Tag Archives: Anita Blake

Laurell K. Hamilton: Blue Moon

World of Books April 19, 2010 Comments: 4

I’m annoying myself with talking exclusively about Anita Blake books so I’ll keep this short.

As I already mentioned, the series is going to dive into some pornographic details down the road, but here it is still all ok, even though Anita finds herself in the end in a bit of a problem, having slept with both of the important guys in her life. Well, at least she got Richard into her bed, even though not for long.

At some point in the book, I got really impressed (and annoyed) for the amount of tolerance she shows to people (or in this case werewolves) who say lies in the name of love. But, that is mine problem, I just have no excuses for lies that are meant to make someone jealous and someone can get hurt in the process.

In this book, Anita needs to help Richard who ended up in jail for alleged rape (of course he didn’t do it – he’s the ultimate boyscout in Anita’s opinion) but he needs help with the situation even though in his mind, the fact that he is innocent should be enough. In what world does he live?!

Anyway, typically for Anita’s world, she ends up in some personal metaphysical problems but will get help from a really nice witch she meets there, has problems with the Master of the City of the city she visits, is forced to kill quite a lot of vamps, some people and torture some as well. It might sound real bad if you never read Anita Blake but the thing is, she never does anything unprovoked and all the bad things she is forced to do (she calls it letting parts of her soul go to save someone), she does in order to save the life of someone innocent. I cannot find a single thing to judge her for, even though I don’t think we should be judging anyone (except tolerating lies in the name of love – other people’s of course, she doesn’t do it).
The book ends up with Anita deciding to let go of both of her lovers until she learns more about what their triumvirate stands for and what exactly she needs to know to control it.

Laurell K. Hamilton: Burnt Offerings

World of Books April 9, 2010 Leave a comment

I know, I know. You all wish I’d read something else for a change. 🙂 I wish it too. I just can’t seem to stop but I think I will as soon as sex becomes the main story. It still hasn’t.

In this book, Jean Claude and Anita get into a lot of trouble with the vampire council (they are some really nasty vampires and they rule) so there is torture and part of the story are not for the weak of heart. I mean, I remember being quite shocked with stuff Mrs. Hamilton put her characters through and I know I was reading complete fantasy. It’s just nasty. I do wonder what LKH has against her female heroines (I’m including Merry Gentry here as well). I mean, the s..t just keeps piling higher and higher on them – there is no break from it. Ok, there probably is some months in between the stories but it doesn’t feel so to Anita, so it doesn’t feel so to me either.

Now that I’m going through the series a second time, I cannot but help wonder how strong a character Anita Blake is that she feels like a real person and I view her so in my reviews.

Anyway, the book is about the council visit (not all of them, just an envoy) and they come unannounced. Really bad. And it just goes downhill from there. At the same time, police is asking Anita for some advice and we learn what is Inferno for the vampires. Among other things. The triumvirate is needed to save the day and some serious political and diplomatic manouvering. Some nice twists to the plot, and Asher arrives on the scene. 🙂

In the end, you know it has to end as Anita’s side being the winning. Btw, I shouldn’t forget to mention her hospital stay this time around. I will take care and try to find a book where Anita doesn’t get physically hurt – is there one? I don’t know.

Laurell K. Hamilton: The Killing Dance

World of Perfume April 6, 2010 Comments: 2

This is the book where I can say Finally!!!

After being celibate for so long, Anita finally has sex with someone in this book (those who have read know but if there is someone who hasn’t I don’t want to spoil it).

And I did say just now finally but at some point during my first time through the series, I kept thinking it started turning into porn and not being supernatural crime-thriller stuff.

There was no sex before because if she slept with Richard, and Jean Claude having the same opportunities to woo her, that would put her in a somewhat sticky situation and Richard wanted her to see him shift before they sleep together.

Well, she sees him shift. And she also sees him go against his boy scout mentality and kill the pack leader (sorry for this spoiler) which goes completely against what he stands for.

There is also a new vampire in town (just visiting) who needs Anita’s help. Especially so after it seems that the three of them formed a triumvirate of power. Ok, not seems, they actually do form it and it’s going to land them in so much trouble later. 🙂

Of course, what else would one expect in Anita’s life but more trouble whatever choice she makes.
There is so much more happening in the book that can never all appear here, and while writing this I realized that all Anita Blake books are filled with a lot of stuff happening. Never a minute to take a breath.

Laurell K. Hamilton: The Lunatic Cafe

World of Perfume April 6, 2010 Leave a comment

I was lazy the last few days so I’m 3 books behind with reviews of Anita Blake. 🙂 Now is the time to fix that.

