Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: The first Anita Blake novel I ever read was Obsidian Butterfly. I remember being blown away. When I stepped into Laurell K. Hamilton's world I thought that all of her Anita Blake books would be up to this high standard. I was wrong. Since Obsidian Butterfly there has been, Narcissus in Chains, which fell flat, in comparison with Obsidian Butterfly and now, the wildly disappointing Cerulean Sins. While it is true that Hamilton has worked on some character progression where Jason and Nathaniel are concerned she has not allowed Anita to progress nearly enough. And all of Anita's men are in fact spineless. The once powerful master vamp, JC is Anita's slave instead of it being the other way around. Asher is now under Anita's spell and Micah never pretended to be anything but Anita's pet. It is a shame that Hamilton has written all of these extremely powerful characters and then treated them all in the same way. As Anita's cheap play things. If Hamilton wanted to show that she could write a powerful female character, then congratulations to her, she accomplished that several books ago. However, if she continues to write her story's as badly as the last few... Perhaps she may not have a fan base left to write to. Now... As far as characters are concerned.. I think I covered that as much as I wanted to. Let's move on to the story progression.... It seemed as though Hamilton was throwing her fans a bone with the murder case. As if to say... Oh yeah... I forgot that Anita Blake is a sometimes detective... Let me take a break from writing soft core Anita Blake porn and develop a story line and a half developed story line at that. Let's pretend that Hamilton has not used the same line about Anita's smile not reaching her eyes, a million times. Let's also pretend that all of Anita's love interests are pretty much the same, with the exception of a few subtle differences. Now lets also pretend that as her readers we wouldn't notice that Hamilton takes every opportunity she can to mourn hair cuts. First Jason's now Richards. Lets pretend that all of the stuff she said in this book hasn't been said by her before. Wait..... Lets not pretend. I suggest that Laurell K. Hamilton wakes up and thinks about the next book that she writes. I hope that before her next book, which I can only assume will be a Merry Gentry book she will work on her problems and think about developing a story line, for true. Because lately... All of her writing has been suffering from poor character developement, poor plot and terrible editing. Laurell K. Hamilton if you care about what your readers think and sometimes read what people like me post about your books... Please pay attention to what I am about to say: I am so disappointed in this lack of effort.
Rating: 
Summary: Meh...
Review: I feel I have to rate this book average because it is true what people have been saying. LKH has turned her once supernatural-action filled books into...well to put it bluntly, porn. I continued reading though hoping that maybe she would add action in there but saddly, it never happened. This of course is not my choice but it the author, LKH's, choice. But after reading other reviews I think she should have asked more opinions of the book before publishing. Unlike some, I will continue reading and buying this seris simply because I am, addicted, I need to see wether or not Anita can fix up her love life, what happens with her job, Edward, and so many other things that if LKH decicies to end the seris she might have trouble finding ways to end it. I give her my best wishes and hope for a better next book.
Rating: 
Summary: Much better than the last one
Review: In the 11th book in the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series Anita has to deal with Musette, a vampire sent by Jean Claude's maker to meddle in their affairs. Musette takes a disturbing interest in Asher and Anita will have to go to great lengths to keep him safe. There are also a series of gruesome murders that are not easy to solve especially since Dolph's pent up rage has started to explode. This is hardly the best book of the series but it put to rest all my fears about this series going bad. The only thing really wrong with the book is the pacing of the plot. Laurell K. Hamilton needs to either write longer books or not try and cram so many sub plots into them. Where this book really shines is character development. Anita finally gets some much needed character development that will keep her character for getting stale. Some fans will undoubtedly not like her change in character though. This will really please Asher fans. He gets a lot of scenes and a few of them are some of the most emotional writing Laurell K. Hamilton has ever done. Jason also gets some character growth as does Richard. This book even gives me hope for Richard. If you've given up on the series you should still give this book a shot because you may be pleasantly surprised.
Rating: 
Summary: Anita Blake confused and fading
Review: I still enjoyed ths book, it was a fun read, but come on. The focus of this one is hard to find. I think Hamilton needs to review her concept. Where is this all going? Characters slide in and out for no apparent reason than to confuse the already nearly invisible plot line. I will continue to read Anita Blake because I really enjoy the world Hamilton has created but please try to define some plot points in the next one.
Rating:
Summary: Non-stop Action!
Review: I am an avid fan of Laurell K. Hamillton, and when I read the reviews on Amazon, I was expecting to be disapointed in the novel. But, WOW, I loved everything about the book including the steamy sex scences. I felt all of this had to do with the developement of Anita in the Vampire world. Richard is a bit disapointing, but did readers expect him to change overnight? I loved the ending, because Hamilton has left us with the next story line. Anita is still sexy and kick ... and I loved the book. I also loved the inclusion of Asher in more depth to the story. Way to go Ms. Hamiltion, I think the book is great and eagerly await the next one.
Rating:
Summary: Mostly good, some bad
Review: Complications that have been added will definitely thicken the plot, esp. in Anita's lovelife. I can't help but being dissappointed as to how far down Hamilton has taken Richard's character. It's just sad, but meanwhile, Anita is experiencing a frantic loss of control in her life. There is endless drama, and problems everywhere, very stressful on the main character. Dolph takes his anger about problems going on in his peronal life out on Anita, and Asher offers her an ultimatum. She has to include him in a meange trois with JC, or risk losing him, and having JC be dissappointed in her. But Anita is not entirely copmfortable with all this sex she's having. Also, she gets emotionally closer to Jason who offers her some surprisingly wise words of advice. Overall, it was a good book, but I'm hoping Hamilton takes it in the direction I want with Richard in the next book. It wasn't exactly the best book in the series, and sadly, she made their relationship( Rich and Anita) deteriorate completely.
