Circus of the Damned by Laurell K. Hamilton

4 out of 5 Robots!

My Review:

The third installment of the Anita Blake series by Laurell K Hamilton, Circus of the Damned, was the book that got me straight hooked on this series. I liked the first two books enough to keep reading obviously, but this is the book that grabbed at me and made me want to hurl myself into the Anita Blake universe. The first time I read this book was sometime ago- rereading the series for the Anita Blake Challenge hosted by BCC.

Anita is still hard at work as an animator and preternatural assistant to the police force. Jean-Claude, Master of the City, is hounding Anita about becoming his human servant- and surprise surprise she ends up near the gorgeous vampire she is trying to avoid. That is right, a grotesque, blood-drained body looks like it could be the work of a pack of rogue vampires and it leads her right to the Circus of the Damned. This is what I love about Anita Blake and her world- there is no down time. Anita has a full plate and that gives me action, action, action. I love a good Urban Fantasy with nonstop commotion. I mean, she has a lot of silly, feisty characters to beat down in this book! Don't worry- Hamilton is brilliant so you won't get lost in the hustle and bustle.

Oh, I can't forget, although I'd like to, we are introduced to Richard. Ya know, back when he was likable. In the later novels he becomes a bane to my existence. Whiny. Temperamental. He hates who he has to be and who Anita has become. Boo hoo. He is great in this book though, haha. I like that I can dislike Richard in later novels- I find that I don't quite love a book if there isn't at least one character I can have a strong disdain for. Wow, rambling. This definitely isn't one of my most well thought out reviews...

My only complaint about Circus of the Damned was the immensely tiring description of clothing and weaponry. This isn't a huge complaint, sometimes it works when an outfit is painted with the author's vision. However, sometimes I like dressing the character too. ;) Erm... other times I'm just being impatient, dying to know what happens next and when there is piddle paddle in my way I get frustrated. Haha.

I loved this book. Fantastic, fast paced, satisfying. If you're into vampires and urban fantasy I recommend you hop on this series.

For my reviews on LKH's other work, click here.To check out the Anita Blake Challenge hosted by Book Chick City click here. 

Book Details:

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Berkley Trade (January 2, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425201392
• ISBN-13: 978-0425201398

Other books in this series in the order that they should be read: 

The title links below take you to Amazon.com.

1. Guilty Pleasures  

2. The Laughing Corpse 

3. Circus of the Damned

4. The Lunatic Cafe

5. Bloody Bones 

6. The Killing Dance

7. Burnt Offerings

8. Blue Moon

9. Obsidian Butterfly

10. Narcissus in Chains 

11. Cerulean Sins

12. Incubus Dreams

13. Micah

14. Danse Macabre

15. The Harlequin

16. Blood Noir

17. Skin Trade

18. Flirt

19. Bullet

Blue Moon by Laurell K. Hamilton

5 out of 5 Robots!

 

 My Review:

Blue Moon is the eighth installment of the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series by Laurell K. Hamilton. A good friend of mine got me all sorts of  addicted to this series. I love so many things about this series and LKH's writing, but there are a lot of things I dislike about it too. Luckily this novel didn't contain many of the things I've found myself to dislike. Hamilton really kills it, ahem, in this novel.
 

By this time, Anita has chosen Jean-Claude. (Yesss!) Hold that excitement, she still loves Richard and he is in trouble. A member of his family has called Anita to the rescue. Richard is in jail and needs help out of one sticky situation. We all know that Anita could never refuse a call for help... especially from Richard. The plot of this one had me on pins and needles- intense, full of suspense. I had a hard time putting this one down. So much action.

Anita is constantly pushing her boundaries, which is fun for the reader. I like that Hamilton writes it smoothly so that it never really seems out of Anita's character. She won't ask anyone to do anything she isn't willing to do herself... Pretty dignified, if you ask me. Though this leads her to do some pretty torturous things to save Richard's family. I'm talking literal here. Ugh. I will never understand Richard and Anita. Richard is whiny, self righteous and annoying. My least favorite character. Although Richard does not appeal to me, his character is very well developed. The things he does makes sense as he hates who he has to be and who Anita has become. I have to hand it to Hamilton, no one does anything out of character in her novels. One of my biggest pet peeves.

I always find myself more enthralled with secondary characters than I should. Asher, Jason... I'm more into them than Jean-Claude. Despite the enormous amount of controversy surrounding this brilliant series, this book is totally worth reading. I haven't read this book for awhile, so the review was a little hard for me to write. I've finished the entire series with the exception of 'Flirt.' I have it, I just need to read it! Can't wait.

