iamjamface's review against another edition
4.0
Be still my heart, we were gifted the precious Anita, Jean-Claude and Asher throuple. I AM DELIGHTED.
There was so much character growth! And almost all of it good!
But also fuckboi Richard was doing his fuckboi ways and almost got every single person killed. But I’m glad he doesn’t want to die anymore.
We go more of Jason, it’s almost like she read my last review (if only the book wasn’t written 20 years ago
There was so much character growth! And almost all of it good!
But also fuckboi Richard was doing his fuckboi ways and almost got every single person killed. But I’m glad he doesn’t want to die anymore.
We go more of Jason, it’s almost like she read my last review (if only the book wasn’t written 20 years ago
vikcs's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
4.0
lynseyisreading's review against another edition
3.0
I'm coming back to the Anita Blake series after a long break. I got annoyed (that would be putting it mildly) with a certain aspect of the storyline at around book 10, Narcissus in Chains, and had to stop for a bit.
Basically, I can deal with my leading lady ending up in a love triangle. Just. But with this series, it started getting ridiculous. Anita went from not wanting to have sex before marriage with her one and only boyfriend, to sleeping with anything that moved, and I just didn't like it. Sorry. It upset my delicate sensibilities:)
However, after a six month break and a bit of a calm down, I got to talking to somebody about the series and thought, you know what? The actual stories, (i.e. the bit that happens when she's not boinking) are usually really good to read, and I shouldn't let one part of the story prevent me from carrying on with it when I had already got through 10 books and was committed the series. So, I am now carrying on from where I left off. This time, I am listening to them on Audiobook.
In this story, Musette—the right-hand woman of Belle Mort, the leader of Jean Claude and Asher's line—is sent to St. Louis and Anita is forced to make Asher her lover in order to protect him from her. She loves him anyway, mainly through inheriting Jean Claude's memories of him, so she's not too bothered, but probably wouldn't have done it without this complication. What happened to prudish Anita, eh?
She also adds one more person to her list of people she sleeps with, when an attack of the ardeur occurs when neither Micah or Nathaniel are available to... er...help out.
Micah is still a girly wuss who lets Anita do whatever she wants with whomever she wants. I really don't see what purpose his character serves at all.
Nathaniel is starting to develop a bit of a backbone and is getting upset by the fact that he's about the only person left who Anita isn't having actual intercourse with. Poor thing.
There was a lot of time concentrated on and around the sexual relationships in this book, and a very brief—almost a sub-plot or background story—of a shapeshifter serial killer. So in case you are wondering why I am only concentrating on the rudey-doody bits when I just said that's what annoys me, well, it's because it took up nearly 75% of the storyline of the book, that's why. I mean, is it telling that even the synopsis is only two sentences long?
I did mostly enjoy it, though, having said all that. I think you just have to get your head around the fact that this ardeur thing makes it impossible for Anita to be a one-man-woman now, and once I accepted that and stopped getting mad about it, I actually started to appreciate all the different men in her life and their unique qualities. Or maybe I'm just trying to talk myself around.
I'm going to try the next one and hope that I can see this series to its end.
Basically, I can deal with my leading lady ending up in a love triangle. Just. But with this series, it started getting ridiculous. Anita went from not wanting to have sex before marriage with her one and only boyfriend, to sleeping with anything that moved, and I just didn't like it. Sorry. It upset my delicate sensibilities:)
However, after a six month break and a bit of a calm down, I got to talking to somebody about the series and thought, you know what? The actual stories, (i.e. the bit that happens when she's not boinking) are usually really good to read, and I shouldn't let one part of the story prevent me from carrying on with it when I had already got through 10 books and was committed the series. So, I am now carrying on from where I left off. This time, I am listening to them on Audiobook.
