Rating: 
Summary: Zero Stars
Review: I have been a fan of Anita Blake since the beginning of this series and the addition of & reading of Narcissus in Chains was a complete disappointment. No characterization, no plot and I had to force myself to finish it. Plenty of sex that was contrived, Jean-Claude is no longer the sexy vampire that I once knew. I liked the daily life of Anita Blake, her job, her interactions with other people like Dolph and her boss and her best friend. I liked learning more about Anita as a person. Narcissus in Chains disappoints in that it abandons the characters and what we have come to know about Anita Blake, vampire Executioner & the people who populate her world. (...)Where in the heck is the mystery? Anita hunting down the monsters? (...) This book was just AWFUL. (...)
Rating:
Summary: I want my money back.
Review: I am a great fan of the Anita Blake books and was more than excited when I picked this one up to read.
I have never been more dissapointed with an author in my entire life.
None of the characters were true to themselves, many too many faux character were added in for no good reason, there was no plot and way too much porn.
I am so dissappointed I don't think I'll be buying any of her other books.
Rating: 
Summary: No Cohesiveness
Review: A fan since the first book, I was pretty disappointed with NARCISSUS IN CHAINS. It took me almost three weeks to get through it, when I used to read Laurell Hamilton's books in one sitting. In NARCISSUS, you meet all the regular characters, plus some new ones. The Plot: Um. I'm still working on that one. NIC is definitely a transition book - Anita is discovering more of her powers, she's trying to figure out her personal life (as she's been doing for the last 7 books or so), and she's trying to protect her wereleopards. Beyond that, there isn't much of a plot (unless it's "Save Gregory!" which takes up over half the books). This book lacked a lot of cohesiveness and the characters weren't true to themselves. They acted, and reacted, very differently than I would have expected. For example, Anita used to stand on her moral and ethical high ground when it came to sex and who she had it with. In NIC, she's involved in orgies and with strangers. Where's her moral highground?? Or are we seeing the moral degradation of her character? I am still something of a fan of Laurell Hamilton's, but can't help being let down with this book. Anyone interested in starting her books should start with the early ones - they are her best examples of great story-crafting.
Rating:
Summary: LKH gives us her equivalent to "The Phantom Menace"
Review: Don't get me wrong, Laurell K Hamilton is still my favorite author. I have gobbled up her previous 9 Anita Blake novels, and they continue to be old favorites on nights when I want to revisit my favorite butt-kicking heroine. Narcissus in Chains very much reminded me of "The Phantom Menace: Star Wars Episode I". Huge buildup, waited a long time, and it fell flat for me. I might have liked it a little if I didn't have the previous 9 to compare it to. The plot and character depth just wasn't there. However, I felt that Anita's butt-kicking ability didn't shine through in this book. She cried SO many times! She bitched and demanded in a whiney fashon. She got sex, ALOT. Everyone seemed to pander to her. From Jean Claude to the entire lycanthrope community. Will I buy her next book? You bet. One off book doesn't write an author off my list. Will I recommend this book to anyone? I'd say wait until it comes out on paperback.
Rating: 
Summary: Best of the Series, Outstanding!
Review: This is by far the best of the series, why, because it keeps you guessing and Jean Claude plays a major part in the book. I knew Laurell would not let me down on this one. I savored every part of the book, I did not want it the end. I like to new character Micah. I almost wished Anita would say the heck with Jean Claude and Richard and become a real family with Micah and the rest of the Wereleopards. But then I said what would she do without Jean Claude. And "The Ardeur" was a splendid infusion into Anita's life. I'm sorry about the absence of Richard, but I would rather have him leave than Jean Claude to leave (I have a romantic image of vampires). I think Laurell out done herself on this one. Maybe, in the next book Anita will find a true transformation into something or another. And it would have more romantic scenes with Jean Claude. But, as long as Jean Claude and Edward is in Anits's life everything is worthwhile. I can't wait until the next book come out in April of 2002. I will be holding my breath. This book rates right up there with "Burnt Offerings" and "Blue Moon". Congratulations, LKH
Rating:
Summary: The Best Yet!!!
