Rating: 
Summary: Disappointment
Review: I have always been a fan of this series, but it has gone down hill during the last two books and I am begining to lose hope of improvement. I thought NIC had been a step down in qaulity, but this one was worse. Any hint of a solid plot and strong in depth characters have been given up in favor of sex, sex, and more sex. I don't mind it here and there but if that is what I wanted to read I would buy the dime a dozen grocery store variety. This book is definatly not worth being bought in hard cover. Wait till it comes out in paperback. What happened to the idea of a good story?
Rating: 
Summary: Still good, but curiously lacking...
Review: I find the Anita Blake Series to be incredibly diverting and all are good reads, however, I was not so pleased with this particular book. Cerulean Sins starts with a particular plotline (which begins on the very first page)and then does not procede to follow that plotline. It completely disappears until the last two pages or so of the book and then only to brush it aside, in what seems like a ploy to explain away a failed plotline. It is almost as if the author started with one idea, got bored, and changed to a different idea. Do not get me wrong, I did enjoy the book, and was terribly happy to see many of the things I have waited for come about ( I won't say what, that'd spoil them). There was also the small matter of the fact that much of this book bordered on soft literary porn. Some sex is fine, but this is a little much. Anita was boffing someone new every five pages, it seemed. I felt the plotline suffered. I miss all the blow-up fights in which Anita kicked ... and gained funky new powers. There were some, but they just didn't have the old kick. I miss a lot of the old characters too. Larry was there peripherally, Gtephen and Gregory poked their heads in, but their storyline was kind of brushed off, her boss and her job were their in the beginning and then disappeared. Lets get a little of Anita's non-vampire life into the picture next time. Nonetheless, it was enjoyable, and I look forward to the next one. Here's hoping for a little appearance by Edward!
Rating: 
Summary: just gets better and better
Review: In most series, the title character remains fairly static--they are agents of change, but do not change themselves. The remarkable think about Hamilton's Anita Blake is the way that she has changed dramatically over the course of the series. In each book in the series, Anita seems to find herself compelled or seduced to "cross the line," whether ethical, or (in this book) sexual. And each step brings her closer to the monsters she once feared, hated, and hunted. This far into the series, she has become so close to the "monsters" that she is beginning to have serious difficulty relating to normal human beings (and vice-versa). I have no idea where Hamilton is going with this, but it adds an edge to the series that makes it very different from any other that I've read.In this book, Hamilton lays in some foreshadowing about her own "Queen of the Damned." There's even a child vampire. Yet there is not much of an echo of Rice. Hamilton's vampires are very different from Rice's--and in many ways, more disturbing. There are a few loose ends in the plotting. A subplot regarding a serial killer is tied up a bit awkwardly at the end--it seems to exist mainly to display the tension between Anita and her human friends on the police force, but it doesn't integrate that well into the plot. This book continues the explicit sex of the last few. This is clearly fundamental to where Hamilton is taking the series, and important to the "seduction of Anita" but some may find it more disturbing than the violence.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Best!
Review: This has to be one of the best Anita Blake books ever! I love that Asher played a bigger part in this book. No complaints.
Rating:
Summary: Could she have more sex, please?
Review: Of all the Anita Blake books, I found this one to be the most disappointing. I have read the entire series, and I feel that the series started to fall apart aound the same time she slept with Richard in Blue Moon. The endings seem rushed, and there are too many sub-plots to ever really wrap the books up nicely.
That said- it bothers me that now it is alright for her to just jump anything in sight. Part of what was so fun about the earlier books was it was just Anita, there wasn't a penis on hand at all times. I think the ardeur was really only an excuse to add an extraneous sex scene here and there. The book could have been good, as with the last couple books (not including obsidian butterfly- best one since bloody bones) the general idea of the plot was good, but execution was faulty. I am disappointed that I spent the money on this book that I did.
Rating: 
Summary: diasappointed
Review: It's easy to be picky when I didn't have to do the work of writing but....
