Rating: 
Summary: Hot, sexy, I didn't realize how much I missed Anita Blake
Review: I just finished reading Narrcissus, the 10 th book in this series, and it had me from page one. I love these books. I am ready for the next one. When I discovered Laurell K. Hamilton ( on a methadone list from another author)there were already 7 books in the series. I read them one after the other, and passed them on to friends and family...everyone loved them. This book takes Anita back to St. Louis, back to her men Jean Claude and Richard, and also introduces her to a new lover (a Nimir-raj were leopard) Micah. I must say that the story line was wonderful as usual...but this was the first of Ms. Hamiltons books that actually had me having....well...very...dreams after reading it! Anita is growing up, and accepting who and what she is in life. She raises the dead for a living (allthough shes on vacation in this one) boyfriend a. a Master Vampire boyfreind b. an Alpha Werewolf And new boyfriend c. a Nimir-rag Were leopard . Theres so much to tell, I don't want to give it away. I'll just say this woman has a very busy life just trying to deal with the powers that her(triminutive) bind with a. and b. have brought her, let alone being Nimir-rag and taking care of her pard of were leopards, being master to a lone vampire, being lupa to the were wolves, and taking in and or helping any were animals that need her. If you want a great...can't put it down series, read this one, they just keep getting better... Hope to here from Anita and her gang again...VERY SOON
Rating: 
Summary: Ick! I need a bath...
Review: As a long-time Anita Blake fan I've hung in while this series has headed down-hill and with Narcissus in Chains I think Hamilton has finally hit rock bottom (if she has, then the only place to go is up, right?) We can only hope. I've felt the quality of the entire series has degenerated, not because I didn't like Jean Claude, or didn't like Richard, but because the foundations of the series have eroded. Like plot. This entry has zero plot. Admittedly the previous books tended to rely on the formula of Anita and/or her friends, allies, lovers, etc. being threatend and Anita saving the day, but it was something. I also am tired of the endless and boring descriptions of clothing and personal appearance which more and more take the place of solid character development. I remember previous characters more by their penchant for short-shorts then whether they've contributed anything meaningful to the story.I was also bothered by the endless and pointless sex. The Anita Blake series has always been highly sexual but when barely three pages go by and Anita is naked or having sex with a complete stranger it just gets old. I'm fine with it if it advances the plot or adds to the character's development or relantionship but this seemed like overkill. Filler in place of any real action or plot development. I was also bothered by the use of repetitive descriptions and phrases such as "our beasts rolled through each other" and frankly I thought there were several scenes borrowed from her Meredith Gentry series. The healing hand of flesh - or tongue if you will, makes a cross-over appearance. It all smacks of lazy writing on her part and I think her fans deserve a better effort. In closing I won't say there wasn't anything good about the book. Anita seems to have grown up a little bit, knows herself and has come to terms with a lot of things that had been bothering her. I enjoyed her character more since she seems to have left the whiney, self-pitying Anita behind. I was also glad to see the whole Richard issue finally resolved and there were some tender moments with Anita showing her softer side that worked well. I wished that Dolph's wife had called Anita, I want to read about that conversation. I wished Edward had shown up since any book without Edward in it is a little less interesting. I wished it had been a book worth reading. Hopefully now that some lingering issues have been cleared up and the weakest book written the series is ready to get going again, full speeed ahead, with non-stop action, a wise-cracking Anita and more bad guys around the corner to slay.
Rating: 
Summary: ,,,deleted my original review
Review: A disappointing mess of an entry in a series that absorbed and amazed me for many books. I'll leave it at that, since so many one star reviews of this book are vanishing.
Rating:
Summary: Anita's Self Discovery
Review: For those who like heavy plot and are looking for a great mystery, this book may not be for you. But to those Anita fans who have been waiting for her to accept her role as "one of the monsters," this is exactly what you've been waiting for. Read and enjoy. I know that I did.
Rating: 
Summary: Narcissus in Chains a hard read.
