Narcissus in Chains

Rating:
Summary: Slow down, Laurell
Review: I have read every single LKH novel since they originally were published, and I get the impression that this one was rushed. Very rushed. I think the real Anita is still there, still the sound hardcore heroine we all know and love, but Laurell, her backbone was trying to get the book on the shelf. Maybe it's the new baby, the new editor, who knows. I don't mind waiting an extra year for better quality.

Rating:
Summary: Love It OR Hate It OR BOTH??
Review: A spokesman for Laurell Hamilton's fan club, supposedly was quoted as saying that readers of this book would "either love it or hate it". I'd like to straddle a fence and say I loved it AND hated it.

What did I love? Anita is a great female character. Hamilton has a breezy writing style that has the reader 'hearing' the story told from Anita's smart mouthed perspective. Anita still knows how to fight the monsters and win and I want to see her doing more of that. Which is part of the problem with what I 'hate' about this book.

This outing has Anita marrying the marks with JeanClaude and Richard. It makes her so powerful that she becomes less human and hard to beat. Without that mortal danger to factor in, I found myself less involved in the story than in past books. I still want her to win, but I'm not afraid she won't anymore. That cuts down on the suspense factor.

For reasons that are difficult to understand, Hamilton has chosen to distance Anita from both Richard & JeanClaude. She introduced ardor and made Anita into a person who is less moral and jumps around to different bed partners which would have outraged the Anita of the first books.

Personally, I liked and admired the Anita who had a job, friends in the human population as well as the monster world and struggled more with the dilemmas and morality of her choices.

I miss that woman, but short of the next installment opening with Anita stepping out of the shower and saying she just had the "strangest dream", I don't think we are going to have that Anita back again.

Rating:
Summary: Circling the Drain
Review: The book is really, really bad.

For all of those who read the preceding books, you're in for a disappointment. Anita, who for the first four or five books was witty, snappy, in control of her emotions and in charge, has somehow morphed into a sex-crazed teenager, with raging hormones and some random, new ability that gives her the excuse to EAT people like a lycanthrope and SUCK BLOOD like a vampire as well as having as much sex as is humanly possible.

Sounds like fun and games, but what happened to Anita? I don't really know how we're expected to believe that the strictly Catholic woman of the first few books is the same woman as the one in Narcissus in Chains. It was boring, and I muddled through it only to read more about my favorite character, Jean-Claude, who seems to be the only one worth reading about.

The series is going down the drain. Look for the first few, and read those; if you really have an urge to find out what happens to Anita, just read the last page of all the rest of the books. The only hope for fans of the first books is that Obsidian Butterfly was pretty good, maybe LKH will write another like that in her upcoming sequel to Narcissus in Chains--Cerulean Sins.

Oh and one word: MICAH?!?!?

Rating:
Summary: What is going on??
Review: I have read all of the Anita books in less than 4 weeks now, and I am stunned at how quickly the series turned. The first 4-5 books were basically the same - "something's killing people and we don't know what it is, hmmm let's call Anita"-. Suddenly around the Killing Dance we have this new stuff.

I appreciate the fact that Anita has to change at some level for the series to continue, but COME ON! How can she be the best at everything, have all these mystical powers, yet FORGET she can heal when it comes time to help Gregory?

I was honestly glad to see that some men in this book actually had SHORT HAIR!!!!!!!! How many long-haired Fabios are running around St. Louis anyway?? If Richard really wanted to be inconspicuous, along with the other wolves, why would he have long hair anyway?

I am glad that Anita is becoming fiercly protective of the pard, and I am expecially glad to see Nathaniel(with his ANKLE LENGTH HAIR) become a man.

One thing that bothers me, if LKH is going to describe EVERY SINGLE outfit Anita is wearing, vary it a little! "HMM...I think today I will wear a black tank top with a belly band, wrist and knife sheaths, sword down the back of my pants, black pants, and black nikes with a swish - SOUND FAMILIAR??? AHH

And how many times can Anita "relearn how to breathe" in one chapter?? That drives me nuts.

SO ok, not the worst book in the world, but there are too many repetitive lines, long haired beautiful men (please!) and too much change at once.

Rating:
Summary: Anita Blake is a public menace. Keep away at all costs!
Review: Hamilton's mystery/supernatural/erotica series, once snappy and funny, has finally degraded into something unmentionable (which isn't altogether surprising, seeing as how the unmentionables, or regions there of, seems to be all that Anita Blake, the vampire executioner, is interested in these days).

