Hit List (Anita Blake, Book 20) by Laurell K. Hamilton

 

I liked it. Mostly. Sure, there were a few aggravations. There has to be a policeman of some sort in every book who is out to get her, some male in a position of authority over her who hates Anita just because she's a woman and she's killed more vampires than he has. It's well beyond old. And there were a few paragraphs all in a row where various men's hairstyles were discussed. It was just too much.

But mostly, it was a good book. Not great, but not bad, either.

Anita is away from home solving crimes with Edward. Olaf and Bernardo show up at some point, and the action is pretty good. I like that Anita fights some people by being a bad ass and some people by making friends with them. I like the camaraderie she has with Edward, and I enjoy watching them work together.

If LKH's books show us what she happens to be working through in her life at the time, then Hit List shows us that family is important to her right now, that she's discovered the value of family and friends and that day to day life is currently more of a focus than the sex and whatever power exchange they have going on in her apparently poly house. Not that the power exchange is gone, just that it's happening in the background now while life takes the reigns at the moment. Her vampires and werewolves are all about the power exchange, but when everything is working like it's supposed to then everyone has their place and no one has to remind anyone who is in control and who is not. I think the same can be said of a long term power exchange relationship, things ebb and flow and there are periods of time that no one has to do any reminding of who makes the decisions and who follows those decisions... it's just the way it is. It would feel odd speculating about her private life if she weren't as open about it as she is, but I've watched things since somewhere around Burnt Offerings or Blue Moon, and I've come to the conclusion that she writes relationships for Anita that mirror whatever is going on in her life at the time. She has to go away and figure things out on a spiritual level... so does Anita. She discovers BDSM in a big way and we start seeing storylines that explore power exchange, and how pleasure and pain are interlinked.

Here is the blurb for Hit List:

A serial killer is hunting the Pacific Northwest, murdering victims in a gruesome and spectacular way. The local police suspect “monsters” are involved, and have called in Anita Blake and Edward, US Marshals who really know their monsters, to catch the killer.

But some monsters are very real. The Harlequin have been the bogeymen of the vampire world for more than a thousand years; they are a secret so dark that even to speak their name can earn you a death sentence. Now they are here in America, hunting weretigers…and human police.

The Harlequin serve the Mother of All Darkness, the first vampire. She was supposed to be dead, but only her body was destroyed. Now she needs a new one, and she’s decided that Anita Blake’s is the body she wants. Edward thinks the serial killings are a trap to lure Anita closer to the most dangerous vampire they’ve ever hunted. The vampires call Edward “Death,” and Anita the “Executioner,” but Mommy Darkest is coming to kill one and possess the other, and she doesn’t care how many others have to die along the way.

At twenty or so pages to go I was sure we were going to end on a cliffhanger. But I was wrong, the plot was wrapped up and we were given a few plot possibilities for future books. I was a bit disappointed in the resolution at first, but then there was a single line that just made it work for me. Without giving a spoiler, it's the idea that God made the darkness and the light, the darkness isn't bad while the light is good... both are creations of God and thus both are good. So yeah, while I'd have liked a little more oomph to the resolution, when I look at it metaphysically -- it was very nicely done.

I do have one question that kept nagging at the back of my mind: Publishers are insistent that underage sex not be allowed. Even the erotica book publishers won't allow even a hint of it. And yet we had Anita and Cynric, and we have it discussed back and forth a whole lot in Hit List. What made Berkley decide to allow it? It's not that I want the epublishers to do down that road, because I absolutely do not want to read about underage sex. I'm just wondering what made this exception okay in the book publishing world.

But back to Hit List: It was an enjoyable book, a nice change of pace, and I look forward to seeing Anita back in St Louis again for the next book.  I think time away from her men every once in a while is good for her, to help her settle back in her own skin for a little while. I'm also glad she isn't as ruled by the ardeur as she once was, though of course she does still have to keep an eye on all of her various appetites. Hit List lets us see Anita as mostly human for the majority of the book, and it was a nice change.

Anita has a lot of men in her life, and I like most of them and am glad that she's happy with all of them... but it is my hope that she'll go back to having her own life again now, having time every day away from them, in her own skin, without all of their dramas ruling her life. I want her to go home, but I don't want that to mean the whiny little dramas have to start back.

As for the writing elements:

• The plot with Mommy Darkness is getting old and personally I think LKH has hung onto her too long. She's a great villain, someone worthy of Anita and her men, so I understand why she keeps being brought back, but I'm beyond ready to move on. She isn't a constant source of annoyance in Hit List, so the plot was mostly a good one even though, as you can tell from the blurb... she's back.
• Pacing was well done.
• Prose and dialogue were excellent in places and royally sucked in places. I have no idea why that might be, but some of the writing was beautifully done and some of it felt forced.
• Character development was excellent.
• World-building continues to be nicely done, though I don't believe we get anything new as far as world building goes in Hit List, it was consistent with previous world building and that's enough for a series this developed. 

