Rating: 
Summary: Vampires don't use spellcheck
Review: This was a fun read. Great airplane-type stuff, although all the back history is a bit thick for someone (me) who has not read other entries in the series. And too much endless annoying talking about relationships. But the real problem for me is this book contains a truly appalling number of mistakes. It's riddled with typos, misspellings, incorrect punctuation and unintentionally incorrect grammar. I'm really very surprised it comes from a major publishing house; don't they employ people for the specific purpose of cleaning such things up? It may seem a small point, but after several chapters of this it becomes distracting, annoying, and detracts from the author's, well, authority. It makes the whole package seem juvenile and poorly produced. Shame on Berkley Books. (Now I just hope I didn't misspell anything in this...)
Rating: 
Summary: AAAH! Character integrity?
Review: Okay, first things first, Hamillton has really orchestrated the old bait n'switch with this one. After Narcissus, a mishmush of gratuitous plotless sex and magic, I thought Cerulean would save the day. Then I started to read, the first part of the book promises good things, the sex was toned down, the magic tolerable, and some of the fan favorites showed up. She went to work (she still works right?) and then to the police. But then as if to deliberately tease us, the annoying ardeur rears its head and we are then travelling down the porno tunnel to over the top magic land. And what about Anita? Where is the bitter, independent creature that fans loved?Where are her weapons? Her hideous ensembles (boyfriend jackets, golf shirts etc.)Where is her shoot em up attitude? Now Anita travels with a full entourage and plays a damsel and a victim. She cries, she faints, she pukes. But she doesn't save the day really. Anita has been so compromised that when Hamillton tries to reel her back in she sounds like a total hypocrite( her issues with nudity and nakedness, her prejudices toward lycanthropes, her complete inability to comprehend Richards plight). And another thing, when did Anita become the lust object of all male characters? There has been a rapidly declining number of women in the books or when they are present they are either 1. evil, 2. lesbians, or 3. in a monagamous relationship and therefore no threat. Thus leaving Anita in a pig-pile of horny femme guys in spandex with creepilly long metal dude hair. And then the chest licking...
So I have some ideas for the next book...get rid of the ardeur, I don't care how (oh its magic wednesday) then, resolve some things from the days of old. (Olaf? the government? Richard?) Then Anita needs to get dumped. She needs to be spurned and isolated therefore reverting back to the recognizable and coherent character that she started as. All the men can have a meeting and say 'Anita is no good for any of us' and dump her, and Asher and Jean-Claude could get together, then have Ronnie get engaged and the book center around preparing for the wedding where Anita is the maid of honor and Richard would be the best man (forcing them to spend time and reconcile in some way) How about the climax of the book involve Anita running around with guns and blades in a hideous bridesmaid dress?
....well I think it could be fun....
Rating:
Summary: Cerulean Dreams not all that dreamy
Review: I admit that I prefer the Merry Gentry series, but have always read the Anita Blake books with interest. That is until these last two.... In the Merry Gentry series, at least she is trying to get preggers to win a throne, and some of the interuptions are amusing and there is a storyline to a certain extent, but in the Blake series everything has to... want her, desire to be with her. ...
There was no plot, .... This is too bad, since in the first books, Anita has interesting problems, and situations to deal with. .... Why does she have to be the focal point of all lust, desire and power? Shouldn't others get a chance? Perhaps Anita offering leadership lessons to take off some of the burden of all those weres who are her responsibility. My question is however, is our author so frustrated that she has to create an all powerful being to compensate for her own lackluster life?... And it is getting rather boring that she is invincible - and that everyone who comes under her aegis becomes invincible also. There is no mystery left,...
Rating:
Summary: Better than NiC, but not good enough
Review: I don't know if I will read any more of her books. I definitly will not plunk out my hard earned money for one.CS is better than NiC (how could it not be) but no where near the quality or caliber of her earlier books...too many men (get real please-it's repulsive to me, and unrealistic) I read these books for entertainment but lately I am torn between disgust and disbelief. While I know the books aren't real, it's nice to get lost in the world while I am reading, but the books aren't realistic enough for that any more. For those who hate Micah like I do, Anita is still waiting for the other shoe to drop. maybe the kitty will find a wereleopard in heat and she finds them together and BANG! He is in the book, not much, thank God. But far too much for me. I miss Edward. I miss the honest to God real police mysteries, you know with a real, serious villian. The crime scenes which used to be what the books revolved around, are scattered, not really part of the book, just more like background scenery. As always, she harps too much on RAZ 'values' and Anita's disgust with them, even though they no longer really seem part of RAZ. More like she's throwing it in for consistency, enver mind that it's reading like bull. And here's a fact, I can relate to RAZ, his disgust and pain at what's he
s been forced into. But by sticking to his morals, other people got hurt. Repeatedly. And good men which RAZ is, do not allow other people to get hurt for their mistakes. Yet another inconsistency. Sorry folks, but the books ..., especially when compared to TKD or BO or COTD. AND LKH...how could you cut Richard's hair!
