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totallykayt's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
kris_eeliinee's review against another edition
1.5
I listened to the audiobook, and at the end I looked down at the time remaining and thought... thats not enough to finish this story, and I was right.
crystalstarrlight's review against another edition
2.0
"Most people don't find me funny at all."
Anita Blake meets a guy in her office. Gasp, shock, horror, she actually accepts his job. She then raises a zombie. Asher arrives to tell her "Surprise! Musette, Belle Morte's cronie, is here!" She rushes to Jean-Claudes to get in a p!ssing match with Musette. Then she has to rush home to feed the ardeur. She argues about who she will have sex with. Asher waffles about having sex. Anita Blake has sex. Anita Blake is summoned to a crime scene, but she is too weak to go herself after such amazing sex so Jason drives her. She needs to feed the ardeur. Anita argues about who she will have sex with. Anita has sex. She talks about sex. She talks about her relationships. She talks about the new French vampires from Belle Morte. She has sex. She talks about sex. She finally goes to meet the French vampires. Oh, yeah, and she finally remembers the murders and the zombie raising she was hired to do at the beginning of the book. Good thing those last two could easily be wrapped up in a few minutes.
I'm sorry. I know a lot of these reviews have been nothing but me saying "Anita Blake is a horrible woman", "The writing is so mediocre and misogynistic", "There is a good story here, but too bad it is buried in bullsh!t". And I'm afraid this is another one of these reviews.
It's sad, because amidst all the sex, talking about sex, prepping for sex, arguing about vampire politic minutiae, arguing about werewolf political minutiae, p!ssing contests, misogyny, and bad fashion shows, there IS a good story. The zombie raising at the beginning of the novel (while barely, by a tenuous, subtle thread, connects to the "main" plot--whatever that is) was one of the best in the series. I felt, for the first time in this series, that I had a clear idea of what Anita did and how she did it. The shapeshifter murder mystery isn't half-bad. And I don't want to send you into cardiac arrest, but Anita actually gets a Court Order of Execution and IS THE FRAKKIN' EXECUTIONER with a one-liner that would have made Arnold Schwarzenegger proud. In a book series, where Anita Blake is supposed to be a "Vampire Hunter" so feared she is called the "Executioner", this is the only book I can remember where she got an actual Court Order to kill a frakkin' shapeshifter or a vampire. About damn time.
And then we have the one character who doesn't suck up to Anita and isn't afraid to bring up Anita's stupidity, Jason:
In the ways I listed above, "Cerulean Sins" (which doesn't refer to any building, but apparently the memo everyone got to wear Cerulean Blue) is actually better than "Narcissus in Chains". I mean, CS did have a plot; it hasn't been THAT long since I finished NiC, and I can't give you a plot summary to save my life (other than "Sex, BDSM, sex, sex, drama, wangst, sex, sex, arguing, sex"). But in many ways, this book is just as bad as the previous books.
Anita Blake might as well rename herself "Mary Sue". I've forgotten how many titles she has to her name now: Nimi-ra, Animator, Necromancer, Jean-Claude's human servant, succubus, Federal Marshall (which happened all off-screen by the way), etc. I've forgotten how many men are lining up to get into her panties (which, conveniently, match with her bra): Jean-Claude, Asher, Jason, Nathaniel, Micah, Zerbrowski, etc. She has demanded to be called "Ms. Blake" but then won't respect a mourning woman's desire to be called "Mrs."
She thinks a covering a transsexual's family problems and a teacher raping a 13 year old boy are "weird crap":
She is making out/having sex with several men, and yet somehow Asher says this about her:
Last I checked, resisting temptation kind meant NOT doing whatever is "tempting", not "holding back from screwing anything in sight".
What is probably most groan-worthy is the silly plot device that “forces” Anita to have sex, the “ardeur”. Anita has to feed it every 12 hours or she will die. This leads to a large portion of the novel dedicated to sex, relationships, arguing about who is going to have it with whom, and so on and so forth. It bugs me that this “ardeur” basically strips Anita of her choice in the matter; if it is supposed to be a metaphor for women's sexuality, it fails.
But of course, Anita doesn't WANT that much sex. Oh, no, like a bad, pornographic movie, she is FORCED to have this much sex:
Despite claiming to be a feminist, Anita frequently makes misogynistic remarks such as:
Yup, Anita, you really are equal rights. Calling grown women "girls" and comparing them to MEN is really feminist of you.