I'm going to give Hit List an 8 of 10, and I am moving the series to an 8 of 10 as well.

• Book Rating: Hit List: 8 of 10
• Series Rating: 8 of 10

1. Guilty Pleasures
2. The Laughing Corpse
3. Circus of the Damned
4. The Lunatic Cafe
5. Bloody Bones
6. The Killing Dance
7. Burnt Offerings
8. Blue Moon
9. Obsidian Butterfly
10. Narcissus in Chains
11. Cerulean Sins
12. Incubus Dreams
13. Micah
14. Danse Macabre
15. The Harlequin
16. Blood Noir (2008)
17. Skin Trade (2009)
18. Flirt (Feb 2010)
19. Bullet (June 2010)
20.  Hit List (June 2011)

 

Bullet (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 19) by Laurell K. Hamilton

 

I've been actively waiting for Bullet to be released. That means I've been watching LKH's blog for excerpts and discussions, and I've been just generally trying to keep up with rumors and gossip around it. Now that I've read it, I'm both satisfied... and not.

For starters, a huge chunk of the beginning of the book is a description of a dance recital. Some of it is part of the plot, as we learn which of her men is having a personal issue at the moment and which are playing nice with everyone. But much of the beginning of the book is extraneous information that has nothing to do with the plot, or even much to do with character development -- the filler stuff really wasn't necessary. Perhaps the three year old child is going to be a bigger part of a future book, since he plays a role in the beginning and end of the book, but, still, it was a bit much. It felt more like an exercise for a creative writing class (describe four styles of dance in detail, try to pull the emotions of the dance into your writing) than the beginning of an Urban Fantasy novel. I'd have given it an A in a creative writing class, but not for the opening chapter of a book that has promised a lot of action.

Another negative (in my twisted mind, anyway) is that we apparently aren't going to get to "see" what happens between Anita and Asher and Nathaniel with the BDSM stuff.  We learn a little about what has happened, and we see that there is a new bed with "tie off points" made especially for their BDSM play, but we don't get to experience any of it.

My other huge disappointment has to do with Haven. Not with disappointment about what happens in the book, but with the fact that apparently a lot has happened with Haven that we haven't been privy to. Anita remembers things with Haven that I don't remember happening, and I don't think there have been any short stories I've missed.

It is my opinion that LKH has gotten big enough that she can overrule the editors, and that she should listen to them a bit more. I think that a new author goes through a more rigorous editing process, and I think some of the debut books out there really show that the author and editors have worked together to put out the best book possible. LKH is a great author, and Bullet is a good story with good writing. In some places it is great writing, but overall it's just good. There are parts in the book that shouldn't have made the cut, and there are things that are talked about where we really should be given the details and not just kind of loosely told that it happened. The editing process is supposed to say "this part really isn't needed, isn't part of the book" or "wow, don't just mention this part in passing, show us more of what happens (or happened), it's too big of a part of the story to just gloss over like that".

That's enough discussion about what I disliked, as there was also a lot that I liked. It's harder to talk about what I liked without giving spoilers, but LKH has already given the spoiler that Richard has finally grown up and gotten his act together. I don't know if it will last, but I think it might. LKH also said there would be a resolution with Asher, and there was, but with Asher I don't think the chances of it keeping him happy long term are quite as good. I'm okay with the resolution though. Mostly.

I'm not sure what to say about the plot. It's not a new plot, but it's not exactly same-plot-different-book, either. I'll go ahead and list the blurb, since that gives an idea of the plot:

Anita Blake is back in St. Louis and trying to live a normal life-as normal as possible for someone who is a legal vampire executioner and a U. S. Marshal. There are lovers, friends and their children, school programs to attend. In the midst of all the ordinary happiness a vampire from Anita's past reaches out. She was supposed to be dead, killed in an explosion, but the Mother of All Darkness is the first vampire, their dark creator. It's hard to kill a god. This dark goddess has reached out to her here-in St. Louis, home of everyone Anita loves most. The Mother of All Darkness has decided she has to act now or never, to control Anita, and all the vampires in America.

The Mother of All Darkness believes that the triumvirate created by master vampire Jean-Claude with Anita and the werewolf Richard Zeeman has enough power for her to regain a body and to immigrate to the New World. But the body she wants to possess is already taken. Anita is about to learn a whole new meaning to sharing her body, one that has nothing to do with the bedroom. And if the Mother of All Darkness can't succeed in taking over Anita's body for herself, she means to see that no one else has the use of it, ever again. Even Belle Morte, not always a friend to Anita, has sent word: "Run if you can..."

So, we know the Mother of all Darkness isn't dead. But, of course, there is more to it than that... and the way she's come back is going to make her that much harder to kill.

Everyone wants to talk about the sex in the Anita Blake books, so I'll say that I didn't think the sex scenes took up too many pages. There are, of course, a few sex scenes... but they are part of the action, and part of what happens when you've got however many people they now have in this relationship. And things do get mixed up a bit this time, it's not the same sex scenes repeated from previous books. That was beginning to be a problem for me, but we get some new... eh... new stuff, this time (trying hard not to give spoilers, sorry for being cryptic). LKH is once again stretching the limit of what kind of sex scene is acceptable in a mostly mainstream book. I'm okay with that, but I'm guessing that some people won't be.

