I will admit: I was completely taken aback by this book, because I
have read The Darkest Powers books (The Summoning, The Awakening --
with The Reckoning coming out May 2010) as well as the Nadia
Stafford series (Exit Strategy, Made to Be Broken), both by Kelley
Armstrong, and absolutely fell in love with them. The writing, the
characters, the narrator, the plot... everything worked for me.
I've read all of the books more than once.
And then I read Bitten, and I reeled at the difference in tone and
quality.
It wasn't the story itself that bothered me, as I enjoyed the plot;
I thought it was well thought-out and executed at a good pace. My
biggest problem with Bitten is that I couldn't like the two main
characters. Which is a shame, because I wanted to like Elena. I
really, honestly, truly did. I tried to like her, and sometimes I
did, but she kept doing things that frustrated me. Such as the
situation with her human boyfriend, and the werewolf lover she'd
never gotten over. As quickly as I found something sympathetic
about her character, she went and did something that confused and
irritated me.
This was equally frustrating because Armstrong's characters are
well-realized. They make mistakes. They have to face the
consequences of their actions. Armstrong almost never cuts them any
slack. Unfortunately, I just couldn't find Elena or Clay likable in
spite of their faults.
I'm not giving up on this series, though. I may skip Stolen and go
straight to Dime Store Magic, which has a different narrator. I
will, however, given Stolen a fair chance before making that
decision. So far as I know, Bitten is the first book Kelley
Armstrong had published -- it stands to reason that her writing has
only improved since then. It certainly helps that Kelley is one of
the kindest, most generous authors I've ever had the pleasure of
talking to. I'm more than willing to give each book in the series
the fair chance that it deserves, considering how much I enjoyed
the first four books of hers that I read, and how eagerly I'm
anticipating the third book in The Darkest Powers trilogy (The
Reckoning).
In conclusion, Bitten isn't a bad book. But if you're into the
supernatural and don't mind YA books, I'd suggest reading The
Summoning before anything else; if you don't like YA books and
don't mind reading something non-supernatural, then pick up Exit
Strategy -- that way you won't look at the rest of Kelley's works
with a jaundiced eye if you don't like Bitten.