Blood Noir (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter) by Laurell K. Hamilton
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Book Reviews of Blood Noir (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter)
Book Review: and I thought the series was rebounding..sigh
Summary: 2 Stars
After reading Harlequin I thought the series was about to pick up again. I actually enjoyed Harlequin alot. Sex wasn't the driving force behind the book and there was an actual plot..a plot with bad guys...bad guy vampires no less! I was hopeful...then I read Blood Noir
This book is reminiscent of Micah. Anita and one of her many bed mates take a road trip. This time it's Anita flying out to Jason's home town in an attempt to make peace between Jason and his father. His father's been under the impression that Jason is gay, and Anita is not only there for moral support but as part of a little ruse to convince Jason's father on his deathbed that Anita is his 'girlfriend' and that he's truly not gay. Not the most exciting plot but there have been worse plots in Anita's books lately (when there HAS been a plot that is).
In the midst of that, Jason's distant 'cousin', Keith Summerland is getting married. The Summerland's are rich and powerful, the father being a governor with presidential hopes in the near future. It just so happens that Jason and Keith look so much alike they could very well be twins. Press gets involved, hijinks ensue.
There are 'bad guys' in the book eventually, but it's a very minor portion of the plot. What's left of any plot can pretty much be summed up as Anita and Jason, primarily, spouting emotional baggage. There are many MANY pages of talking head scenes.
What I often find ridiculous about the series is that we have these characters that have known each other for so long and they have these long involved soul searching conversations that do nothing but demonstrate that they really don't know each other at all. And these are people that spend immense amounts of time with each other. Granted, most of that time spent together involves sex.
Which leads me to another gripe with the book: Sex solves all in the Anita Blake series. Relationship problems? Have some sex. Saddened by the imminent passing of a relative? Have some sex. Bad vamps trying to steal your soul? Have some sex. Author running out of ideas as to bad things bad vamps can do to our heroine? Roll her mind and make her have a 48 hour marathon sex session (yes, that's IN this book..spoilerish I know). Trying to extend a rehashed soul searching conversation between main characters? Have them tell Anita how great she is at sex. Yep, even when sex isn't being had it's being spoken about.
When reading alot of the post-Obsidian Butterfly books I can't help but wonder if LKH doesn't think that sex is the be all end all of human existence. I try not to make any judgments about LKH based on her books, but I'm sorry if that's just the impression I get.
You meld all the 'heart to heart' talks and the incessant sex and it starts to become just an X rated version of Dawson's Creek. These characters are hardly angsty teenagers but they seem so developmentally stunted in the relationship department that it often times seems like a teen drama.
I also think that the series is so incredibly decompressed that it's moving along at a snail's pace and that's causing alot of the issues I complain about. Not much time has actually passed since butterfly, so we get book after book of Anita struggling with new powers. The idea of her being a panwere and just choosing a furry animal to turn into has been dragging on forever. The ardeur (once again, one of the LAMEST plot devices used to inject lots of orgiastic sex into a series I've ever born witness to) is still something she doesn't have to control and it was introduced what, 5 or 6 books ago?
Most of the sex and relationship conversations seem to be the same ones over and over again, just with a different character that Anita's talking to.
Oh, and we get even more brand new characters that are attracted to Anita like opposite poles of two different magnets. Werelions and weretigers oh my!
Now, it's not ALL bad. I think the character assassination of Richard is coming to an end. Remember, he inherited alot of Anita's anger when the vampire marks were married in their triumverate. He's also developing some new powers of his own which should be interesting to read about IF handled properly.
In any event, I was sorely disappointed in this one after reading what I thought was a great turnaround in the series with Harlequin. Instead of continuing an upward trend and a revisitation to some of the elements that made the first 8 or 9 books so much fun and so engaged to read we got what pretty much amounts to Micah Part II, just with Jason in the sweetie du jour role.
Book Review: Pretty Women in Reverse...with Werewolves...
Summary: 2 Stars
Wow. And Ick.
In this book, Hamilton skips the vampire slaying entirely and focuses purely on Anita's love life. There is only one rather brief monster fighting scene at the end, and they never slay a Big Bad. Oddly, this makes the book slightly better than some of her recent books, because the author's heart hasn't really been in the evil slaying stories for a while. They also seem to be introducing a little bit of a plot arc, and the eroticism fits with my tastes a little bit more than some books.
