Anita Blake in Review

You're only as much monster as you choose to be.

That seems to be the theme of the Anita Blake Series. The series isn't over, of course, but I'm waiting for the next few. Kiss the Dead will be out in paperback at the end of May, and Affliction is coming out in hardcover this year. I just don't do hardcover. So, I'll have to wait for more of the series.

There are some halves out now. Strange Candy is a collection of short stories by various authors; as are Cravings and Bite. Strange Candy is what Anita Blake without the Vampire Hunter might have been like. It's short and fairly...limp. It's not boring, but it's not really great either. Good thing Hamilton added the Vampire Hunter part. I wouldn't really recommend their purchase, unless you're a) into the other authors or b) really love short stories. Well, the Anita Blake story in Cravings is just the beginning of Incubus Dreams, about Larry's wedding, so...  Bite is it's own story, and takes place between Blue Moon and Obsidian Butterfly, when Anita is still trying to distance herself, and falls off the wagon after seeing Jean-Claude, but for me it wasn't worth the purchase. Finally, Beauty, which can be purchased as an ebook and comes between Hit List and Kiss the Dead. It's basically just a sex scene between Anita, Jean-Claude and Asher.

So, for me, the series is over for the moment. Therefore, I thought I'd talk about the series in general: pros, cons, and thoughts.

Hit List, Laurell K. Hamilton

Weretigers are being murdered all over the country. Anita and Edward are on the case. We join them in Tacoma, Washington. They know who, the bad Harlequin. The know why, to get rid of all the gold tigers and trap Anita for Mommie Dearest, the mother of all vampires. This is the longest Anita's been away from her family (her men and the rest of their people - shifters and vamps). She's even gone days without feeding the ardeur.

My favorite thing, and I acknowledge it's a small thing, is that they finally call her polyamorous! I've been saying it since The Killing Dance!! Edward brings it to Anita's attention, and of course she's still a little prude and reacts as such. :) Love it.

Bullet, Laurell K. Hamilton

This was a setup book. You know the books that have a lot happen, but nothing major? They're just kind of there to put the characters where the need to be, or have the skills they need, or meet the people they need to. I feel like it's more prominent in the fantasy genre. Fantasy series are almost one long story that's just chopped up into little bite sized portions. Sure, the bites have their own flavor, so to speak, but they're still just part of the overall meal.

OK, that analogy is terrible, but the point is valid. All that makes this review a bit long…

The Harlequin, Laurell K. Hamilton

This one was much more along the lines of what I'd come to expect from the series. There's a new big bad in town, and Anita and company have to deal with it.

The Harlequin are the police of the vampire world - a completely neutral (supposedly) entity from the Vampire Council. They've come to town bearing white masks. White means they're there to observe, red means pain, black is death. Anita and Jean-Claude just get white, yet someone keeps messing with them – enhancing emotions to the point of being out of control. It gets to the point where Richard tries to turn Anita into a wolf, almost kills JC and gets himself mortally wounded in the process. Anita manages to save them all, of course.

I had really hoped this near death experience would help Richard…and maybe it does to an extent. When Anita and the gang first hear the Harlequin are in town, they call everyone in. Richard has to cancel a date and ends up actually acting like a lycanthrope and sleeps, naked, with Anita, Micah and Nathaniel. No sex. Let's be clear. I mean literally sleeps. He even helps protect Anita while they sleep from Mommie Dearest, the mother of all vampires. He also tries to accept Micah by trying to check with him before volunteering to feed the ardeur. Anita tries by going to Richard first when she sees him again and sitting with him on the couch. Unfortunately, this is right before the bad guys start messing with him and he almost kills them all.