Vampire Hunter Novel - Incubus Dreams - An Anita Blake

I have reread this series several times. Yet I have not been able to bring myself to reread Incubus Dreams. I enjoy many of the characters that are not as beloved by many other fans, but even Nathaniel, who is my favorite and is given much page time, is shorted. His story is slopped down without seeming thought as to how this newest development heightens or helps the main character within LKH's world.

The book seems like it is a neverending rough draft. I am a reader who skims over spelling errors most of the time, yet this book did not allow you to miss all of the spelling and grammar indiscretions. Maybe this should be packaged as an adult grammar manual? It would keep the reader's interest most of the time, and if you were becoming bored with the story, you could stop and work some sentences to find the errors.

I am a literature reader most of the time. This series was my guilty pleasure, but alas, all good things come to an end. I guess this was Ms. Hamilton's way of helping me return to my studies.

Incubus Dreams was a book I was waiting for. I was sadly dissapointed that the plots changed to sex. I have read all the books of Anita Blake and found this one to be a little too much like pornography. The book has lots of twist and turns that are not very well explained. I was surprised to see that Richard had made a come-back into the scene. But even worst I was shocked to see how Ainta's harem had grown. It seemed to me that if Anita wasn't having sex with someone or something than she was agruing about it. I am glad that she appears to be more comfortable with herself but enough of the "drama". I thought that there was going to be a bit more about the case Anita was working on. Instead it was a sad glimpse into the previous Anita Blake books. What a let down. I hope that the next book will be better and and stick with the orginal plot lines.

A really weak book.
Practically no plot and way too much sex.
Believe me, I don't begrudge Anita her sex life with all the beautiful and supportive were-men. I was delighted when she overcame her prudery and hang-ups - how long can you whine about a cad that ditched you back in college, after all.
This book, however, really overdoes it. First there are hundreds of pages of "we have to talk" scenes and endless discussion of everybody's sexual needs. Then there are hundreds of pages of sex. Towards the end there is (finally!!) a mention of bad guys and a brief visit to a crime scene that solves nothing.
I really wish Anita would put on some clothes and go back to work.

I love Anita Blake. I love Laurell K. Hamilton. I can't quite say I love Incubus Dreams. Half the events were just a little too over the top to be believeable.

Anita seems to be on the verge of developing an ego that will really ruin her likeability. All that sex with gorgeous men... I like erotica...but that shouldn't be the point of an Anita Blake book. Whatever happened to the old Anita?

Richard? My gosh. I never did like him. When is the guy ever going to grow up? For a while I started developing some respect for him...but that went all to Hades.

Some of the other characters just aren't themselves anymore. Jean-Claude is just way too nice. Nathaniel...he just doesn't work when he's dominant. What happened to the cuddly kitty? Damien? The vamp is an accident waiting to happen. If I got as screwed up as he is I'd go searching for a stake.

At least we still have our lecherous cop in residence- Zebrowski. At least he hasn't changed. I don't know what I'd do if he suddenly became normal... He and Micah were all that managed to hold this book together.

I was really hoping for some Asher in here, or maybe a dash of Edward. I love those guys. Eh. I just hope they come back in book 13.

Also, I hope I'm not the only person that hopes the next book goes through a spell check. "relationhsip"? Whomever proofread this should be severely punished.

The ending? Was there an ending? I couldn't find it. I read 600+ pages and don't get an ending? I haven't been this confused since I saw the last Matrix movie.

I have high hopes for # 13. I just want everything back to reality. Well, I'm going to go cry into my pillow and wish I had just saved the money and waited for the paperback.

A few months ago, I read an amazing book (BloodAngel, by Justine Musk, if you're interested). After finishing it, I moved on to another book, only to be disappointed. In fact, 95% of the books I've read since have left me feeling let down. Sure, they've got decent plots and interesting characters, but they lack the language, the prose that was so effective in BloodAngel. I had been angsting over this fact, and I would've continued to do so had I not read this sorry excuse for a book.

I took decent plots and interesting characters for granted; I assumed that they were inherent to published writing, which (I so naively thought) went through SOME sort of screening process. I now know that, while amazing prose is always a nice touch, a plot and characters would be good enough.