She pretty much gets into a fight with any authority figure whose path she crosses. Double-time if that person happens to be a woman. Triple if that woman is blond and tall.
Not to mention, Anita seriously needs to check into the hospital. Besides having breathing problems:
Or then, Anita thinks she is oh, so clever and goes off on random rants that have absolutely nothing to do with the plot or what is happening at the moment:
Other than Jason, I didn't care for any of the other characters. Pretty much all of them have been reduced to their one attribute and nothing more. Asher whines about being ugly; Richard whines about being a monster; Dolph suddenly gets all aggressive and offensive to Anita, when before he had been nothing but professional. Nathaniel is creepy and disgustingly submissive. And Jean-Claude continues to parade the bad fashion that makes this book a riot to read.
Because it is an Anita Blake book, I need to talk about the fashion disasters in this book. On the most part, I've tried to ignore them (such as Anita's wearing baggy shirt and jeans and SOMEHOW passing as a teenager in the early 2000's or Anita's wearing some slutty garment because *lame excuse here*), but here are some of the ones I caught that made me laugh until I cried:
One of the best parts, in that "So Bad It's Good" way, is the writing. Hamilton's writing has always been serviceable at best; here, it's as if no one bothered to proofread it:
And my absolute personal favorite!
I am almost nostalgic for the early Anita Blake books. Anita wasn't nearly so aggressive, there was a plot (or twenty) and some pretty interesting action scenes. It seems the books now are just Anita being hostile, sex, boring politics, and a hasty mystery wrapup.
Classic Anita Blake fans, the ones turned off by Narcissus in Chains, are probably not going to enjoy this. Newcomers to Anita Blake are going to be completely lost amidst intricate, overly complicated, silly paranormal creature politics. And if you were ever hesitant about the series, I sincerely doubt this book is going to win you over.
Anita Blake meets a guy in her office. Gasp, shock, horror, she actually accepts his job. She then raises a zombie. Asher arrives to tell her "Surprise! Musette, Belle Morte's cronie, is here!" She rushes to Jean-Claudes to get in a p!ssing match with Musette. Then she has to rush home to feed the ardeur. She argues about who she will have sex with. Asher waffles about having sex. Anita Blake has sex. Anita Blake is summoned to a crime scene, but she is too weak to go herself after such amazing sex so Jason drives her. She needs to feed the ardeur. Anita argues about who she will have sex with. Anita has sex. She talks about sex. She talks about her relationships. She talks about the new French vampires from Belle Morte. She has sex. She talks about sex. She finally goes to meet the French vampires. Oh, yeah, and she finally remembers the murders and the zombie raising she was hired to do at the beginning of the book. Good thing those last two could easily be wrapped up in a few minutes.
I'm sorry. I know a lot of these reviews have been nothing but me saying "Anita Blake is a horrible woman", "The writing is so mediocre and misogynistic", "There is a good story here, but too bad it is buried in bullsh!t". And I'm afraid this is another one of these reviews.
It's sad, because amidst all the sex, talking about sex, prepping for sex, arguing about vampire politic minutiae, arguing about werewolf political minutiae, p!ssing contests, misogyny, and bad fashion shows, there IS a good story. The zombie raising at the beginning of the novel (while barely, by a tenuous, subtle thread, connects to the "main" plot--whatever that is) was one of the best in the series. I felt, for the first time in this series, that I had a clear idea of what Anita did and how she did it. The shapeshifter murder mystery isn't half-bad. And I don't want to send you into cardiac arrest, but Anita actually gets a Court Order of Execution and IS THE FRAKKIN' EXECUTIONER with a one-liner that would have made Arnold Schwarzenegger proud. In a book series, where Anita Blake is supposed to be a "Vampire Hunter" so feared she is called the "Executioner", this is the only book I can remember where she got an actual Court Order to kill a frakkin' shapeshifter or a vampire. About damn time.
And then we have the one character who doesn't suck up to Anita and isn't afraid to bring up Anita's stupidity, Jason:
"I think you dated [Richard and Jean-Claude] both to keep from falling in love with either of them." - Jason
"Originally, Jean-Claude said he'd kill Richard if he didn't get a chance to woo me too." - Anita
"Why didn't you just kill Jean-Claude then? You don't tolerate ultimatums, Anita. Why would you tolerate that one?" - Jason
I didn't have an answer for that. - Anita
"I loved someone once with my whole heart and he stomped on it." - Anita
"Please, not the fiance in college, Anita, that was years ago, and he was an asshole. You can't spend the rest of your life nursing one bad experience." - Jason
In the ways I listed above, "Cerulean Sins" (which doesn't refer to any building, but apparently the memo everyone got to wear Cerulean Blue) is actually better than "Narcissus in Chains". I mean, CS did have a plot; it hasn't been THAT long since I finished NiC, and I can't give you a plot summary to save my life (other than "Sex, BDSM, sex, sex, drama, wangst, sex, sex, arguing, sex"). But in many ways, this book is just as bad as the previous books.
