Laughing Corpse, The: Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter 2

Rating:
Summary: "The Laughing Corpse" - Another Anita Blake Winner!
Review: "I am an Animator. I am the Executioner. But now I know I'm something else. The one thing my Grandmother Flores feared most. I am a necromancer. The dead are my specialty." Thus speaks Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter and raiser of zombies, who has just updated her resume to reflect her new skills.

Ms. Blake, is a feisty, attractive and independent 21st century lady who is as good at raising the dead as she is at slaying the undead. A wealthy industrialist, with ties to organized crime, offers her over one million dollars to bring a centuries-old corpse back to life. She refuses, as she would have to use a human sacrifice to raise these ancient bones - and she will not commit murder. Meanwhile, the head of the police's Regional Preternatural Investigation Team, with whom Anita has a contract, is trying to contact her. It seems a zombie has gone berserk and is slaughtering people all over St. Louis. Fearing the grisly murders will continue, she is on the case immediately, questioning the likes of Dominga Salvador, an evil priestess of vaudun who would like to go into business with the powerful Anita, or else, kill her...slowly, if she refuses the offer. Also on the interrogation list are Wanda, a disabled prostitute in a wheelchair, and former lover of the above mentioned industrialist; John Burke, New Orleans Animator, in St. Louis for his brother's funeral, (another zombie victim); and Luther, the bartender at "Dead Dave's" - a hangout for vampires and vamp freaks. The charismatic Jean-Claude, now Master Vampire of St. Louis, who has a crush on Anita and expectations that she will become his human servant, accompanies her to the more dangerous areas of the city as a sort of body guard. He is, however, more dangerous, by far, than anyone/anything who would ever approach her on the mean streets. Jean Claude, is also the successful owner of the vampire strip club, "Guilty Pleasures," and the comedy club, "The Laughing Corpse."

This is the second book in Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series, and even more action packed than the first. It is not necessary to read book one, "Guilty Pleasures, to enjoy this novel. It stands on its own very well. Ms. Hamilton is an excellent writer who mixes fantasy, mystery, romance and dark humor with lots of flair. Her take on this derivative genre is a most unusual one. The mystery is at the fore of her novels and the supernatural takes second place - it's almost taken for granted as part of Anita Blake's natural world. And Ms. Blake is a delight - witty, savvy and hard-boiled, as in tough. I am really looking forward to reading more of this series. The novels are a real find!
JANA

Rating:
Summary: Getting a little better
Review: I felt that this installment in the series was slightly better than Guilty Pleasures, but I must admit that Ms. Hamilton still has a way to go in developing her writing skills.

This novel didn't suffer from the total lack of explanation that I found in Guilty Pleasures, but it still seemed that explanatory prose was used in some odd ways. Pages were spent describing gruesome crime scenes, and in tedious arguments with the Master vampire of the city, yet almost no space was spared for real character development or to further the plot.

Again, the killer is revealed suddenly and (**mild spoilers**) turns out to be something that makes sense in this created world, but that the reader could not possibly have guessed. Ms. Hamilton seems, at times, to be making things up as she goes along. Of course any writer is, by definition, making things up as they go along. The trick is that it shouldn't seem that way. This book, however, introduces rules of internal logic as they are convenient to the story so that one gets the impression that the rule was created to get the writer out of a corner.

All-in-all, this is a very good concept with a fairly shaky execution. Not terrible, but not excellent either. I recommend this novel for those who are interested in reading the whole series, and for those looking for ideas for writing, roleplaying, etc. Otherwise, only hard-core fans of the author or the genre need apply. Bearing the above in mind, you should still be able to have fun.

Rating:
Summary: The series is growing on me...
Review: I have read the first three books in the series, and I am working on the fourth. That said, I am starting to think that the first two books are almost introductions to the real meat of the series. Book three is much more plot driven than the first two, but that isn't a bad thing.

The Laughing Corpse has more than a few twists and turns, although while none is particularly unique they are certainly interesting. What I enjoyed the most was Anita's interaction with Jean Claude, the Master of the City. There were a few minor characters that were well written as well, most notably Wanda, a handicapped prostitute that figures prominantly in Anita's triumph at the end of the book.

A solid second novel in the series.

Rating:
Summary: A waste of precious reading time
Review: I picked up this, thinking that it was going to be at least half as decent as everyone said it is. I was bitterly disappointed. Not only is the style of Hamilton's writing irritating and medicore, it is horrible. I found all of Hamilton's characters annoying and fake, besides that she had way to many "main" characters.

