Women Of The Otherworld Books In Order

Publication Order of Women Of The Otherworld Books

Publication Order of Women Of The Otherworld Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Women Of The Otherworld Graphic Novels

Publication Order of Women Of The Otherworld Collections

The Otherworld series first found fame under the title ‘The Women of the Otherworld’. The series primarily constituted stories taking place in the backdrop of contemporary North America, utilizing supernatural characters within a setting such as this, peppered with strong romantic elements.

Initially revolving around a select species of supernatural entities, the Otherworld series has come to encompass a massive collection of otherworldly beings and creatures, these including witches, werewolves, necromancers, sorcerers, demons, ghosts, shamans and vampires.

The Otherworld series is notable for its expansive world, utilizing an impressively wide array of supernatural elements, as opposed to restricting its stories to a single facet as is common with most novels in the fantasy genre.

The Author

Kelly Armstrong is a Canadian writer responsible for spawning the intricate world of the Otherworld series. First published in 2001, the author has so far written 21 novels.

13 of these novels fall within the formerly titled Women of the Otherworld series, with six constituting Darkest Powers, another popular series, and the single book within the Age of Legends story. Kelly has done work on The Blackwell pages, a middle grade fantasy trilogy, written alongside co-author Melissa Marr.

Along with various novellas and short stories, Armstrong has been responsible for three novels in the crime genre, a first for the largely fantasy focused writer. Born in an average middle class family in Sudbury Ontario, Kelly acquired a degree in Psychology from the University of Western Ontario, eventually pursuing Computer programming at Fanshawe College as this would avail her more time to write.

She produced Bitten, the first novel in her Women of the Otherworld series, in 1999; it was officially released in 2001, the author then going on to achieve success with the 12 novels that would follow in the series, Kelly then experimenting with the crime genre with the release of Exit Strategy in 2007.

The universe of the Otherworld series

The Otherworld series of books are largely mystery oriented, following characters intent on solving some conundrum or answering a question. Many of the supernatural elements in the series are hereditary in nature, this precluding the few acquiring via a supernatural act, such as vampires biting humans.

The series is unique in that it isn’t the typical good VS. evil set up; certainly plots and conflicts will span multiple novels in some cases, arcs playing out across numerous books. However the series’ 13 stories are largely episodic in nature, and those plot lines expanding beyond their respective novels will usually revolve around the lives of different characters in the different novels upon which they encroach.

The different short stories and novellas are often narrated by different characters. Rebirth is told in the voice of Aaron while Infusion follows Malcolm Danvers. Savage is narrated by Clayton Danvers, and Bewitched by Eve Levine.

Bitten

The first book in the Otherworld series was released in 2001 and initiated readers into Kelly’s expansive world. The novel follows the story of Elena Micheals. She is the world’s first and only female werewolf. And after experiencing all that the supernatural has to offer, she begins to tire of it.

Not just the life but everything it stands for, the hiding and protecting, where her world revolves around the hunt for rogue werewolves. And because this dark world requires and draws out those worst elements of her being, especially the temper and violence, she finds that she is no longer happy with what is need from her as a member of the pack.

She abandons her post, flees to Toronto and attempts to find normal life. When she receives the call to return to the pack, she does so only because of all that she owes the pack leader. And once she fulfills her duty and provides aid in combating the uprising, her obligations will be met once and for all. She will be free to live as a normal human, if that is what she truly wants.

Bitten initially begins as another typical supernatural/romance story, but quickly evolves into something so much more. The characters are immediately enthralling and the plot manages to entertain, with lots of thrills and humor. There is plenty of tragedy as well. And Elena is presented as one of the more impressive narrators of any story in this genre, making Bitten one hell of a read, and a pretty impressive first book in the Otherworld series.

Stolen

Stolen, the second novel in the Otherworld series, immediately follows the success of Bitten in telling the Elena Micheals story. Following the conclusion of Bitten and the events that finally saw Elena come into her own, Stolen sees the beautiful confident feral lady leading her own elite pack on an important mission that quickly goes wrong.

Ambushed and netted by Tyrone Winsloe, a ruthless billionaire, responsible for funding the so called ‘other races’ investigation, Elena finds herself in cold and cruel clutches intent on unraveling all that she is.

Within an undergoing lab in the Maine woods, amongst a litany of creatures, from vampires to werewolves, witches and shamans, Elena will have to fight for her very survive as the collection of paranormal prey is loosed into the wild where they will be hunted for sport.

Winsloe has the power and the money; yet in Elena he just might have met his match.

Stolen breaks away from the structure of Bitten almost immediately by taking its primary protagonist and flinging her into dangerous and unfamiliar territory. Most fans wouldn’t even consider Stolen to be a true sequel to Bitten and they would be right.

The first in the Otherworld series, Bitten is largely standalone and serves to introduce the cast. It is Stolen that truly begins the Otherworld story, introducing a new cast of intriguing characters even while driving the story at breakneck speed.

There is action and excitement at every turn, the plot designed to continuously evolve, intent on expanding the world introduced in Bitten and making for a more exhilarating read that before.

Most fans of the series will admit to being taken aback by Stolen, which seems to knock Bitten aside as it seemingly reinvents the series.