Anita Blake might as well rename herself "Mary Sue". I've forgotten how many titles she has to her name now: Nimi-ra, Animator, Necromancer, Jean-Claude's human servant, succubus, Federal Marshall (which happened all off-screen by the way), etc. I've forgotten how many men are lining up to get into her panties (which, conveniently, match with her bra): Jean-Claude, Asher, Jason, Nathaniel, Micah, Zerbrowski, etc. She has demanded to be called "Ms. Blake" but then won't respect a mourning woman's desire to be called "Mrs."
She thinks a covering a transsexual's family problems and a teacher raping a 13 year old boy are "weird crap":
"It was just the kind of weird crap [Court TV] liked to televise. You know, transsexual's custody case, female teacher rapes 13-year-old boy student, pro-football player's murder trial."
She is making out/having sex with several men, and yet somehow Asher says this about her:
"I have met saints and priests over the centuries that had not your will to resist temptation."
Last I checked, resisting temptation kind meant NOT doing whatever is "tempting", not "holding back from screwing anything in sight".
What is probably most groan-worthy is the silly plot device that “forces” Anita to have sex, the “ardeur”. Anita has to feed it every 12 hours or she will die. This leads to a large portion of the novel dedicated to sex, relationships, arguing about who is going to have it with whom, and so on and so forth. It bugs me that this “ardeur” basically strips Anita of her choice in the matter; if it is supposed to be a metaphor for women's sexuality, it fails.
But of course, Anita doesn't WANT that much sex. Oh, no, like a bad, pornographic movie, she is FORCED to have this much sex:
"Why was I always made to feel guilty because I wasn't having sex with more people? Wasn't it supposed to be the other way around?"
Despite claiming to be a feminist, Anita frequently makes misogynistic remarks such as:
"If I'd have been a man, I'd have let it go, but I was a girl, and girls poke at things more than men."
Yup, Anita, you really are equal rights. Calling grown women "girls" and comparing them to MEN is really feminist of you.
She pretty much gets into a fight with any authority figure whose path she crosses. Double-time if that person happens to be a woman. Triple if that woman is blond and tall.
Not to mention, Anita seriously needs to check into the hospital. Besides having breathing problems:
"I was blushing so hard, my head was beginning to hurt."
"I tried to speak but couldn't remember where my mouth was or how to draw a breath. I couldn't remember how to answer her."
"It was hard to swallow past my pulse."
"...I felt like the only thing keeping my pulse in my mouth was the tight line of my lips.
"I think I stopped breathing."
"I kept my mouth closed; I was afraid of what would fall out if I opened it."
Or then, Anita thinks she is oh, so clever and goes off on random rants that have absolutely nothing to do with the plot or what is happening at the moment:
"I think that's why dogs are so damned popular. You can cuddle a dog as much as you like, and the dog never thinks about sex or pushing your social boundaries in anyway. Unless you happen to be eating. Dogs will invade your social boundaries for table scraps unless trained to do otherwise."
"It wasn't the beauty of him that made me love him; it was just him. It was a love made up of a thousand touches, a million conversations, a trillion shared looks. A love made up of danger shared, enemies conquered, a determination to keep the people that depended on us safe at almost any cost, and a certain knowledge that neither of us would change the other, even if we could. I loved Jean-Claude."
"Guns don't care if you're psychically gifted; guns don't care about anything. They don't b!tch at you about the rules in your life, either. Of course, neither does a dog. But I don't have to use a pooper scooper after I'm through shooting my gun."
"Sometimes love makes you selfish; sometimes it makes you stupid; sometimes it reminds you of why you love your gun.
"There was that word again. Love. I was beginning to think I didn't know what it meant."
"Sane happy people don't hack their hair off at home with scissors. Cutting your hair like that is usually a substitute for hurting yourself in other, more permanent ways. Any counselor will tell you that."
"But once you get me angry, I usually stay there. I enjoy my anger; it's the only hobby I have."
