Anita spent sooo much time griping about the lack of morals of everyone around her, she failed to notice that she doesn't have a whole lot left herself. Part of Anita's charm was the fact that things like her faith or a stuuffed penguin or her boyfriend could be her refuge, her sanctuary from the big, bad world. And the struggle to keep from becoming Edward was a huge plus. There was passion, and drama, and well, everything this book lacked.
First, enough with the ardeur and the sex. It's tedious, boring, and dull. Do we really need to read about Anit'as sex-capades? NO. This whole ardeur/incubus/succubus thing could have been handled much less graphically. And with better writing and more effort on LKH's part. Instead, we get the lazy attempt which is this book.
Second, Micah needs to be shot. So do the following characters: Nathan, the wereleopards, the werewolves (I think that's enough). Oh, and please stake Jean Claude, Damien, and Asher. Then please put Anita out of our misery. Probably the only way to save the series.
Third: What happened to Animators, Inc.? Where are the fun bunch from there? The human element of Anita's life? What happened to Ronnie? Burt? Anita's zombie-raising red-headed trainee? His wife? Their kid? C'mon, all these perfectly good characters going to utter waste.
Fourth: Resolve the Dolph sitch. Or spend more time on it. It was handled very poorly. Period.
Fifth: Enough with the "Super-Anita". Able to make all men love her, constantly develops new powers through judicious use of the sadly overused "deus ex machina", etc. I understand that Anita has to grow and evolve as a person, Animator, triumverate member, pard leader, werewolf enforcer, girlfriend to the Master of the City, Federal Marshall on all things supernatural, and I think that about covers it. Too much going on, LKH!
What this book needs is for most of te characters to be cut. There is talk that Edward will be returning, and hopefully that's with enough grenades to take out the Circus of the Damned, the Thronnos Rokke Clan, the Blooddrinker Clan, and any spare freaks left laying around. LKH, you've gone completely over-the-top, and I'm not sure how you plan to resolve this. Or are you just laughing all the way to the bank as we, your fans, spend out well-earned cash on this literary masturbation?
Rating: 
Summary: Good Bye Ms. Blake For Good!
Review: I am a big-time Anita Blake fan. Yes I am one of those who waits with anticipation for her newest novel. From my first reading of Guilty Pleasures I was hooked. I was still very happy novels 2 through 4. Novels 5 through 8 started to become whiny and melodramatic, but I hung in there, hoping the newest addition to the series would improve. I AM DONE! This is my last Anita Blake Novel! I not only spent my hard earned $22.95 plus tax to purchase this novel, but used my free time to read this smut.
Now where do I begin? First there is our hero Anita Blake. Imagine a comic superhero gone wrong. Give this superhero the attributes of Superman, throw in all the skills of the entire X-Men cast and the strength of the Incredible Hulk. Now take this overblown superhero and then try to turn it into a workable character. Well you have Anita Blake in a nutshell. She has now become a twisted cartoon character from hell. And if that is not bad enough, a miserable whinny, self-centered cartoon character from hell.
Anita Blake, who is not only the best necromancer in the world (she not only raises full cemetaries of zombies with the wave of her hand, but can raise sleeping hundred year old vampires with another wave of her hand). Take that and add the fact that she is part of a very powerful triumverate which gives her more power than most of the other powerful creatures who are working alone. On top of this, she is becoming a master vampire with her very own little vampire follower. Now throw into this mix, the fact that she is the queen of the wereleopards, and has her very own wereleopard pard that follows her around with devotion (even though she can't change into a complete wereleopard. I'm still not done! She is also the assigned enforcer for the werewolves. Now you have the new and improved Anita Blake on steroids. (Is she going to grow a penis soon I wonder or is it already there and coming about in a future novel?)
Take this overblown cartoon character and now throw in all her followers which include: (1) a pack of wereleopards who spend entire novels on their hands and knees just to rub against her and acknowledge her for being a mini cartoon god. (2) the enforcer for the werewolves (because even though the werewolves are a powerful race in their own right, there is not one other werewolf in the entire world who has the power to fill this job which of course makes the werewolves fear her. (3) Throw in her necromancer/zombie raising skills which make vampires tremble at her feet (I mean she can raise you from your coffin with the wave of her tiny little hand) and finally (4) don't forget she is also Ms. 5'3" commando unit with her own set of guns with silver bullets that she can spray and kill you with if you look at her wrong. Who could handle this much power? Only Ms. Anita Blake, sterioid super hero extraordinaire!
Now that the main chracter is set, you get to watch her interact with all the other characters in this book. Please note all characters are one-dimensional so therefore not worth naming, and there are only three types of chracters in the novels anyway: (1) Powerful Men that Anita is having sex with (this of course includes orgies but not anal sex because she is a lady); (2) Male characters who want to sleep with Anita; and (3) a couple of male characters who do not have the privilege of sleeping with Anita at the moment. Of course, these two chracters have the most problems.
