Cerulean Sins

Rating:
Summary: Unfortunately, the last Anita book I will be reading.
Review: I, like most people, loved the first 10 books. I loved that Anita was a strong female character that could really kick ass when she needed to. She was strong and capable. But the series has turned to a whole new focus--EVERYBODY WANTS ANITA. Her main boyfriends, her extracurricular boyfriends, and all the bad guys--that includes international vampires and international terrorists--want her. Only a few people don't and they seem to have jealousy issues. The whole book seems to be more of a teenage fantasy than a slick vampire story.

Anita is offered up as such a powerful female figure and I like that. But where are the others?? Anita has no real women friends... Ronnie, Cheryl, and Claudia all have bit parts--although no Ronnie in this book--and do nothing that advances the plot. They are all only token. The books are all about Anita and her harem of men. In some ways, Anita is beginning to remind me of the vampires in that she suffers no one that could be any sort of competition. It almost seems to me that Anita, and perhaps LKH, don't care for other women. A few more people not in love with Anita would really air out the storyline.

I wish the series would change with the next book, but from the reviews I have read it seems to be more of the same with more typos. The whole "ardeur" problem needs to go away. I am okay with Anita having sex with whomever she wants, but does LKH have to give her such a silly reason to do it? How about she just wants to? It reminds me too much of the woman that must get drunk in order to give herself permission to have sex.

I am losing hope for Anita.

Rating:
Summary: Going downhill
Review: Like many others I have to say that the series seems to be going downhill, starting with the previous book, Narcissus in Chains. Cerulean Sins isn't a bad book, mind you, but it doesn't have the engaging plot or characters that the earlier books in the series have.

I find it amusing that the person that seems to really like this book has only read three books in the series, that would leave 7 books from which to compare this one too. I know, I know...this is its own seperate work, that said, it is part of a series and you would think it would follow suit.

Anita's powers are continuing to grow, great...tell us why? All men seem to want her....ok, again, why? Then there is the fiasco LKH made of Dolph...why?

I admit that I will read Incubus Dreams, but at this point it is only because I am anal and want to read the entire series. My interest level is waning.

Rating:
Summary: I really don't like Anita Blake anymore
Review: So I was looking for a light and entertaining book to read over lunch. Unfortunately, pickings were mighty slim at the LuValle bookstore next to the law school. As a last resort, I grabbed a copy of Laurell K. Hamilton's Cerulean Sins. Big mistake.

I used to be quite a fan of Hamilton's Anita Blake series, but I eventually lost interest in it. Fifty pages into Cerulean Sins, I remembered why.

It's not just the gratuitous S&M-tinged sex and violence. It's not just the incredibly formulaic plots (big bad vampire comes to town; Anita's not allowed to kill vampire bad guy due to some contrived rule of vampire politics; after killing and screwing lots of other folks, Anita finally gets to kill the bad guy. Yawn).

It's simply that the main characters have become so unlikeable. Anita Blake is the worst of the lot. She's a insufferably smug psychopathic [...] who is constantly pissed off at something and whose first reaction to somebody new is either to screw them, kill them, or both. She's also one of the most remarkably self-centered major characters I've ever encountered, leaving behind a trail of broken hearts and (dare I say it?) blue balls wherever she goes. (One of the oddities of the series is that, despite the amount of sex in the books, Blake is always leaving somebody high and dry.)

It's a bad thing when you root for the bad guys. It's much worse, however, when you want the bad guys to obliterate the story's only POV character. But that's what I want.

Rating:
Summary: Cerulean Sins
Review: Despite the fact that this was only the third book I read in this series I had no problem following the plot or characters. Anita Blake, Necromancer and Executioner is a kick butt kind of girl with tough guy attitude. The author manages to deliver a heroine who can compete with the guys, yet she is still all female.

Anita is a gal with lots on her mind. She is called to a murder scene which could better be described as a mobile butcher shop and yet the cops who are requesting her help (as a paranormal expert) aren't that friendly to her. It seems that they have issues with how she aquired her expertise. Namely by hanging out with all the dead guys and shape shifters. Her dialogue and banter with the law enforcement types is very well done. You can almost smell the pepper spray.