Bullet doesn't really end at a huge resolution point. It does not end with a cliffhanger, but it feels like the first part of a book instead of the whole book. Much that happens does not get resolved, but I'm mostly okay with that because a whole lot of things do manage to get resolved.

To go through my list -- pacing was well done (I don't think Ms. Hamilton has ever had a problem with pacing), dialogue was good, I've already talked about plot, and the world building continues to be well done. You'd think that by Book 19 the world would be built, but there is still more to learn about Anita's world, and about the history of Anita's world. The relationships are mostly well done, with lots of complexity running through them. Some would argue too much complexity, but I'm fine with it.

I briefly considered re-reading the last six or eight books before Bullet came out, and in retrospect I really wish I'd done that. It is my hope that I will have time before book 20 comes out so I can re-read the first 19 books. It will be a huge undertaking, but I think it's time to start over from the beginning with Anita and Jean Claude and the rest of the cast.

LKH told us in one of her teaser posts that we'd see Edward and Olaph in Bullet, but she must have been confused, because they were not in the book. I can see how they may be in the next book, as there is a particular skillset that those two have that will help out with part of what Anita and Company are going to be dealing with in book 20.

I think I've said about all I can say without giving away spoilers. Part of me wants to talk about what I think is going to happen next, but I can't do that without some serious spoilers, so I'll leave it where I'm at.

I'm going to give Bullet a 7 of 10. The story could have been an 8 of 10, but as I said earlier, I don't think LKH feels she has to listen to the editors anymore, and I think it might be good for her to be a little more open to what they say. Or, perhaps she needs to get an editor who isn't afraid to point things out, if her current editor has grown gun shy of doing so. LKH is a great author, and Bullet is a good story with good writing. In some places it is great writing, but overall it's just good. And that's a shame.

I'm torn about what to give the series. Based on the past couple of books it should really be an 8 of 10. But I'm not ready to let the most recent books completely overshadow the first books in the series. Also, Anita does learn and grow throughout the series. She doesn't get stuck in one place, and I appreciate that.  I'm leaving it at a 9 of 10, but I'm thinking that with the next book it's possible we'll be dropping to an 8.

If you haven't read any of the Anita Blake series then you really must start at book one, Guilty Pleasures. If you are squeamish about explicit sex scenes then you'll probably want to stop after you've read Obsidian Butterfly. But, if lots of sex doesn't bother you then keep going. A few books are really sex intensive, but once Anita gains control of a few things the sex goes more into the background and we get some different plots coming forward.
 

Book Rating: Bullet: 7 of 10
Series Rating: Anita Blake Vampire Hunter: 9 of 10








1. Guilty Pleasures
2. The Laughing Corpse
3. Circus of the Damned
4. The Lunatic Cafe
5. Bloody Bones
6. The Killing Dance
7. Burnt Offerings
8. Blue Moon
9. Obsidian Butterfly
10. Narcissus in Chains
11. Cerulean Sins
12. Incubus Dreams
12.5. Micah
13. Danse Macabre
14. The Harlequin
15. Blood Noir (2008)
16. Skin Trade (2009)
16.5 Flirt (Feb 2010)
17. Bullet (June 2010)

A huge Bullet teaser

 

Laurell K Hamilton has given us a huge teaser for Bullet, the next Anita Blake book. One of the biggest loose threads in the series has been Haven, the werelion. I thought he was going to be a huge deal, but then he just kind of got set to the side and ignored. Apparently that situation is finally going to get resolved. It's about time. I liked Cookie, but I think Anita was probably right to see him as the bad boy he is and give him a wide berth. Still, it's been a while, and one might not be able to blame him for taking offense at that. If indeed he has taken offense at it.

We're told this is going to be a Jean-Claude intensive book and that those who have missed him are going to be happy campers. We're also told that things are finally going to be worked out with Asher, and there will be "no more avoiding the subject". I have all kinds of ideas about what that means, and they mostly go straight to sex.

Claudia the wererat gets a couple of interesting mentions, and we're told we'll spend some time with the all of bodyguards. There will also be a new leopard who is ex-military, it will be cool to have another leopard who can guard. We're also told there will be more werehyenas and weretigers joining the cast... wow, there is going to be a lot going on.

And this is a huge surprise for me... there are going to be a lot more women introduced. Jason's girlfriend, some female weretigers, and at least one female werelion. Anita is going to have female friends who aren't jealous of her. It's about time. And it's going to put an interesting twist on things.

And then there is a discussion about Richard. From the hints she's giving, it sounds like Richard may finally be ready to get his shit together. We can only hope. I've been hoping for years now that he'd either grow up or go away. We're told he's going to be "on stage in a major way" as well. With Jean-Claude also on stage in a big way, and with the stuff with Asher being worked out... that could get interesting. Both in bed and out of it, I'm guessing.