That pretty much sums it up - I read one book, and it made everything look awful in comparison; I read this book, and suddenly nothing else seemed quite so bad.

The strong, female, gun toting executioner that's drawn so many fans to this series is dead. She's been turned into a soft porn imitation.

This latest entry in the series continues the downward spiral began in Narcissus in Chains and Cerulean Sins. The real mystery seemed to be where the plot went! It was lost amongst so much detailed, clinical... and suprisingly boring sex. Over three-fourths of the book is just gratuitous sex. One partner, two partner, beastiality.. our girl does it all. What she doesn't actually do in this volume is CATCH the bad guy.

I can understand the purpose for character development, but by the end I was hoping that Edward would show up and provide a deadly intervention for all involved. Unfortunately, he didn't make an appearance. It's sad to say, but after three such 'transitional' books, I'm done with the series.

I had been eagerly waiting for this book for months. Sure, the one before in the series wasn't the best, but I had convinced myself that this one would be better because there were so many cool stories left to tell. I asked for "Incubus Dreams" for Christmas and then decided to stay up all night to read it. What a disappointment!! I should have slept. Over 600 pages of pointless sex! I don't object to the sex, I just wish that it had a point, did something for the plot! What happened to Anita's ambivalence about her powers and the monsters? Ans: disappeared! What happened to Asher? What happened to Belle Morte? This book is filled with flab, pointless characters in pointless scenes! Nathaniel is the sole redeeming quality. The only solution as I see it is for Laurell Hamilton to kill off a whole bunch of characters at the beginning of the next book, keep a core group and do something interesting. Yes, I will buy the next book because I hope that there is still something left... I hope...

I'm a normal, healthy, psychologically sound thirty-two year old reader and this book still made me really uncomfortable. I made the ENORMOUS mistake of reading this one on an airplane (I was paranoid that everyone knew I was reading porn, although the cover should have been a tip-off). Do not read this in public if you are at all squishy about kinky sex! I used to really like the Anita Blake series but it is getting to the point where I can't recommend it to anyone. I am just not that comfortable with multiple partner sex, sex with multiple strangers, sex scenes set seven times a day, and sex scenes in graphic detail. It is getting a little too kinky for my white bread world. Also, I think its just kind of gross and turns off part of Anita's charm to me.

In the past, I truly enjoyed Anita's conflict over her goodness vs. her life with the monsters which was a lot more complex than meaningless sex with multiple strangers who happen to be geographically close. I never expected Anita to remain chaste (as she had done throughout- what? four books), but, dude, I never expected her to become kinda "skanky" over the course of a few short books. Have you noticed that God doesn't talk to Anita anymore (you know those peaceful moments where she reaffirmed that she was living right despite what anyone said). I am honestly not being preachy. But Anita's neurotic worrying about her "good girl" morals was a big and really appealing part of her character. Now when she worries, I pretty much agree -- good girls do not do what she just did in that book.

If you are a die-hard LKH fan, read it in the privacy of your home and hide it from your tweeners. I'll keep reading until there is no hope for a less-icky Anita.

I am about 2/3 of the way through this book and went on line to determine if I should even bother to finish reading it. These sceenes are so muddied and boaring. No-one goes through this much mental anguish for 4 to 5 books. Anita had a personality before she had to start second guessing herself all the time, where did it go? PS. LKH, editors, publishers, why should anyone else spell check their work, it you can print books with this many errors.

I have read and loved all of Laurell Hamilton's books - until this one. At least in the other books there was more than just sex going on and you could skip the sex parts and not feel cheated out of your money. If you tried to skip the sex parts in this book, you may wind up with about 20 pages of readable material ( and most of the real plot was rushed). I really hope her next Anita Blake novel is better and that her next Merry Gentry novel does not have the same problem as Incubus Dreams.

Having previously read all of the Anita Blake series, I must say Incubus Dreams is indeed the worst book of the series as of yet. The writing is shallow, as is the plot - and the book is utterly focused on SEX. Rather than the casual, and not too tacky commonplace sex scenes of the series, Hamilton has gone way overboard. This book has been bombarded with scene after scene of raunchy sex. One can barely find the plot at all in this book - which happens to be more like a pornography magazine than anything close to a novel.

