Review: Waking the Witch by Kelley Armstrong

Waking the Witch by Kelley Armstrong

Women of the Otherworld #11

The orphaned daughter of a sorcerer and a half-demon, Savannah is a terrifyingly powerful young witch who has never been able to resist the chance to throw her magical weight around. But at 21 she knows she needs to grow up and prove to her guardians, Paige and Lucas, that she can be a responsible member of their supernatural detective agency. So she jumps at the chance to fly solo, investigating the mysterious deaths of three young women in a nearby factory town as a favour to one of the agency’s associates. At first glance, the murders look garden-variety human, but on closer inspection signs point to otherworldly stakes.

Soon Savannah is in over her head. She’s run off the road and nearly killed, haunted by a mystery stalker, and freaked out when the brother of one of the dead women is murdered when he tries to investigate the crime. To complicate things, something weird is happening to her powers. Pitted against shamans, demons, a voodoo-inflected cult and garden-variety goons, Savannah has to fight to ensure her first case isn’t her last. And she also has to ask for help, perhaps the hardest lesson she’s ever had to learn.

While Paige and Lucas take a much needed vacation, Savannah is left in charge of their PI agency. She's been chomping at the bit to do some solo investigations, so when a murder case pops up she chomps at the bit. At first the murders don't seem to have anything to do with the supernatural, but as she gets further into her investigation she realizes things are more than they seem. She quickly gets in too deep and has to swallow her pride and ask for help. Even with assistance, she may have bitten off more than she can chew as she realizes something is wrong with her powers. In a town where everyone seems to be hiding something, it's up to Savannah to find the culprit before she becomes the next victim.

I enjoyed seeing Savannah all grown up. In my mind prior to reading this book, she was just the rebellious teenager with too much power for her own good. She was angry at the world because her mother died, and Paige and Lucas seemed to take the brunt of it. Now, however, she really has matured, and while she will always be a little less sympathetic than others, she still has a determination to try to do the right thing. She has a lot weighing her down with everyone's assumption that she is just like her parents. In this book she is struggling to make a name for herself outside of her parent's "dark" legacy. This makes Savannah a little over hesitant to accept help when she needs it, but I understand her need to prove herself. I think in time as she really grows into herself, her parent's reputation will matter less and less.

I've always loved Adam's character. He always could be counted on for a little fun and recklessness, and I always wished there would have been more of him in the books. At this point in the series he has grown up as well, going from the complete slacker he used to be to a full fledged member of Paige and Lucas's PI agency. It was kind of nice to see this more responsible side of him and his fierce protectiveness of Savannah was admirable. Savannah's feelings towards him are completely obvious from the start even though she believes he just doesn't see her that way. However, I think she may be wrong, I think there might be something on his side as well that is more than just friendship, however, only time will tell.

This book was really good, and I really love how much Savannah's "voice" added to this series. I think the next several books are from her perspective as well, and I'm really eager to see where things end up. I typically do not care for series that rotate the character's perspectives, but Kelley Armstrong proves time and time again that not only does it work brilliantly for the Otherworld series, but the books are so much better than if we were stuck with just one narrator. Along with the narrator rotation, this also is one of those series that is always shaking things up and the cliffhanger ending of this book is complete proof of that. I have a feeling Savannah is in for one heck of a mess in the next book, and I can't wait to sit back and enjoy the ride.

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Waking the Witch (Women of the Otherworld, Book 11)