In this story, Musette—the right-hand woman of Belle Mort, the leader of Jean Claude and Asher's line—is sent to St. Louis and Anita is forced to make Asher her lover in order to protect him from her. She loves him anyway, mainly through inheriting Jean Claude's memories of him, so she's not too bothered, but probably wouldn't have done it without this complication. What happened to prudish Anita, eh?
She also adds one more person to her list of people she sleeps with, when an attack of the ardeur occurs when neither Micah or Nathaniel are available to... er...help out.
Micah is still a girly wuss who lets Anita do whatever she wants with whomever she wants. I really don't see what purpose his character serves at all.
Nathaniel is starting to develop a bit of a backbone and is getting upset by the fact that he's about the only person left who Anita isn't having actual intercourse with. Poor thing.
There was a lot of time concentrated on and around the sexual relationships in this book, and a very brief—almost a sub-plot or background story—of a shapeshifter serial killer. So in case you are wondering why I am only concentrating on the rudey-doody bits when I just said that's what annoys me, well, it's because it took up nearly 75% of the storyline of the book, that's why. I mean, is it telling that even the synopsis is only two sentences long?
I did mostly enjoy it, though, having said all that. I think you just have to get your head around the fact that this ardeur thing makes it impossible for Anita to be a one-man-woman now, and once I accepted that and stopped getting mad about it, I actually started to appreciate all the different men in her life and their unique qualities. Or maybe I'm just trying to talk myself around.
I'm going to try the next one and hope that I can see this series to its end.
lakecake's review against another edition
4.0
Great entry in the series...it really opens up the characters and gives you a good idea of who they are as people. I love the interactions (mind out of the gutter!) among the characters, and even though there have been some complaints about it, I like the fact that this was talkier than some of the others--learning about Anita et al through their conversations is fun. I continue to be amazed at the number of people (based on reviews here) that are just not into the new direction of the books. Maybe because I walked in kind of knowing what to expect, or maybe I'm just not easily offended, but I think if anything it adds to the storyline, not devolves it. I, for one, will definitely keep reading!
maireo's review
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual violence, Violence, Toxic relationship, and Torture
bookwife's review against another edition
4.0
Anita is slowly... very very slowly getting over alot of her hang ups which means I am enjoying her alot more and I am glad I have stuck with the series.
dragon_lion64's review against another edition
2.0
Cerulean Sins
These books are getting predictable and mundane. The same plots or rather non-plots keep repeating over and over again. How many scary vampires or creatures can come to town and mess with Anita’s mind? Okay, some of them were out of town but the theme is the same. The bad guy threatens Anita or her friends in some way. They are awed by Anita’s power so they either want it or want to kill her. Anita always finds a way to overpower the ancient baddy and saves the day but usually not until a lot of people get hurt and killed….oh, don’t forget raped. The author always makes sure to include lots of rape.
Usually, the plot is something like this; Anita meets someone who needs a zombie raised at her zombie raising job. She helps the police solve a murder. Some badass creature messes with the were-animals or vampires. She has problems with all the men in her life. In the end, all of it ties together somehow and Anita saves the day. Mostly though, the plot takes a secondary stage to Anita’s personal life where she has sex with all kinds of men and is overwhelmed by power.
I have always wondered if the author was either a genius by making the readers dislike Anita and then developing her character into someone more likeable or the author was truly ignorant and thought Anita Blake’s character was cool the way she was. I’m really leaning more towards the ignorant side now.
The author took an arrogant, prejudice and rude woman, who had fighting skills and a little bit of a conscience, albeit not much, and started changing her into someone more tolerant of vampires and shape shifters but also made her into a power-hungry sex fiend and a callous killer. I’ve never liked the character but I liked the world that the author created and I liked the secondary characters. I saw a little bit of a change in Anita Blake’s character when she slowly started to realize that vampires and shape shifters weren’t always evil monsters. In the first few books, Anita was a prude when it came to sex, kind of like a repressed Catholic girl. She wanted to wait until marriage to have sex because she had sex in college with her fiancé but he dumped her afterwards because his family didn’t think she was good enough for him since her mom was Mexican and they were white. She said she didn’t want to make the mistake again. Now, Anita has sex with A LOT of men, not because her attitude has changed towards it but because she is always possessed by something that makes her have to have sex.