Unless you are a die-hard fan, I strongly recommend that you do not purchase this book, but rather, if you must, borrow it from a library or a friend. Also if you are a parent, keep your son or daughter away from this book, lest they add some less than wholesome words to their repertoire. Good luck.

I've been a fan of Laurell K. Hamilton since I first picked up Guilty Pleasures over ten years ago. But with her newest novel I have to say she's lost me as a reader. Over the last few books Mrs. Hamilton has focused more on sex and less on plot. Her latest book Incubus Dreams is now 95% sex, and 5% plot. Anita is now sleeping with 6 people on a regular basis, and a couple more on a not so regular basis. I don't mind sex in the books that I read, but if I wanted to read a book that is all sex I'd of picked up a book out of the erotica section. This book is supposed to be about a vampire serial killer. That plot line is barely touched on in this book at all, and it's conclusion is not particularly satisfying. Suffice to say, If I decide to read her next book I'll take it out of the library first.
Save your money.

I loved the first few Anita Blake books. I love the character, and I enjoyed the sexual tension of the series. I enjoyed it as sex became more and more part of the stories. However, there are limits. This isn't a book with a plot, it is a series of soft-porn short stories with repeat characters. The author has even run out of ways to describe things, and repeats phrases several times over trying to describe the climactic moments. I am no longer buying her books new, and will only be looking for used copies, if at all. She has made it clear with the new six hour rule that the next book in the series will be entirely about Anita's sexcapades.

i'm am a huge fan of the series. the whole premise and concept blew me away, ran through the first 11 in the series the way Grant took Atlanta. maybe it's me that had hopes for Incubus Dreams set to high, but after much anticipation, i was disapointed. the book is a little over 650 pages. it's 90% sex, and 10% mystery. i would have preferred a little more balance. i enjoy sex as much as the next person, but after about 400 pages of it, it wears a bit thin. it almost seemed that a great deal of it was just for shock value, not the story line. i so wanted to love this book too, i just couldn't.

Ask me what happened in Incubus Dreams? No, wait, I can't help you. I have absolutely no idea what happened in Incubus Dreams, or Cerulean Sins for that matter because while searching for the plot I was repeatedly kicked in the face by Anita's pornstar antics. What has happened to Anita?

I started reading these books years ago and loved them. Anita was the perfect heroine and what made her cool was the fact that she was an ordinary girl. Now she has every superpower going bar flying, (I await the next book)and turned into the equivalent of a male college student with threesomes, sex in public places, sex with multiple partners...did I mention sex? Not to mention the fact that now the chastity belt is in the trash can she's turned into one of the most unlikeable characters in the book!

The great range of characters has been destroyed, they all bow down to the wonderful Anita, who will probably in the next book kick Jean Claude out of the city, become master of all vampires and wereanimals, take over the world and then the universe. All the while being a grumpy self righteous brat.

Please LKH, turn it all around with the next book!

There seems to be a lot of unhappiness about this book, and oddly I had expected myself to be among those most unhappy. Yet I am not. I am stunned by how good this book is, how meaty and important it is in terms of character development. Yes there is still too much sex, there is less mystery plot than there should be, and the technical and writing errors are appalling. But the book manages to tell a story that rises above it all and moves the series forward in way it hasn't moved since Burnt Offerings. This book also seems like thematically the next in the series after Blue Moon - if we hadn't wandered into personal problem hell.

Given the poor direction of the last five books, and what I saw as Anita's inability to deal with her issues, while wallowing in them; combined with her refusal to open herself up emotionally, not only to the important characters in her life, but more critically to the readers. I had no hope that this book would rise above the level of a hard, violent, pointless sexfest aimed at worshipping in the church of Anita of St. Denial. And lets face it LKH isn't good enough at plot, description, continuity and the mechanics of writing to tell a good story without the strength of her skill with characters. Anita began to really close down in OB. Because of the first person narrative none of the other characters could really be on display without her. We readers had been robbed not only of Anita and her gang, but of the new characters, and even the villains and the walk-ons. Everyone after Blue Moon is just blurry to me. Sex had been added to distract us, but frankly it lacked any emotional grounding, any tension or excitement. It was all insert Tab A into Slot B, bumping and grinding with strangers. Well, Hell has finally frozen over because Anita has made major leaps and bounds in dealing with her issues and accepting who she is. Anita is finally growing up.

