character - there are simply too many. I found myself not really caring what happened to them, aside from the completely, 100% evil, totally unbelievable villain, whom I wished would just die already.

Even if you like this series, don't buy this book. You will like the series less after reading it.

Ms. Armstrong, if you read these reviews - please, take us back to some of your original characters. Take us back to Elena and Clay, or Paige and Lucas. Par down some of these characters that bring nothing to the table. The main character in this book isn't even a woman of the otherworld! I've read two books about Hope, but she is just not engaging. Even another book about *shudder* Jaime Vegas would be better than this.

I am going to give this series one last shot. If the next book isn't a big step up, I'm just going to give up on this author.

This book took me a little getting use to with all the character changes. i found myself trying to remember who's head i was in. but after a few chapters i got use to it, it would be bad if all the books were written this way but just one i can handle, i love this series i'm always suprised with something. I also love the way the Cabal is unfolding little secrets as we go.

I am also a big fan of Armstrong and this series. Unlike other readers, I was not disturbed by the differing points of view. I liked the police detective and his charming ghost sidekick. It was the sordid storyline which makes me dislike this book. There were many scenes involving skanky sex or gang rape. In the end, the bad guys win and the good guys survive.

I read this book straight after finishing the one before - personal demon - so i think this shows I'm a bit biased. I love the idea of the chaos Demon and the character of Hope. Keen to read more about her. I think Kelley Armstrong has some excellent ideas and characters and I like how her books interlink with various characters and aspects of the world she has created - without being straightforwardly linear.

The first couple of books built the background and interaction for the entire series. They were a little slow going. But this book was by far the most difficult to get into. Im not saying its not worth reading. Overall I would definately recommend reading it as it is in a great series. I am already pre-ordering the next installment.

This one starts a little slow. But once you get used to humans being involved in the otherworld, it's a great read. Hope has really come into her own, she is one of the most interesting charaters. Kelley has really shown her ability to create believeable races from the many things that go bump in the night.