"It didn't matter. Nothing mattered. Because for anything to matter, I could not have gone back into that room. I had to go back into that room, so nothing mattered."
Other than Jason, I didn't care for any of the other characters. Pretty much all of them have been reduced to their one attribute and nothing more. Asher whines about being ugly; Richard whines about being a monster; Dolph suddenly gets all aggressive and offensive to Anita, when before he had been nothing but professional. Nathaniel is creepy and disgustingly submissive. And Jean-Claude continues to parade the bad fashion that makes this book a riot to read.
Because it is an Anita Blake book, I need to talk about the fashion disasters in this book. On the most part, I've tried to ignore them (such as Anita's wearing baggy shirt and jeans and SOMEHOW passing as a teenager in the early 2000's or Anita's wearing some slutty garment because *lame excuse here*), but here are some of the ones I caught that made me laugh until I cried:
"[Jean-Claude] was wearing skin-tight leather pants, tucked into thigh-high boots so it was hard to tell where the pants left off and the boots began."
"The panties and bra were a matched pair, a shiny navy satin. When I'd found them, they had reminded me of the color of Jean-Claude's eyes."
"...his eyes [were] as normal as they ever got - midnight blue, lashed with black lace."
"The hair was like a living accessory. For a moment, I thought [Jean-Claude] was wearing leather pants, until I realized the black boots ran up the entire length of his leg. He was wearing black pants, but they were barely visible."
One of the best parts, in that "So Bad It's Good" way, is the writing. Hamilton's writing has always been serviceable at best; here, it's as if no one bothered to proofread it:
"His voice held sorrow so thick that you could have squeezed it out, tears in your cup."
"Asher was afraid. I could taste his fear on the back of my tongue. I could swallow it, enjoy the bouquet of it, like a fine wine to whet the appetite."
"...that brought me back, reminded me I had a body, that skin contained me, that bones and muscles rode the body underneath me."
"Jason lowered us both into the water. It felt wonderful so warm...Jason moved me gently in the water...The warm water was so warm, so warm."
"He ate those sounds straight from my mouth, as if he were tasting my screams."
"I couldn't see or feel or be. It was neither light nor dark, nor up nor down."
And my absolute personal favorite!
"The room was red. Red as if someone had painted all the walls crimson. But it wasn't an even job of painting. It wasn't just red or crimson, but scarlet, ruby, brick red where it had begun to dry. A color so dark, it was almost black, but it sparkled red like a garnet."
I am almost nostalgic for the early Anita Blake books. Anita wasn't nearly so aggressive, there was a plot (or twenty) and some pretty interesting action scenes. It seems the books now are just Anita being hostile, sex, boring politics, and a hasty mystery wrapup.
Classic Anita Blake fans, the ones turned off by Narcissus in Chains, are probably not going to enjoy this. Newcomers to Anita Blake are going to be completely lost amidst intricate, overly complicated, silly paranormal creature politics. And if you were ever hesitant about the series, I sincerely doubt this book is going to win you over.
kathydavie's review against another edition
5.0
Eleventh in the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter erotic paranormal fantasy horror series and revolving around a conflicted vampire hunter in St Louis, Missouri.
My Take
I do love Anita. She don't take no shit, lol. Although she is listening to Marianne when it comes to karmic debt. Lucky for Anita that she has been listening! She is also amazingly prudish.
That prudishness creates all sorts of issues within the story. Asher's frustration with her indecision; her hot-again, cold-again approach; her stubborn refusal to learn anything about Jean-Claude; Asher's and Anita's desperate need-lots-of-therapy issues; the deal Jean-Claude made with Belle to keep Asher alive — and the horror of it…
Jean-Claude discovers that lust is not love and tries to explain it to Belle Morte. Who still doesn't understand the difference. Musette is even worse. Well, she does prefer torturing people, just as much as Valentina enjoys it. The only way Anita and Jean-Claude can save Asher from the torture is for Anita to accept him into their bed. And she discovers that sex with Asher comes with orgasmic flashbacks — we know this because Hamilton uses first person protagonist point-of-view from Anita's perspective. It's gonna make her work-a-day life difficult.
That Belle Morte is something else. Her "toys" aren't allowed to ignore her, and she leeches on to Jean-Claude, sending taunting reminders of cruelties of the past. We also learn how desirable Belle needs to believe she is, and the threat this poses to Anita.