In many ways this book was much more connected to the earlier books, perhaps The Killing Dance with its emotional sharing under the Circus is the closest, than to the most recent books even though superficially it seemed to be yet another (over)sexually themed book. She started right in the first chapter and through-out the whole book to have intimate, searing, emotional discussions with many of the important people in her life: Micah, Jason, Nathanial, Marianne, Ronnie, JC, Richard, Damian, and she listened to what they had to say, and she dealt with her issues honestly for once. Anita didn't hide, deny, project or use anger as a cover. LKH didn't pull the alarm bells to send her off to an emergency to save her from having to deal. Anita the judgmental hypocrite did not survive this book.

Another big theme of this book was acceptance of who you are and not hiding or lying about it, also not imposing your views on those you love. She stopped trying to make them fit a mold they had no say in constructing or adopting. Anita came clean about her enjoyment of sex, about her darker desires, about her many men, and about her guilt and shame that she wasn't normal. But rather than pine for what isn't and will never be, she began to learn to appreciate what she had. She began to use her strengths rather than fight them, or deny them. So rather than engage in macho stupidity that wouldn't work and try to beat the confession out of a vampire suspect, she took a walk inside his head, using touch and her ability to borrow the powers of others. Yes she did it in public and in front of the cops, so perhaps it looked like kinky sex but it was business, how she does business now. Deal. In terms she used throughout the book: she has stopped trying to use every event as a hammer to shape her life into the specific type of nail that society wants it to be.

She stepped out of her role as lone savior and protector and began to give credit to those in her life who also made it all work. She started to make a home for herself and her crew, not merely a safehouse from the bad guys or a place to crash. She finally accepted Nathanial for all of who and what he is, and she started to think about his needs as well as her own. She accepted her discomfort and realized that compromise and negotiation are the basis for an adult relationship - not holding onto an image of sanitized perfection. She has used perfect images in the past to deny the good that she has since it will never measure up, and she also used the images to bludgeon her less than perfect partners with. She finally realized that those who think they know absolutely right from wrong and how everyone should react in every situation are only fooling themselves, often at the expense of those who love them. She repeatedly asked for and accepted the help of her crew and she didn't hold it against them afterwards. Anita the self-centered, whiny lone superhero, teflon princess and user did not survive this book.

There were so many other good things in this book: she and Ronnie started talking again, she went back to work, she may be able to raise Zombies in the future without killing animals, she did several stints of police work, she got to kill bad guys- and she started to feel bad afterwards, she let her lovers comfort her emotionally. She shared and swapped power with her tri(s) and did I mention she asked for help. She and Richard and JC talked and worked out a relationship. The sex scene with them, with the emotional vulnerability of the sharing between Richard and JC is alone, worth the price of the book. She got control of the Ardeur. She and the big 3 are sharing each other's personality traits - which is working to balance out their personality problems. JC got more powerful. JC gets to sleep with Asher, and maul willing women for food (power or blood). We met 3 new vamps who have come to town (I want more Wicked Truth), and met long distance, a couple more council members. The humor was back. I actually laughed out loud and I haven't done that in ages. JC is back in velvet, lace and leather - gone is the horrible vinyl and cheap see-through shirts. And that is just part of the wild ride. There is something here for just about everyone if you read it with an open mind.

Yes there is still too much sex, and it takes too long, and it happens too often. I am so sick of her acting like each event is the best of her life, of the lengthy description of how it feels, of how rough she wants it, of how large each man is, and of hearing about everyone involved screaming. If all this were true they would be mute, and bowlegged for weeks. I dislike the second tri and the increase yet again of her powers, though some of that is explained as borrowing from the tri.

Did anyone else wonder after the sex of the tri if they may also have taken the 4th mark? At the end of the chapter Anita says she and Richard and JC are bound and they didn't need to `bleed the vampire'. That is a description of the 4th mark, yet nothing else is said for the rest of the book. So are they immortal, and who is in charge, or has their magic found a way around the rules again ?