As you might be aware, Anita is by now dating the Master of the City and Richard, a werewolf alpha (not yet pack leader though). In this book, she is helping the police with some nasty murders while at the same time being asked by the leader of the pack Marcus to help find 8 missing shifters. And not tell the police which she is helping with some shifter murders that some of the shifters are missing. Complicated?
At the same time, she gets in some pissing contest with the sheriff department (they are all agressive idiots, but some are cunning). Anyway, the standard troubles follow her, as well as slowly getting a new enemy, Raina (Marcus’s lupa, werewolf partner – she is just evil).
With some help and threats from Edward (they are always considering what would happen if they really had to fight against each other).
And I just realized I shouldn’t do this to mayself in the future, I got confused now about which is the book that has that problem in the time passing by too fast (it’s the end of this, and the beginning of next).
What else I can say – the usual Anita stuff, dark, bloody, and very interesting (honestly sometimes she is just too funny). 🙂

Laurell K. Hamilton: Bloody Bones

World of Perfume April 6, 2010 Leave a comment

Like I said in my previous post, this book has some months passing somewhere in the fantasy world.

Here is where we get to meet fairies for the first time in Laurell’s world (later she started writing another series that deals with fairy world, Merry Gentry series).

I don’t want to give away much details because first, if I start, I will just keep adding another and another, and I don’t want to tell you much about the book, it should be read.

But I’ll give a few teasers. 🙂

Jean-Claude and Anita come up against some new types of monsters (some of which are vampires but are just eeww and plain evil. And this time, the bad guys are actually stronger than they are (meaning Jean-Claude, Master Vampire of the city of St. Louis and Anita with her faith and guns – you can’t use a cross unless you are a believer).

So, the plot gets complicated again, I actually forgot how much until I read the book again, and in this one Anita actually gets offered something by a vampire she cannot refuse. And that’s as far as I’ll go. 🙂

When things don’t go right

Uncategorized April 2, 2010 Comments: 10

I promise I will write about perfume soon. But before that, I just have to share some thoughts.

First, I was coloring my hair yesterday and had an epiphany. It wasn’t actually an epiphany but the bulb did light up in my brain. After a couple of years of using a towel.

First, a question for English native speakers – something that’s bothering me for years now. Does a couple of years mean exactly two, or does it like in Croatian (when you translate a couple into Croatian) it means exactly the same (two people in a relationship) but when applied to other things, like years for example, it means several, not only two? What is true in English because I’ve seen couple of months translated as two so I’m wondering now.

Ok, on to my realization. You see the picture. I have this towel that’s created for using solely on your hair. So, whenever I color my hair, I use that towel so I wouldn’t color any of the usual towels. My towel also has a rubberband thing that sort of ends up on the top of your head when you put the towel on it and I always just pull the end of the towel through and leave it all unfastened (because the idiot me didn’t realize it could be fastened). Until yesterday when I realized that the rubberband is supposed to be used as such and wound it 3 times around the tip of the towel to keep it strongly in place. Such an idiot! I cannot believe I didn’t realize this before. Does stuff like that happen to someone else as well?

And then I had another bad surprise. I started another Anita Blake novel. Which starts at St. Patrick’s day (that is the first sentence and spring is described). It also gives flashbacks to the last book saying the stuff from that book happened 5 weeks (or around a month ago). And the story in the previous book happened before Christmas and ends up with what she bought (after the big fights) to each of the characters. If someone has an explanation for this, I would love to hear it. I didn’t realize this first time I was reading the series, but now it just upsets the hell out of me. I will still read the book, but someone should have paid better attention when this was published.

Anyway, on to some good stuff. The color turned out great, fiery copper red. I love it.

The weekend is going to last 3 days which is always great news. It’s not going to be sunny or warm but spending it with family will make our hearts warm and that is most important.
Coming soon with a perfume review. And btw, even though I should really think of my budget now, I think there is no hope for me. I love TDC Charmes et Feuilles and need Amaranthine as well. Anyone has any of those and wants to swap?
And here are 2 pictures of my hair, and yes they were both taken today but they don’t look like the same color. In reality, it is exactly in between. It’s not this strange violet/magenta note, neither is it orangey like in the second picture. It is those two together (if you can picture that).

Laurell K. Hamilton: Circus of the Damned

World of Books March 30, 2010 Comments: 2

This is worse than first time around. Now I know what great adventures await me with Anita and I cannot stop reading, I am completely hooked. I was reading until 1 a.m. last night even though I had to get to work this morning, but I just had to finish so today I could start another (which I will do as soon as I finish this). 🙂

Btw, I need to warn you there may be some spoilers ahead. When I started reading it, I thought I knew which story this was. Then I got through half of the book and started wondering if I mixed some stuff. It turned out I was right at the start, but it just took longer than I expected. And I actually learned something. It bugged me the first time around when she recognizes a vampire and later figures it is a million years old and a Homo Erectus. So today I went googling and Homo Erectus really was that old. 🙂 Wow! It just proves I wasn’t paying much attention in school. Ok, I forgot.