There are plenty of side stories in this, including Stephen and Gregory's awful childhood; Jason psychoanalyzing Anita's love life — sounds pretty accurate to me! — he's pretty excited too that Anita finally seems him as a guy; Jason also making an excellent point about humans killing more humans than the shapeshifters; the vampire customs that are revealed before the feast; and, then there are the horrors that touch Valentina and Bartolomé. Phew…
Admittedly, Anita doesn't have a good track record what with people leaving her, making her feel not good enough. Unfortunately, her reputation is out there, and it's only a stroke of luck — and her karma? — that saves Anita.
Hoo boy! Dolph passes a line when he goes after Anita...he insists she choose, and he's cutting her out of crime scenes. As for Richard, I liked him at first, but not no more. No sirree. The man's an absolute jerk. Sure, I liked his wanting everyone to be equal, but it doesn't work in a wolf pack. Nor does he have any strategic sense, and he is screwing up like mad.
Oh, yeah, if you're looking for action and strong characters — as well as characters strong in their issues, oy! — this is the story for you.
After breaking up with Richard, Anita has settled into domesticity with Micah while still being with Jean-Claude. Then vampire power politics bares their fangs when Musette, a twisted harpie of a vampire, shows up three months early, eager to visit new torment on Jean-Claude and Asher.
Musette is bad enough, but Zerbrowski asks Anita to consult on a series of brutal killings, which seem to be the work of something…un-human.
The Characters
The brash Anita Blake, a.k.a. The Executioner, is a necromancer, a human servant, a federal marshal, the Nimir-Ra, and the Bolverk for the wolves. Micah Callahan is a leopard-shifter, the Nimir-Raj, alpha of the pard, and one of Anita's boyfriends. Nathaniel Graison is also a leopard-shifter, Anita's pomme de sang, and a stripper who is in love with Anita. He shares Anita with Micah. Damian is a vampire whom Anita accidentally bound to her as her vampire servant (Narcissus in Chains, 10). Ronnie Sims, a private detective, is Anita's best friend and dating Louie, a wererat who's a professor at Wash U and Richard's best friend.
...of leopard-shifters includes Cherry who's living with Zane, Gregory (his twin, Stephen, is a werewolf), Caleb is one of Micah's and Anita dislikes him, and Merle, who is Micah's chief bodyguard.
The Master of the City of St Louis is...
...Jean-Claude, a master vampire who is in love with Anita. Asher is Jean-Claude's second-in-command (Burnt Offerings, 7). Centuries ago, he and Jean-Claude had had a ménage à trois with Julianna, Asher's human servant. The snarky and flirtatious Jason Schulyer, a werewolf and stripper, is Jean-Claude's pomme de sang. Additional vampires include Meng Die, who is a powerful master vampire with the wolf as her animal-to-call; Faust; and, Willie, the manager for The Laughing Corpse, and Hannah, the temporary manager for Danse Macabre, are a couple.
Bobby Lee, Fredo, and Claudia are wererats and part of Jean-Claude's security team. Ernie is Jean-Claude's human errand boy...and sometimes appetizer.
The Circus of the Damned is a combination of a live action drama with frightening themes, circus performances, side shows, and a carnival. It's also the vampire headquarters. Guilty Pleasures is a strip club, also owned by Jean-Claude.
Belle Morte, a 2,000-year-old master vampire whose animal-to-call is the leopard, is Jean-Claude and Asher's maker; she's also a member of the council. The grossly insulting Musette is one of Belle's lieutenants and a vampire bogeyman with rats as her second animal-to-call. She likes them young. Her entourage includes Angelito; the eight-year-old Valentina who had been brought over by Sebastian, a pedophile vampire — at least she hates child molesters; and, the perverse eleven-year-old Bartolomé. Paolo was one of the vampires to torture Asher and Jean-Claude; now he comes to flaunt the past.
The touchy Richard Zeeman is the other third of the triumvirate with Jean-Claude and Anita. He's also the Ulfric, the alpha of the werewolves, and Jean-Claude's animal-to-call. He'd rather be a junior high science teacher with 2.5 children. Sylvie is strong enough to challenge Richard. Jamil and Shang-Da are both werewolves and Richard's Hati and Skoll, his personal bodyguards. Norman and Patricia are more of the pack who help track the terrorist.
St Louis PD
Lieutenant Dolph Storr is in charge of the Regional Preternatural Investigation Team (RIPT); Lucille is his wife. Sergeant Zerbrowski is a human Pigpen with a great sense of humor. Katie is his very neat wife. Detective Tammy Reynolds is a witch on staff and a Follower of the Way, Christianity's version of witches. Detective Clive Perry is always precise and well-mannered.
