Ok, first things first. Kelley Armstrong is Canadian. I am also Canadian. This book? Predominantly set in Canada (Toronto, to be specific). I always get excited when that happens. I don't know Toronto particularly well, but I've been there a few times, and being part of the same country, I'm up on Canadian current events, which come up a few times in the book. It just makes the world more real to me, in a way that a story set in New York just can't accomplish, because I know nothing about New York beyond what I've seen on tv. What really made it ring true, though, is that Armstrong knows what she's talking about and understands the nuances of her setting, and she puts it all into the story. The result is a rich, satisfying world and me sitting here half wishing, half believing vampires and werewolves really did prowl around Toronto like that.

Broken has a pretty good mix of new and recurring characters, and as interwoven as the supernatural world is in these books, I suspect we'll see more of both in future volumes. Jaime Vargas, the celebrity necromancer, is fleshed out a little more in this story. I really enjoyed the chance to see something beyond the flaky exterior she puts up, since she's always seemed like a really interesting character. Zoe the vampire was a great new addition, playful and gutsy, and I'm very much hoping we'll see more of her.

I found Broken a good read, but not Armstrong's best. The other books in the series felt like they had a destination; this one felt more like a detour. It was fast paced, there was plenty of adventure and some great action scenes, but I kind of felt like the book ended in a similar place to where it started. I think it might have something to do with Elena; as the protagonist, she didn't really seem to grow or change at all, aside from the pregnancy aspect. She's clearly come a long way from when she first appeared in Bitten, but that progression has already happened before she even discovers her pregnancy. If this were another book, from another series, I might have rated it higher, but the Women of the Otherworld series has set a pretty high standard for itself, and this isn't the one I'd take off my shelf to read again and again.