Tales of the Otherworld

By: Kelley Armstrong

Narrated by: Mia Barron, Erik Davies

Length: 13 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

Have you ever wondered how lone wolf Clayton Danvers finally got bitten by the last thing he ever expected: love? Or how the hot-blooded bad-girl witch Eve Levine managed to ensnare the cold, ruthless corporate sorcerer Kristof Nast in one of the Otherworld’s most unlikely pairings? Now, Otherworld readers can share these moments with some of their favorite characters—as well as catching welcome glimpses into the minds of some of the lesser-known players.

This Anthology contains "Birthright", "Beginnings", "Ghosts", "Expectations", "Wedding Bell Hell", "The Case of El Chupacabra" and a new story narrated by Eve.

Keep chilled: listen to more titles in the Otherworld series.

©2010 KLA Fricke, Inc. (P)2010 BBC Audio

Necessary read

Parts of this novel definitely add to the breath of the series . Parts make you wonder if the author has lost her way. Being a great admirer of Kelly Armstrong, I know this must of been written as an explanation to fill-in for sudden deviations in plot of other novels.
This is the second time I've listen to this and the third time I have read that novel, what really takes away from the plot is periods of really bad characterizations of the protagonists by the reader. Elena has a voice of a small child that is often so grading as to be difficult to listen to. No where do you hear hidden that sultry sexuality that lives within her or that budding warrior.The head of the Cortez cabal sounds like bad Bela Lagosi from 1930 vampire movies. Despite that, being an ardent reader of the series I think it's worthwhile getting through the novel despite the serious performance flaws.

You'll love it if you love the Otherworld

Rebirth (35.7 Minutes) - Read by Erik - Aaron POV on how he was turned into a vampire. We met Aaron at the end of Stolen. Bewitched (1.8 Hours) - Read by Mia - Eve's POV short on how she met Christoph and how she ends up pregnant with Savanah. I'm not a huge Eve fan so not sure I've listened to this yet. I need to give this a shot and then listen. Birthright (27.1 Minutes) - Read by Erik - Logan's POV - This is a short on how Logan first meets Clay and Jeremy and finds out he is a werewolf. Beginnings (5.1 Hours) - Read by Mia for Elena POV and Erik for Clay's POV - I love going back and listening to this short - one of my favorites for falling asleep to. This tells the story of how Clay and Elena meet, get together, and Elena gets bitten. To me, this short alone was worth getting the audiobook! It's also nice getting more of Logan and seeing how close he and Elena get. This story is told from alternating Clay / Elena POVs. Expectations - (27.4 minutes) - Lucas centric short with him tracking down a grimoire. Ghosts - (17.5 minutes) Wedding Bell Blues - (39 minutes) - Page & Lucas wedding. Case of El Chupacabra - (4.2 Hours)

My Fav! Multi-Character Wrap Up & Background Stories!

MUST READ THE OTHER BOOKS 1ST!!
or You will DEFINITELY be LOST/CONFUSED! These books mention many of the previously written book characters within them, and is the foundation and/or future of the other books.

Honestly, “Tales of the Other World”, and “Men of the Other World”, are pretty much my FAVORITE BOOKS in this “World” Series that includes the Cabals, Werewolves, Vampires, Demons, Witches, Sorcerers, Necromancers, and Everyone else.
“WHY?”, well, Who doesn’t love to learn the thoughts, fears, motivations, of other characters in a book, and get to see story lose ends tied up?, or see what happened between to two characters that always had romantic tension through out the original book’s storyline, but in the original book the Reader was left ‘hanging’. The great thing in these books is that You get to learn what happened!

BUT, these two books aren’t just a hodge-podge of stitched together stories, while there is some of that, for the majority of the “Tales of the Otherworld”, there is a running theme through the book, so that gives the book a nice comfortable structure to guide the Reader through the time line of events.