This was not the best, or as good as I had hoped. I do think it has introduced more characters and that perhaps the next book will be great. I was left feeling a sort of wait for it. The last few pages were a really frantic wrap up, as if it needed to be finished NOW. There are characters from previous books I would like to see revisited, like Otto from Butterfly. I thought the plot was thin, and if there must be so much sex it was not as well done as in Narcissus. But it was nice to see Jason and Asher in more detail. Anita's suffering is getting tiresome. Her always saying 'Sorry I didn't know', stopping to argue over morals when the plot needs to move on or dawn is coming.Let Richard do all that kind of stuff, that's his character.
I'll continue to buy, but I won't rush for a hard back again.
Rating:
Summary: back to alternate reality
Review: whew!!! this book saved the series from the flaming downward spiral that was Narcissus in Chains. still too much focus on the sex and not the story for my tastes, but i've been told by other fans that they consider the books romance/horror crossover. still, loved this one. four out of five because nothing has equalled Blue Moon (imo).
Rating:
Summary: Not up to par
Review: I must say, that CS was a disappointment. You wade through a truck load of emotional hodge podge to get to nothing. The plot was incoherent, and there was no real character development. I feel that Anita is becoming such a weak character. She really is losing her sense of self. And it's just such a sudden illogical change. One moment she's superwoman and the next she's a weeping damsel in distress. The plot is getting so immersed in this emotional garbage and sex that it's just plane boring. It's abosolutely ridiculous! After plowing through a whole book of this in NiC, you would expect something spectacular, but no.
Rating:
Summary: Setting up new plot lines.
Review: I'm leaving my original review intact(see paragraph below)because it makes sense only if you've read the book. My only excuse is that I wrote it right after finishing the book and I'd been up all night. That being said, my recommendation is that you read all the books in this series first. All of these books can be read by themselves, but a lot of the storylines and characters stop and start between books. This book makes more sense and you get a better feel for the story if you do that. Now, why should you read this story? Because it's a great read with characters you can care about/hate/love/root for. This is Dark Fantasy/Erotica/Horror, depends on how you see the story. Yes, it's about vampires, wereanimals, zombies, and other stuff, but done so well and differently that it is all new. Try it. Great story, great sex. I'm sorry for Richard, but hey, he had his chance. Some of the other reviewers have stated that the sex is overtaking the storylines, not so. What this is doing is giving us reasons why humans 'go over'. Jean-Claude develops new powers, so does Asher. I really like Micah, he is probably one of the better characters in the whole series. He does what needs to be done, no whining. This book sets up possible storylines; Mother of Darkness, baby vampires, Belle Morte (again-Anita needs to be able to get this broad), Richard's choice for lupa, and more cooperation among the shape shifters. Good, fast, tight read. Here's a question--since Sylvie has lost her challenge, is she still number 2 in the pack and if not, can she become Richard's lupa? I like Sylvie's character and she has what it takes to be tough, without hurting the pack. Also, Asher has a new power so why can't he also get an animal to call--how about Christine (weretiger), she was briefly in NARCISSUS IN CHAINS and another book I can't remember just now. If Ms. Hamilton is waking the Mother of Darkness, Anita is going to need all the help she can get, and Asher needs someone just for him, no sharing.
Rating:
Summary: Better than Narcissus in Chains
Review: I have enjoyed all the Anita Blake novels, though I liked the first few the best. As many long time fans have remarked, things have gotten a little out of hand, and no more so than in Narcissus in Chains. I'm glad to say that they have calmed a bit in Cerulean Sins. Though there is a plot about someone murdering women, and some international terrorists drop in, the novel is primarily about many of the characters working through their neuroses. While this may be off-putting to some, I was relieved to feel at the end of the novel that some of them had actually come to terms with what they are (Anita, Asher, Richard, for example). If so, thank God! I hope in the next one we can move forward without all these hang-ups to revisit yet again... That said, I am looking forward to the next Anita Blake with real hope that we are now past the intensive psychotherapy phase and back to vampire politics, vicious monster crime, and yes, lots of sex (I kind of like it, as long as it is not followed by all those neurotic regrets). And maybe Jean-Claude, Anita and Richard can come into their true power. With what seems to be on the horizon, they're going to need it.
|