I already mentioned in previous posts how I’m getting much more this time around when reading and it was proven again. Like when Lamia (if you haven’t read, I’ll let you discover her yourself) said that a woman should always have more than one man. 🙂 Boy, is that going to become true for Anita. I can’t wait for it. 🙂 You know that means less sleep for me (and I do need enough sleep). But it’s just too tense to let go. Especially now I know what to expect.
I just realized I didn’t say much about the story – but it’s the standard Anita, blood, violence, vampires after her, helping the police, a new guy coming into picture…

Pic by: www.laurellkhamilton.com

Anita Blake – The Laughing Corpse

World of Books March 26, 2010 Leave a comment

Since I am participating in the Anita Blake book challenge, I will give a quick post on each of the book as I read them.

You know, those books are addictive, especially the beginning of the series. I am again enjoying them immensely (if you haven’t realized that yet). 😉

I get the feeling that the series started with some very interesting and original cases (although terribly gory and dark) and that as it progressed, it got harder to keep up with such great beginning. But that didn’t stop me from getting all the books. 🙂

Anyway, in this one, Anita is asked by a bad rich guy to raise a 300-year old corpse but in order to do that, one needs a human sacrifice and there is no money in the world for Anita to take the case. At the same time, she is helping the police with some seriously bad murders which are it seems performed by a zombie (a flesh eating, very scary kind). That investigation brings her to a voodoo priestess and from that point on, it just gets worse and worse for Anita. Did I mention that she gets hurt in each book? 🙂 Sometimes seriously bad and sometimes just a few bites and bruises (not necessitating a hospital stay).

When I was first reading AB, I have to admit I was a bit astonished at the violence, blood, guns and all those aggressive parts but they are part of Anita Blake universe and probably one of the reasons the series is/was so popular. I mean, I don’t know how popular it is at the moment, but for me it’s one of the cult series of the genre. Like what Lord of the Rings did for fantasy. Ok, LOTR is a category by itself and nothing can ever be compared to it, but you get my meaning.
Btw, I just realized with this book that Anita is only an animator in book 1, it is by the end of book 2 she realizes she is actually a necromancer. Biiig difference as will be revealed. 🙂

Laurell K. Hamilton: Guilty Pleasures

World of Books March 22, 2010 Leave a comment

With the beginning of this year, I decided to participate in several reading challenges. One of them was Anita Blake. Ah, Ms Blake. 🙂 She feels like a real person to me now. We’ve been hanging together for 5-6 years now. Practically friends. Even though she doesn’t have that many female friends. One or two maybe. Even though we have nothing in common. She is a petite tough as nails vampire hunter. That’s what you get from book one. I am not going to discuss what I already know about what happens with Anita in books to come since I am re-reading the whole series. I’ve been meaning to do that for some time now (it gets hard keeping track what happened at the beginning of the series when series reached book 17 or something similar) and this challenge came at the right moment.

So, I think I already talked about Anita and that she is a necromancer (raises the dead, i.e. zombies) and is also a bounty vampire killer. There is no vampire hunter, once you get to hunt them, the end is going to be someone’s death. Even though she is very young in the book (I am not 100% sure but I think she is either 24 or 26), she already has life experience for a life (and scars as well).

She is a terribly dark personality, by that I don’t mean she is negative but has a seriously dark outlook on life even though she is a firm Catholic. Now, that I think of it, it kind of isn’t that strange. 🙂

This is the first time I am re-reading Anita Blake and while doing it, I realized that every book you read and enjoyed should be read at least one more time. You just can’t get everything from a book from just one reading. I was seeing so much more now that I was reading it again, since I knew what was to come, I could better understand many of the situations. And even though the story is dark (as always), I was genuinely happy to be back in the world of Anita Blake. I could actually feel her feelings towards vampires this time around. In the beginning, they are quite bad. But, there are interesting things to come, and I will let you know what happens.

And just a short recap of what goes on in this book – Anita is asked by the head vampire of St. Louis to look into some vampire murders (she works as a necromancer and is on retainer with the police regarding supernatural crimes) but when she refuses, through some manouvering, she is forced to help them and she should do it fast. And this is the book where we meet Edward. 🙂 But more about him (a.k.a Death) soon when there is more to tell.

Anita Blake Reading Challenge 2010.

Reading challenge January 14, 2010 Leave a comment

This is the only one left. I already read the whole series but I was thinking of re-reading it because it’s been some time I read the beginning and would like to enjoy it in complete order. So, I joined this one as well. Hosted again by Book Chick City.

Here are the rules:

Timeline: 1st Jan 2010 – 31st Dec 2010
Rules: The goal is to read or re-read the entire Anita Blake series in 2010.

Details:
• At present there are 17 books in the series (if you include Micah), with a planned novella, flirt and the novel, Bullet, in 2010. If you don’t want to re-read the books you have already but would like to join in the challenge then start from where you left off. It’s that easy!

• If you decide to participate in this challenge please use the links Book Chick City has set up with the buttons to post on your sidebar, this way others can find their way back to the original post and join in the fun.

• If you decide to join this challenge be sure to create a post telling others, please make sure you add a link back to the original post so others can join in.

• You can join anytime between now and the later part of next year.

Here is where you can join: Anita Blake challenge.

I’ll be listing books underneath as I read them.

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

17. Skin Trade

18. Flirt

19. Bullet