Review: Laurel K. Hamilton has surpassed herself with this book, and considering how great the others are, that was tough to do. Anita continues to grow in both her power and in her acceptance of herself, we learn even more about Jean-Claude, who becomes more and more incredible, while Richard continues to struggle with accepting his own and Anitas' abilities. He's pretty hard to take in this book, I'm beginning to lose patience with his lack of courage about life. The new character Micah is wonderful, and I loved the further developement of Nathaniel and Jason. I couldn't put it down!Interesting spin with Damien.... These books are so addictive, I can't wait for the next one. Can't Richard see the Wizard of Oz for some guts? Just asking, He could be sooo sexy if I could respect him a little. Buy this book!!!!!! Thanks, Laurel, it's the best one yet!
Rating: 
Summary: A slight disappointment
Review: As a huge Anita Blake fan, I couldn't wait to read this book. Once I started I couldn't wait to get it over with. As usual, it moves quickly, but it lacks substance in some places. And seeing old characters come back is great, but none of them have really grown. In fact, I found them annoying in their consistency. Some of it even got to me and while it bordered on the erotic, it also bordered on the gross (more so than usual). While the ending was 'odd' (aren't they all?), it wasn't the flash that I've come to know as LKH. The book just seemed to be too long, like she was looking for stuff to fill the pages. I'd recommend reading it to keep up with Anita's life, but only for that reason.
Rating:
Summary: What a failure
Review: Well, I _finally_ dragged my way through finishing this awful book. It took me like 5 days, and for 4 of them I was stalled out at the "climax" of the book, but I finally finished it. All I have to say is, I'm glad I got my money back, and I wish I could get my time back as well. This book, as far as I could tell, had NO plot. It seemed to start of swimmingly, with some tense moments and interesting character interaction within the tri, but beginning with the introduction of the obligatory naked, lustful men (Micah) it nose-dived into the abyss for me. Micah's whole character, including his suprising defiance at the end and his romantic interest in Anita seems contrived to me. He has to be the most cookie-cutter character I've read in a long time, from the stereotypical predestined love, to the fact that he acceps her unconditionally, without any other reason than his belief in the aforementioned destiny. And all this happens within a few pages of his itroduction, with no real character buildup involved. Anita's conviently forgets she's part of a TRIUMVIRATE, after all the buildup for how many book? The Tri includes _3_ people, three Specific people, and no amount of substituting power is going to change or remove the marks. Although, it's always possible for LKH to have Anita remove Richard's marks, but until it happens we're left with the chance that if one dies, all could die. Anita seems to blithly go on about her business ignoring this fact. It is my opinion that LKH basically writes Richard out because it's inconvient for her to deal with his character as is. Ok, here's the doosey, and the main reason I don't like this book: I'm aware that authors can only write what they know, but author's shouldn't write what they ARE. You don't have to be Freud to realize that Richard = Ex-husband, Micah = New Husband. The ex has fallen out of favor, so the character based on him has fallen out as well. LKH has found her perfect love (and more power to her for it, though I find it sad when anyone gets divorced) so Anita thus must find a new perfect love - Micah. Gee, if I brought my marital problems to work they'd fire me. I think it's a crime of professionalism that LKH brings her marital problems into her work and destroy's what little consistency her organic style of writing had left in these books. Perhaps now that she's happily remarried the books can attain actual PLOTS again, but I certainly won't be sticking around to see it. I'll try to forget what LKH has done to the characters in this book when I reread the previous nine, but the shoddy writing and unprofessionalism displayed in NIC has guaranteed I won't be touching any future books in this series. I'm truly glad that LKH has found happiness with another husband. I'm just disappointed that she brought the whole affair into her work. It had so much more potential than this.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting entry in the Anita Blake series
Review: This is an interesting entry in the Anita Blake series. I liked it that Ms. Hamilton has now introduced another option for Anita to be in love with. Micah is an interesting new character, who, from the way the series is going, is going to replace Richard as Anita's main love interest. Jean-Claude is still there and up to his old tricks, but with a twist that now that he, Anita and Richard have completely merged their marks, Anita seems to have inherited some of Jean-Claude's and Richards habits and preternatural needs. The book is fast paced, has lots of action, quite a bit more sex than the previous entries in the series and lots of Anita's usual gunplay. Plus you have the suspense throughout the book of whether or not Anita is going to become a shapeshifter, due to an accidental possibe infection with lycanthrophy. A must read for any Anita Blake fan.
