Rating: 
Summary: Seriously disappointing.
Review: This third book in the Anita Blake series was a major disappointment after the first installment, "Guilty Pleasures".Admittedly, the character of Anita is still enjoyable to watch in action, and the writing style, first-person narrative from her perspective, is still enjoyable. But for one thing, the quality of the writing wasn't nearly as good as it was in the first book; I found as many sloppy errors in this book as I've come to expect in a mass-market paperback; this, after finding NONE in the first book. For another thing, there were numerous flaws in plot continuity; what ever happened to Edward's contract on the Master Vampire of the city, that suddenly, he's fighting with Anita on Jean-Claude's side, no questions asked? Was this just a case of Edward showing faith in Anita's judgement, and he'll get back to that later on? We're never given a clue. But the biggest problem I have with the plot is the concept of the super-master vampire, so old he's not even of homo sapiens stock; if a 1000 year old vampire is notably more powerful than a 500 year old, then a million-year-old vampire does NOT need any help from Anita to find and kill Jean Claude. He automatically knows the name, address, and zip code of every vampire on the continent. Nor can he be killed as easily as all that; if he can be killed at all, it ought to be at the end of an epic struggle. Further, if he CAN be killed that easily, he HAS to be smart enough not to put himself in that position; if he wasn't brighter than that, he'd have died about 985,000 years ago. At least. The book's fun, but not particularly good. A shame; I hope the rest of the series more closely resembles the first.
Rating: 
Summary: Jean Claude is Master of the City, but for how long
Review: Jean Claude is having problems in his new position as Master of the City. He has hidden his powers for so long that the local vampire population is underestimating him. Weakness also attracts stonger predators and some very old vampires are coming to take over his city. It would help if his putative human servant would be more cooperative. Anita Blake is noone's servant and isn't shy about telling Jean Claude. Another vampire might see this as a challenge and an opportunity to take even more of the Master's power. Will Anita help him consolidate his powers or destroy him? Ms. Hamilton has written an incredibly gripping story here. I read it in one sitting. The series is progressing nicely and the new characters add much to the story line. Great series.
Rating:
Summary: Not the strongest of the lot
Review: This go around Jean-Claude is being challenged by a centuries, perhaps millenium old vampire. Ok, this is where Ms. Hamilton has her biggest problem. Could a toddler kick an adults [rear]? I think not. Ms. Hamilton unfortunately uses action movie cliches----the villain must die for the battle to be won. She's losing the profit of a Rogue's Gallery that represernt a serious threat to Anita, Jean-Claude, Richard and their assorted friends and minions. If someone shows up in an Anita Blake book as a villain, you know a few things. They die, she probably shoots them and they aren't ever on the line of a true villain. I mean the line of morality. Though Anita often worries about morality and spiritually, her world is too black and white. Win or lose. Good and evil. What these books need is a reason to keep going back, threats lurking around corners, and possibilities that in a new world where such mythology and lore is commonplace, the old morals don't mean as much. Anita attacks her personal decisions which put her between a sociopath and a prude, which don't mesh but rarely are we given a perspective on this world that is being created. There is constant mention of a Federal Act to announce vampires as "real" and give them full rights. But if they're walking and talking are they truly dead? There seems to be the underlying push of fundamentalism religion challenging the vampires and Anita but it's an argument that doesn't hold water. In order for it to do so, there should be more intimate knowledge of a world perspective on this. Who's president in Anita's world? What does the government think of all of these superhumans running around. Ms. Hamilton foreshadows often but doesn't deliver real answers on this partially because of my stated problem with Anita Blake novels. The first person POV. This kind of widespread mayhem needs to be shown popping up on plenty of radar screens in teh media, government and so on in this world. The story shows all of these people but rarely does it show how they're actions ripple outside of Anita's sphere. At the end of this novel, it becomes a comic super team fight between Anita's folks and the villains. I'm not saying they can't win, I'm simply saying that if someone has been alive thousands of years and has powers untold from being a vampire, would a bullet really do anything to him, a stake of wood. Unfortunately none of these long lived people are imbued with wisdom which is what so many years would bring. And their motives are so out of line with someone of advanced years that it makes you wonder, the throwing around of teh age of a vampire, does it mean anything. It's suppose to be impressive but if a twentysomething Anita can kill them so easily are they really all that tough? I would like to see Anita and pals measured against others yes, but the others, villains or whatever have to be taken as seriously as the protagonists for their danger to mean anything. This book is good as another brick in the wall, but its one fo the weaker bricks.