After six months of celebacy and staying away her two non-human lovers, the always-complaining alpha werewolf Richard and sexy master vampire Jean-Clause, Anita is back in St. Louis, all ready to act mummy to her adopted wereleopard pack, and looking for some action. She denies it of course, but we all know what her real agenda is. I've always had my suspicions that Anita was a slut.

Or maybe the person we should be blaming is Hamilton, who completely abandons any semblance of a plot, concentrating instead on the perfect bodies and unsatiable libidos of her preternatural characters. It is really all getting too silly and repetitive for words.

Oh and if anyone's interested, Anita proves her bravery, compassion and unresistable rugged charm, yet again prevailing against evil. How does such an unlikable character have so many friends? Must be the whip and black leather. Ops, wrong book... Probably, anyway.

Rating:
Summary: Whats happening to ANITA?
Review: ...really though, shes so different in this book. her hard attitude and take no [stuff] reputation is changing. You see Anita become different in personality in this new book. It made me realize how much I didn't want her to change. Anyway...
In this new book, NARCISSUS IN CHAINS, Anita's black and white world take a turn for the worst when shes clawed up by a close werelepord Gabriel. Was it by accident? maybe. did he have time to rechange himself before he turned to protct her w/ his own body? maybe (most likely a yes) well at least Richard is pushing for a yes. Anita shows secondary signs to getting furry during the next full moon and when Richard looses it (this is while shes unconcious from the attack) and in fact looks to have commited Gabriel to death through the pack. Can Anita save Gabriel and get Richard back? Hes kinda freaking out about what she might be becoming.... shes got something inside her now that could be a beast can feel. will she actually be becaoming the Nimir-Ra??
Oh yeah... and one more important fact: they marry the marks for real. their power is amazing and anita, who now truly bridges life and death between Jean-Claude and Richard, is showing some really INTRESTING sideeffects right off the bat.
lets not forget Micah, a Nimir-raj whom she nails in a shower probably a good two hours after meeting him. whats happenign to her..? well part of it really isn't her falt.. she has to feed. Can you believ it... feed!~!! (vamp side effect which she can't control) whats she gonna do here? she gotta cope w/ this.
Laurell Hamilton, where r u digging Anita and what the heck is w/ this personality transformation???? All of a sudden shes more (um...) I'm not sure how to put this- but more agreeable. I was relieved when she let that "hole" in her self show threw her eyes and I knew that shes still there... but ANITA!! WHERE R U?"
If you wanna read a book where you see the Anita , at least the one i believ is really her, read the last book before this in the Anita Blake series.

Rating:
Summary: I had to read it to believe it
Review: I have read every Anita Blake book since the first. I read the reviews on this one, and they were so conflicting I just had to read the book myself and see. Well, now I understand. You will either love this book or absolutely hate it. Helpful, aren't I? I was a huge fan of Anita - she had some weird powers, she hung out with weird people, but she was a tough broad who did her job and protected her friends. Then around Blue Moon or so, she started to really change. We no longer saw her doing any kind of her job - not raising dead, not executing rogue vampires, not going to crime scenes with the RPIT. Everything she did involved were/vampire politics, and every time we turned around she had some new awesome power. Come on now, she can't be the best at everything - she completely loses any interesting qualities if she is - the greatest necromancer that ever lived, the lupa of the werewolves, the servant of the master vampire, the nimir-ra of the leopards, able to heal with a touch, able to call the munin, has wiccan-like powers (and yet remains stoically christian) in a powerful triumvirate, possesses super-human speed and strength, has a were-beast without actually being a were anything, etc etc. Yes, there was a lot of repetetive sex in this book - if you didn't like the way the last 2 or 3 books have gone, you'll absolutely hate this one. The characters have all become one dimensional - they all follow the same track that they have in every book, nobody experiences any kind of emotional or mental growth, and the biggest dilemma Anita now faces is the fact that she has sex with pretty much everyone - both those she's known and complete strangers - and doesn't really care. Huh? Okay, I didn't think she should be such a prude, but going from no sex to casual sex with EVERYONE (and of course, every single male is superhumanly pretty and VERY well hung) is a bit ridiculous. And also, we're supposed to believe that every single male that sees her wants to have sex with her? Whatever happened to the character from the first couple of books? This Anita just bumps through the book, having rough sex with everyone, doesn't actually solve any crimes or discover any secrets, has everything fall into her lap, gets several people killed (the old Anita would actually have spared a thought about that) continues to out-tough everyone (and of course, she's the toughest person around) Starts a huge war, and then at the end enjoys a big party after lots of her friends and allies get killed for her - and doesn't even care that richard, who she's mooned over for half the series, wants to be dead? ugh. It is a kind of character assassination. However, the book is written in the same smooth flowing style as the rest of the series, which is the only reason I gave it 2 stars. If you liked the increased sex and violence in the last 3 books, you'll like this one. If you enjoyed the plots and character development, steer clear. I'm going to withhold judgement until I read the next in the series - Hopefully, Ms. Hamilton will get back to the snappy characterizations and plotting of the original books. Sadly, I don't think she will, and if the next book continues like this one, I'm afraid she's lost another dedicated reader.

