Rating: 
Summary: Narcissus in Chains
Review: I was first introduced to Anita in the Out of this World collection of stories. I went out the next day and bought the first and second books in the series. Loved em!!! So...ordered the rest from Amazon and loved them as well. A friend bought me Narcissus for christmas. I don't understand why there are so many negative comments about this book. Its fantastic!! We all get so caught up with all the different characters in this series. So what if her characters aren't acting the way YOU want them to!! Its a story...an awesome story. I can't wait for the next one. I wanna know about the vampire that is dating Dolf's son. I wanna see what happens when the representative from the vampire council shows up. Whats up with the power of the Triumverate coming from Jason??...I can't wait to see if she (Anita) finally takes the 4th mark or if she gets out of it yet again. I love the way she is "bonding" with the werelepards. Who cares if she isn't a were...she's doing an awesome job...I love Micah and can't wait to see where that goes. This is a fantastic series and Narcissus is an awesome book. Way to go Laurell!! I look forward to reading more!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Bah, Humbug!
Review: This latest book in the Anita Blake series is a real disappointment. Anita has changed from an independent, strong, slightly prudish character into a confused, clinging, whining, sleezebag. One of the charms of the entire series was Anita being such a strong voice for heroines. Unfortunately, Anita became just another "southern belle" in black leather. She questions herself, she whines about her choices, she makes excuses for discovering sex, she lost her focus, and she ends up bedding every male character in the book. I find myself liking psycho Edward a great deal more than her. Anita has lost herself, and Ms. Hamilton has lost a reader of this particular series.
Rating:
Summary: Laurell K Hamilton blows away the Competition
Review: Reminiscent of her steely character, Anita Blake, Laurell K. Hamilton has blown the competition out of the water and provided a flesh feast of sensuality unrivaled by anyone. I can without a doubt, say that these are the best vamp books I have ever read. I read the whole series in less than two weeks, sacrificing sleep and reading until I was sated, until the wee hours of the morning. Jean-Claude, Master Vampire Extraordinaire is a frothy confection of "sex, blood and majick" and the erogenous tug-of-war between he and Anita sets the pace for the whole series. What is very important for readers to remember is that this latest book is another level of Anita that we have never seen. Throughout each book, we have been taken on a development of her character and finding answers to questions we've had. It is impossible to explore this heroine without understanding why she is so angry-why she fights having someone close to her. It is an exploration into her humanity and that includes sexual experimentation and softness in her character that we had never seen before. She has new powers developing all the time as a Master Necromancer and as she is taken on a discovery of them, so she takes her companions...After all, why did the Vampire Council kill necromancers on site?-because they were dangerous! Anita's metamorphosis into her new non-human self is not nearly complete. Maybe the culmination of this metamorphosis will occur when she, Jean-Claude and Asher meet up with Belle Morte (read Queen Succubus) in the next book. It can only get sexier and bloodier. Will Belle Morte ensnare our delicious "ma petite" Anita-who knows?
This is tricky genre to write and read-but Ms. Hamilton has done an exceptional job of exploring it thoroughly. If you even have the merest hesitation reading these books, throw it aside and indulge, feel it hook you and take you into their world. Narcissus in Chains explodes with ferocity between Jean-Claude, Anita and Richard, and leaves the reader panting for more. I will wait with bated breath until the next book comes out in 2003! (...)
Rating:
Summary: I liked it
Review: For me, it was as good as any of the other books before it. Which is to say they're all really good. I thought it pretty much kept with the over all plot. Some of it was a little weird, like her just jumping in bed with a stanger, but it's all explained. I do have to agree somewhat with whoever said she's getting way too many powers, again, they make sense, but still. Anyway, I'm babbling, I liked it a lot, it one of those books I hated to put down. Who needs to sleep anyway!
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Rating: 
Summary: Getting Worse
Review: The glory of Ms. Hamilton's Anita Blake books is, in my, view the toughness of the central character. She is the terminator, she doesn't give in, she doesn't stop and she never backs down. Added to this are the imaginative plots combining gothic fantasy and detective-noir.
Ms. Hamilton's books have always had a strong element of the erotic. In her earlier books this element was pretty much under control and, indeed, usefully established the "otherness" of the world co-existing with our own. Unfortunately in this book, like her last, this element has been allowed to dominate, resulting in a sado-masochistic farce. Not only is this excess boring in itself but much of it is predictable - there are striking similarities between scenes in the last few books.
A plea from a fan - drop the touchy feely stuff and please return to the hunter-killer mode and the imaginative plot lines.
Rating:
Summary: Still Literary Candy, but Quality is Slipping
Review: I have been a huge fan of Anita since I happened to pick up "Guilty Pleasures" as a random choice way back when. It was great, and I snatched up the sequels as soon as they were on the shelves. Heck, I still anxiously await her new releases, and I read this latest chapter in the Anita Blake saga and enjoyed it.
However...
It's beginning to turn into more of a romance series than sci-fi/fantasy/horror series. I preferred the sex how it was in the first books- just enough to fire up your imagination. "Kiss of Shadows" definitely shocked me with all that sex, especially when her last release was the decidedly horror focused "Obsidian Butterfly". I like the Meredith Gentry series as more of an erotic thing (it just fits with fairies in my mind), but I want the old Anita back.
Rating:
Summary: The Best yet
Review: I loved this book. Ms. Hamilton has a wonderful imagination that will sweep you up into her world. All of her characters are wonderful and full of "life". This is a book that must be read by someone with an open mind and doesn't mind sex and violance.
Rating:
Summary: Narcissus in what?
Review: NIC was a-ok. Not great, but ok. I'm pretty sick of Anita getting all of these goddam powers...and her little "modesty" even though she's, like, sleeping with a kazillion men. Where are Jean-Claude's witty remarks?
Rating:
Summary: Yuck and Yuck again
Review: I miss Anita. I miss her raising the dead, working out with Ronnie, sparring (verbally) with Jean-Claude, fighting danger. This novel goes in a sad strange direction that loses all the fun of the orginal few books. It needs more plot, less sex and more sex appeal. I had to force my way through this book, as I did through OB. Fortunately, I have the earlier books which I still very much enjoy reading over and over, because this is the last in the Anite Blake series I will read.
Rating: 
Summary: Not her best
Review: Is it as bad as some people say? I would only recommend this book for people who are very devoted to the series. It is definitely not the first book that should be read otherwise, the lack of action and assumptions of previous knowledge become very troublesome. The book is devoted to the romance aspects of the Anita Blake series and has very little of the crime/mystery aspect which will disappoint some people. Unless you know the previous emotional roller coaster of the previous books 7/8 of this book is just so much unintelligible schlock. If you do know the previous books then it is not too bad. I can agree with one reviewer who states that the book seems very focused on genitalia and sexuality, but you don't read these books for Puritan values nor without expectations of some heavy sexual scenes. There is still startling images of gore/vioence that the series is known for but what is sadly missing though, is alot of the humor that suffused previous works. Definitely not her best. Some readers may not enjoy the fact that Anita departs from her earlier self and becomes more monstrous, but this has been a development through the series so it is not a great surprise though the level maybe startling. If you are new to the series read the earlier books while this book is for the devoted fan of the series who want to know the course of her romantic life.
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