For my reviews on LKH's other work, click here.To check out the Anita Blake Challenge hosted by Book Chick City click here.

Other books in this series in the order that they should be read: 

The title links below take you to Amazon.com.

1. Guilty Pleasures  

2. The Laughing Corpse 

3. Circus of the Damned

4. The Lunatic Cafe

5. Bloody Bones 

6. The Killing Dance

7. Burnt Offerings

8. Blue Moon

9. Obsidian Butterfly

10. Narcissus in Chains 

11. Cerulean Sins

12. Incubus Dreams

13. Micah

14. Danse Macabre

15. The Harlequin

16. Blood Noir

17. Skin Trade

18. Flirt

19. Bullet

Book Details:

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Berkley Hardcover (December 2, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425223833
• ISBN-13: 978-0425223833

Book Chick City's Anita Blake Challenge

The Anita Blake series in Order: 

1. Guilty Pleasures 

2. The Laughing Corpse 

3. Circus of the Damned

4. The Lunatic Cafe

5. Bloody Bones

6. The Killing Dance

7. Burnt Offerings

8. Blue Moon

9. Obsidian Butterfly

10. Narcissus in Chains

11. Cerulean 

12. Incubus Dreams

13. Micah

14. Danse Macabre

15. The Harlequinn

16. Blood Noir

17. Skin Trade

18. Flirt

19. Bullet


Well, everyone, this is my first challenge. I've already read all of the Anita Blake series, but I REALLY enjoyed myself... So I think I will visit the her delicious world once again.

This awesome contest is being hosted by Book Chick City. Click here for more information!

 Above is a list of the Anita Blake series- I will be adding the link to my review as I post them. So just click the book title you're interested in checking out above!

Strange Candy by Laurell K. Hamilton

3 out of 5 Stars
I didn't realize Laurell K. Hamilton had done "Strange Candy"- so when I saw it on the shelves I thought I was in for a treat. (I was right, haha.) Don't pick this book up if you are looking for a book full of sexy stories such as in the Anita Blake and Meredith Gentry series from LKH, but if you are a fan of her work- go ahead and check this out to see how she handles some short stories. Some of these stories were skippable, some were so-so and some were awesome.They are a mixture of light and dark- a perfect combination if you ask me.

I just have to throw this out there- I think the cover is silly. The stories have nothing to do with bondage. I would love the cover if it had something to do with ... something? anything? from the stories. Maybe I'm just too dense to get it ;]

Some of the introductions to the short stories left a bad taste in my mouth and some of them made me laugh. The book itself was worth the read, though. The worlds in each story overlap, which is a pro for the entirety of the book. LKH really is a great story teller and these stories are creative. It was nice that she didn't get wrapped up in the description of her world/characters, it made me want more.

Ok- I liked this book. I recommend it to anyone who is a fan of the earlier Anita Blake novels by LKH. It isn't one of those books I would read twice, but it is good for what it is - a book of short stories.

Book Details:

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Berkley Hardcover, October 3, 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425212017
• ISBN-13: 978-0425212011

Skin Trade by Laurell K. Hamilton

5 out of 5 Big Golden Stars from me!
My Review:
Alright, this book was totally worth sticking around for and made me super glad I never stopped reading the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter books. (This is #17!!!) I absolutely loved reading "Skin Trade!"

In a previous novel Anita was to kill Vittorio, a bad vampire. Although everyone believes him to be gone, Anita has her own doubts regarding his death. She is proven right in "Skin Trade" as he delivers her a lovely (freshly cut) human head to work. She can't refuse the invitation to Las Vegas now to track him down and slay him once and for all. There are lots of problems with her going to Las Vegas... She goes alone and no one takes her seriously because she is a woman and human servant to a Master of the City. In true Anita Blake fashion, she gives them all a bunch of shit right back and goes after her monster anyway.

Anyone who still loves to read this series will be happy to see that Edward, Olaf and Bernardo are back to help Anita. These are three marshals that Blake works with- I love all of them. You get a closer look at Olaf in this book and he changes his character up a little to try to suit Anita. I don't know why, but he is one of my favorite characters... I think I love the 3 Federal Marshals that work with Anita more than I like her men. Maybe I have a thing for fictional serial killers?