Rating:
Summary: This one blew me away!!
Review: Alot of the previous reviewers seem to think that the erotic scenes should not be in this book. Huh? Go back and start with the first Anita Blake book and read through them all again. This book NEEDED to be written because it shows how Anita has evolved and become more emotionally complex (and confused about what's right and wrong for her). Face it, would she still be as interesting if this was the 10th "see a monster - shoot a monster" story? This had all the action of the previous books but adds another aspect through her emotional roller-coaster ride. Just when she was beginning to understand and accept who and what she is (look at her acceptance of her role in the pard), she gets blind-sided by the effects of the third mark and the death of her relationship with Richard (not to mention a whole new idea of who the monsters are, including her). I was glad of the introduction of Micah and his pard. Their relationship should be interesting (and is there something going to happen with Asher, I hope so). For you Richard lovers, remember that they will always be tied together through the marks.
Maybe I enjoyed this book so much because I found LKH and Anita through reading an excerpt of this book in a Gothic romance anthology (I'm a big fan of Christine Feehan). But I quickly went out and bought ALL the series and have read them all at least three times. So being a fan of erotic romance books, I don't want LKH to tone the next one down. I'll bet LKH can make sure to keep the great "monster" stories filled with action enough for ALL her fans and keep Anita's love life "alive" for her new fans too! THANKS LAURELL FOR ANOTHER "VACATION" FROM REAL LIFE!!

Rating:
Summary: Still a bit better, but missing something
Review: Even more than the last Hamilton is spending more time exploring the sexual aspects of this story than the story its self. That said, it is deffinatly on the right track to recapture tha magic of of her earlier work. It's not that I mind the sex bits, far from it, its just that anticipation and teasing are just as important. Forplay for the reader if you will. The 1st few books in the series did this, but as the series progressed it became more instant gratification-esk.

Rating:
Summary: Not the best book in the series, but not the last...
Review: ... as the review titles suggests, this book is part of a larger series that has seen better stories so far.

After the events in the last two books (Blue Moon and Obsidian Butterfly), it would seem that Anita is ready to face Jean-Caude and Richard, but that would be wrong. It seems that no one in the triumvirate is ready (with the possible exception of Jean-Claude) for the consequences of the growing power from the sharing of the marks. Shapeshifters are missing and Anita is beginning to experience side-effects of the bond she shares with Richard and Jean-Claude. Another variable is introduced in the form of another lycanthrope, a male wereleopard with a pard of his own he wishes to merge with Anita's.

The story moves the reader along as quickly as any of the other books, no failure there at all. Jean-Claude and Richard remain as contradictory as ever, a strong praise for consistant chracterization... and in any good story or drama there has to be some change, but Anita's is too dramatic. She abruptly changes from prudish to wanton, although there IS some precedent for this, the groundwork having been laid with the introduction of Richard in the first place, it seems forced. The objection that there is too much "kinky sex" has some merit... this particular book leans heavily toward the erotic end of the spectrum that LKH has skirted and touched on with the previous books. The book would be much shorter were it not for the graphic descriptions involved in the sexual encounters. Anita has been shown as stubborn, brash, blunt, and , to be fair, she HAS been shown to have strong sex appeal and a repressed sensual nature. She has crossed legal lines and is afraid of losing her 'humanity' as she perceives it, yet she forgets what got her into this end of the business... her nercromantic, or animation, HER power.

My only real issues were that I could see where most of the story was heading, and found it difficult to believe that Anita would forget such a fundamental part of herself that she would nearly allow both herself and those dear to her die before remembering what she was capable of... seeming to become so afraid of abilities she gained through the marks that she forgot what she herself brought to the triumvirate.

I conclude these remarks by stating that my rating was determined more by the conclusion of this book than the body of the book. It is NOT boring, just not as focused as previous efforts. The payoff is the information left behind that sets you up for the next books... and the feeling that we might see more of the mean old cast-iron ... we all know and love.