We're also given a teaser about Edward and Olaf. How can she possibly put those two in as well? How long is this book going to be?Amazon says the hardcover will be 368 pages. That's a lot of stuff packed in. Not that I'm complaining. Not at all.

How much longer until June 1. Another week?  I wonder what the odds are of my getting an ARC of  Bullet.

Here is the blurb, a link to download the first chapter pdf, the discussion, and a podcast with the author reading an excerpt from the book.

Bullet excerpt (Anita Blake series) by Laurell K. Hamilton

 

Laurell K. Hamilton has finally put a page up for Bullet, the next Anita Blake book. You can see the page on her site (with a blurb) here, and you can dowload a pdf of the first chapter excerpt here.

To be honest, the first chapter doesn't make me feel great about how good of a book Bullet may be. Anita had to put up with catty stuff from almost every man she came across in Skin Trade, the last regularly scheduled series book. I hope she doesn't get it from all of the women in Bullet.

The blurb Ms. Hamilton put up does make it sound like Bullet will be a much better book - something closer to The Harlequin, perhaps. I mostly liked The Harlequin, so that would be good.

Here is the blurb:

The music came back up and the next group of little girls, slightly older, came out. There was a lot of that in the next hour and change. I liked dance, and it was no reflection on the kids, but my will to live began to seep away on about the fifth group of sequined children…

My name is Anita Blake and I am back in St Louis and trying to live a normal life - as normal as possible for someone who is a legal vampire executioner and a US Marshal. I have my lovers, my friends and their children, school programmes to attend. In the midst of all this ordinary happiness a vampire from my past reaches out. She was supposed to be dead, killed in an explosion, but the Mother of All Darkness is the first vampire, the dark creator, and it's hard to kill a god. She has reached out to me here - in St Louis, home of everyone I love most. She has decided she has to act now or never, to control me, and all the vampires in America.

The Mother of All Darkness believes that the triumvirate created by master vampire Jean-Claude with me and the werewolf Richard Zeeman has enough power for her to regain a body and to emigrate to the New World. But the body she wants to possess is already taken; I'm about to learn a whole new meaning to sharing my body, one that has nothing to do with the bedroom. And if the Mother of All Darkness can't succeed in taking over my body for herself, she means to see that no one else has the use of it, ever again. Even Belle Morte, not always a friend to me, has sent word: 'Run if you can …'

I'm guessing that means Bullet will be more about the vampires than the shifters, though there is no guarantee of that. I'm hoping Jason can act as a proxy for Richard so we won't have to listen to Richard's self-obsessed whining, but I'm not going to hold my breath on that one, either. There is always the hope that Richard may eventually grow up, but I don't think it's very likely.

We have about five and a half weeks until Bullet is released. I may start at The Harlequin and reread (or at least skim) the books in the series since then, so I'll be ready for Bullet.

The books in this series are:

1. Guilty Pleasures
2. The Laughing Corpse
3. Circus of the Damned
4. The Lunatic Cafe
5. Bloody Bones
6. The Killing Dance
7. Burnt Offerings
8. Blue Moon
9. Obsidian Butterfly
10. Narcissus in Chains
11. Cerulean Sins
12. Incubus Dreams
12.5. Micah
13. Danse Macabre
14. The Harlequin
15. Blood Noir (2008)
16. Skin Trade (2009)
16.5 Flirt (Feb 2010)
17. Bullet (June 2010)

Review: Flirt (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 16.5) by Laurell K. Hamilton

Flirt has been billed as another in-between-novella, and has been compared to Micah. I'm not sure that's terribly accurate. I'm pretty sure you could skip the Micah novella and not be lost in the series. But if you don't read Flirt then I think you're going to be wondering about a few pretty important things when Bullet comes out.

I am not part of the crowd that thinks the Anita Blake books all went in the crapper years ago. The only book so far that I absolutely didn't like was Micah. There have been a few others that I didn't love, but none besides Micah that I'd say I felt like I'd wasted my time by reading them.

I'm still figuring out how I feel about Flirt. There were a few things that got on my nerves this time, kind of a same-old-same-old annoyance, but that doesn't mean it wasn't an entertaining read. There is not much sex in this one, but lots of very detailed sex has never really bothered me. Maybe what is bothering me is that this plot felt so contrived? I mean, plots are contrived, but I guess this one just felt a bit too contrived.

One positive thing, it seems Anita is getting better and better at not fighting her powers. She's been her own worst enemy at times in the past, so it was a little refreshing that in Flirt she has no problems using her powers as a tool, and she doesn't feel guilty about it later. Also, a big plus for this book: No Richard. I seriously wish he could die and be put out of our misery at this point. Either that or make him grow the hell up.

To look at the mechanics of the book for a minute, the dialogue was good and the pacing was good, but as I said earlier the plot felt too mechanical. I'm used to plots that come out of left field and slap you upside the head from Ms. Hamilton, but this plot was pretty textbook.