Now describing these one-dimensional characters in more depth. First there are the most powerful men in the book (master vampires hundreds of years old) who follow Anita like puppets on a string, waiting for her every command because they can't make her angry or she won't have sex with them.
Then you have the characters who Anita sleeps with as one night stands who follow her around and worship her hoping they get to have sex with her more than once. Of course, there are the other male characters who want to have sex with Anita, but because she's having sex with everyone else in the book, have to worship her without the sex. Still like dutiful one dimensional characters, they follow her around like puppets and give in to her every whim. Then there are the last set of characters who are not having sex with her at the moment and do not worship her. And, in this entire Anita Blake world of course it only amounts to two people. Now because they do not worship her and are not having sex with her, of course they have to be either a suicidal depressed werewolf who wants to die because he can't have sex with Anita, and a racist psychotic cop.
So for over 400 pages you get to watch Anita have sex, have group sex, walk around naked, and then have more sex. You also get to listen to her whine about her life and her moral values and then you get to watch her have more sex. While all of the powerful vampires and weres follow her around and listen to her whine. Still, don't piss Anita off, or she'll pull out a gun and shoot you with a silver bullet. Vampire writing at its best!
Now I know this is a long shot, but do you think somewhere in this world of Anitas there is a manufacturer out there that maybe has a second gun with silver bullets that someone in the novel can buy and go on a hunting spree and kill every chracter in this series and then shoot his or herself in the head so this depressing sickening waste of paper and space series can end!!!! Good bye Anita I will miss the woman I met in Guilty Pleasures, but there are too many good authors out there for me to waste additional money and free time on you. Adieu!
Rating: 
Summary: Big Time Disappointment
Review: I am a big fan of vampire/lycanthorpe novels. I have quite a collection I have gathered over the years. Of course no collection is complete without the Anita Blake series by Laurell Hamilton. I still remember when I first read "Guilty Pleasures" I fell in love instantly with Anita Blake's world. How she worked part-time with the police dept., how she raised zombies for her money hungry boss; and even though she was tough as nails, she still had a heart and felt for those around her. Once I read the first novel, I immediately went and bought the entire series. Now as a fan of vampire novels, the first four novels cannot be beat. But once you reach no. 5 on, you start to feel as if you are part of a very bad soap opera. Still, there's always hope so I continue to buy her series.
This latest novel is downright "disappointing." Anita is pretty much a whore. This novel should not be in the vampire category or even in the romance category, it should be in the xxx rated/erotica category. This novel is not about romance and not about vampires. It's about orgy sex, sex with strangers in showers, sex standing up, sex in bed, and sex with anyone who is in the room when everyone else she usually has sex with is not in the room. That's pretty much the plot for 400+ pages, and I am not exaggerating.
And what's worse, throughout the novel you are led to believe while she's sleeping her way through every male in the novel, that this is not her fault. Also, when she's not having sex, there's even one point in the novel where she actually has the nerve to whine about how the one true love in her life "Richard the werewolf" abandoned her. If you have been reading this series you would know that Richard (who she was engaged to marry) became angry with Anita for sleeping with Jean Claude (a vampire) after she ran from Richard because he killed one of his biggest enemies, Marcus (who Anita had been begging Richard to kill for at least two previous novels). The night he kills Marcus as soon as she leaves the man she is going to marry she sleeps with another man. So they break up. And from then on they have sex and break up again and between their sex and break ups Anita finds more men to have sex with.
Finally, Richard walked out on Anita when he wouldn't allow her to feed on him. And Anita whines about this even though she doesn't allow anyone (including Jean Claude) to feed on her. Of course, as usual with Anita her values changes depending on who she is having sex with, and once its acceptable to her, everyone else around her should follow her lead and think its acceptable too.
What I loved initially about this series was Anita's strength of character. She had a huge inner battle to face as she fought the monsters while not trying to become a monster. Very understable. My empathy for Anita has dissipated by the number of times she has had sex with strange men. She is not a likeable heroine anymore. I hope Laurell decides to start a brand new vampire series. This one had disappointedly run out of steam.
If you are looking for a good "fresh" vampire series try Charlaine Harris' Dead Series (Dead Until Dark; Living Dead In Dallas and Club Dead). This has a likeable heroine with a believable heart of gold.
Rating: 
Summary: Anita Blake series is Shway (excellent)
Review: Great story, great characters, fast moving. You should have an open mind to read these books. They may be too explicit for some readers. I read the first book and then bought and read the entire series in a month.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: Another good story by LKH. I loved Anita and her contuining story about her struggle with humainty in the Anitaverse. It's good to see that LKH is brave to write original sex scenes and brave enough to allow a woman to have a sex life.