Rating: 
Summary: Can't stop thinking about it
Review: While this book does focus on sex a lot, it is very good at expanding some of the previous story lines. It is definitly not a stand alone book. While Anita is becoming not as human her growth in this book makes her more human. She is learning a lot about herself. Ugly truths. This is definitly a story that works on character growth. I love these kinds of stories. Great Asher development, and Jason moves beyond the smart mouth sexy stripper to a grown-up. He and Zebrowski shine in this installment.
Rating:
Summary: It's still Anita but
Review: I am a big Anita fan but this one felt like Laurell K. Hamilton wrote down absoultely everything she was thinking and then they published the book without editing it. I liked it better than Narcissus in chains but it's still not on par with the earlier novels. This one made me realize why I liked Obsidian Butterfly so much. In that novel Hamilton got to write a story with some new characters without having to parade out every single person Anita has ever met. Is it really necessary to bring up every living preternatural in the St. Louis area? It felt at times that the personal lives of every wereleopard were more important than serial murders, assassins and the first vampire. The sex bored me. I like sex, I think it's ok to have sex in the novels but it should really be interesting. And why are the gentlemen not taking on a very active roel in the foreplay? I'm not a fan of the ardeur. I thought it was interesting to give Anita's powers some complications but making her stop every 20 pages to have sex just so she can let off some psychic energy was too much for me. It's been said before but is there any doubt in anyone's mind whether or not Hamilton likes long haired guys? Why is every guy Anita meets described as being very close to but not quite feminine with amazing eyes and long flowing hair? All of the conversations felt like they could have been edited for brevity's sake. There seemed to be pages and pages of unending dialouge any time Anita made any decision. I felt that the villains were underused. Musette was billed as being Belle Morte's right hand vampire and she doesn't do much but act as a psychic surrogate for Belle Morte.
Rating: 
Summary: Doubly Pleased
Review: There was a long wait for "Cerulean Sins," but it was worth it. I enjoyed the book tremendously. I cannot feel sorry for Richard. He is wasting his time and energy on regrets, instead of getting on with his life. This has been responsible for Richard losing Anita. I, personally, would like to grab him and say, "Get over it!!!" Anita's relationship with Asher has further complicated her life, but what a complication!! I have titled this review "Doubly Pleased," because whenever possible, I purchase the audio books of my favorite authors. I purchased the tapes of "Narcissus in Chains," and was very disappointed in the editing/chopping that was done to the story. Characters and scenes disappeared. The audio CD of "Cerulean Sins" is well done, and worth every penny. Hopefully Ms. Hamilton will have "Narcissus in Chains" recorded again. I wish that she would have all of her previous books recorded. I recommend "Cerulean Sins" to all of Ms. Hamiltons readers. You will not be disappointed. If you have friends who are visually impaired, the unabridged audio CD is true to the book.
Rating:
Summary: so-so but not terrible
Review: I think that Anita Blake as a character has grown up in this installment of the series. As her powers evolve so does Hamilton's characterization of Anita matures. I have been reading The Vampire Hunter novels since Gulity Pleasures and one of my biggest problems with Anita early on was her 'holier than thou' attitude.
Though Hamilton's unique take on vampires and shape shifters is still engaging and fascinating, Cerulean Sins suffers from a story line that gets lost in too much stuff going on at once and villians that seem more annoying than menacing. I have to suggest buying a used copy or waiting until it comes out on paperback.
Rating:
Summary: 200 pages no gun fire, but lots of sex and talking heads
Review: Guilty Pleasures, the first Anita Blake novel, was an apt title for me because I enjoyed the book and its successors as a fun read. Though sick to death of the romanticized vampire I enjoyed the alternate reality world, the mixture of crime, and supernatural. What I enjoyed most was the strong female character of Anita. Her initial dislike of vampires and the creatures of her world, made for great conflict as she got to know these "creatures" as people, and the hints of her childhood troubles with her mothers death, her step mother and half siblings gave a depth to the character as did her slow moral ompromises made in the interest of survival. Cerulean Sins, like Narcissus in chains, suffers from Anita becoming less a character and more a reputation. Conflict in the book consists of a vague psychic kind of mind battle that becomes dull and repetitive and can only be fought with a ghost-in-the-machine solution usually involving sex, sex and more sex. Instead of a story we have characters had feeding us the events through dialogue, its not enough to have every character comment on how tough and uncompromising Anita is every two pages, show us. The many supporting characters each require their share of back fill slowing the novel and the characters them selves have become redundant. I know there are at lest two or three long hair submissive, damaged, sex toy types, a few sadomasochists, a couple "beautiful" androgynous male vamps and werewolves that have that woodsy feel. They all have one thing in common every guy wants Anita, they all run around her mind, and the girl who once would save her self for marriage is now a rampant nymho. We know that many vampires all are eye-catching, posers because we are reminded every few pages. The only compelling slice of the book for me was the disintegrating relation ship between Anita and Dolf of the crime unit. Her embrace of the "monsters" is alienating her coworkers and friends. This is interesting stuff. The rest felt like i was reading some soft core porn novel.