Lieutenant Nicols would rather not have to deal with Mrs Bennington. Detective P. O'Brien never seems to be in, and she doesn't play well with others. Detective Webster is excited about an international super spy. James is another detective. Mobile Reserves is the St. Louis answer to SWAT; Officers Elsworthy, Bates, Meyer, and Tucker are on the team captained by Parker.
Special Agent Bradley Bradford is with the Special Research Section of the FBI, set up to handle preternatural crime (Bloody Bones , 5).
Animators, Inc. is...
...the company in which Anita is a partner. Bert Vaughn is the business manager. Larry Kirkland is another necromancer, and he's dating Tammy. The pregnant Tammy. The wedding is scheduled for October — Incubus Dreams, 12.
Mrs Bennington needs to raise Gordon Bennington, her husband. Arthur Conroy is the head lawyer at Fidelis; he and Mrs Bennington have mutual restraining orders against each other. Rex Canducci and Balfour are Conroy's bodyguards.
Wildwood is where Officer Jenkins is on-scene along with the insulting Trooper Kennedy and the snarky Detective Rob Merlioni.
Leopold Walther Heinrick is a German national suspected of almost every large crime you could think of. It seems that Roy Van Anders is a compatriot of his. Leo Harlan, a.k.a. Harlan Knox, is a hit man wanting to raise an ancestor.
Miller is a reporter. Judith is Anita's prejudiced stepmother. The Duchess Vicante is a whole 'nother story about Jean-Claude's practice with silk sheets. Chimera had been the pard's old leader (Narcissus in Chains, 10). Father Mike is Anita's priest. Aaron is Richard's older brother. Marianne is a Wiccan and Anita's teacher (Blue Moon, 8).
The Mother of All Darkness is the primordial dark, the very first vampire as well as a shape-shifter. She's also known as the Mother of all Vampires, Mother Gentle, Marme, Sweet Mother, Sweet Dark, and more. She founded the European Council of Vampires, gave them their rules and their civilization. We met the Beastmaster, Padma, in Burnt Offerings.
The Earthmover had been a member of the council (Circus of the Damned, 3). Yvette had been another nightmare in Burnt Offerings. Renfields are humans who are blood donors and want to be vampires. Humans Against Vampires is a hate group. Nikolaos had been the Master of the City before Jean-Claude (Guilty Pleasures, 1). The Erato is the role of the female wolf who helps new werewolves control themselves during sex.
The Cover and Title
The cover is a deep mint green with a one-inch black border at the top. The author's name is in yellow with the first name in the black and the last name below it in the green. A narrow peach line separates the text with an info blurb part of the separation. A testimonial is in the black on the left with the series information, also in black, at the bottom right. Centered in the green is a giant kilt pin.
The title is all about Jean-Claude and his blue eyes, those Cerulean Sins.
My Take
I do love Anita. She don't take no shit, lol. Although she is listening to Marianne when it comes to karmic debt. Lucky for Anita that she has been listening! She is also amazingly prudish.
That prudishness creates all sorts of issues within the story. Asher's frustration with her indecision; her hot-again, cold-again approach; her stubborn refusal to learn anything about Jean-Claude; Asher's and Anita's desperate need-lots-of-therapy issues; the deal Jean-Claude made with Belle to keep Asher alive — and the horror of it…
Jean-Claude discovers that lust is not love and tries to explain it to Belle Morte. Who still doesn't understand the difference. Musette is even worse. Well, she does prefer torturing people, just as much as Valentina enjoys it. The only way Anita and Jean-Claude can save Asher from the torture is for Anita to accept him into their bed. And she discovers that sex with Asher comes with orgasmic flashbacks — we know this because Hamilton uses first person protagonist point-of-view from Anita's perspective. It's gonna make her work-a-day life difficult.
That Belle Morte is something else. Her "toys" aren't allowed to ignore her, and she leeches on to Jean-Claude, sending taunting reminders of cruelties of the past. We also learn how desirable Belle needs to believe she is, and the threat this poses to Anita.
There are plenty of side stories in this, including Stephen and Gregory's awful childhood; Jason psychoanalyzing Anita's love life — sounds pretty accurate to me! — he's pretty excited too that Anita finally seems him as a guy; Jason also making an excellent point about humans killing more humans than the shapeshifters; the vampire customs that are revealed before the feast; and, then there are the horrors that touch Valentina and Bartolomé. Phew…
Admittedly, Anita doesn't have a good track record what with people leaving her, making her feel not good enough. Unfortunately, her reputation is out there, and it's only a stroke of luck — and her karma? — that saves Anita.