The Stories are stand alone, meaning they have their own issue/conflict, etc., to resolve and address that stands by itself and does not require the Reader to have read/listened to the other books, in order to understand or enjoy the story; however, (imho) having read/listened to those other books, it definitely gives You an edge in understanding whom the various characters discuss.

When they talk about Six Degrees of separation, that everyone is connected to everyone else, by approximately only 6 contacts, well, that certainly applies to these stories. The characters within them, are if not the main characters with follow up tales and/or tales explaining their background, and/or the stories are focused around the secondary supporting characters in the other books in the series.

The characters in these books, while having multiple character stories as the books are a compilation of various stories (each story given from that particular character’s personal perspective), so there is a lot going on, (and the Reader is flipped back and forth from one person’s view to the other person’s view), each character involved is richly fleshed out, detailed, emotional, thoughtful, etc. Some Readers/Listeners may find the flipping back and forth from two or more individual’s experiences and perspectives confusing. Personally, I found the experience fascinating, and insightful. The saying that when something happens, there is His view, Her view, and then the Factual Truth of what happened, definitely applies, and is the best explanation for the structure of these books. If You aren’t comfortable or patient enough for such a viewing/listening experience then these books aren’t for You. MUST READ THE OTHER BOOKS 1ST!!
or You will DEFINITELY be LOST/CONFUSED! These books mention many of the previously written book characters within them, and is the foundation and/or future of the other books.

Honestly, “Tales of the Other World”, and “Men of the Other World”, are pretty much my FAVORITE BOOKS in this “World” Series that includes the Cabals, Werewolves, Vampires, Demons, Witches, Sorcerers, Necromancers, and Everyone else.
“WHY?”, well, Who doesn’t love to learn the thoughts, fears, motivations, of other characters in a book, and get to see story lose ends tied up?, or see what happened between to two characters that always had romantic tension through out the original book’s storyline, but in the original book the Reader was left ‘hanging’. The great thing in these books is that You get to learn what happened!

BUT, these two books aren’t just a hodge-podge of stitched together stories, while there is some of that, for the majority of the “Tales of the Otherworld”, there is a running theme through the book, so that gives the book a nice comfortable structure to guide the Reader through the time line of events.

The Stories are stand alone, meaning they have their own issue/conflict, etc., to resolve and address that stands by itself and does not require the Reader to have read/listened to the other books, in order to understand or enjoy the story; however, (imho) having read/listened to those other books, it definitely gives You an edge in understanding whom the various characters discuss.

When they talk about Six Degrees of separation, that everyone is connected to everyone else, by approximately only 6 contacts, well, that certainly applies to these stories. The characters within them, are if not the main characters with follow up tales and/or tales explaining their background, and/or the stories are focused around the secondary supporting characters in the other books in the series.

The characters in these books, while having multiple character stories as the books are a compilation of various stories (each story given from that particular character’s personal perspective), so there is a lot going on, (and the Reader is flipped back and forth from one person’s view to the other person’s view), each character involved is richly fleshed out, detailed, emotional, thoughtful, etc. Some Readers/Listeners may find the flipping back and forth from two or more individual’s experiences and perspectives confusing. Personally, I found the experience fascinating, and insightful. The saying that when something happens, there is His view, Her view, and then the Factual Truth of what happened, definitely applies, and is the best explanation for the structure of these books. If You aren’t comfortable or patient enough for such a viewing/listening experience then these books aren’t for You.

However, outside of the flipping perspectives, the Characters are richly written and fleshed out, and the interwoven personal stories that all definitely tie back together, if not on the same storylines discussed within the original individual books, then the various events tie in because they are happening along the same shared timeline. For example, while John and Becky are having their lunch in the park on the East coast, at the same time, in the Midwest there is a werewolf, Christoph who is coming into his own and going through his change into a wolf for the first time MUST READ THE OTHER BOOKS 1ST!!
or You will DEFINITELY be LOST/CONFUSED! These books mention many of the previously written book characters within them, and is the foundation and/or future of the other books.