Rating:
Summary: once again, she shoots she scores!
Review: i cant say enough about how much the anita blake series kicks bottom! you must start and read them all
Rating:
Summary: Anita Again
Review: Hamilton has once again done an excelent job balancing character development with action and of course a plot (always a good idea for a work of fiction)... This was the first Anita Blake book I read after picking it randomly off the shelves of my local [book store], and now I've been eating up her books like chocolate. I think my favorite part of Anita is the way I can relate to her so well insofar as personality and physique are concerned. Definitely worth the money and the wait to buy her books!
Rating: 
Summary: Enough with the lace!!!
Review: I really like this series because it is about the paranormal, and features a very strong female character. My one problem with this series is the character of Jean-Claude, or rather, with the way Hamilton always chooses to dress him. He is almost always wearing lace and see-through shirts. That's just a little too effeminate for me. And there are way too many descriptions of his nipples. Sorry, but I am just not a nipple girl. I think Anita should forget Jean-Claude and go for Richard or Edward.
Rating:
Summary: Vampire? Werewolf? How DOES a girl choose?
Review: In this third book of the series, Anita Blake is getting stronger as a woman/character. In Circus we see tons of action concerning a giant cobra, a rogue vamp named Alejandro who wants Anita for all the wrong reasons, and of course Jean-Claude who is STILL trying to get her into his bed but at the very least he wants her as his human servant. Anita finds herself, and her "friend" Edward, in a battle for thier lifes, in this book, along with a few new vamps and weres. Will she live? Well now.. thats a silly question! We are talking about Anita here!! Oh.. Did I mention Richard? Hes the new man in Anitas life. She thinks hes human at first but then the jealous Jean-Claude spills the beans about him being the runner up for Ulfric, King of the Werewolfs, in the city. And we cant forget Larry. Hes Anitas new "sidekick" and she is teaching him the ropes but he is kindof nervous about all the killing and zombie stuff that takes place around Anita. We shall see! :)
Rating:
Summary: not bad at all
Review: this is a great book... i think, even better than the laughing corpse, since the plot is believable and relevant to the whole story. bad news #1:
this time it's a group of rogue vampires that is making a big, red, bloody splash around st. louis... and it's up to spook squad and anita to solve the crimes bad news #2:
AND it directly involves jean-claude. not good... considering that anita is trying her best to avoid seeing him at all cost. silly girl if you ask me. and she's adamant not to be the human servant of jean-claude. bad news #3:
*somebody* else is planning to do away with jean-claude - and wants anita to be *his* human servant instead! complications #1:
mr. oliver - a very, very and i mean *very* powerful vampire, has his own perverse agendas... complications #2:
a new love interest in the form of richard zeeman ... yummy? yes... problem free? no. just how blind can the girl possibly be? very, judging by the way the story goes... add in a couple of angry human mob, a freaking giant of a cobra, a possibly feral vampire and a vampire coup in-the-making, and you get the gist of what circus of the damned has to offer. personally, i find that this is a rather trying read. not so much because of the plot, which is excellent, but the way anita dances around the subject of jean-claude. hell, she knows that she can't resist him - at all - and she's trying to confuse the issue with richard. i think in this particular novel, we can see how she won't admit that there's more than just lust between jean-claude and her... but noooo... she had to be real obstuse about it all. other than her vacillations, the plot is tightly executed and the characters well developed. although i think to a certain extend the baddies are quite cliched stereotypes of hell-bent-world-dominating types... not really original if you ask me. as usual the writing's not that evenly paced. a bit slow in th beginning and only interesting about half the way through the book... geez, i seem to say this in every book of hers (lkh) that i've read... and the spook squad? you just gotta love them! all in all this is a good read, i think mucho better than lunatic cafe... but please read the previous books so that you'll be able to appreciate this book better.
Rating:
Summary: Anita's Back...and in trouble again!
Review: This time there's another vampire out to make her his human slave. If that's not enough, the oldest vampire wants something from her. Add in snakes and werewolves and you get another Anita Blake story that will keep you flipping pages until it's done!
Rating:
Summary: A Thrill a minute!
Review: Anita is getting better and better. This is exciting reading but if you do not like snakes, look elsewhere. They even grossed Anita out. This is a 'cannot put down' book. Her relationship with Jean-Claude has reached a sticky point, and she is getting closer to Richard in this book. Edward is a great character and his and Anita's interaction is so cool. On to the next!
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