Haunted – Book Review

Very light spoilers for previous books in the series. Heavy spoilers for Haunted in the marked spoiler section.

Book five in Kelley Armstrong’s Women of the Otherworld series was a fun romp! Slip into a world of ghosts, mystery, and light romance with Haunted.

Rating The WOTW Series So Far…

1. Bitten (4.0*)
2. Stolen (5.0*)
3. Dime Store Magic (5.0*)
4. Industrial Magic (5.0*)
5. Haunted (4.0*)

The above includes my ratings, out of five. While I would score Haunted the same as Bitten, I definitely preferred Haunted.

Overall, I found this novel to be quite long and meandering. It held my attention less than its predecessors! I would say that my issue was with plotting more than characters, as I loved Eve, feared Nix, enjoyed Kris, and was amused by Trsiel. Perhaps there was simply one plot diversion too many.

On another note, I’m very impressed that KA has written four different compelling female perspective characters in her WOTW universe (including the Darkest Powers trilogy). I’m looking forward to returning to Elena in the next book, Broken, but I’m anticipating new perspectives in future books too!

Male Love Interests in the WOTW Series

While I’ve enjoyed all the female leads that I’ve read so far, Paige is an easy favourite of mine out of the female leads. However, I’d struggle to rank Chloe (Darkest Powers), Eve, and Elena. They’re all a lot of fun.

The male love interests, however, I have more particular opinions on.

So far, I easily prefer Kris to Clay. The ghost status could be a problem, but arguably the Mafia relations from his previous life are a bigger turnoff. Both men are cold blooded killers, but Kris doesn’t try to control Eve in the same way that Clay tries to control Elena. When Kris doesn’t like what Eve’s up to, he talks to her, and then he is strong enough to go his own way if there’s no resolution. Clay, on the other hand, is both stubborn and needy, requiring Elena to spend a lot of her strength maintaining her own path.

More details on my view of Elena’s relationships in my review of Stolen.

Of course, Lucas is still best boi from my perspective. I honestly doubt any of KA’s future male love interests will oust him from that position.

Spoilery Thoughts on Haunted

Bodily Requirements

The depiction of the ghost world and hells were interestingly rendered. The concept of ghostliness occurring only on Earth, and having a ghost ‘body’ in the ghost realms kept Eve’s experiences adequately ghostly, but also left room for more relatable experiences (like enjoying a hot chocolate).

Sexy Times in Haunted

Maybe I missed a chapter, but this one was decidedly less spicy than Elena and Paige’s books. It also had less romantic tension than the YA series. Perhaps that’s because of the ghost situation—ghosts can enjoy food but they don’t feel hunger, and the same goes for sex. Whatever the reason for it, there aren’t any detailed spicy scenes; good for some readers, could be disappointing for fans of the series. Personally, I didn’t mind the lack.

Compelling Villains

Nix was a good villain, perhaps the best in the series so far. Indeed, I found this book both scarier and more upsetting than previous titles in the WOTW series. The descriptions and emotions were intense, and I ended up putting the book down during meal times—not something I usually struggle with.

Iffy Sacrifice

Eve’s ascension to angel hood was painted as a big sacrifice which she agonised over throughout the book, but in the end, there were significant loopholes.

Eve, and the reader, is repeatedly told that she will have to leave the ghost world (which notably includes Kris) if she accepts angel powers.

Despite this, Trsiel the angel is always hanging out in the ghost world with Eve, which complicates the statement that Eve would have to give up the ghost world. Trsiel didn’t have to, why would Eve?

At the end, Eve gets a Persephone and Hades deal, enabling her to spend six months with her lover while she does her duty for the remaining months of the year. Really, not so bad. I wish my workplace was generous enough to pay me for six months’ holiday!

Conclusion

Overall, despite the iffy sacrifice plot, Haunted had a great finale. The threat was high, the bodyswap shenanigans were fun, and good prevailed (at a cost). I bought into how this experience finally convinced Eve to distance herself from protecting her daughter, which also completed the emotional arc of the story. Pretty satisfying to see this line up so neatly with the resolution of the big bad.

I will read Broken this year, but next up on my list is The Mad Ship by Robin Hobb, the second entry in the Liveship Traders trilogy.

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