Obsidian Butterfly

Rating:
Summary: Very different... very impressive
Review: As someone who's practically speed-read the previous eight Anita books over the last month or two, (all excellent b.t.w.) I wasn't sure what to expect about a story that shifts our heroine away from all (okay, most) of her friends and cohorts. I was pleasantly surprised though about how well the book worked, without having 'hairy boy scout' or 'dropped dead gorgeous' popping up in every other chapter to distract Anita from the job at hand. It was also fascinating to see what lay behind the mysterious 'Edward', I wonder how long Laurell K's been building up that storyline. A well thought out story, a plot that kept me glued to the pages, and a possible returnee nasty type. And whilst on the subject, what is it about Anita that seems to make every nutcase and freaky monster type obsessed with her? (Necromancer side-effect perhaps) Whatever it is, it must be catching... Keep writing Laurell, I'll keep reading.

Rating:
Summary: 'til Death do us part
Review: As soon as I found out what this book was about, or rather WHO it was about, I had to read it. Twice. It was so satistfying. To hell with Richard and Jean-Claude, Edward is the sexiest fella in this series. Finally I get some answers about him, and his life is wilder than I could ever have imagined! This book brings together all the elements that I love most in this series: Anita's tougher-than-nails additude, which she fully deserves, Edward's sexy sociopathic anti-personality, with new depth, and incredible other-worldly monsters bent on wreaking havoc, killing humans, and in general making life unpleasant. I love Hamilton's wit and humor. I love the quick plots and I so enjoy the action! It's such a thrill, it gives me goosebumps. This is the book I've been waiting for from her. The series is great, and this is the pinnacle so far. I don't quite understand why that title, and not something more central to the book. Why not "'til Death do us part"?

Rating:
Summary: Lots and Lots of Edward!
Review: The change of scenery, if not quite a change of pace for Anita Blake, is a great contrast to the first seven books, all set in St. Louis. I missed some of the minor characters, Dolph, Jason, the wereleopards, and especially Asher, but I didn't miss "the boys" at all. I think that Anita really needed this break from her vampire and werewolf lovers. Jean Claude has been with her from the beginning, and Richard came along not long after, so it's really great to get a chance to get to know Anita away from the stress of trying to choose between the two of them.

And the glimpse into Edward's "Ted Forster" alter ego was well-worth the elevated violence and gore. Seeing Edward, the man the Vamps call "Death" even has a girlfriend with kids and dogs! That might just be the scariest of all.

The vamp club is same-old-same-old. I would've liked more details about the obsessed Professor Dallas, and about Obsiadian Butterfly herself. A vamp who lies to herself?

All in all, this is a great book, and a good break from most of the patterns that any author can fall inot in a nine-book series. Keep 'em comin'!!

Rating:
Summary: Obsidian Butterfly
Review: I found Laurell K. Hamilton' latest novel impressive and enthralling. The story unfolded well, and though many of the character's I have come to know over the series are not present it didn't detract from my enjoyment. Without the romance between John Claude and Richard, Anita was allowed a little time to stand on her own and really look at her relationships with these men. Who are equally appealing for their own reasons. The development of Edward was quite interesting and getting a peek at the mortal monster's background and life was just what I always wanted to see. I expected some type of romance, but what evolved was surprising. The story is enjoyable and I expect to see the obsidian butterfly later on in the series. Anita as always is a compelling character. This time she deals with a lot more than romance and being the executioner, she comes up against death.

Rating:
Summary: The Low Down on Obsidian Butterfly -Justin Anders (I'm 16!!)
Review: I have been a faithful reader of Laurel K. Hamilton. In all of her books my favorite chararcter was a sociapathic hitman known only as "Edward". Allthough he has very mysterous personality, this book gives you a look into his life. In this book I am rather glad that LKH didn't include that much sexual content. I thought that they really brought the other books down. This book really sparked my interest again after the not so great books before it. Though LKH has been my favoruite author for over 3 years. OB has all the great action packed gun fighting throat tearing, and body dismemberment that all LKH readers love. I am now labeling this book as a must read for any LKH reader. If you have not read the first 8 books you probably wont understand the gyst of OB, so if you are thinking of reading this and other books by LKH then start at the beginning book and work your way up through the series. As for OB I give it 2 thumbs up!!! A must read!!!

Rating:
Summary: sometimes it works
Review: I'm an on-again, off-again fan of the Anita Blake novels. Sometimes the contents are just a little too bizarre, other times the plot and characters appeal. Lately the novels have been not so appealing. Angst over Jean Claude, who is manipulative; angst over Richard, the boy scout who can't get over his own monster-ness, blah, blah, blah.

Although rather gory, "Obsidian Butterfly" is probably the best Anita Blake I've read since "Guilty Pleasures". The straight mystery/magic/horror was very well done, I thought. A little "woe is me" about AB's tendency toward violence, but not enough to side track the novel.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding as a stand-alone!
Review: Know what? This was my FIRST Anita Blake book. And I was blown away. For years, people had been recommending these books to me, and I thought, "I did the Anne Rice thing years ago"...besides, the old book covers were cheesy sci-fi trash.

But within just a few pages, I knew I was done for. Read this straight through in a couple of days. As my first, Hamilton/Anita book, I was just fine with the fact that Jean-Claude and Richard were nowhere to be found. Kept me interested for the entire almost-600 pages, in a "Anne Rice meets Andrew Vachss" kind of way.

Then I promptly ordered the first 8 books, and I can see what the longtime LKH fans are upset about in their reviews below, with the absence of our favorite vamp and werewolf. But my recommendation is, if you have NEVER read an Anita Blake book before, try starting with this one! You won't be disappointed. Heck, once I started reading the other ones, I was disappointed that they were about half the length of Obsidian Butterfly.