Yes she uses the same words over and over, and there are places where words and letters are missing, or out of order, or extra added and you can't really tell what she is trying to say. There is also a place where she uses a scene from an older book - verbatim. The entire scene and all the old words are just pasted into the text. On top of that there are spelling, grammar and word choice errors. There are also a few new YABBIs. Some of this is her publisher's fault, but some of it is hers as well. It seems to me to be the height of arrogance from both parties to put something this poor out as a professional product and charge hardcover prices. Whether she needs a new editor, a new typesetter, or to turn her stuff in sooner and in better condition I don't know, but LKH needs to take an active part in solving it. Because binding it and putting a fancy cover on it are just putting lipstick on a pig.

With all the story problems and the ongoing technical curse, I am still heartbroken the book ended, I loved the longer length. I can't even think about waiting a whole year for #13. I don't think all these positive changes are going to make Anita perfect or problem free, but I think in the next book we will actually be looking at a story that is not centered around the relationships and the personal problems of the main characters. There are so many hooks for non-personal stories: Edward and Olaf are still out there, The Vampire Church has screwed up in operations and recruitment and Malcolm is coming across more like Willy or some cheap tele-evangelist. The serial killer is still loose and Federal Marshall Blake may need to take another road trip. She is still having problems with Dolph and the cops. She has congressional hearings hanging over her head, and someone from her past is going to impact her life and s/he still unidentified and out there. The wolves are starting to ease back into the monster community, and Anita has become the Lupa again. The council vampires are sniffing around and testing them. The options are endless and now Anita is in a good position to pursue them...I can't wait.

The Wikipedia definition(s) of a Mary Sue-like character:

"A story in which a new character is so brilliant, witty, amazing, attractive and wonderful that one (or all) of the main canon characters completely falls head over heels for. Basically, this character tends to be a thinly disguised wannabe of the author themselves. This type of fic is usually associated with romantic stories in which the female author lives out her fantasy of being with a particular character through her story. However this designation has come to mean any character that is over-emphasized, whether in the fanon or canon world. When you see or hear something or someone."

"A story with an original female character who's perfect, does it all, saves the day."

"An original female character, usually a love interest, who possesses traits similar to those of the author."

"Mary Sue (or simply Sue) is a usually derogatory expression for a fictional character who is an idealized stand-in for the author, or for a story with such a character. A Mary Sue therefore goes beyond a conventional author surrogate character. The term originates in fan fiction but is spreading into general use."

Those definitions describe Anita Blake to a tee. All you will get in this book is Mary Sue-ism thru and thru. Those who have already read ID will agree with me. Complete piece of trash and indulgence of the author's deluded fantasies. Don't bother with this.

Let me start by saying I love the sex in the Anita Blake books, Narcissus in Chains is my favorite in the series and I have no problem with the ardeur.

The problem with Incubus Dreams isn't the sex, although there was a heck of a lot of it. No, it was the disjointed feel the book had overall.

There was a lot of great stuff in there, but the problem was that most of it fell to the wayside. There was at least three books' worth of material there. What about the Dragon? Why didn't we hear more? What about Moroven? Why didn't we hear more? What about the lack of blood oaths? What about Requiem and his strange words of advice? Why was Gregory and Stephen's dad hanging out at Guilty Pleasures? All of these story threads were interesting but none of them were explored in the depth they deserved.

I don't mind Anita sleeping with more people, that isn't a problem for me. But if we are going to be introduced to a new threesome, why have Damian disappear after the first encounter, only to be referred to as he's dying or draining Anita? Where was our beloved Asher?

Speaking of that, where were the characters that set up the core of the story arc? No Asher, no Damian after the delicious first chapters, no Dolph except for one strained confrontation, no Sylvie or Shang Da, no Edward. What of the vampires who remained at the end of Cerulean Sins? Moreover, what about the end of Ceruluean Sins, there was a heck of a lot of stuff going on that never even gets referred to.

On a positive note, we had some resolution with Richard and thank god he's not such a royal bas*ard this book. Nathaniel is really shaping up into a great character. I am glad to see Anita letting go a bit and dealing with her situation with something other than anger.

Overall, I wasn't disappointed in Incubus Dreams, it isn't that the book is bad, it's just that it jumps from storyline to storyline without wrapping anything up. Hamilton is a good writer, her characters are clearly ones that have the ability to catch people and make them into fans, it's not that she ran out of material, more like she had so much that she couldn't bear to edit it out.