Why can’t the author let someone in the book have regular apple-pie type sex? The sex in these books is always twisted and involves pain or weird powers. Anita always feels guilty about it too…at least, she used to feel guilty. Now, she acts like she deserves it and everyone wants her so badly that she is doing them a favor by having sex with them. She even gets mad at them afterwards even if she begged for it. She tells them that they knew she was possessed and shouldn’t have done it. She strings everyone along. Oh, and she gets to have sex with all these men but she refuses to allow them to have sex with anyone else. They have to be true to her or she cuts them off. I loved a part in this book (which makes me think the author does knows what she is doing) where Asher tells her, “If it’s not this, it will be something else. I have watched you with Richard, Jean-Claude, and now Micah. Micah wins his way through your maze by simply agreeing to everything you ask. Jean-Claude wins his place on the edges of your labyrinth by cutting himself off from unbelievable pleasure. Richard will not walk your maze, because he has his own, and only one person can be this confusing in a relationship at one time. Someone has to be willing to compromise, and neither you nor Richard will compromise enough.” He went on to say more but it is too much to write here. I was so happy that someone finally told her the truth. He didn’t include how she messes with Nathaniel and keeps him on a leash but I think he didn’t want to be distasteful or vengeful just truthful.
He said this because Anita had sex with Jean-Claude and Asher to save Asher from the bad vampires. If Asher didn’t belong to someone or wasn’t having sex with Jean-Claude, the bad vampires would be able to have sex with him. It sounds a lot like rape to me but for some reason, the vampire council allows it because Jean-Claude and Asher come from a line of vampires who are a sort of succubus and/or incubus and therefore have to have sex to live. Asher, who is in love with Jean-Claude, told Anita and Jean-Claude that it would kill him if he was invited into their bed just for one night so he refused until Anita assured him that it wouldn’t be just for one night. During the act, Anita was having intercourse with Jean-Claude and asked Asher to enter her also. Jean-Claude said not to enter the only other orifice available and Anita was begging so Asher bit her. Even though she agreed, she later cried foul which made Asher say that he was leaving them because she had given him hope then ripped it away. Anita is good at that.
What was the plot of this book? Anita is still possessed by the ardeur. In the last book, Jean-Claude had to give her the third mark (there are a total of four marks) in order to make her more powerful to defeat a bad guy. Since Jean-Claude descends from a line of vampires that are basically succubae/incubate, he passed it on to her. It’s called ardeur and it has to be fed by sex to keep her from going crazy. She has to feed from sex twice a day. She has actual intercourse with Micah in the mornings but Micah is being weakened from it so she switches off days and feeds on Nathaniel on the days she doesn’t feed on Micah but she doesn’t actually have intercourse with Nathaniel. Jean-Claude is sleeping or dead during the day so she can’t have sex with him. Now, she needs to choose one or two other men to have sex with because she is making everyone weak. She has sex with Jason, a were-wolf.
Jean-Claude and Asher have been making arrangements for an emissary from the head (the vampire who created them) of Jean-Claude’s line of vampires to come for a visit. The emissary and entourage arrives months early and is there to cause trouble and play weird vampire games.
A murderer is killing and raping women. He rips the women apart so he is probably not human. Dolph, the head of the police squad for preternatural investigations, hates shifters and vampires. His son has recently decided to marry a vampire and he can’t handle it. Because Anita is sleeping with vampires and shifters, he is angry with her. He is starting to lose control of his anger and flips out in front of everyone.
Two men are tailing Anita. She has them arrested but they aren’t talking. She thinks they are trying to recruit her to raise zombies. Some people may want her skills for nefarious means.