Anita is also trying to fend off some very old and powerful vampires with prior claims to Anita's significant vampire, Jean-Claude. These vampires are pushy and have no manners at all. They need a firm-handed approach that Anita is very willing to provide if she can just do so without getting herself killed or enslaved. She doesn't like vampire politics but she has a knack for leadership and manages to attract many useful allies.

Anita is trying to manage these disasters while juggling her very complicated love life (read that sex-life) with two undead lovers and a shape-shifter, not to mention at least three other contenders. If you don't like erotic then you should definitely stay out of the kitchen because it's hot in there. The steam does fuel the plot and the story would not be the same without it.

I did get a little tired of Anita's constant worrying and arguing with vulnerable non-humans about her rules and morality. All her lovers have to follow her rules and she is no good at compromise. Not only is that unfair but emotionally she does not really agree with the rules that she is forcing on herself and her loved ones. She is so slow with her decisions about her love life that sometimes the damage is done before she manages to get it right. If she had that kind of hesitation and confusion with her gun she would be dead and buried instead of getting the drop on her opponents. In other matters she is very practical and level headed.

All in all this was a very entertaining read. Enough to keep you up until four in the morning because the action is just that fast.

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable
Review: I just finished Cerulean Sins and found it one of the better Anita Blake books. I was disappointed however that it ended with so much hanging. There were many things I would have liked to have seen more of, particularly I would have liked to have seen more of certain characters such as Damian, Micha and Nathanial, and less of Richard, but when I finished the book last night, I could hardly wait to start on the next one in the series, but after reading the reviews and realizing that the plotlines from this book do not carry over into the next, and that many of the characters have practically have been dropped, I am glad I hadn't spent my money yet.

Rating:
Summary: As Always the Best
Review: I have ready all of the Anita Blake Series so far. I am currently working through Narcissus In Chains and have already purchased the last 2 to read when I am done. Every one of her books are addicting. I just have to get to the next chapter.
I would recommend the series to anyone!


Rating:
Summary: That 'ol Feelin'
Review: Well, this has been overdue...but Wow.

At 27, Anita is not only getting older, but...Gasp, do I dare say, she's getting wiser? Oh hell yes... Now, in OB & NiC, Anita was still stuck in her moral code that she used like a freight train to shield herself. But, she would teeter back and forth and started to question everything-she allowed herself to be afraid. She would be uncomfortable about being a and being with the 'monsters,' she would blush about sex (and she still does) but now she admits she doesn't mind it and in fact, is beginning to enjoy it all, a little bit at a time. She has a stronger sense of who she was way back when and who she is becoming--as a human with emotions of fear, love, hope and, anger (of course). She takes herself less seriously and opens herself up more but without completely compromising everything she believes in or in the Anita we all love. She's still witty, but ahhhh, there are definitely parts where it feels old school.

CS delves into everyone's pain: a lot of Jean-Claude, Asher, more of Nathaniel, Dolph, & Zebrowski and tiny bit of Richard & Micah. SO, it's this explosion of all these high emotions that has built up since at least the middle to last half of the series. It's much more serious and heavier than any of the books before, including NiC, which I thought was pretty emotionally charged. I personally like the emotional element, because it in itself is very intense and fast paced-there is a lot of substance it. Plus, this growth makes sense is a long time coming...maybe a bit to much too soon, but not wholly unbelievable. I think LKH did a good balance with Anita's character growth but everything else...

Unfortunately, the whole book lacks a stable structure because what plot is there seems to only exist to explain and express all these emotions, from everyone. So it spins out of control by about the middle of the book and there isn't always time to process all the things that are happening because things are just left hanging. Which is fine, but on top of the emotions, LKH attempts to make a stronger plot but not really managing it too well--so it's obvious and you might not be paying much attention to it, like I did.

Thus, the Main Theme is all about those emotions and revelations on everyone's part but especially about relationships, mainly one's with Anita and all her men. The 'main plot' encompasses Belle Morte's minions attempting to re-establish her lost line of Jean-Claude & Asher. This is the impetus for all the really powerful emotions among her 'monster' friends and lovers. The 'secondary plot' is an investigation involving gross murders of humans by a werewolf--this is the story line that I had a tendency to glaze over: this plot didn't always fit in with the context of the rest of the book. But it's not entirely superfluous: this too is about Anita's relationships with her human friends: Zebrowski, Dolph and the preternatural gang.