"You can't fall madly in love with Jean-Claude, or anyone else, because you've divided your world up into different parts with each of them. Because no one man has your whole world, no one man can rock your whole world."It's so sweet...Anita is reading out loud with Micah and Nathaniel, giving Nathaniel a piece of the childhood he'd never had.
Hoo boy! Dolph passes a line when he goes after Anita...he insists she choose, and he's cutting her out of crime scenes. As for Richard, I liked him at first, but not no more. No sirree. The man's an absolute jerk. Sure, I liked his wanting everyone to be equal, but it doesn't work in a wolf pack. Nor does he have any strategic sense, and he is screwing up like mad.
Oh, yeah, if you're looking for action and strong characters — as well as characters strong in their issues, oy! — this is the story for you.
"Sometimes you deal with the devil, not because you want to, but because if you don't, someone else will.The Story
After breaking up with Richard, Anita has settled into domesticity with Micah while still being with Jean-Claude. Then vampire power politics bares their fangs when Musette, a twisted harpie of a vampire, shows up three months early, eager to visit new torment on Jean-Claude and Asher.
Musette is bad enough, but Zerbrowski asks Anita to consult on a series of brutal killings, which seem to be the work of something…un-human.
The Characters
The brash Anita Blake, a.k.a. The Executioner, is a necromancer, a human servant, a federal marshal, the Nimir-Ra, and the Bolverk for the wolves. Micah Callahan is a leopard-shifter, the Nimir-Raj, alpha of the pard, and one of Anita's boyfriends. Nathaniel Graison is also a leopard-shifter, Anita's pomme de sang, and a stripper who is in love with Anita. He shares Anita with Micah. Damian is a vampire whom Anita accidentally bound to her as her vampire servant (Narcissus in Chains, 10). Ronnie Sims, a private detective, is Anita's best friend and dating Louie, a wererat who's a professor at Wash U and Richard's best friend.
"I enjoy my anger, it's the only hobby I have."The Pard...
...of leopard-shifters includes Cherry who's living with Zane, Gregory (his twin, Stephen, is a werewolf), Caleb is one of Micah's and Anita dislikes him, and Merle, who is Micah's chief bodyguard.
The Master of the City of St Louis is...
...Jean-Claude, a master vampire who is in love with Anita. Asher is Jean-Claude's second-in-command (Burnt Offerings, 7). Centuries ago, he and Jean-Claude had had a ménage à trois with Julianna, Asher's human servant. The snarky and flirtatious Jason Schulyer, a werewolf and stripper, is Jean-Claude's pomme de sang. Additional vampires include Meng Die, who is a powerful master vampire with the wolf as her animal-to-call; Faust; and, Willie, the manager for The Laughing Corpse, and Hannah, the temporary manager for Danse Macabre, are a couple.
Bobby Lee, Fredo, and Claudia are wererats and part of Jean-Claude's security team. Ernie is Jean-Claude's human errand boy...and sometimes appetizer.
The Circus of the Damned is a combination of a live action drama with frightening themes, circus performances, side shows, and a carnival. It's also the vampire headquarters. Guilty Pleasures is a strip club, also owned by Jean-Claude.
Belle Morte, a 2,000-year-old master vampire whose animal-to-call is the leopard, is Jean-Claude and Asher's maker; she's also a member of the council. The grossly insulting Musette is one of Belle's lieutenants and a vampire bogeyman with rats as her second animal-to-call. She likes them young. Her entourage includes Angelito; the eight-year-old Valentina who had been brought over by Sebastian, a pedophile vampire — at least she hates child molesters; and, the perverse eleven-year-old Bartolomé. Paolo was one of the vampires to torture Asher and Jean-Claude; now he comes to flaunt the past.
The touchy Richard Zeeman is the other third of the triumvirate with Jean-Claude and Anita. He's also the Ulfric, the alpha of the werewolves, and Jean-Claude's animal-to-call. He'd rather be a junior high science teacher with 2.5 children. Sylvie is strong enough to challenge Richard. Jamil and Shang-Da are both werewolves and Richard's Hati and Skoll, his personal bodyguards. Norman and Patricia are more of the pack who help track the terrorist.