Richard is still super angry with Anita. At one point, he needed her help. He was almost dying so his bodyguards brought him to use her bathtub to warm him up. She refuses to even turn the water on for them. She leaves the house while his body guards try to save him. When she has needed Richard, even when he has been mad at her, he has helped her. She just left him there for others to take care of him. And then she wonders why he is so bitter.
That’s basically what the book was about. It’s a good thing I bought and downloaded a bunch of the books and already have them or this would have been my last book in this series.
www.paranormalromanceslut.com
These books are getting predictable and mundane. The same plots or rather non-plots keep repeating over and over again. How many scary vampires or creatures can come to town and mess with Anita’s mind? Okay, some of them were out of town but the theme is the same. The bad guy threatens Anita or her friends in some way. They are awed by Anita’s power so they either want it or want to kill her. Anita always finds a way to overpower the ancient baddy and saves the day but usually not until a lot of people get hurt and killed….oh, don’t forget raped. The author always makes sure to include lots of rape.
Usually, the plot is something like this; Anita meets someone who needs a zombie raised at her zombie raising job. She helps the police solve a murder. Some badass creature messes with the were-animals or vampires. She has problems with all the men in her life. In the end, all of it ties together somehow and Anita saves the day. Mostly though, the plot takes a secondary stage to Anita’s personal life where she has sex with all kinds of men and is overwhelmed by power.
I have always wondered if the author was either a genius by making the readers dislike Anita and then developing her character into someone more likeable or the author was truly ignorant and thought Anita Blake’s character was cool the way she was. I’m really leaning more towards the ignorant side now.
The author took an arrogant, prejudice and rude woman, who had fighting skills and a little bit of a conscience, albeit not much, and started changing her into someone more tolerant of vampires and shape shifters but also made her into a power-hungry sex fiend and a callous killer. I’ve never liked the character but I liked the world that the author created and I liked the secondary characters. I saw a little bit of a change in Anita Blake’s character when she slowly started to realize that vampires and shape shifters weren’t always evil monsters. In the first few books, Anita was a prude when it came to sex, kind of like a repressed Catholic girl. She wanted to wait until marriage to have sex because she had sex in college with her fiancé but he dumped her afterwards because his family didn’t think she was good enough for him since her mom was Mexican and they were white. She said she didn’t want to make the mistake again. Now, Anita has sex with A LOT of men, not because her attitude has changed towards it but because she is always possessed by something that makes her have to have sex.
Why can’t the author let someone in the book have regular apple-pie type sex? The sex in these books is always twisted and involves pain or weird powers. Anita always feels guilty about it too…at least, she used to feel guilty. Now, she acts like she deserves it and everyone wants her so badly that she is doing them a favor by having sex with them. She even gets mad at them afterwards even if she begged for it. She tells them that they knew she was possessed and shouldn’t have done it. She strings everyone along. Oh, and she gets to have sex with all these men but she refuses to allow them to have sex with anyone else. They have to be true to her or she cuts them off. I loved a part in this book (which makes me think the author does knows what she is doing) where Asher tells her, “If it’s not this, it will be something else. I have watched you with Richard, Jean-Claude, and now Micah. Micah wins his way through your maze by simply agreeing to everything you ask. Jean-Claude wins his place on the edges of your labyrinth by cutting himself off from unbelievable pleasure. Richard will not walk your maze, because he has his own, and only one person can be this confusing in a relationship at one time. Someone has to be willing to compromise, and neither you nor Richard will compromise enough.” He went on to say more but it is too much to write here. I was so happy that someone finally told her the truth. He didn’t include how she messes with Nathaniel and keeps him on a leash but I think he didn’t want to be distasteful or vengeful just truthful.
