Blue Moon, by Laurell K. Hamilton
Burnt Offerings, by Laurell K. Hamilton
Book 8 – Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series
Reviewed by Ciara
The clue is in the name. This book, the eighth in the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter focuses very heavily on Richard and the werewolves. This book leaps into the action faster than any of the other books so far. On page one, Anita gets a phone call telling her Richard has been arrested for rape and is being held in prison in Tennessee. The big problem is, she gets this phone call just a few days before the blue moon, the second full moon in a month. Lycanthropy isn’t illegal, but Richard is a science teacher, and would be hounded out of the school if his condition was made known.
Anita has to rush off to save him, but unfortunately he doesn’t really want to be saved. He’s innocent, so maintains that he doesn’t need a lawyer to defend him.
He tells Anita that it’s a false accusation made against him because he is investigating a troll population in the local mountains, which for some reason,
a unscrupulous art collector wants to get his hands on. As I mentioned in the review for Killing Dance, the recent addition of sex to the plots seems to come at the expense of the investigative plots.
Anita investigates the art collector and the cause of deaths that are being blamed on trolls, but she takes her time getting there, which is disappointing after the punch-in-the-face that was the opening chapter. The trolls and art collector are first mentioned on page 96, mentioned in passing on 231, and finally, the true investigation only begins on page 315. So what’s happening in the meantime? Quite a bit, actually.
The local master vampire views Anita’s arrival with some bodyguard vamps as an act of war, which Anita must deal with using her increasingly omnipotent necromancy powers. It seems lately that in every book, Anita discovers a new power only she has, or a power that nobody thought was truly possible. Richard has been auditioning female werewolves in the area to find a new lupa, a new partner, but no one quite compares to Anita, so a compromise needs to be struck.
A new and unwieldy power rears its head in this book. Raina, the sadistic girlfriend of the werewolf’s old leader, can act through Anita thanks to Anita’s
conncetion to both the pack and the dead. This power, which should be impossible (like many of Anita’s other powers), leads to some very…ahem….interesting scenes, given Raina’s sexual proclivities. A very important fact is revealed in the course of a conversation between Anita and Damien, a vampire. Jean-Claude doesn’t only gain power from blood, he can also gain power from lust, and from sex. Keep that in the back of your mind as you read on through the series. It becomes increasingly important.
The book is, like the others, perfectly paced and action-packed. It’s a good blend of sex, action, humour and outright gore. Good, but not quite perfect.
The investigative, detective plot is completely forgotten about in favour of some vampire and werewolf politics and magic, which suits some people down to the
ground, but which makes me feel Hamilton is still awkward writing sex scenes. What she lacks in prowess she more than makes up for in enthusiasm though. You don’t need to worry about her sex scenes every boring you.
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