I miss the detective angle, the once expanding world creation that made it so much fun. For example: the rescue of comatose Vampires from the burning house in an early novel gave us a fun moral twist. Fire fighters questioning the rescue of creatures they fear and hate. The politics of this New World were vampires have rights, discrimination takes on new allegories. Lacarthrophy as an AIDs metaphor; as when Richard feared losing his job as a schoolteacher if he was "outed". But poor Anita spends half the book as a sex maniac and plot points such as a new case and murder are all but forgotten for the next two hundred pages. Laurel K. Hamilton has given me much enjoyment, her books are fun, scary, and action packed. Her last two offerings in this series seem to be forgetting what made these books fun. I owe her some loyalty but next time I am waiting for the paperback.
Rating:
Summary: I really liked it
Review: My past reviews of the Anita Blake series have been back and forth between one and three stars because the series was developing, finding it's footing and developing of the character. There are still flashes of the old problems here but it's far more under control. This book was not only good in the places but pretty much as a book as a whole. Though I will say I hedged my bet by buying it for 60% off and I will admit that there is still a lot of conversational psycho analyzing going on in the character's interactions. There is a really interesting point of Anita having to open herself up sexually beyond simply a puritannical/Christian sense of one woman, one partner which is an interesting dynamic. Also the concept of fluidic sexualities within the sphere of people she's around, there is a true pushing towards omnisexuality. That's a great element of this book and how everyone's powers---vampires, werewolves, wereleopards, etc.---is so intrinsically linked to sex and emotional intimacy. And that the literal focal point of all of this is someone who has prudish values to such free love and sex. While Richard, teh werewolf king may seem like the stick in the mud to them truly being a team, the ultimate kind of family, I think he is the most human of them all. He doesn't like what he is, what's around him, what he's been forced to become----there was no choice in it for him and I realized in his hesitations and depression and anger he is the most human of them all. Unfortunately everyone else has made it so mandatory that he accept this whole lifestyle eventhough none of them else have regular lives outside of all of this weirdness. It would be nice if the inherent selfishness of the group is explored in that it's ok that someone doesn't want to be a part of this world. Onto the villainess, Belle Morte!
I'm glad she didn't get a bullet in the head and is being saved as another problem for the future and this whole Mother of All Darkness is very interesting and it looks like it's part of Anita's destiny to be a link to all of these supernatural tribes to deal with this evil. What I do find interesting is how everyone is pushing in their "vampire worlds" this ultimate Uber Evil (Angel, Buffy, here) and at the same time here in the book the government (rightfully so) is taking an interest in all of these factions and using them for their own means. It's about time.
I hope thatteh series doesn't shut down after a book or two because their are international dilemnas out there. It's also a pet peeve of mine that for all of their talking and constant emotional analyzing they never TALK to each other. They talk abotu themselves and push and pull but there are a couple of times in the novel where it would've been nice for Anita to pull Jean Claude aside and sit for a couple of hours to understand the vampire rules. Sometyimes her ignorance is used as a device to tell the reader things that we don't know about this world but it also serves to keep the exposition going on for tooooooooo long.
As always the criminal investigation of the book doesn't get underway until page 100-125 which if you pay attention to the pacing of previous novels is how it always happens, the predictability caused the loss of one star. The hitman aspect of this was a little thin, thinner than most of the criminal plots of the book and more of harked back to characters that appeared in the beginning of the books to wrap up the end. That was the weakest aspect of the book in that this whole other sub-plot was developed as something that I expect will ultimate appear in future books. I was very pleased with this book, it has much more polish and isn't as reliant on Anita being able to shoot anyone and anything to beat it. That showed a maturity of the work and it's nice to see Anita enjoying and accepting having so many varied lovers and the bonding of being part of a pack. As I was reading the book, aside from the romantic part of this and the erotica, it was great to see Anita growing and questioning why she loves as she doesn, why she pushed people away. It would be nice to see another female in the book to give another perspective on her---what ever happened to her best friend? The children vampires, Valentina and Bartolome are an excellent addition to the cast of what is turning into a very unique "family". I was thinking that this sort of village living and loving would be a great thing.
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