Men of the Otherworld: A Collection of Otherworld Tales by Kelley Armstrong

Books Completed: 19
Completion Date: January, 2009
Pages: 384
Publication Date: January 27, 2009

Reason for Reading: Enjoy Armstrong's Otherworld Series. Pub 2009 Challenge. Received a review copy from Random House.

Kelley Armstrong – Globe and Mail and New York Times bestselling author – is back with a true gift for her fans: an exclusive glimpse into the minds and hearts of the men of the Pack

Kelley Armstrong has made a huge name for herself with her trademark portrayals of the strong, unusually gifted women who populate her Otherworld.

But her fans have always wanted to know more about the men who love these women, and revealed in the pages of this collection are the life stories – and secrets – of Clay and Jeremy, two of the sexiest and most mysterious men of the Otherworld.

Originally published by the author on her website (but since removed), these thrilling tales reveal how Clay became a werewolf, how he came to be adopted by Jeremy, Jeremy’s struggles to become the Alpha of the Pack and his terrible conflict with his father, Malcolm. A brand-new story, written for this collection, reveals how Jeremy came to be a visionary and healer: touchy-feely qualities uncommon in a werewolf.

The result is a perfect companion to Kelley’s bestselling series and a treasure for fans.

I am really glad that I never got around to reading the stories that Kelley Armstrong had on her website. I liked the fact that I was reading them all for the first time! I have to admit, I was not sure about this book! I was expecting a short story collection, and I am not always really interested in short story collections, but this actually read more like a novel. The stories all flowed into each other that I never really felt like I was reading a short story collection at all. I started wondering if I was just imagining that it was supposed to be short stories, but it says right on the front of the book that it is.

The best thing about this book is I could read it and it didn't really interfere with the fact that I am rather behind in reading the Women of the Otherworld series. You could read this book as a standalone, just to get a taste for the characters, or you could count it as part of the series. I have sort of jumped around in order with this series, but I know who the werewolves are. I know that Clay and Elena are together. I also have read enough in the later books to know who Jeremy's girlfriend is, so I don't think I spoiled anything for myself. I was actually really excited to get more Jeremy because he is actually my favourite male character in the series!

The book starts off being about the generation before Jeremy was even born. It is a story of his father's generation. Then, Clayton takes up the story and he is the narrator right up until the very last story, where Jeremy takes a turn. Clayton is an interesting character. Instead of being born a werewolf, he was bitten by a werewolf as a child. This was something new for the werewolves because normally you are either bitten as an adult or you don't come into being a werewolf until your late teens. Jeremy decides when he finds out about Clay that Clay needs to be shown how to be a civilized person, as well as be a werewolf. Clay had been raising himself and he was not really sure how either 'side' of himself was supposed to work. It is not easy at first, but Jeremy has the patience to make something of a very wild Clay. It makes Clay one of the more interesting characters in the series. While telling of his own up-bringing, we also learn a lot about Jeremy and how his life has been. It makes a lot of who he is later in life make sense. He also narrates the last story, so we get some taste of that as well.

If this collection had been a bunch of random stories, I am not sure what I would have thought about it. Since the stories seem to flow together to easily be a novel, though, I found that I really liked the way the book was written. It was interesting to see the male point-of-view for a change and learn more about Clay, Jeremey, and the other male werewolves. Another great book from Armstrong! Now, I really need to go back and work on her other books...