St Louis PD
Lieutenant Dolph Storr is in charge of the Regional Preternatural Investigation Team (RIPT); Lucille is his wife. Sergeant Zerbrowski is a human Pigpen with a great sense of humor. Katie is his very neat wife. Detective Tammy Reynolds is a witch on staff and a Follower of the Way, Christianity's version of witches. Detective Clive Perry is always precise and well-mannered.
Lieutenant Nicols would rather not have to deal with Mrs Bennington. Detective P. O'Brien never seems to be in, and she doesn't play well with others. Detective Webster is excited about an international super spy. James is another detective. Mobile Reserves is the St. Louis answer to SWAT; Officers Elsworthy, Bates, Meyer, and Tucker are on the team captained by Parker.
Special Agent Bradley Bradford is with the Special Research Section of the FBI, set up to handle preternatural crime (Bloody Bones , 5).
Animators, Inc. is...
...the company in which Anita is a partner. Bert Vaughn is the business manager. Larry Kirkland is another necromancer, and he's dating Tammy. The pregnant Tammy. The wedding is scheduled for October — Incubus Dreams, 12.
Mrs Bennington needs to raise Gordon Bennington, her husband. Arthur Conroy is the head lawyer at Fidelis; he and Mrs Bennington have mutual restraining orders against each other. Rex Canducci and Balfour are Conroy's bodyguards.
Wildwood is where Officer Jenkins is on-scene along with the insulting Trooper Kennedy and the snarky Detective Rob Merlioni.
Leopold Walther Heinrick is a German national suspected of almost every large crime you could think of. It seems that Roy Van Anders is a compatriot of his. Leo Harlan, a.k.a. Harlan Knox, is a hit man wanting to raise an ancestor.
Miller is a reporter. Judith is Anita's prejudiced stepmother. The Duchess Vicante is a whole 'nother story about Jean-Claude's practice with silk sheets. Chimera had been the pard's old leader (Narcissus in Chains, 10). Father Mike is Anita's priest. Aaron is Richard's older brother. Marianne is a Wiccan and Anita's teacher (Blue Moon, 8).
The Mother of All Darkness is the primordial dark, the very first vampire as well as a shape-shifter. She's also known as the Mother of all Vampires, Mother Gentle, Marme, Sweet Mother, Sweet Dark, and more. She founded the European Council of Vampires, gave them their rules and their civilization. We met the Beastmaster, Padma, in Burnt Offerings.
The Earthmover had been a member of the council (Circus of the Damned, 3). Yvette had been another nightmare in Burnt Offerings. Renfields are humans who are blood donors and want to be vampires. Humans Against Vampires is a hate group. Nikolaos had been the Master of the City before Jean-Claude (Guilty Pleasures, 1). The Erato is the role of the female wolf who helps new werewolves control themselves during sex.
The Cover and Title
The cover is a deep mint green with a one-inch black border at the top. The author's name is in yellow with the first name in the black and the last name below it in the green. A narrow peach line separates the text with an info blurb part of the separation. A testimonial is in the black on the left with the series information, also in black, at the bottom right. Centered in the green is a giant kilt pin.
The title is all about Jean-Claude and his blue eyes, those Cerulean Sins.
readingrebel0628's review
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
kerryks's review
5.0
This was one of the rare Anita Blake books that didn't have a whole lot of edge-of-your-seat violence, but it had a good story. I liked that she was able to get the bad guy at the end without a hostage situation or a huge fight. Now, obviously, this won't work for every situation and would get boring used more than a couple of times, but it's a nice breather from the previous books.
taralurae's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
magikspells's review against another edition
1.0
This whole book is a fucking mess of hobbled together mythologies that somehow only involve Anita. And also why are people still writing urban fantasy where there are literally no other female main characters? I understand this is an older series, but how can a woman writing this think, ‘this story needs more men.’ And don’t even get me started on her half ass attempt to explain away why there’s only white vampires. Honestly a lot of this just feels lazy. I kinda liked this series when it was about Anita being a vampire executioner and necromancer, now it’s just about who she’s gonna bone next.
devansbooklife's review
3.0
A little less hot which was fine by me but a lot less rational. The way the book read was jumbled and a bit messy. I think the steam is taking some things from the series. I keep hoping Anita grows but she continues to falter over her own issues. She loves to act without thinking but cannot really ever back up her compulsive behavior. And Richard is a DAMN drag. Like cannot stand a single moment he is in the series. He disgusts me in a way.