Without giving spoilers, I will say that there has been kind of a loose end flying in the wind for years now, and I'm thinking that we're finally about to see that loose end tied off. I don't know that we'll like the way it gets tied off, but the events of this book bring it back into focus, and since I've really wanted that particular loose end dealt with, I'm really interested in seeing what happens in Bullet.

So now the big question: What do I rate Flirt? I have to be honest and say I don't think this 192 page book is worth the $12.00 price tag Amazon is currently selling it for, and certainly not the $23.95 list price. Is it wrong that I feel like I could rate it one point higher if this were a $7.00 paperback? I don't know, I just feel like, for the price they are asking, they are claiming it's a much better (and longer) book than it really is. I'm going to give the book a 5 of 10. But I will leave the series at a 9 of 10.

Book Rating: Flirt: 5 of 10
Series Rating: Anita Blake: 9 of 10

The worldbuilding, the complexity of the relationships, the complexity of the metaphysics - all of these things make this a really interesting series. Some of the books are better than others though, and this one was not one of the best.

I currently have Flirt listed as 16.5 in the series, even though Amazon is listing it as book 18. I've done that based on some thinks LKH has stated on her blog, but if it looks like everyone is going to settle on this being a part of the series and not just an in-between book then obviously I'll have to change that.


1. Guilty Pleasures
2. The Laughing Corpse
3. Circus of the Damned
4. The Lunatic Cafe
5. Bloody Bones
6. The Killing Dance
7. Burnt Offerings
8. Blue Moon
9. Obsidian Butterfly
10. Narcissus in Chains
11. Cerulean Sins
12. Incubus Dreams
12.5. Micah
13. Danse Macabre
14. The Harlequin
15. Blood Noir (2008)
16. Skin Trade (2009)
16.5 Flirt (Feb 2010)
17. Bullet (June 2010)

Book Covers: Archangel's Kiss, Flirt, and First Drop of Crimson

I started looking at upcoming covers yesterday, and I'll continue that today.

First today is Archangel's Kiss, the next Guild Hunter book by Nalini Singh - due to be released February second. Here's the blurb:

Vampire hunter Elena Deveraux wakes from a year-long coma to find that she has become an angel-and that her lover, the stunningly dangerous archangel Raphael, likes having her under his control. But almost immediately, Raphael must ready Elena for a flight to Beijing, to attend a ball thrown by the archangel Lijuan. Ancient and without conscience, Lijuan's power lies with the dead. And she has organized the most perfect and most vicious of welcomes for Elena...

I love this cover. You can see her wings, and you can see her on a rooftop in China, probably in The Forbidden City or The Summer Palace - but there are numerous other places in Beijing with rooftops that look like that as well. But then we look at the rooftops in the distance and it looks more like The Forbidden City, except with the mountains in the distance instead of a cityscape, it's most likely outside of town somewhere. I am really excited that this will be taking place in and around Beijing.

You can read the first chapter of Archange's Kiss here.

I do not like the new covers for the Anita Blake series. Some think they are artistic, but I think they are boring and not very creative at all. I also think that they do not tell us anything about what is in the book. It's a good thing we aren't supposed to judge a book by the cover, because these covers just don't fit the books, in my opinion. I like the books, don't like the covers.

What do we know about Flirt? We know that Flirt is a novella, and that LKH has compared it to Micah, saying it's not really a part of the series. Since Micah is the only book in the Anita Blake series that I disliked, I'm finding it hard to get excited about Flirt.

And now to First Drop of Crimson, an offshoot of my favorite series: the Night Huntress Series, and I have high hopes for this offshoot series. I love Jeaniene Frost's writing, and I'm really excited about reading Spade's story (though I'm actually even more excited about Mencheres' story). Here is the blurb for this one:

The night is not safe for mortals. Denise MacGregor knows all too well what lurks in the shadows—her best friend is half-vampire Cat Crawfield—and she has already lost more than the average human could bear. But her family's past is wrapped in secrets and shrouded in darkness—and a demon shapeshifter has marked Denise as prey. Now her survival depends on an immortal who lusts for a taste of her.

He is Spade, a powerful, mysterious vampire who has walked the earth for centuries and is now duty-bound to protect this endangered, alluring human—even if it means destroying his own kind. Denise may arouse his deepest hungers, but Spade knows he must fight his urge to have her as they face the nightmare together . . .

Because once the first crimson drop falls, they will both be lost.

What does the cover tell us? It tells us that Spade's face is a bit scary, and it's easy to understand why Cat thought he was a bad guy when she first met him. It also tells us the rest of him is, ummm, hot. We also see him about to have dinner on the lady in red, and that she's moving her hair out of the way, so she's obviously okay with that. But, according to the blurb, he apparently isn't supposed to do that? So, is the lady in red Denise?

Questions questions questions. And since this book doesn't come out until February 9th, it looks like we've got two months until we find out the answers. Until then, there is a teaser, and (even better) the first chapter up at Jeanine Frost's site.

