Better than the last few

I loved the Anita Blake series when it first came out, because it was all about Anita and how she solved crimes and kicked butt with her special abilities. Some of the story was about her personal life. Then the series got really sexual. I don't mind a hot read, but the sex part took over the novels until the story line was lost. I found myself thinking, "Oh no, not another sex scene!" I almost stopped reading the series. This book seems to steer back to less sex, but there is a lot of talking between characters and not much action. If it was possible to talk a vampire to death, all the vamps would have been dead by the 3rd chapter. So for me, the pacing was slow, but overall it was an interesting read. At least Anita has some backbone again rather than just being on her back all the time.

21 people found this helpful

Blake is back! But....

Okay..so far Blake is back in form. No ridiculous sex scene after sex scene... However I have not been able to make it through the entire book yet.. It was so bored that I backed out to listen to Mean Streets about half way through. While seeming to get back to pre-sex-obsessed Blake novel theme, thus far, the story is putting me to sleep. After a the past six month diet of Peter F. Hamilton and Brandon Sanderson..not to mention the latest Harry Dresden novel, I find myself not caring much about this book. The story, thus far, is pretty much interchangeable with any of the earlier Blake novels. OooooOoOOoo...Marme Noir is doing something new! Wilikers! Pardon me while I yawn. Oooo..more sexual tension and crazy powers manifesting. Sorry, but this, so far, is just hack work. I had to put this down half way through when I found myself looking for an excuse to listen to something else. Hard core Anita fans will like this book, hands down. But anyone looking for some kind of serious story progression will be sadly disappointed. There's way too much talk and explaining of EVERYTHING. She infodumps in such a way that make it nearly like listening to a technical manual, a dry boring one at that. I may edit this review if I can manage to listen to the rest of the book but when I find myself able to listen to an Audio book while doing other things, not caring if I miss parts of the 'story', that is a bad sign. I can't say this a BAD Blake novel. It's probably the best one since before she got so wrapped up in the ridiculous sex infatuation, but it's just..boring. I find myself not caring much and wishing for something with a bit more meat to it.

16 people found this helpful

Saddened that I can no longer stand Anita Blake

I was an avid reader of this series for many years. Then at about book 14, I felt it was getting a little more out there than my taste. I read book 15 and it was just okay. Book 16, terrible. It was as if Anita was a totally different character than in the first half of the series. I gave book 16 one of my first critical reviews, as had many other people.

It has been a couple of years since I have dared to read book 17, hoping the author had read some of those reviews and taken them to heart. It seems that is not the case.

There are just so many things that make Anita an unbelievable character for me as the series progresses. Originally a vamp killer, now a vamp, ummmm, significant other. Okay I adapted to that, but then wait..... lycanthropy came on to the scene. So as the series progresses, it describes within reason, how lycanthropes and vampires cohabitate and help each other, so then she has one of each. Okay, I can still be on board here.

Within a few books, she now has 6 “men” that she’s sleeping with on a regular basis and they all know and approve of this lifestyle. I say men, but that amounts to 2 vamps and 4 lycanthropes, I believe. She’s justifying this way of life, however if mentioned by anyone else, especially male business acquaintances, she takes huge offense.

Take that and add to it that she is a human, BUT she channels the powers of her first vamp lover AND her blood contains somewhere in the neighborhood of 5 types of lycanthrope species mixed in, gaining her superhuman strengths and senses, unlike anyone else in the world.

It’s just gone so far off the rails, I couldn’t handle it. The only positive thing that I can say is that this the first in the series that I’ve chosen to listen to as opposed to reading and I did think the narrator was doing a good job. Right up until I just couldn’t stand to go any further and deleted the book before finishing it.

So disappointed that a great series went so bad!

5 people found this helpful

I think I've given up on Anita Blake

I loved the first Anita Blake books. However, as the series went on the romantic/sexual portions of the book bogged down the narrative and made them a lot less fun. Now I only really perk up when Edward comes on the scene. Unlike a hardcopy where you can skim through the padded conflict scenes between Anita and just about any authority figure, with audio book it's a lot harder. I couldn't force myself through this book even after several attempts.