There are definitely some surprises that are introduced and will throw you and make your eyes pop, but they are never fully explained, at least in this one. I can't even explain much without making allusions to the emotional parts of the book. It feels very unfinished, but looking at the next one, I'd say that LKH split up this behemoth of a book into 2 separate books, because ID is so huge and what I've read, feels like a continuous story from CS. And finally, you won't be disappointed, dispite it's flaws (hey, nothing is perfect) I couldn't put it down once I started; but, don't be surprised if the story feels disjointed-but trust me, you'll get some real interesting moments of Anita with-ahem--her harem...wink, wink...Enjoy :D

Rating:
Summary: Not as bad as most people are saying...
Review: I admit that after reading Narcissus in Chains I was ready to give up on the Anita Blake series, but I thought I would give it one more try and read this book. I'm glad I did. Don't get me wrong, I still like the earlier books in the series better, but Cerulean Sins is not as bad as some make it out to be. It actually gave me hope that the series could get back on track. If you are reading this and wondering if you should give up on the series or read CS and give it one more chance, I recommend reading CS before writing off the series.

Rating:
Summary: Once More Into The Breach
Review: As much as I like the way Laurell Hamilton writes I've started to avoid reading her work. I'm not a prude, but I don't think scenes that are steamier than what could be found in the 'dirty books' section of the drug store (that's where you snuck off to when I was 13) add tons to the plot, or to the character development. A little is good, but a lot just becomes tedious. With Cerulean Sins out in paperback I decided it was time to test the water again.

For 135 pages I thought I was in luck. Hamilton builds a story line about the unexpected visit of a group of European vampires who are the emissaries of Belle Morte, one of the oldest vampires on the grand council and maker of both Asher and Jean Claude. There's a lot of "who gets to torture who" as the intricate politics and backstabbing of vampire society are laid bare (bad joke!) for the reader. But Musette and her cohorts are at least interesting as they try to work Belle Morte's revenge on her wayward children.

The other subplot is a series of murders that leave people looking like hamburger patties. Anita's issues with Dolph, the head of the preternatural investigatory team, come to a head as his hatred of occult creatures boils over. This is a bit of a shame, since Dolph and Zerbrowski, another detective, add what little human dialogue there is in recent volumes in this series.

This brings us to page 135, where we discover that the emotional triangle between Jean-Claude, Asher, and Anita (I'm not counting Anita's other bed partners) is going to become physical, and Anita's frequent state of arousal is the basis for a large part of the plot. One has to wonder what the next volume will have to offer in the way of erotic violence, since Hamilton seems compelled to escalate the titillation.

Between the bedroom theatrics, there is actually a good book here. Or rather, good as I measure good - complex plot, rising suspense, strong characters, etc. In a way it recalls some of the earlier Anita Blake books where the necromancer did less romancing and more raising of the dead. Cerulean Sins really is better balanced than some recent efforts so, perhaps, this signals that Hamilton hasn't given up writing horror stories.

Rating:
Summary: Book in search of a plot
Review: Ms. Hamilton has fallen into the trap of making each new book more sensational than the last, at the expense of the twisting plotlines that made us love Anita in the first place. The preternatural crimes in Cerulean Sins are relegated to a secondary role, while Anita's enthusiastic love life takes center stage.

The summary on the back of the book says Cerulean Sins is about a hitman who hires Anita to raise a dead relative. That happens in the first 30 pages then falls off the radar for 400 pages of Anita having sex with various vampires, werewolves and wereleopards...sometimes more than one at a time. I'm all for plenty of sex in a book, but as Richard the wereworlf, Anita's ex-boyfriend, says, "What is it with you, Anita? Are there any men in the world you haven't slept with?" At least she loves them all.

For a good Catholic girl who started out 10 books ago not believing in casual sex, Anita has certainly broadened her horizons. Richard is about the only male not on her list of bed buddies.

At long last, Anita crawls out of bed long enough to investigate the murders almost as an afterthought. C'mon, Anita, you've a better hunter than this!!!