Rating:
Summary: not the best in the series...
Review: I found this a rather frustrating book to read. It's not because the central idea of the story was bad, but because of the over-elaborate descriptions the author is using in every scene.

The early books in this series were essentially mystery novels - now they are pyschoanalysis and soft porn. This must be one of the few novels I've read where it can take a whole chapter for the author to write about getting out of an airport and into a car and another whole chapter to get out of the car into the house. Every single utterance in between is of earth shaking significance (or so you would be lead to believe).

The characters surrounding Anita keep telling her the violence is too much, to get out of it and settle down. I have to agree - at this point even reading it is burning me out.

On the up side, it was interesting to have Edward aka Ted fleshed out and to see how Anita works outside St Louis (a mixed bag). It bring the focus back on Anita which I think is important. However, having said this, I've also come to the conclusion that this is NOT a book I'd read again, and the whole series has just become too stung out for me now and I don't think I'll be reading anymore.

It's not a terrible novel, but it's not really inspiring either.

Rating:
Summary: Anita and Ted's excellent adventure
Review: Those who have been following the series will recall that a while back, Anita shot Edward's assistant, Harley, in an emergency. Edward demanded that as reparation, the next time he needed help on a job, Anita back him up. In this volume, Edward calls in that debt. Since Anita wants to get out of town anyway - she's trying hard to avoid Richard, jean-Claude, werewolves and other werefolk in general, and emotions in general - she doesn't argue too much before flying off to assist Edward. When she gets there, she discovers that Edward not only has a life as "Ted Forrester," but that he is - gasp - engaged! Anita doesn't believe in heartless killers putting family members in danger, so a large chunk of the book is Anita's efforts to pry "Ted" away from his personal life so as not to risk his fiancee and her two children. This doesn't work - and the two children wind up at considerable risk.

Besides Edward, there are two other of Edward's assistants involved in this book - unusual people, both of them. Bernardo Spotted-Horse is merely sexy and amoral; Otto/Olaf is another matter entirely, another of those characters who is meant to make us question what claim humans have to being the good guys. An ill-tempered religious-nut cop interferes with Anita's and Edward's efforts, telling her to her face that "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." Anita has no particular success in pointing out to him that she's a practicing Christian. On the other hand, the staties and feds are mainly good guys, including Agent Bradford, who we've met before in other volumes.

Warning, spoiler! Do not read this paragraph if you don't want to know anything about the ending! OK, Obsidian Butterfly, Aztec vampire and owner of the nightclub of the same name, is NOT the villain; while we might flinch at her claims to be a goddess, she is not the murderer of the book.

For those wondering about the whole series, some background information. Those who already know that they like vampire novels, anything at all that features a vampire, can skip this review, and likewise, those who hate the whole idea of vampires can skip it. But for those trying to decide whether or not to read more of this genre, or whether the one vampire novel you've already read was a fluke, it may help to have some ways to categorize these novels. Thus: BunRab's Standard Vampire Classification Guide. First, most authors of vampire novels approach from one of the main genres of genre fiction; thus their background may be primarily in romance, or in science fiction/fantasy, or in murder mysteries, or in horror. Second, many vampire novels come in series; knowing whether this is one of a series, and where in the series it falls, may be helpful. Then we have some particular characteristics: Are there continuing characters besides the vampire, through the series? - Are there other types of supernatural beings? - Does the vampire have a few other supernatural characteristics, many other supernatural characteristics, or none other than just being a vampire? (E.g., super strength, change into an animal, turn invisible) - Does the vampire have a regular job and place in society, or is being a vampire his or her entire raison d'etre? - Does the vampire literally drink blood, or is there some other (perhaps metaphorical) method of feeding? - Is sex a major plot element, a minor plot element, or nonexistent? - Does the story have elements of humor, or is it strictly serious? - Is the writing style good, or is the writing just there to manage to hold together the plot and characters?

This particular series is best read in order. If you read one out of order first, you'll want to go back and start from the beginning - the first volume is _Guilty Pleasures_. There's a large cast of continuing characters - Anita Blake, who is NOT a vampire, she's a zombie animator and vampire executioner. The other characters in the series include the police on the Regional Preternatural Investigation Team, who are reasonably good guys - although the series also finds plenty of incompetent and/or corrupt cops along the way. Most of the vampire characters are involved in the entertainment biz - owning, working in, nightclubs. St. Louis in this universe has a very kinky nightclub district! The vampires have not only super strength and speed, but the power to cloud men's minds, and other powers that pop up unexpectedly and that differ from vampire to vampire. We have plenty of other supernatural characters: werewolves, wereleopards, wererats, and for all I know, werewombats; witches and voodoo priestesses, ghouls and zombies and ghosts. In other words, magic of all kinds. And most of them are Not Very Nice. Anita deals with them through a combination of violence and wisecracks; there is a strong dose of sarcasm and irony that runs through the books, and while the plots are serious, violent, and bloody, there are also funny moments; the characters have senses of humor, even some of the vampires!

Rating:
Summary: My Favorite of the 9 Books!
Review: I have read all of the Anita Blake vampire novels and have enjoyed this one the most. The suspense and storyline were beyond excellent. It was also cool to learn more about Edward. I didn't really like the softening of his charecter though. This book also provides you with a break from Anita's rather complex sex life. Since there are really good summarys of this book already I won't write one. Also though I don't understand why everyone dislikes Richard so much. Yeah he was a bleedig heart at first, but he's getting better. But I do agree with some other reviewers, Jean Claude is pretty ... sexy!