Oh, and another picture that is on the author's site:

Skin Trade (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Bk 17) by Laurell K. Hamilton

Where do I start? I actually finished the book several days ago and I've been trying to decide how I feel about it.

On the one hand, the plot was good, and there was more action and less sex. Not that sex bothers me, but a few books seemed to be more sex than story, or maybe it's more accurate to say that in some of those books the sex was the story. Thankfully, in Skin Trade the sex is not the story. I appreciated that there was a plot other than sex. I think we were two-thirds or maybe even three-fourths of the way through the book before Anita has sex for the first time.

However, there was way too much bickering with the local police department. Very unprofessional. She's a Federal Marshall, she doesn't have to prove herself to them! They can't lock her in an interrogation room and try to find an excuse to arrest her, she's a Federal Marshall!!!! And why is it that every police leader Anita comes in contact with seems to have a personal problem with "the monsters"? Skin Trade could have been about 100 pages shorter, without all of the unprofessional police stuff, and been a much much better book.

A story where Anita comes to town and is treated like the Federal Marshall that she is would be welcome.

But, back to something positive, when I look at the book in terms of where it is taking the series, I'm mostly pleased. Anita is growing, and learning, and gaining control of her powers. If only she could hit a plateau long enough to gain control of what she has before she gets even more, I think she'd have much better control.

Before I go much further, here's the blurb:

When a vampire serial killer sends Anita Blake a grisly souvenir from Las Vegas, she has to warn Sin City's local authorities what they're dealing with. Only it's worse than she thought. Ten officers and one executioner have been slain - paranormal style. Anita heads to Vegas, where's she's joined by three other federal marshals, including the ruthless Edward. It's a good thing he always has her back, because when she gets close to the bodies, Anita senses 'tiger' too strongly to ignore it. The weretigers are very powerful in Las Vegas, which means the odds of her rubbing someone important the wrong way just got a lot higher.

You can figure out from the blurb that she'll see the tigers again from Blood Noir, right? And we'll likely see the Master Vampire of Las Vegas, the same one upset with her for calling his tigers to her in Blood Noir.

I will say that one major plot point that has spanned a lot of books gets tied up in this book. Or, I think it does, anyway. The finale of it was almost anti-climatic. It was a good way to handle it, so I'm not disappointed. Sometimes the way that makes the most sense, the easiest way, is the way with the least amount of drama to it. (Select the spoiler text to view it.)

Along with Edward, we have Bernardo and Olaf back again. There was dialogue and interactions between Anita and Olaf that were... troubling. Troubling in a thought provoking and entertaining way. It will be interesting to see where LKH takes things with Olaf in future books. There were also some interesting conversations between Edward and Anita, for that matter.

I think LKH is heading the series towards a different arc in the story, one where Anita has more control of the Ardeur and it doesn't rule the show, so to speak. The Ardeur will still have to be fed, but I don't think it is going to continue to be front and center and a major part of the story. I look forward to seeing how LKH turns the story, and I look forward to seeing what happens next.

And now for the big question. What do I rate Skin Trade? After giving it a lot of thought I'm going to give it a 7, though I came very close to giving it a 6. Without the drama of the police "undersheriff" disliking her the book would have been an 8.

I'm leaving the series at a 9 of 10.

Book Rating: 7 of 10
Series Rating: 9 of 10


1. Guilty Pleasures
2. The Laughing Corpse
3. Circus of the Damned
4. The Lunatic Cafe
5. Bloody Bones
6. The Killing Dance
7. Burnt Offerings
8. Blue Moon
9. Obsidian Butterfly
10. Narcissus in Chains
11. Cerulean Sins
12. Incubus Dreams
13. Micah
14. Danse Macabre
15. The Harlequin
16. Blood Noir (2008)
17. Skin Trade (2009)

The Harlequin and Blood Noir (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Books 15 and 16) by Laurell K. Hamilton

The Harlequin
8 of 10
In some ways The Harlequin was just more of the same things from previous books. But thankfully, the ending promised changes that (for me) will be very welcome.

We get a little bit of Edward, and we again get to deal with his own personal dramas. Edward stepping into a father role - a very scary thought. I'm not sure I completely agree with his choices, but I can see that it's probably the best he can do.

And there is, again, a lot of Richard drama. Richard just needs to grow the hell up or he needs to be written out in some way. I have no hopes that he is ever going to be emotionally stable enough to fit into Anita's life. Her men all have to be able to get along with each other or it just won't work. And Richard isn't going to grow up enough to do that. That means he just needs to go away. Please.

I'm also not very happy with Dolph. I think it is time for him to either lose his badge or be transferred somewhere so his prejudices won't cause harm to the department. His superiors are aware of his problems, he's been suspended and he's been sent to anger management classes. I know Anita is trying to take it easy on him because she once considered him a friend but if she isn't careful that is going to get one of her friends (or maybe even herself) killed or falsely imprisoned.

