Bitten by Kelley Armstrong - TV/Book Comparison

Bitten by Kelley Armstrong - TV/Book Comparison

Bitten is the first book in a fantasy series written by Kelley Armstrong. It focuses on Elena Gilbert, the world's only female werewolf and her struggle to come to terms with this and find her place in a supernatural world. And I loved it.

I discovered Bitten through the TV show. I was searching for a new series to binge watch and saw the premise for the show. I watched two episodes and was completely hooked. I have to admit, I think I definitely prefer the TV show over the books but the books are equally enjoyable and I'm going to talk about both below. NOTE: this book series and TV show are definitely adult, not YA. There are sexy times (which isn't really my thing) and some 'mature' content in both mediums that is not suitable for younger readers.

Book Series

Bitten is the first book in the Women of the Otherworld series by Kelley Armstrong. The series (which is thirteen books long so good if you want an epic reading marathon!) follows numerous characters including witches, ghosts and half-demons, not just Elena and her family. For the purpose of this review I have only read Bitten (and will focus on this first book) and Stolen - the first two books that follow Elena, purely because I'm not too bothered about the other characters the series follows.

I did enjoy Bitten. Since I read the book after watching the TV show I couldn't help but compare and, actually, the TV show was a pretty faithful adaptation to the book. There were some elements that were obviously changed but, for the most part, I could see why they were changed in the transition from page to screen. The one thing I did enjoy in the book that wasn't in the TV show was the final 'fight'. I really enjoyed reading it and liked that Elena started accepting herself to take part in it.

Although I did enjoy the book, I thought book Elena was a bit whinier than TV Elena (although not by much) and this did grate a little bit. Because the book is 300+ pages, we have a lot of time to fill with Elena constantly going back and forth between the two guys in her life and it does get a little repetitive.

TV Series

The TV Series introduced me to this series and, if I was going to recommend a medium, I would definitely recommend the TV series. The cast are wonderful and the action scenes are also pretty good. The first couple of episodes are a little weaker than the rest and it takes a little getting used to, but I can't fault the actors and their portrayal of the characters. Laura Vandervoort who plays Elena turns a whiny character in the books, into a kick ass woman who doesn't need a man to help her. The whole cast gels so well together and their relationship comes across on screen which is really nice to see. 

There are only three seasons of the TV series and, of the three, Season 2 is definitely my favourite. It had me hooked from beginning to end and I loved every second of it. Season 3, for me, was a little slower and I wasn't hooked like I was the first two seasons but, it was still a good conclusion to the series, even if it was lacking in the action and edge-of-your-seat moments that Season 2 had. 

Overall, I would definitely encourage people to try the TV series of Bitten. It's fast paced, has an amazing cast and, overall, a really good plot line. Although the books are okay, this is one of the rare occasions where the adaptation, in my view, is a thousand times better than the books! Let me know if you've watched the show or read the books (or are planning to do either of these things) and what you think of them!