The start struck me as a kind of gender switched "Pretty Women" story with werewolves and a pregnancy scare. I sort of liked bringing the pregnancy thing into a "sex magic" setting....it would seem to be one of the natural risks. I actually liked the musings on monogamy and Anita's thoughts on the abortion issue at the beginning. These were somewhat marred when the author felt the need to put dogmatic "my body my choice" pro choice rhetoric into the mouths of the male characters. Come on, I realize the author wanted to make it clear she wasn't pro-life, but would those lines really come out of the mouths of traumatized strippers in a moment of crisis?
That's kind of one of the problems with this book. The sexual dynamics have moved on to a place that is kind of creepy and exploitive. Apparently a couple of the stripper boyfriends were abused as children. One was a child prostitute. Actually a realistic explanation for his behavior. I understand some people who were sexually abused respond by sexualizing all relationships. However, someone like that is the last person you should put in your harem, or practice bondage sex with. For the bored middle age man bondage and subservience is a game, for the molested ex-prostitute it is something else entirely. If Nathaniel lived the life he is described as living, Anita's harem is the last place he should be. And I suspect a guy starved for love who's ex-girlfriend was forced to have an abortion by her pimp might not react calmly to another abortion. Really, if for some weird, supernatural reason you are compelled to have sex with lots of people to get psychic energy, pick some bored middle age men who'll enjoy it, and who enter into the arrangement freely. Most of Anita's lovers were abused as kids, are lycanthropes who are part of packs Anita is in some way in charge of, or are Jean-Claud's property. Based on the way lycanthropes and vampires are supposed to work in this series, one can question whether any of these people really had the option of saying no.
A callous disregard for the feelings of men is a problem in this book. If Anita just gave up the monogamy and said "Wee, free love!" I'd be more OK with it. However, she brings out weird monogamous sentiments at the most inappropriate times. How can someone with a multi-species harem really object when an occasional lover flirts with other women? She explained it by saying it made her look bad, but we just got through a scene where she was told she had hurt Jean-Claud's reputation...and the next scene she has sex with two more random guys. How come she gets a harem and Jean-Claud has to be monogamous?
Really, why shouldn't Jason's father be upset at the course his life is taking? You send a kid to college, and he...becomes a stripper. Gets a disease through sex (lycanthropy). Becomes a blood donor for a vampire (seems sort of dangerous). Becomes part of some weird necromancer's harem. Rather a dangerous lifestyle, I think. Richard is also portrayed badly, but I kind of feel for him. Imagine being psychically linked to your ex...while your ex is sleeping with your boss (Jean-Claud) and subordinate (Jason) and maybe aborting your baby...
Really, things have reached a point where I kind of think all of her boyfriends should dump her.
Book Review: Blood Snore
Summary: 2 Stars
Over the last 3-4 books or so, the series has changed drastically. The series has gone from being a gritty UF series where Anita solves crimes to a series where most of the action (or should I say INACTION) occurs in one small space. This book marks Hamilton's first real attempt to make the series grab some of it's former glory. Too bad it didn't work.
The basic plotline of this book is that Anita travels with Jason to see his family to prove that he's not gay. No really, that's the basic plot. Along the way Anita gets more attacks from the Mother of all Darkness & finds that Jason looks like a lot of other people. One more sentence & I could sum up the entire book. The plotline is wafer thin, stretched from a short story into a novel length book.
The book started off fine enough & for the first third of the book I actually debated giving it 3 stars. The plot may not have been the most inspired thing Hamilton had put out, but it was somewhat interesting. Then came the basic reason Hamilton's books have begun to stink. No, not the sex- although the sex is still dull & uninteresting. Nope, the reason I find Hamilton's books so dull is because everyone talks each other to death.
Anita wants to have sex. Jason wants to have sex. Do they just get it on, like any average person would? No, they have to go through their individual problems in excruciating detail. It's at moments like these that I realize exactly why Hamilton has given Anita the ardeur. The amount of emo gushing that Anita does & requires out of her men pre-coitus would wilt even the most determined of Mr. Happys. Like I've said in a previous review, it's not like I mind books where people sit around talking. I just want their conversations to be interesting.
Then there's the whole premise of the book. Seriously? Going home with Jason just to prove that he's not gay? When even your characters say that the plot is like a bad sitcom, perhaps you should rethink the basic storyline. There's also a plot element where Jason supposedly looks like other members of the town. This obviously was supposed to be a more important part of the book, but it's thrust to the far back burner so more mind numbingly boring sex can be written in.