The plot in this book is once again a good plot. LKH keeps creating plots that are thought provoking and that often have a myth or legend to back up the idea of the plot.

My biggest complaint about this book isn't the sex, it's all of the "therapy talk" that happens. It takes up entirely too much of the book, and some of it happens when the bad guys are around. Listening.

Blood Noir
7 of 10
So many questions were raised in The Harlequin that did not get resolved in Blood Noir. A lot of that is because Anita was out of town, but some of it feels like they just weren't answered. I am hoping to see more answers in Skin Trade.

Blood Noir isn't terrible, not like Micah was, but it was not one of the better books of the series, either. I could have completely done without Richard, though I guess we needed to see what happened as that is likely going to build on whatever happens next.

I'm conflicted about this book. The plot in this book is terrible, but the metaphysics part was (mostly) good. I had wanted to see some of the "lessons" Asher gave Anita about topping Nathaniel, so I was a bit disappointed to discover that happened in between books and we weren't going to see it.

But the main crime plot was.... well, Jason just happened to look like someone who is dating someone who just happens to be a vampire who is married to someone who just happens to be a Master of the City somewhere else. Right. That's just too big of a stretch for me. One of those eye rolling things. LKH is usually much better at coming up with plots. (Select the spoiler text to view it.)

But, some of the metaphysical things that happened once again point to growth and change that would be very welcome, I think.

I am looking forward to Skin Trade. I am expecting a few things to be dealt with, wrapped up, in Skin Trade. Not everything, but there are a few plot points that have spanned 7 or 8 books now, and it's a bit overdue for those things to be tied up.

The series rating remains a 9 of 10 for me.


1. Guilty Pleasures
2. The Laughing Corpse
3. Circus of the Damned
4. The Lunatic Cafe
5. Bloody Bones
6. The Killing Dance
7. Burnt Offerings
8. Blue Moon
9. Obsidian Butterfly
10. Narcissus in Chains
11. Cerulean Sins
12. Incubus Dreams
13. Micah
14. Danse Macabre
15. The Harlequin
16. Blood Noir (2008)
17. Skin Trade (2009)

Anita Blake Series

I've been re-reading the Anita Blake series and I think it's time I gave a small review of each book in the series. I gave an overview of it here, but I'd like to talk just a bit about each book.

1. Guilty Pleasures 7 of 10
The book that started it all. Anita doesn't think much of "the monsters". Her job is to kill the bad ones, and she doesn't spend much time around the good ones. That could warp anyone's point of view, I think.

2. The Laughing Corpse 8 of 10
We have to learn about all the "parts" of Anita Blake. The last book focused more on the fact that she is a vampire executioner, this book teaches us a bit more about the whole zombie raising thing.

3. Circus of the Damned 9 of 10
Where we first meet Richard. Also, where we begin to learn a little bit about shapeshifters. And where Anita and Jean-Claude begin learning a bit more about each other.

4. The Lunatic Cafe 9 of 10
The book where Anita's life starts becoming a tangled web. We learn a lot more about the werewolf culture in this book, as well as the shapeshifter culture in general. There's a lot going on all at once as far as the plot lines of this book, but also as far as the longer plot lines of the series.

5. Bloody Bones 8 of 10
Anita is out of town for most of this book. This book deals more with vampires, and we learn more about vampire culture in this one.

6. The Killing Dance 10 of 10
Lot's of Edward in this book. And lots of Richard and Jean-Claude. A few plot points get tied up in this book, but that just opens up more plot lines going forward. This is one of my favorite books in the series.

7. Burnt Offerings 10 of 10
Back to vampire drama, and lots of it. Also a lot of police action. We also get a lot of history we didn't have before, adding even more to the long term plots of the series.

8. Blue Moon 10 of 10
There have been times, when I've re-read this series, that I've skipped this one. It happens out of town and it's easy to convince myself it's not that important to the series. In reality, it is very important to the series, and I'm glad I read it again on this read. I realized I've skipped it because it deals with some pretty rough stuff, not because it isn't important. Most of what we learn in this book has to do with wolf and shapeshifter culture, but there is a lot of soul searching about good vs evil in this one as well. And a whole lot of relationship stuff, between a whole lot of people. Not to mention the metaphysical leaps that Anita makes. And a new friend who turns out to be very valuable to Anita. It's not an easy book to read, but it's very important to the series.

9. Obsidian Butterfly 10 of 10
Another out of town book, and one of my favorites in the series. We learn a whole lot about Edward, and the plot in this book is so well conceived that it would be a great book all by itself without the rest of the series involved. It's also a nice break before Anita has to go back to the tangled mess that has become her life.

10. Narcissus in Chains 10 of 10
Tangled mess? We only thought Anita's life was tangled mess before. After this book, it is truly tangled. Though in some ways, it's tangled in a much better way than it was before. This book is a hugely pivotal book in the series. If you are squeamish about sex then stop at Obisidian butterfly. If graphic sex doesn't bother you then the rest of the series is still good, but this is the book where everything changes and the various plotlines head off in completely different directions.