The storyline was awful and did not flow well. A complete and total waste of time. Read something else. ANYTHING else!! This is terrible.

Thank you!
~Atalanta

Rating:
Summary: Oh my
Review: I really like this author. She has a way of describing things right down to the nitty gritty. She can give you a real sense of being right there and seeing, smelling, feeling and tasting whatever is going on. She is one of the best authors I have read in a while. The only reason that I gave this book four stars is because of the GORE!! I read the first book in this series and didn't think it was that bad....but this one....OH MY! I am not a sensitive person....at least I thought I wasn't....so all I can tell you is if you want nightmares read this book. The author is good, the story is good....but I could of kind of done without the gore. This book gave me nightmares.

Rating:
Summary: Ms. Hamilton Did Great with This One
Review: I thought Guilty Pleasures was great, but The Laughing Corpse is better. I knew Anita Blake was powerful, but I didn't know she was this powerful. It was breathtaking. I read this book in one night. I was just unable to put it down. I was at the edge of my bed, so excited. It made me run and get the next book right away.

Rating:
Summary: The hook was a long time coming.
Review: It took me a while to find something to like about the character Anita Blake. She was dogmatic, critical, and annoying. I was beginning to wonder who had the worst attitude--Anita, her creator, or me? However, having a friend who is a fan of the series and having already spent the seven bucks, I pushed forward. Several chapters into the book, she finally said something nice about someone. After that, the book actually got better and for a long while, I was able to forget how annoying she was with her whole I-hate-dead-people 'tude and obsessions with guns and God. I have to admit, the book is a bit misleading. You buy this book with a sexy cover, and there isn't a single love scene in it. Part of what kept me going through the annoying part was the hope of at least a decent love scene in there somewhere that had better pay off at some point, and I was sorely disappointed. In fact, there's no romance. The master vampire tries to romance her, but she's a cold fish since she has a hang-up with dead people. Anyway, if you can get past the attitude, which is annoying as hell, this book is actually better than the first one.

Now that I've been brutally honest, I'll tell what I liked about the book. There is more explanation about what/who Anita is, her powers, etc., that the first book did not explain. The bad guys are sufficiently bad and intimidating. When the plot got going and character Anita had less time to make any insightful observations, I found her much more pleasant to read.

Rating:
Summary: Not as good as the first
Review: Overall, this is a good book. The plot was interesting, the characters were well rounded and the story moved quickly. The only problem I had with it was Anita. It's strange to like a book, but dislike the main character, but it happens. I felt that Hamilton tried to hard to make Anita be a touch chick. At times, Anita would stupidly anger the wrong people for no reason. As a result, those people would want to kill her and I honestly couldn't blame them.

I will probably keep reading this series, but I hope that Hamilton eases up on the touch girl attitude.

Rating:
Summary: Buffy+World of Darkness+Mickey Spillane+Germaine Greer= !
Review: This was the first Anita Blake Vampire Hunter story I read, and I am pleasantly surprised. The mood and the storyline are brilliant.
The inspirations for the Anita Hill series seem to be Buffy, obvious, White Wolf's game series The World of Darkness, where our ancient nightmares rule us from nightopen office buildings and glitzy nightclubs. The final touches are a bit of hardboiled detective dialogue and hardboiled feminism. It works.
So I like the storytelling, and I like the idea and the result. I have some problem with the character of Anita Blake; on the whole the characterization of Ms. Blake and the other role figures is good. However, I find her just a tad bit to aggressive and arrogant towards people she does not like. In her business, dealing with extremely powerful supernatural beings, it pays off being a bit diplomatic - especially when in their lair. I suppose that the main target group of the books, young wonen, like that, and who am I to argue that?
On the whole, a really good read, and I look forward reading more of the books in this series.

Rating:
Summary: Wild and fun gorefest! Anita rules!
Review: Wow, this one was a wild ride! This is the second book in Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series and she really kicks things into high gear! This novel has everything you've come to expect from vampires and zombies to a voodoo high priestess. The action comes fast and furious, and the author does a great job of building her characters, particularly Anita and Jean-Claude. That's a relationship I'm sure we'll see more of in future volumes. One word of warning, there's a good deal of gore and graphic descriptions in this one. Those with a weak stomach may want to take caution. Any way, The Laughing Corpse gets 5 stars from me! Highly recommended!