Rating:
Summary: The last straw
Review: This book represents, for me, just about the final nail in the coffin of what began as one of the neatest series ever. All the things that made me love the series to being with, and kept me buying them (with increasing reluctance) as they came out, are now pretty much dead. Great plots/suspense/humor? There almost isn't any. All of the fascinating and funny stuff in the early books, attempting to integrate monsters into modern American life with all the questions about the legal rights of the undead, etc.., have been pretty much forgotten. Great action? What made the early books so tense and exciting was watching the gutsy little human woman go up against awesome evil creatures with vast superhuman powers, and somehow come out on top. Now Anita is the mighty Queen of werewolves AND wereleopards, Master of Vampires, the greatest necromancer of all time, always right, all-powerful, and everybody, but everybody wants her hot bod ! I find myself almost rooting for her poor victims/enemies, especially now that the distinction between Anita and the "bad monsters" isn't that clear anymore.Great support characters? The terrific Jean-Claude is now Anita's faithful little pet; merely one of her many lovers, he dutifully shows up to explain stuff and help out a little when needed, and then scampers back to his coffin at daybreak with a pat on his head. What a waste! Richard, who showed signs in Blue Moon of finally coming to grips with his bad furry self, is once again the self-loathing bleeding-heart trapped in a predator's body.... another waste! The only thing left to wish for, for those of us who cared about the Richard character, is to see him get the first cure for lycanthropy, marry the nice scientist from Blue Moon, and get the heck away from the Executioner. Our brand-new "hero", the new man in Anita's life, Micah? His only relevant characteristic is a you-know-what even bigger than Richard's, but he adds nothing, since "he doesn't mind bodies lying all around" -- that is, he automatically agrees with everything Anita does. Oh, he IS something of a rapist who doesn't take "no" for an answer, however -- but that's ok, since Anita really "wanted it", right? Great heroine? Worst of all is what Hamilton has done to Anita herself -- fearless in fights, but nervous and insecure in her "dating" life (which used not to necessarily mean "sex" -- now that's the only thing it means). Over the last few volumes, she stopped being likeable -- now she's not even that interesting. In Blue Moon, we found her worrying whether a magical ward against evil beings would work against her; at the end of Obsidian Butterfly, she was horrified to find out that a certain psychopathic serial killer saw her as his kindred spirit or even "soulmate". All of these interesting concerns about the direction her life was heading seem to have suddenly disappeared, replaced by her smug contempt for Richard and HIS self-doubts. And, of course, the shy, "good Catholic", girl who was flustered by her attraction to Jean-Claude is long gone, replaced by something of a, well, slut. The downward moral slide, which began when she violated her own most important rule -- uncompromising loyalty to the people she cares about -- by betraying Richard (her fiance at the time!) in the most cruel way possible, has just about hit rock-bottom now. Great romance/passion? In the meantime, the amazingly well-written eroticism of the early books has crossed the line into something more like porn: lots of graphic sex for its own sake. Judging from the new racy covers (even for the new printings of the older books in the series), this represents a deliberate marketing decision on Hamilton's part. As I said, what a waste...
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