Rebirth

Otherworld Stories #0.01--in Tales of the Otherworld

by Kelley Armstrong

No longer available online - now in Tales of the Otherworld


About Aaron and how he got reborn into a vampire

Genres: Urban Fantasy, Vampires, Paranormal, Fantasy, Short Stories, Supernatural, Adult

20 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Kelley Armstrong has been telling stories since before she could write. Her earliest written efforts were disastrous. If asked for a story about girls and dolls, hers would invariably feature undead girls and evil dolls, much to her teachers' dismay. All efforts to make her produce "normal" stories failed.

Today, she continues to spin tales of ghosts and demons and werewolves, while safely locked away in her basement writing dungeon. She's the author of the NYT-bestselling "Women of the Otherworld" paranormal suspense series and "Darkest Powers" young adult urban fantasy trilogy, as well as the Nadia Stafford crime series. Armstrong lives in southwestern Ontario with her husband, kids and far too many pets.

Reviews

[Faye · Rating 4 out of 5]

First read: June 2010 (in Tales of the Otherworld)
Read: April 2022
Rating: 4/5 stars

This story kicks off my first chronological re-read of the entire Women of the Otherworld series, something I have wanted to do for years. Technically, this is a re-read as I have read Rebirth before in Tales of the Otherworld, but I am going to add each individual story title to my shelf as I go along, so I can rate them all separately!

In Rebirth we are introduced to Aaron Darnell, a farm boy who goes into the city once a month to help sell farm goods. I assume the city is London a few hundred years ago. Aaron mentions leaving to go to 'the New World' several times, so he's not yet in America. Due to an incident Aaron is killed and wakes up three days later in the family crypt. His mother is with him and reveals that her bloodline contains vampirism, which affects a handful of family members each generation, and he is now a vampire.

Back in the city, Aaron is struggling to adjust to his new life when he meets the mysterious vampire Cassandra DuCharme. She convinces him that there are ways that Aaron can take a life once a year to continue living in immortality.

This story was short but sets up the vampire mythos of the Otherworld clearly and introduces two reoccurring characters that populate this fascinating world.

Trivia mentioned:
- Vampirism can be genetic
- Vampires will 'die' for three days after their human death until they wake as vampires
- Vampires do not have to kill every time they feed
- They do not have to feed every night
- Once per year, on the anniversary of their rebirth, they must drain someone to death in order to continue in their eternal life

[Jessica ❁ ➳ Silverbow ➳ ❁ · Rating 4 out of 5]

How Aaron became a vampire and met Cassandra.

[Mel · Rating 3 out of 5]

*Read this story as part of the Tales of the Otherworld anthology.

This was the back story of Aaron and how he became a vampire. It's one of the shorter stories in the anthology, but it gives great insight in Aaron's character. I found him to be most endearing and it was nice to see how he met Cassandra.

[Maud · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know Aaron yet so I find this a hard one to rate. But it is supposed to come before even starting the series so at least once I meet him I know how he turned into a vampire I guess... It was pretty interesting to learn how vampires are created in this world, it's different from anything else I have ever read. It makes me pretty excited to pick up a book in this series and meet some vampires!

[Pam Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rebirth – Aaron becomes a vamp and how he meets Cass, it’s interesting. I am glad we got to get to see who Aaron is even for just a little bit.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rebirth is book #0.01, a short prequel in the Otherworld Stories, part of the Women of the Otherworld Series, found in Tales of the Otherworld series by Kelley Armstrong. This prequel is about Aaron and his rebirth into hereditary vampire. Aaron was a human who died from a stabbing and awoke in a coffin. His mother cried that she had hoped he would be the one of her children to be reborn. The vampire gene is in her blood. Aaron has to leave his family and learns to hunt. He only needs to kill once a year, before his rebirth date. He found a way to hunt and a way to kill without the guilt. Aaron meets Cassandra and he learns more about their species. I really like Aaron and I hope to learn more about him in future WOTO books.

[Siobhan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a great story for fans of the Otherworld series.

Rebirth is a nice story to add more to the vampire side of the Otherworld series. As of this moment I’ve only read one of the main books that include Aaron, yet this short story left me hoping he is to appear in even more of the books. This short story gave us much more about Aaron than Stolen did, making him into a character I care for.

A fun read.

[Chels · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reread for Women of the Otherworld series read along. January 2, 2017.
Part of Tales of the Otherworld.

[Theresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

0.1 of the Otherworld series. This is a short story of how Aaron ‘inherited’ being a vampire and learned to live with it.

Footnote: This story is in the ‘Tales of the Otherworld’ collection originally found on the author’s website. You can either read the main books first then go back and pick up the short bits and pieces or, like me, do them all in order and try to figure out who/what everybody is.