Rating: 
Summary: Book 11
Review: This book is pushing the series in a new direction. Anita's powers are further developing and she doesn't know how to handle it. The arduer is a way to gain power remember, not just a way to add a bunch of sex into the mix. If the arduer hadn't been added a certain very old vampire wouldn't have a way to control Anita. (Anita doesn't like feeling powerless and if the she hadn't gained the arduer she could have easily fought Belle in book 10.) This book feels like a prelude to something much bigger that will happen in the next. Anita's personal life is becoming extremely complicated because of the power she seems to be gaining. She is developing a mix of powers that she shouldn't be able to receive. I don't think you will be disappointed if you read into what is going on in the story. I thought this book was fine, but I think it is building up to a battle royale in the next book. Something much bigger and badder than before is what Anita will be up against soon. It doesn't have a lot of explosive situations like in the previous books. I think the only thing that I didn't like was the story seemed to be over too quickly. All I can say is something big is brewing and if you don't read the book you'll miss out.
Rating:
Summary: too short for satisfaction
Review: I agree with the other readers who felt that this book seemed rushed. It starts out with propulsion and then when we should be gearing up for the climax...it sort of just fizzles and sputters through some simple wrap ups that are just too well, simple.
In her previous books, Anita has a definite mystery to solve, as well as moral dilemas to muddle through and sexual appetites to satisfy, hers and others. But she is always strong for those she cares for and is always able to move in that space of emptiness to get the job done. In this book, she has sort of a mystery, major sexual appetites, and almost non-stop moral dilemas which come out in lots and lots of crying and hair-pulling worrying about jeapordizing other people's safety. I personally enjoyed the extra character development of her feelings, but wished she would stop crying and go karate kick someone because she was making me depressed. The "mystery" isn't a primary point, her feelings are, and so it gets "solved" in a rather perfunctory "I have a deadline" kind of way. The plot can't really be described more than: Musette shows up early and bad things happen, and oh, some women are being raped and brutally slaughtered, and oh, Dolph is in a very bad mood. Beyond that, I would ruin it for you. But I will say I like Richard less and less and this book is no exception.
This book just has a sort of unfinished feel, but I give it four stars because it brings in interesting new characters and situations and opens doors, the better for everybodys favorite Executioner to shoot through. I recommend this for the serious Anita Blake fan, but suggest newbies start with Guilty Pleasures. Make no mistake, this has not dettered me from this series at all and I eagerly await Number 12 (which I hear is slated for release October this year).
Rating: 
Summary: endless Ardeur
Review: sorry but i am so disappointed by this one. i like the sex as much as the next gal but how about some plot besides anita orgasming/spasming, biting, and all the rest of it (while her males look on in horror/hope/abandonement/confusion)? too much torpor, too much succubi feasting--it's boring! where's anita who kicks butt with the best of them? where's anita with moral boundaries she draws quite firmly in the sand? all gone to the flaccid battle with Belle and the ardeur. snooooore.........
Rating:
Summary: Very entertaining but still dissapointing
Review: First off, I admit to loving Narcissus in Chains. It wasn't perfect and I think the sexual overtones probably could have been toned down a little bit, but it didn't seem to me to be so completely out of place with the series. It just seemed to be taking things to the next level. Anita has been evolving so I had no objections. Plus, I like Micah. No, I love Micah. Who we never see enough of... He really needs to be developed.
I feel that Cerulean Sins did not do what I expected it to do. I still very much enjoyed it, which is why I gave it four stars(I would have given it a 3.5 if I could have.) But there was a lot missing in this book and I'm really hoping that it's simply because the series has come to a point where it needs a transition between what has been and what will be; this book very much felt like a transition, kind of like how the second book in trilogies tends to suffer. The other books feel a lot more whole, but this one... It felt short and a bit rushed. And I too am getting tired of the ardeur. It is a plot point that has been stretched too far. One of the great things about each book has been the introduction of something new, but this book didn't really seem to do that enough. It simply continued plot points from previous books. Ok, it did introduce a few new things, but not major enough.
One would think that, after the critisism that Narcissus in Chains got, she would veer more toward the style of the older books. I'm not saying get rid of the sex. I love the sex. But I miss Edward and Larry and I miss seeing more of the crime scenes and I miss the fight scenes and watching Anita battle her way out of a sticky situation. It seems like she tried to put too much in this book... There were little glimpses of interesting things but not enough of any of them. This should have been a much longer book, I think, to have made it better. Or she should have left out some things for a seperate book.
Unlike many others, I am not giving up on this series, because I still love it. I was just a bit dissapointed by this one, but I have faith in Laurell K Hamilton. I'm looking at this book sort of like the eye of a hurricane. Things should be getting much better and more exciting soon.
Rating:
Summary: More plot, less porn
Review: I like a good sex/romance scene as much as anyone but I also like a story to go with it. The so-called plot of this book seemed thrown together around Anita's ever-widing pool of sex partners. I was very disappointed in this latest book. I hope that LKH gets her heroine and her storyline back on track soon.