Rating:
Summary: Another Disappointment
Review: Sex, sex, and more sex. I am so disappointed in what LKH has done with her characters and why she insists on throwning
away the very things that made me love this series. As far as I'm concerned, the last two books were not about Anita Blake and the monsters, they was about Anita Blake having sex. I used to be her biggest fan but no more. I will say she is a fantastic writer and I loved the first nine books. In fact, they are my all time favorite books. That's why I'm so upset with the last two books. I feel like I have lost a close friend.
Rating:
Summary: A Definite Improvement
Review: With the Obsidian Butterly and Narcissus in Chains, I felt Hamilton was going totally off-road. The character development was skewed (Edward with a family? Puh-lease.) and plotting was submerged in favour of kinky sex scenes. In Cerulean Sins, Hamilton comes back to the police and necromancer work that first got me interested in the character of Anita Blake. Although I feel the serial killer sub-plot and the Belle Morte primary plotline should have been reversed, it was still a step in the right direction in returning to the mystery foundation of the series. That said, I was very disappointed that I didn't get to witness the ancestor raising Anita scheduled in the first few pages. The intriguing client disappears and is never seen again in this book. If it was a tease for a future appearance, it was irritating and unfair to the reader. I knew Hamilton was a good enough writer that she would tie up that loose end, but the even the tie was weak. The book could have started at the cemetary and been the better for it. In this reader's opinion, Anita needs to pare down her life and Hamilton could help by paring down the characters. Asher (while interesting) is an unneeded distraction as is the addition of more sexual entanglements. As for Richard, I know he's there as the love she can never truly have (an example of what happens when compromise is required but seemingly unattainable), but his self-loathing is getting to be a dead bore. He's always either angry and feeling sorry for himself or sad and feeling sorry for himself. Bah, humbug. After all this time, he should either indulge in a little character growth or go away completely. One of the reasons I found Anita's character so interesting in the beginning is the tension between her spiritual beliefs and her reality. While I think it's a good thing that she is seeking balance, I don't feel her struggles to find it are being adequately represented. Her friend and police mentor Dolph's personal struggle comes into the novel as another example of what can happen when one refuses to compromise, but the example comes and goes, dealt with summarily at the end of the novel without any real examination. There are a lot of interesting threads going on here: christian witches, persecution, the definition of evil for each person, but they're all left more or less dangling, perhaps to be taken up again in a future book. While it's true that the characters talk mostly to themselves instead of each other about their problems, I don't find this particularly frustrating, since that's how most people deal with things. If they did talk with each other, they'd have a Dr. Phil moment and the tension would be over. However, it would be nice to see them occasionally trying, which might provide hope that someday they could work things out if only serial killers and other people wouldn't come in to gum up the works. To sum it up, I would like to see the Blake novels become more plot driven rather than angst driven. I would like the emotional stuff to return to being secondary to whatever threat or threats she is having to deal with. I want more crime, more mystery, less Dawson's Creek.
Rating:
Summary: Impressed
Review: I woudl not call my slef a book critque but I am very impressed with this series. The main character Anita has a very interesting time dealing with the twists and turns her life takes both personal and professional. This lates enstallment you think that the wold is going to come crashing down on her casue there are 3 problems at leat happening at once. I cannot recomend the books enough. Have a good read.
Rating:
Summary: This Can't Be For Real?
Review: I would've given this book 5 stars, if I thought its intent was to inspire fits of hilarity. But seeing as how the author wants to be taken seriously for this laugh riot, I have to go with 1 star. None wasn't available. Now, don't get me wrong, its quite an achievement to put the word "ardeur" in the books as many times as Ms Hamilton does. And its not just anyone that can make sex scenes so mechanical and uninteresting. And one particular sex act gets described in painstaking detail not once, not twice, but THREE seperate times. Is this a book or a sex manual? (and a bad one at that). And its frankly miraculous that so many incredibly stupid characters can find their way onto these pages. I think they might have had a brain once, though not since Blue Moon. But now? Whether its the totally self-absorbed Anita, a character that has become so unappealing its amazing that the rest of the characters haven't ganged up and staked her already. Or Jean-Claude, the once clever and manipulative vampire who seems to lead his life according to what Anita wants on any given day. Or Richard, the once sympathetic and very human werewolf who now gives new meaning to the terms "bipolar and moody". Or how about Micah? A character that wouldn't know a personality if it bit him on his enormous...uh...nose. And then there's the increasingly whiney Asher who puts his foot down with Anita. At least for a whole 50 pages he does. Then he caves like the rest of the girly-men that inhabit this book. Someday I might understand why Ms Hamilton thinks men with long hair, feminine feature, the ability to wear Anita's clothes and no visible signs of a backbone are interesting. But I seriously doubt it. What was once a very interesting, fun and exciting serious seems more and more to me like a soap opera/authobiographical/erotica mishmash. Someone send in Edward with an uzi to clean house, and make sure not to miss Miss Blake.
| 