5 people found this helpful

Boring, Repeating

The characters kept saying the same things over and over again in the same conversation. What, no editor? I almost never stop reading a book, but I couldn't finish this one because it was too boring.

5 people found this helpful

Thank you, Kimberly Alexis!

Thank goodness she's back as the narrator that brings distinction to character voices and Anita Blake. Sorely missed!

4 people found this helpful

This is my final book to this series... I quit!!

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

I really don't know why or when this author went off the rails but she had a wonderful start with an exciting concept and she threw it all away to be ...what an erotica romance writer?She lost her talent. It's almost like after book four someone else took over her writing.Look, I'm a woman and just like any healthy woman we love our steamy sex scenes in a romance book but this went from sexy to a disgusting factor in one quick swoosh.Her books started to read the same in everyway but with a different sex partner(s). It was becoming redundant and just plain old BORING. I started to skip the chapters early on in the series to get a hold of some type of story line and after a couple of more books I had nothing left to read. I like erotica. But just call it what it is. This turned out to be not even a sexy erotica. I feel really sad for the author who started out this series because she is just nowhere to be found. She is missing. What happened to her? There is no plot, mystery or even any remote of surprise to any of these books. I have quit her series. Just one last thing, In her first book to the series there was not one sex scene. Not even a kiss!

Would you ever listen to anything by Laurell K. Hamilton again?

No. Probably not. I've been wasting too much money and credits on her hoping for some type of comeback. The auther seems content with smut work.

How could the performance have been better?

There was nothing wrong with the performance by either narrator to the series.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

No. It really didnt have any at all!!

Any additional comments?

You've been warned. If you like this genre I recommend:Chloe Neil, Deborah Harkness, Nicole Peeler, Karen Chance, Jenna Black, Jennifer Estep, Darynda Jones.

Excellent writers in this Genre!!

4 people found this helpful

Hot Darn---- Anita is Back

This is the best Anita Blake book in the last few offerings. It is a good read(listen) all the way through. While Hamilton writes hot sex scenes, this one has more plot and I enjoyed it as much as the first Anita Blake books where she kicked butt and took names. Hamilton is back to writing good characters and story and much less sex. My only complaint is that the narrator was different from the one who has been reading the audio for all of the previous ones, and I prefer the first narrator. The characters do not sound quite right, especially Jean Claude.
I am sooooo glad to see this series get back to the plot and character heavy books that I enjoyed from the first.

13 people found this helpful

Yeah Kimberly Alexis is BACK!!!

So first off I loved Kimberly Alexis is finally back for narration. She is awesome!!! The other two woman who did stories 11-15 were just horrible. They made Jean Claude and Asher sound terrible. It was painful to listen to and I think I speak for many when I say they should redo those audible versions with this narrator. Just thought I should mention it.

The story was good. I loved it. The only thing that bothered me was the gang rape scene and the author just had everyone involved like oh well. The one book in Blood Noir Anita went into shock. That makes sense to me. For her and all the other characters being like no big deal. It really does not make any sense. I liked this story but this is one of the reasons I stopped reading these stories. I can not get my head around the fact that her character has like 10 or more lovers. It is not doable .I mainly bought the narration because I love the narrator. I have read all these books about five years ago. I stopped at the 20th book though. It was to much sex and to many partners. No one loved each other for real. It is not possible. So I will listen for a few more stories because of the narrator and that is the only actual reason.

2 people found this helpful

Almost There!!

I admit the book is a little slow and drawn out but it beats the hell out of the last few books. This is closer to the original books. I gave it an extra star just for dropping all stupid drawn out sex scenes. I don't know about the rest of you but I personally didn't recognize the the character Anita Blake and actually started to dislike her after Cerulean Sins. It was like someone else who knew nothing about the character wrote the books. The only reason I keep reading is in hope that the real character will come back. This book gave me that hope. And if you feel the way I do, then you should read the book. The question is, "Will I read the next book?" the answer, "Yes, I will. Will I regret it? Maybe! But what's life without a little regret. (Anita Blake 101)

8 people found this helpful