Fave scene: Cassandra’s frustration with Aaron.

[sandra · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pero ¡¡¡¿¿¿qué es eso de vampiros hereditarios, Kelley Armstrong???!!! Ya me parecían raros e intrigantes los vampiros que ha creado esta mujer, y ahora me entero de esto... Ay, por favor. Además Aaron es un personaje que me intriga muchísimo, tengo muchas ganas y curiosidad de saber más de él. ¡Ojalá tenga su propia historia! Es una historia muy cortita, se lee en diez o quince minutos y está entretenida.

[Girlgeorge · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short story about how Aaron became a vampire and first met Cassandra. This one didn’t go to the level of detail that the other short stories have, but if read in the chronological order of the Otherworld timeline, this would be the first. Not a bad start, but definitely not on the same level as something like Savage.

[TinaMarie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Explaining Aaron's vampire beginnings, that it's hereditary, how he makes the adjustment.

[Dolores Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Typical old school vamp story. Interesting take on the blood thrust.

[Lois · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice origin story

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

About Aaron and how he got reborn into a vampire

Heather's Notes
Not a bad short story. I liked seeing Aaron and how he became a vampire. I don't really care for this cover though.

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was ok. Made me wish for some more vampire stories by Kelley Armstrong but not that much either. Always well written though.

[Cynthia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the interaction between Aaron and Cassandra. Always felt like they deserved their own Otherworld novel, but this and the aptly (and tongue-in-cheek) named "Twilight" will do :)

[Laurla2]

published in "tales of the otherworld" anthology

[Beate · Rating 3 out of 5]

I get that this is part of the Otherworld series, but I fail to see how it fits yet. I started reading these with Bitten and then I found the reading order list Ms Armstrong has on her website. So after that I started at the top, with this one, and it just does not make sense... At least this one was written in 3rd person, a nice change from Bitten which is written in 1st person, present tense.

I'll read the other shorts and see where this whole thing takes me. Not really expecting to be wowed though. Haven't been so far.

[Kirsten · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here we learn how Aaron's life changes forever due to his genes/bloodline and a tragic event that takes place. I liked it for a short story but as it is the first of this series I've read I am unsure what it explains further or reveals from the rest of the series (particularly the full novels). I was however previously under the impression that Kelley Armstrong did write about Vampires until a much later anthology...

[Melissa]

I finished Bitten and realized there were a bunch of prequel short stories to that book, so going by the author's website (I think that's where I got my chronological list of stories) I started with the first. It's not really related to the characters in Bitten, but it was a good quick read and I'll look forward to see more of those characters somewhere else in the series

Perhaps I'll go check out the publication dates before I go to the next.

[Michelle Tempted By Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well it was very short but I liked it. This was my very first Kelley Armstrong story. I met Aaron and learned of his "turning" into a vampire. He was quite reluctant to live that way and met Cassandra who helped convince him to keep on living. I liked the writing style and am intrigued by this world Kelley Armstrong has written. I am going to keep on reading.

[IbNancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short story in the Tales of the Otherworld about Aaron becoming a vampire and Cassandra helping him. Shows how their friendship started.

Although these stories are short I find this book and The Men of the Otherworld important in the series to read and have recommended to others they read the short stories first to get the background on everyone before getting into the series.

[Carrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This short story gave us a glimpse into Aaron's life before and after becoming a vampire. We also get to watch the tentative meeting between Cass and Aaron. As a bonus, I learned even more about the vampires and their creation than I knew before. I guess a bit of the backstory is hinted at in the books, but it was a nice quick read either way.

[Nami · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had forgotten about the Otherworld characters. Starting with Aaron's backstory and how he met Cassandra brings back good memories about one of the best paranormal fantasy series I have read till date. I understand Aaron better now, and I also understand what drew Cassandra to him. An extra star for making me nostalgic!

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

included in Tales of the Otherworld

re-read 9/4/2014

[Ashley P · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aaron has long been a character I wanted to learn more about and I'm so glad I read this. It is interesting to hear how the mythos of the vampire is developed in the Otherworld series, and the setting and characters are no less rich in this, the short story then in Kelley Armstrong's longer works.

[Lyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I never know how to review a short. Especially shorts that begin a series. sometimes the writing is completely different in the next instalment.

That's what I'm hoping for in the next book.

[Louisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great short story, of Aaron, just before, and after he becomes a vampire, and meeting Cassandra 2 or 3 times. Really good!

[Joti · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was about Aaron, how he met Cassandra & how he became a vampire - i read it a few years back in Tales of the Otherworld. don't remember the details but that's the gist :)