Review: I was dreading reading the latest installment of the Anita Blake series. I had begun to dislike the direction that the heroine was taking. But I read it anyway, and it has left a sour taste in my mouth. Anita Blake has become unrecognizable from the women I first read about in Guilty Pleasures. I Know about character evolvement, but this is unbelievable. Anita Blake former animator and vampire executioner, has become Anita Blake human servant, lupa, bolverk, Nimir Ra, Necromancer, and the savior of all Lycanthrope and Vampire kind. No wonder Richard no longer wanted her. She has become more of a monster than anyone else in the series. And the ardeur has turned a former celibate woman into a complete Whore. After a few chapters I literally had to force my self to continue reading, the main mystery storyline was good it was all the extra things that I couldn't stand. For example *Know it all Anita, Micah, ardeur, Pomme de Sang*. I will never waste another... dollar on another LKH book.
Rating:
Summary: This book is worth many reads...
Review: I have read all the books in the series and watched Anita grow from a charcter that wanted to kill vampires and raise the dead to one not just raising the dead, but becoming part of them, hince the relationship with the vampire. It would be hard for me to choose between two well written characters like Richard and Jean Claude. I know what she is going through. Anita went away in book #9 (Obsedian Butterfly) to find herself. I think she is a smart character and will decide in the end who she wants or what she wants. I personally want to see her with Nathaniel. Give the book a chance. Read the others then read this one. You will see how Anita has grown and that she needs to grow. Who wants to raise the dead all the time anyway...that is just boring!!!
Rating:
Summary: Character Building . . . ?
Review: In what universe? The characters, even Anita, were flat and barely recognizable. The first few chapters of the book were great, until Anita woke up in bed with a couple of strange wereleopards. After that, I had to force myself to finish the book. I've read the other books, especially Burnt Offerings and Blue Moon, to pieces. Yet this one sits on my shelf, collecting dust. What happened to the humor? The mystery? The action? If I wanted sex, I would have bought erotica. Don't waste your money.
Rating:
Summary: only worthwhile for keeping up with the characters.
Review: This is the worst book in the series. I would like to see the tone get back more to the previous books. I would also like to see less sex and obsession with the size of the characters penis. The awesome power that Anita has now is another problem I liked it more when she was just a normal women who triumphed on the strength of her will and her intelligence. NIC seems to spend all its time on who Anita is going to bed with next and leaves very little left over for plot or storytelling, the main bad guy seems almost an afterthought thrown in with no real purpose . The only good thing about the whole book is that Anita may have finally gotten rid of Richard, I can't stand Richard .
Rating:
Summary: A good read - if you like soft porn!
Review: The Anita Blake series has always had a tendency to be more about the characters than the plots. This in itself has never been a bad thing as the characters are well-drawn and the triangle between Anita, Richard and Jean-Claude is a fasincating one. However, in previous books the plots have still been strong and present. Not so in Narcissus in Chains. This time the plot is extremely thin and becomes totally subservient to the lusts of the main character. The majority of the book is spent with Anita agonising about sex and what is happening to her, punctuated by "brief" sexual antics - which (noticeably) have become more detailed as the series has prgressed (Obsidian Butterfly being the notable and welcome example). Hamilton returns to the plot with 70 pages to go, and then rushes through it, removing what could have been some major scenes from the book and covering them instead as an aside in the Epilogue. Did I enjoy it? Yes. Is it her best book? Far from it. I hope that the next one reads more as a book, and less as a series of Hamiltons erotic fantasies.
Rating:
Summary: Best yet
Review: This one is the best of the series. The varied and sometimes muddled storylines all came together in this book. Plots that were confusing became clear. Richard was dealt with. Anita comes to term with what she is. Jean-Claude's character is developed in greater depth. Some of the other reviews mention the sex(a lot)but all the other books lead up to it. It's not easy to explain why I didn't find the sex objectionable, but it just went with the story and the characters. Also, I found the toned down blood, guts, gore, torture, mayhem and murder to be a nice change of pace.
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