Honestly, “Tales of the Other World”, and “Men of the Other World”, are pretty much my FAVORITE BOOKS in this “World” Series that includes the Cabals, Werewolves, Vampires, Demons, Witches, Sorcerers, Necromancers, and Everyone else.
“WHY?”, well, Who doesn’t love to learn the thoughts, fears, motivations, of other characters in a book, and get to see story lose ends tied up?, or see what happened between to two characters that always had romantic tension through out the original book’s storyline, but in the original book the Reader was left ‘hanging’. The great thing in these books is that You get to learn what happened!

BUT, these two books aren’t just a hodge-podge of stitched together stories, while there is some of that, for the majority of the “Tales of the Otherworld”, there is a running theme through the book, so that gives the book a nice comfortable structure to guide the Reader through the time line of events.

The Stories are stand alone, meaning they have their own issue/conflict, etc., to resolve and address that stands by itself and does not require the Reader to have read/listened to the other books, in order to understand or enjoy the story; however, (imho) having read/listened to those other books, it definitely gives You an edge in understanding whom the various characters discuss.

When they talk about Six Degrees of separation, that everyone is connected to everyone else, by approximately only 6 contacts, well, that certainly applies to these stories. The characters within them, are if not the main characters with follow up tales and/or tales explaining their background, and/or the stories are focused around the secondary supporting characters in the other books in the series.

The characters in these books, while having multiple character stories as the books are a compilation of various stories (each story given from that particular character’s personal perspective), so there is a lot going on, (and the Reader is flipped back and forth from one person’s view to the other person’s view), each character involved is richly fleshed out, detailed, emotional, thoughtful, etc. Some Readers/Listeners may find the flipping back and forth from two or more individual’s experiences and perspectives confusing. Personally, I found the experience fascinating, and insightful. The saying that when something happens, there is His view, Her view, and then the Factual Truth of what happened, definitely applies, and is the best explanation for the structure of these books. If You aren’t comfortable or patient enough for such a viewing/listening experience then these books aren’t for You.

However, outside of the flipping perspectives, the Characters are richly written and fleshed out, and the interwoven personal stories that all definitely tie back together, if not on the same storylines discussed within the original individual books, then the various events tie in because they are happening along the same shared timeline. For example, while John and Becky are having their lunch in the park on the East coast, at the same time, in the Midwest there is a werewolf, Christoph who is coming into his own and going through his change into a wolf for the first time MUST READ THE OTHER BOOKS 1ST!!
or You will DEFINITELY be LOST/CONFUSED! These books mention many of the previously written book characters within them, and is the foundation and/or future of the other books.

Honestly, “Tales of the Other World”, and “Men of the Other World”, are pretty much my FAVORITE BOOKS in this “World” Series that includes the Cabals, Werewolves, Vampires, Demons, Witches, Sorcerers, Necromancers, and Everyone else.
“WHY?”, well, Who doesn’t love to learn the thoughts, fears, motivations, of other characters in a book, and get to see story lose ends tied up?, or see what happened between to two characters that always had romantic tension through out the original book’s storyline, but in the original book the Reader was left ‘hanging’. The great thing in these books is that You get to learn what happened!

BUT, these two books aren’t just a hodge-podge of stitched together stories, while there is some of that, for the majority of the “Tales of the Otherworld”, there is a running theme through the book, so that gives the book a nice comfortable structure to guide the Reader through the time line of events.

The Stories are stand alone, meaning they have their own issue/conflict, etc., to resolve and address that stands by itself and does not require the Reader to have read/listened to the other books, in order to understand or enjoy the story; however, (imho) having read/listened to those other books, it definitely gives You an edge in understanding whom the various characters discuss.

When they talk about Six Degrees of separation, that everyone is connected to everyone else, by approximately only 6 contacts, well, that certainly applies to these stories. The characters within them, are if not the main characters with follow up tales and/or tales explaining their background, and/or the stories are focused around the secondary supporting characters in the other books in the series.

