Narcissus in Chains

Rating:
Summary: Way better than Obsidian Butterfly
Review: The reason that I gave only **** stars is because I felt like I was getting a lesson on how to get a gun permit. The reasons that this book in my eyes is a good read are that it's fast paced, exciting and for now we are finally rid of the ever boring Richard.

Rating:
Summary: "Grow With Me"
Review: Beauty is in the eye of the beholder..... yes this book represents a change in Anita and her day to day personality/lifestyle- yes it has several hot scenes- but this book continues Anita's evolution. I was left wanting to read the next book right away- the books are such a moment in time --I find myself losing track of time in the book only to reach the end and realize a mere week or month has passed in Anita's life. I am dissatisfied wanting more right away-- but isn't that what a good, engaging book does?



Rating:
Summary: Much better than Obsidian Butterfly, but a bit disappointing
Review: I love Anita Blake but was bitterly disappointed in Obsidian Butterfly. "NIC" is a vast improvement but still has some disappointments....Richard returns (groan) with still more of his whinings (how the heck does he stay pack leader when he's such a wuss?), and the ardeur becomes a bore with more bedhopping. Anita is becoming a helpess nympho! Still she does return to her detective work and sinks her teeth in yet another mystery involving preternatural murders and meets a new pard of wereleopards, including Nimir-Raj Micah who is at least more interesting than Richard. The novel ends with an epic battle that's much more to fans of the first trilogy. Recommend for Anita Blake fans but let's hope Ms. Hamilton gets Anita back to her roots in future books.

Rating:
Summary: Great work, as usual, but...
Review: I LOVE the Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series. Laurell has such a creative imagination and with her descriptive story telling, the books seem to play out like movies in the reader's mind. Especially for someone with an over-active imagination like myself.

Narcissus in Chains is definitely a good read. Steamy . . . . no, boiling, fast paced, in your face and edge of your seat.

Anita has ended up being the reluctant Nimir-Ra, leopard queen, of a small pard of wereleopards, who are suddenly lost, thanks to Anita, without their cruel but oh-so-important leader. Nathanial, the weakest of them all, is a severely submissive character who craves a dominant in all things. He winds up at a club (Narcissus in Chains, run by a werehyena) at the mercy of some critters who just don't seem to know how to play nice. Her love life takes a nose-dive and an up-swing almost at the same time as she re-acclimates back into her life only to find that everything has fallen apart while she was away trying to put herself back togeather.

Anita rides in to Nathanial's rescue, and nearly gets herself killed in the process. What was supposed to be a simple "retrieve and leave" operation turns messy and complicated as it always does with dear Anita. Richard shows his true colors in this book as new characters are intodued, some nifty new powers appear for Anita, (thanks to a little help from the Master of the City: Jean-Claude and the marks that bind the three of them) and trouble finds its way into the city, yet again.

As hard as the book was to put down, little things drove me nuts. I'm no English Professor or anything, my spelling stinks and my punctuation is rusty but, really... Details, details... Misplaced period or two, confusing sentences and I think that some of the dialog was inacurately linked to the characters. (Something along the lines of a three person conversation and action scene. Someone screams, "Nooo!!" as something breaks but it's hard to say what or why THAT character said "Nooo!".) Just little details that the editor apparently missed.

Normally, Hamilton is so good at covering everything in her books. (Except for maybe the time Anita drove her car after totaling it and before getting the rental car. Go figure.) It seems, though, in Narcissus in Chains, she may have gotten a little carried away with the steamy plot-line and the lightning fast action and forgot a few things.

Over all, I highly recommmend the book to any Anita Blake or Laurell K. Hamilton fans. Also, as always, Hamilton is such a thorough author(most of the time) that one can come in at any place in the series and still get a brief overview and fairly good idea of what has gone on the the world of Ms. Blake prior to that particular book.