He said this because Anita had sex with Jean-Claude and Asher to save Asher from the bad vampires. If Asher didn’t belong to someone or wasn’t having sex with Jean-Claude, the bad vampires would be able to have sex with him. It sounds a lot like rape to me but for some reason, the vampire council allows it because Jean-Claude and Asher come from a line of vampires who are a sort of succubus and/or incubus and therefore have to have sex to live. Asher, who is in love with Jean-Claude, told Anita and Jean-Claude that it would kill him if he was invited into their bed just for one night so he refused until Anita assured him that it wouldn’t be just for one night. During the act, Anita was having intercourse with Jean-Claude and asked Asher to enter her also. Jean-Claude said not to enter the only other orifice available and Anita was begging so Asher bit her. Even though she agreed, she later cried foul which made Asher say that he was leaving them because she had given him hope then ripped it away. Anita is good at that.
What was the plot of this book? Anita is still possessed by the ardeur. In the last book, Jean-Claude had to give her the third mark (there are a total of four marks) in order to make her more powerful to defeat a bad guy. Since Jean-Claude descends from a line of vampires that are basically succubae/incubate, he passed it on to her. It’s called ardeur and it has to be fed by sex to keep her from going crazy. She has to feed from sex twice a day. She has actual intercourse with Micah in the mornings but Micah is being weakened from it so she switches off days and feeds on Nathaniel on the days she doesn’t feed on Micah but she doesn’t actually have intercourse with Nathaniel. Jean-Claude is sleeping or dead during the day so she can’t have sex with him. Now, she needs to choose one or two other men to have sex with because she is making everyone weak. She has sex with Jason, a were-wolf.
Jean-Claude and Asher have been making arrangements for an emissary from the head (the vampire who created them) of Jean-Claude’s line of vampires to come for a visit. The emissary and entourage arrives months early and is there to cause trouble and play weird vampire games.
A murderer is killing and raping women. He rips the women apart so he is probably not human. Dolph, the head of the police squad for preternatural investigations, hates shifters and vampires. His son has recently decided to marry a vampire and he can’t handle it. Because Anita is sleeping with vampires and shifters, he is angry with her. He is starting to lose control of his anger and flips out in front of everyone.
Two men are tailing Anita. She has them arrested but they aren’t talking. She thinks they are trying to recruit her to raise zombies. Some people may want her skills for nefarious means.
Richard is still super angry with Anita. At one point, he needed her help. He was almost dying so his bodyguards brought him to use her bathtub to warm him up. She refuses to even turn the water on for them. She leaves the house while his body guards try to save him. When she has needed Richard, even when he has been mad at her, he has helped her. She just left him there for others to take care of him. And then she wonders why he is so bitter.
That’s basically what the book was about. It’s a good thing I bought and downloaded a bunch of the books and already have them or this would have been my last book in this series.
www.paranormalromanceslut.com
finalgirlreads's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
3.5
Still a really enjoyable series. This one focuses much much more on the emotional side of things regarding Anita. I feel like there is a great amount of introspection that made for a good read. I enjoyed this one
anotherhalima's review against another edition
the mystery was solved to fast and the politics were resolved easily and randomly so not a fav but i still enjoyed it
i wish we had a bit more normal moments between jc and anita. i see moment with micah and nathaniel that are sweet and cute but with jc. it’s always about murder politics or sex with him and her. even asher needed a bit of a build up i know we jump in timeline but i need to see to believe. anita just tells us how she feels.
micah and nathaniel becoming her actual boyfriends creeps me out
i didn’t like that we had a new narrator she gave everyone an american accent when before they all had campy accents. esp asher and jc they both had such weird accents before (very stereo type-y) and all of a sudden they both sounded american.
i wish we had a bit more normal moments between jc and anita. i see moment with micah and nathaniel that are sweet and cute but with jc. it’s always about murder politics or sex with him and her. even asher needed a bit of a build up i know we jump in timeline but i need to see to believe. anita just tells us how she feels.
micah and nathaniel becoming her actual boyfriends creeps me out
i didn’t like that we had a new narrator she gave everyone an american accent when before they all had campy accents. esp asher and jc they both had such weird accents before (very stereo type-y) and all of a sudden they both sounded american.