Rating: 
Summary: Good but not the best
Review: For all those fans out there, like me, who was hooked from the start and buy the books just to see what new mayhem ANITA has created there is little i can say about Cerulean sins other than:
Anita is still the baddest person in the Valley of Death and not even the Vampire Council showing up again can truly put her down for long. She has come into her power at last and has a sizeable powerbase to fall back on- Vampires (Her personal servant Damien), various werecreatures: not just the pack but also pards, roderes and whatever the pack of WereHyenas are called. So buy the book to find out how the story unfolds on the standard Anita Blake storyline: Monsters, death and the supernatural.
Rating: 
Summary: Lowered expectations met
Review: I didn't expect alot from this book after reading Narcissus in Chains, and it lived up to my lowered expectations. Anita is not as interesting as she was several books ago. She has become superhuman with her various powers and is now boring and flat... The character has completely changed from the one that existed in the earlist books of the series.It's then left to the other characters to pick up the slack left by the main character. Anita's main boyfriends all go flat as well. Jean-Claude and Richard are in the book, but are both weak and stale. Her newest boyfriend, Micah, is barely in the book, probably because Laurell didn't know what to do with him. Jason gets a bigger role and matures, probably in line to be Anita's next boyfriend. The minor characters are the most interesting, especially the assorted wererats, wereleopards, werehyenas, and werewolves. The best part of the book is the crime Anita is working on with the police involving an extremely violent werewolf that might be into the occult. Unfortunately this plotline takes up less space than Anita's sex life and even more vampire politics. It's time for the series to [end], or Laurell to get back to the roots, although it's probably too late to make Anita into what she once was.
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.
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