I love the Anita Blake books but find myself looking for the old Anita in the last few installments. Ms. Hamilton has a gift of creating the most interesting characters, and I find myself literally involved in all Anita's relationships, but her relationship with herself has suffered. Where is the kick--- Anita of the early books? It is so refreshing to read books with a strong female character, there are so few out there. Eve Dallas (J. D. Robb) and Anita Blake are so nontypical of the female leads in books written by women, yet whereas Eve has retained her strength even with all her "relationship" issues, Anita has lost hers. Will the real Anita Blake please come back?

In the latest of the Anita Blake series, "Incubus Dreams" hits an unfortunate sour note. There is a crime, introduced early, to wet our appetites and tease us with anticipation. However, the anticipation all but disappears while we wade through 600 odd pages of Anita's angst over her sex life and with whom she should or shouldn't feel guilty. Frankly, this is a perfect example of how too much of anything leads to a deadening of interest. By the time we return to the crime, I'm all but ready to let them get away with it just for having to wait around while Anita gets her sexual/magical jollies.

Please, let's get back to strengthening the necromancy and fighting crime. Jean-Claude, Richard, and everyone and their brother will just have to wait for Anita to take care of business.

This volume of the Anita Blake series only proves that LKH can and will do what she wants with the series as long as sales are up. I find it hard to believe that any author who truly adored their characters could find doing this to your own characters that you have nurtured okay.

Incubus Dreams is the stuff of legend. It is a book that should be on the worst lists. Problem is fans abound to ego stroke an author who although extraordinarily talented has decided the only way to alienate fans in to totally demolish the character they've grown to love.

Pardom my candor, but Incubus Dreams was an absolute joke. This book should never have passed the pre-publishing aspect of novels. The repetitive nature of the story with the mindless sex, typos and the lovely phrases being used over and over(Spilling, screaming, etc). And LOVE there is so much love Anita has for everyone.

Sorry call me crazy but it seemed like everyone in this book took ecstasy. Everyone was having sex with Anita and no one complained about it. Every man in this book lives, breathes and dies for Anita. Those that Anita hadn't had sex with before and some new guys thrown in for good measure get to experience "ANITA THE WOMAN TO BEAT ALL WOMEN". This story is bases strictly on the ARDUER and feeding it at every given moment need to go find out who the killer is, can't the ARDUER needs to be fed. Emotional getting to know you moment interupted by the ARDUER needing to be fed.

What I find amazing is that other than on the store and a few other online retailers that I won't mention I have failed to find one MAJOR review of this book that doesn't continue to stroke LKH's ego of how great and wonderful the books are.

Don't get me wrong Anita Blake is an incredible creation of LKH and she writes beyond my expectation most of the time. I understand writers block/deadlines/etc. But what I don't understand it that this is the 3rd book to continue in the downward spiral with everyone praising them.

Has everyone gotten frightened to admit that some of the things going on aren't Anita growing they are simply things she'd never do. She had character and it was stolen and replaced.

Richard became the bad guy because he still wanted to have a normal life (okay it was asking a lot when he's a werewolf and he's a bit of a whiner), but why did absolutely all of the morality have to leave the series.

Jean-Claude once strong/seductive/deadly and even the voice of reason at times has been taken over by a pod version of himself that stands in the background as just another "YES" man. Every guy in this book has become submissive. I do not consider a moment in the sack playing dominate a dominate male. Every time a guy ends up in some type of sexual situation with Anita they suddenly lose their voice.

The sexuality of Incubus dreams wasn't even erotic. I know I am not the only one who scanned over some of it.

Knowing what I paid for this book and just imagining what LKH makes from this series. It seems as if she too is receiving similar treatment by the look of this book. Can someone please stand up and say, yes, you are a great writer, but this book is horrible and fix it?

Although LKH wrote the book I pass a lot of the blame to the agents/publishers/etc who saw this book as it is and said "Looks great PRINT IT".

I hope that Incubus Dreams isn't what we have to look forward to in Anita's universe and hope that Jean-Claude wakes from his fog and begins speaking his mind again. Although Asher did in CS and he wasn't in Incubus Dreams.

If LKH wants to write a pure porn Anita Blake book I have no problem with it she's got the talent that could make it work. Incubus Dreams wasn't a showcase for that talent at all. But it does come across as Porn and not even good porn.