11. Cerulean Sins 6 of 10
Probably necessary in order to get where the series is going, but not one of the better books in the series. Lots of uncomfortable stuff. The last book focused a good deal on shapeshifters so this one goes back to the vampires, though the shapeshifters are still around, of course. And really, we've learned most of what we need to know about vampires and shapeshifters, now the plots are more about the preternatural community in general, and the brand new metaphysics that Anita and her various guys seem to be creating.

12. Incubus Dreams 9 of 10
A lot of people don't like this book. And there are parts of it that I also didn't care a lot for. But I think the overall book is a good one. Sex is going to be an integral part of things until Anita gains a whole lot more control. Jean-Claude had enough control that it didn't completely rule him during the first part of the series, and I'm hoping that Anita gains more control so that eventually the series can move away from it. But for now, sex and how Anita feels about that sex is a big part of the series.

13. Micah 4 of 10
When I read this one the first time I think I'd have given it a one of ten. Reading it in retrospect I'll give it a four, as I do appreciate some of what I learned in the book. But still, it's not really that good of a book.

14. Danse Macabre 9 of 10
I loved this book. Okay, not the sex so much, some of that I just skim through at this point. (Not that it's bad sex, just that sometimes I'm more interested in the plot than the sex.) And really, let's just shoot Richard and put him out of our misery. But the plot of the book, the whole idea of vampire dancers and how good they could get with centuries of practice and the ability to fly? And, the whole metaphysical puzzle of what is happening within Anita... it's not only great worldbuilding, it a plot that spans books in a way that can boggle the mind. Plus, with the addition of the other "Masters" and the plots that they can bring as well, it's another very well done book.

15. The Harlequin
16. Blood Noir (2008)
17. Skin Trade (2009)
I'm going to do an extensive review of The Harlequin and Blood Noir later, and then I will do a post that will assume you've read the whole series, and I will talk about the questions I hope to see answered in Skin Trade.

I've given this series a 9 of 10 in the past and I stand by that rating. Yes, there is a lot of angst and a lot of sex in the later books, but the plots and the worldbuilding and the depth of character are still excellent, in my opinion.

Anita Blake Series by Laurel K. Hamilton

Most people seem to like the first books in the series, but once you get past Obsidian Butterfly there are people who are really really really angry with Laurel K. Hamilton for taking the series in the direction she did.

If graphic sex turns you off then you probably need to stop after Bloody Bones or maybe The Killing Dance. Obsidian Butterfly is fairly non-sexual and one of my favorites, but the books after Obsidian Butterfly jump into a whole 'nother world.

The only book in the series that I absolutely did not like was Micah. Now, don't get me wrong, I like the character of Micah, but I hated the book. Hated it. I was so afraid that Blood Noir was going to be like Micah (going out of town with one guy), but thank goodness it was not. I liked Blood Noir. Didn't love it, but I liked it.

Remember how I talked before about how an author gets to let her characters grow and change and evolve when she has so many books to work within? Well, this is the perfect example of that. Anita grows in ways that are, well, mindboggling.

Laurel K. Hamilton created a wonderful alternate world where the Vampires and Shapeshifters have come out of the closet and live side by side with humanity. And she brings it all alive. Very alive.

But what I think Laurel K. Hamilton may have done better than almost any other author is to fully explain the duality of the shapeshifters. To understand how their human parts and their beasty parts manage to survive inside of the same psyche.

She does the same thing with the vampires, too. She gets across the idea of bloodlust, of how a vampire feels when they want to feed. The visual of the artery in the neck moving around like a cherry, just wanting to be bitten. Maybe that visual doesn't work so good here on the blog, but when Mrs. Hamilton writes it, you get it.

This is also one of my top ten favorite series.

Don't read them out of order, though. The books must be read in the proper order or they will make no sense. I'm not going to rate each book individually for that reason. If you're going to read the series you can't skip books (with the exception of Micah) or you'll miss very important long term plot points.

I'm giving this series a nine in large part because of the earlier books. I don't enjoy the later books as much as I did some of the earlier ones, though I'm not one who hates the later books. I may not like them as much as I liked some of the earlier ones, but Anita and her guys are still growing and learning and having adventures and I'm still interested in where the series is going.

Series Rating: 9




Anita Blake series



   1. Guilty Pleasures (1993)  
   2. The Laughing Corpse (1994)  
   3. Circus of the Damned (1995)  
   4. The Lunatic Cafe (1996)  
   5. Bloody Bones (1996)  
   6. The Killing Dance (1997)
   7. Burnt Offerings (1998)
   8. Blue Moon (1998)
   9. Obsidian Butterfly (2000)
  10. Narcissus in Chains (2001)  
  11. Cerulean Sins (2003)
  12. Incubus Dreams (2004)  
  13. Micah (2006)  
  14. Danse Macabre (2006)  
  15. The Harlequin (2007)  
  16. Blood Noir (2008)