Narcissus in Chains, by Laurell K. Hamilton
Narcissus in Chains, by Laurell K. Hamilton
Book 10 – Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series
Reviewed by Ciara
After a long leave of absence from all her paranormal responsibilities, Anita is back in St Louis fulltime, and ends up neck deep in trouble straight away.
Fans of Jean Claude will be happy to see he makes a long awaited return in this book. Anita has been avoiding him for the last six months while she figures out how she feels about him, and all the metaphysical complications that come with him.
Anita needs his help to save local lycanthropes, who are mysteriously disappearing. The smaller species have had their alphas vanish into thin air, and they’ve turned to Anita because they’re reluctant to go to the bed.
Richard, her former fiancée/werewolf king, also makes a reappearance, after a long absence, but is typically angst-ridden and moral (yawn!).
The time spent apart has not been good for their triumvirate of power, and there are holes in their auras which need to be fixed. Can you guess how they are fixed? That’s right. Sexy time.
I’m all for the sexy time, but the mystical and magical aspects of these books, like the auras and spirituality, are very off-putting for me, at least. I tend not to enjoy anything spiritual, or magical.
As part of Anita’s renewed ties with Jean Claude, she develops an unusual side- effect, the ardeur. It’s similar to the bloodlust all vampires deal with, but it’s not blood she lusts for, it’s sex.
So yes, there is quite a bit of sex in this book. Well, almost. Anita’s morals get in her way, and the reader’s, quite a bit, so there’s a lot of sexual fondling followed by a lot of overthinking and guilt.
As Jean Claude says at one point, “I am glad you are the woman that you are, but there are moments when I wish that you could simply enjoy something without being chased around the room by your guilt and your morals afterwards.”
I can’t help but get the feeling that in these early books, Laurell K. Hamilton is either uncomfortable writing sex scenes, or she is overly concerned that sex will come to define her books. There’s a lot of almost-sex, which is just frustrating.
Anita becomes increasingly perfect and unusual in this book. She gains even powers and abilities that no one has ever thought possible. Some very interesting and important characters are introduced in this book, most notably Micah, an alpha wereleopard who hits it off with Anita, in a very big way.
I enjoyed the book, though I was disappointed the series returned to the sex and angst it’s become filled with lately. Obsidian Butterfly was a great break from that, but now Anita is filled with guilt and doubt, and Richard is filled with guilt and doubt, and it’s all too angsty.
The book is a major turning point in the series overall, as Anita becomes more and more involved with the monsters. I know many people regard this as the death of the Anita we knew in the first few books, but I enjoy all of the series. It’s something you really have to make your mind up about for yourself.
Also, a brief postscript; does anyone else who reads these books find the men irritatingly feminine? Anita is quite short, and so are most of the men around her. I don’t mean short for men, I mean these guys would be considered short if they were women.
Many of them have long feminine hair, and nondescript but feminine faces, which Anita describes as being saved from complete femininity by the shape of a brow or the slant of their jaw. I dunno, I just like my men very definitely masculine.
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