Hamilton likes to say that her books are too controversial & that's why she has detractors. If it were as simple as that, I'd be writing a far different review. The real reason people complain is because the books have become as dull as dishwater. Hamilton seems to have lost interest in her books & it's starting to show. Maybe if she stopped trying to churn books out at her current rate, she could improve the books & make them less dull. However if she keeps up at this pace I'm honestly concerned that she'll end up getting stuck like this.
Book Review: Like watching a train wreck happen...so bad but you just can't look away
Summary: 2 Stars
This is the sixteenth book of the Anita Blake series with no end in sight. Why do I read this series? I ask myself that a lot. I am now getting them from the library because I am not willing to spend money on them. I think I read this series because I like the characters and I am curious as to how the whole mess that is Anita's life will be resolved (will it ever be resolved may be a better question).
In this book Jason's dad is dying and Anita travels with him to visit his dad in order to show support for Jason. Unfortunately upon arrival to Jason's home town it ends up that a man named Keith Summerland (who looks identical to Jason and is a colossal jerk) is in town for his wedding. Most of the book deals with Jason being mistaken form Keith and the ramifications of that. Of course Anita and Jason also have to spend many, many, many long pages confronting their relationship and if it is a friendship or if it's more. Things get dangerous when some vampires gunning for Keith end up targeting Anita and Jason. Then, of course, Marmee Noir has to rear her ugly head and add in a ton of strange paranormal junk (oh yes and more guys for Anita to add to her harem).
For the most part this book was boring. So much page space was given to Anita and Jason hashing and re-hashing their relationship that it was ridiculous. The whole mistaken identity premise that propelled the plot of the book was contrived and unlikely and in general kind of came out of no-where. All of the interesting parts with Marmee Noir happened in the last fourth of the book and were quickly shoved in. There were less sex scenes than in previous book, and the ones that were in here were pretty poorly done. All in all I think this book could have been 20 pages and said all it needed to say. Like previous books this one covers a time span of only a few days.
There were some positive aspects to the book. It was nice to learn some of Jason's back story and to learn about his family. You also learn a bit more about Anita's childhood. The end of the book showed that things are coming to a head with Marmee Noir and this (again) made me curious enough that I will probably read the next book. Truthfully I am just hoping that this series comes to a close in the next couple years. I am not sure there is much good left to read about these characters.
Will I read the next book? Of course. But I will get it from the library. These books are no longer keepers and are to be quickly read and then gotten rid of.
Book Review: I wish I could see the original Anita again....
Summary: 2 Stars
When I first read the Anita Blake series, I was enthralled. She was wonderful and I couldn't put the book down. I even had everyone I knew read it. She was original and exciting. Now... book after book... I am disappointed. I know a lot of people say, "If you don't like the series, why do you keep buying them?". Because, I keep hoping... just for that glimpse of genius I had previously seen. Anita was solid and had morals and ideas, Richard was solid and honest with all but himself, Jean Claude was sexy and unpredictable. Now Anita is lost in bad sex and no tough girl action outside of the bedroom, Richard has become whinny and tiresome and Jean Claude has lost his personality to Anita's whims. Granted I got tired of Anita's rantings about Richard, but at least there was plot there. There was meaning and dimension to it. Now it's just bad. I keep buying the books because I keep hoping I will see that glimmer of what was... but I will confess this is the last book that I will purchase from LKH. I am appalled that a wonderful serious has devolved into these deluded sex scenes and has lost all plot outside of that. When was the last time Anita went out and raised the dead for her firm, when was the last time she really hunted and kicked bad guy butt? When was the last time her relationships were really meaningful?
I will concede that Anita received supernatural powers due to her ties to Jean Claude and Richard and needed to get her bearings, but I would have thought that we would have some resolution to these by now. I understand that she is now a succubus, but when is the reader supposed to expect some control over these outside of non-stop sex? I find it insulting to my intelligence that the character can't go more than two chapters without sex. I gave it my best effort to stick with this series through the low points, as I believe if you really love a series you accept it's flaws and work through it, but even I have to have a point where enough is enough.
If you enjoy a character that will degrade men and make them seem meaningless, if you like lots of kinky sex that has supernatural elements to it and if you like minimal plot to get in the way of the sex, this is definitely the series for you. If not, I recommend you research other supernatural authors.