It really made me happy in that this story revolves more around the police investigation than everything else in Anita's life. It made it much harder to put the book down! Most all of Anita's personal life is put on the back burner- such as feeding the ardeur, her lovers... I mean, come on, she goes to Vegas ALONE! This hasn't happened in most of her recent novels. This book left out all of Anita's normal lovers such as Nathaniel, Micah, Jean-Claude... etc. It felt like one of the original Anita Blake books except that Anita's character is obviously more grown up. I have to say I really enjoyed the lack of all her lovers in the novel. (This seriously surprised me.) In this book you can finally see that Anita really is growing and accepting things the way they are. She is accepting that all her lovers don't make her a bad person. Her alone trip to Vegas is just what she needed as she is feeling overwhelmed with the fact that she doesn't get much (if any) alone time or privacy in her personal life. She also wasn't all whiny about her psychic abilities with the weretigers, etc... I hate when the heroine gets whiny, and lets face it, she has whined SO much about the ardeur in past novels!

This book left me on my toes. I can NOT wait until the next book comes out!

Book Details:

• Hardcover: 486 pages
• Publisher: Berkley Hardcover; June 2, 2009
  
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425227723

Books in the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter Series in order they should be read: Click Here & Scroll to the end of the Blog Post
Sorry this review was so short, but I have to go to work and wanted to get it done before I went in. =)

Blood Noir by Laurell K. Hamilton

3 out of 5 Stars

My Review:
Ok, #16 of the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter Series is on the chopping block. I love this series. If you're looking for a book that is like the first 8, don't bother. This one has lots of steamy scenes in it... However I feel like Hamilton toned it down a little. I love how the characters in this series have changed and evolved with the situations that happen in each book! Anyway, we get a closer look at Jason, Master of the City Jean-Claude's blood doner/ pomme de sang and Anita's lover/best friend.

Jason and his immortal mermaid girlfriend have just broken up because she is jealous and doesn't trust Jason... at the same time, he finds out his estranged father is dieing of cancer. Jason's father has always had the misconception that he is gay and despised him for it. Jason's mother then asks him to bring home a girlfriend so his dad can die in peace... only, this isn't going to work as he and Perdy just broke up. Ah, what to do? Nathaniel, Anita's live-in honey, convinces Anita to go in place of Jason's girlfriend. She finally agrees and when they arrive to Jason's hometown of Ashville, NC he is immediately mistaken for for his lavish, scandalous, well-known cousin. Unfortunately, his cousin is getting married that same weekend Jason is there to visit. The entire novel revolves around Jason being mistaken for his cousins and it ultimately results in the kidnapping of Jason and Anita.

Throughout the time they're in Ashville, the Mother of all Vampires (Marme Noir) is screwing around with Anita's head from Europe. She causes Anita to black out and send out a call to all the weretigers in the area. (She is doing all of this psychicly of course!)

As Anita is a succubus, in this novel she figures out that she can feed off the emotion rage as well as lust. This helps to free Richard (werewolf, ex-fiance) of the uncontrollable rage that he inherited by becoming apart of Anita's triumvirate with Jean-Claude. However it helps to free up his new rage- it gives him some new power-the ardeur.

It is pretty obvious that Blood Noir is opening a lot of flood gates into an awesome plot for Skin Trade (book 17.)

1. Jason gets some background- making him a more significant character
2. Anita has a new way to feed (rage), which means there won't be as many pointless sex scenes
3. Taking rage from Richard could give him a new major character flaw due to his newly inherited ardeur... Maybe it will be Richard now with lots of live in lovers?
   
4. Anita can call out the weretigers, making them a bigger part of the plot...

Great book, I couldn't put it down. However, the plot was stretched out pretty thin with some bad sex, whining, and a few silly plot twists. I really do think that these silly plot twists and everything will open up for a better book in Skin Trade... I will not be giving up on Anita Blake anytime soon! I love Jason's character, which helped me get through this book. And for those that complain about all the useless sex scenes in the newer Anita Blake novels- this one didn't have too many that were useless to the plotline.... and now, onto the next Anita Blake novel- Skin Trade!!

Book Details:

• Mass Market Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Jove, Reprint: May 26, 2009
  
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0515146374
• ISBN-13: 978-0515146370

Books in the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter Series in order they should be read:

1. Guilty Pleasures
   
2. The Laughing Corpse
3. Circus of the Damned
   
4. The Lunatic Cafe
5. Bloody Bones
6. The Killing Dance
7. Burnt Offerings
8. Blue Moon
9. Obsidian Butterfly
10. Narcissus In Chains
11. Cerulean Sins
12. Incubus Dreama
13. Micah
14. Danse Macabre
15. The Harlequin
16. Blood Noir
17. Skin Trade
18. Flirt (Release date: February 2, 2010)