The characters in these books, while having multiple character stories as the books are a compilation of various stories (each story given from that particular character’s personal perspective), so there is a lot going on, (and the Reader is flipped back and forth from one person’s view to the other person’s view), each character involved is richly fleshed out, detailed, emotional, thoughtful, etc. Some Readers/Listeners may find the flipping back and forth from two or more individual’s experiences and perspectives confusing. Personally, I found the experience fascinating, and insightful. The saying that when something happens, there is His view, Her view, and then the Factual Truth of what happened, definitely applies, and is the best explanation for the structure of these books. If You aren’t comfortable or patient enough for such a viewing/listening experience then these books aren’t for You.

However, outside of the flipping perspectives, the Characters are richly written and fleshed out, and the interwoven personal stories that all definitely tie back together, if not on the same storylines discussed within the original individual books, then the various events tie in because they are happening along the same shared timeline. For example, while John and Becky are having their lunch in the park on the East coast, at the same time, in the Midwest there is a werewolf, Christoph who is coming into his own and going through his change into a wolf for the first time

Apologies...having phone issues, unable to finish this review and will try to fix and update it later after I replace my phone.

A must for a fan

I have read most of the stories included in this anthology on the author's website, when it was posted there for free. It was nice to read them again and enjoy the background prospective of the characters in her books.

Stories:
Rebirth (How Aaron became a vampire)= interesting
Bewitched (How Eve and Kristof Nast met and became involved)=was really touching
Birthright (How Logan came to Stonehaven)=nice back story
Beginnings (How Elena became werewolf)
=for a fan this story is a must! gives good back ground to Elena and how Clay thinks
Expectations (A short story of Lucas)= nice!
Ghosts (A self reflection by Jeremy during Bitten)= kind of sad but makes you love Jeremy even more
Wedding Bell Hell (Paige&Lucas's wedding)=funny and insightful
The Case of El Chupacabra (Paige&Lucas's investigation)=interesting and gives background to how P&L got their office.


I especially loved reading Paige's wedding and laughed out loud at some parts. Now that I don't hate Eve after reading about her, it was nice to know how she met Savannah's dad.

I don't know if the first time reader will enjoy this book as much. Since the stories here were written for fans so that they can enjoy the added depth to the characters of her otherworld stories. For the fans of the series this book is a must for new comers. I recommend they read the main stories first. For the fans, I would strongly recommend this book!

OTHERWORLD REVIEW

What made the experience of listening to Tales of the Otherworld the most enjoyable?

I ENJOYED THE WAY THE NARRATORS TOLD THE STORY. THE DIFFERENT CHARACTORS REALLY CAME TO LIFE THE WAY IT WAS READ.

What other book might you compare Tales of the Otherworld to and why?

I CAN'T THINK OF ANY

Which character – as performed by Mia Barron and Erik Davies – was your favorite?

I LIKED THEM ALL.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I LAUGHED IN PARTS.

Any additional comments?

I WISH IT HAD BEEN MORE OF A COMPLETE STORY RATHER THAN JUST RELATED BITS.

redhat queen

These stories were fascinating. I enjoyed listening to every one of them. The narrators were very good also.

Not crazy about the narration

Overall, a good listen. The stories are great as always. Had an issue with some of the narration. Benicio’s accent was atrocious, inaccurate and completely unnecessary. Lucas states that his father’s family came from Spain 200 years ago, therefore no need for an accent. And if they really wanted to give him an accent, maybe he could have had a Spanish accent instead of sounding like a bad Transylvanian vampire accent! It’s almost laughable!

Explained a lot

It was good to understand the background of some characters & understand how Elaina & Clay fell in love. The Mia Barron did a great job & was easy to listen to.

Cool Anthology

I wish the narrator did more research on the characters. She made Cassandra sound like an old woman instead of a vampire still at the prime of her life (in looks and sound). I couldn’t finish because it sounded so bad.

Fills in gaps

I love collections of short stories like this that fill in gaps in a series!