For better Anita Blake books try the earlier ones. For better erotic scenes also see the earlier versions.

I admire Laurel K. Hamilton's imagination. Her alternative reality of vampires, animators and were-wolves (not to mention were-leopards, were-rats and even the occasional were-swan) is both amusing and exciting. I admit, I am a fan of the genre, from Stephen King's Salem's Lot to Joss Whedon's universe that includes the blonde, but tough, slayer and the hunky vampire with a soul. It is a nice escape from the world around us and it's sometimes even more terrifying reality. After the first three books of the Anita Blake series, I was with everyone else I wanted the woman to get some sexual action from the seductive vampire and the hot werewolf. After reading Incubus Dreams, I feel like I am in a careful what you wish for situation. The author can certainly write an effective sex scene, but I'm sorry no sex scene should take three long chapters. And maybe if that was the only(or two or three) scene, I could forgive it, but it was the last (or next to last) of many sex scenes. All basically the same sex scene. Anita and two guys. It flat DOES it for her. I get it. I really get it. I believe all of us who read that book REALLY REALLY GET IT. Where was the mystery and action (other than sexual) that this author does so well? I'm three-fourths done with the book and have read so many long drawn out deja-vu writhing and couplings between Anita and her furry or fanged boyfriends that couldn't even remember what the mystery was supposed to be. And I don't want to even mention those LONG relationship conversations. Those just made me start hoping the ardeur would kick in, so they would stop talking. There has to be a happy medium. I don't want to go back to the chaste, smugly chaste Anita Blake. But I would enjoy more of a story next time. Sometimes, honest, less is more.

I got Incubus Dreams (ID) the day it came out and finished it that morning-about 5 AM. While the ride itself is fine I find the book far too disconnected from the events Cerulean Sins (CS) to give this book anywhere near a 5 star rating. I am disappointed in the number of issues not dealt with-not including Mommy Dearest (as I assume that she is the series ender).

While the book starts at Larry's wedding, there is not a single word of dialog from him in the book. Asher is mentioned but never appears "on screen" and considering the major changes that happened for him it is a serious flaw in ID. The same can be said for Richard's pack and his suddenly growing a backbone. The difference in behavior for Richard between CS and ID is down right jarring.

Then there are the guest vampires that are never even mentioned-Bartolome and Valentina (who is someone I would like to know more about). They never appear in ID. They have disappeared completely. And some of the tricks that were new in CS become old hat by the end of ID-visits from the Dragon and Damion's creator.

While there is a kernel of good story here, it is too disconnected from the events in CS and buried under too much sex. A rewrite with a continuity check would be nice. And I am left wondering just how drunk (and for how long) a werewolf can get.

Many pages. Many sex scenes. Teeny weeny plot. Laurell K. Hamilton stumbles further into the depths of Hades with "Incubus Dreams," a dreary erotic horror-fantasy thriller... or is it, thrilling horror-fantasy erotica? Probably the latter -- the most colorful thing about it is Hamilton's insistently graphic sex scenes. Squeezed between the bouts of sex is a tepid little plot, which seems to be suffocating under pressure.

Anita Blake's life hasn't been the same since she acquired the "ardeur," which basically requires her to have sex constantly. Now she's coming to terms with the fact that she has a male harem, and quite an assortment of new powers. However, her old job still exists -- strippers are being mysteriously drained of blood.

To make things worse, the St. Louis police department is getting suspicious of Anita's increasingly supernatural connections -- she's getting too chummy with the werecreatures and vampires. So (between random sex scenes), Anita calls on help to find whoever has murdered the strippers.

There's a lot of sex in this book. A LOT of sex. So much that the actual plotline can be covered in a mere twenty minutes, if you skip the sex. In fact, Hamilton's strippers-being-sucked-dry plot seems almost like it was hastily tacked between assorted sex scenes. What's worse, the tantalizing plot hints at the end of "Cerulean Sins" are left dangling.

A few flickers of Hamilton's wit do show through, given Jean-Claude's acid comment about Anita having "accidental" sex. The pace is slower, and Hamilton seems to be cluing in a little on some of the things that made her past two books so unsatisfying. Unfortunately, she hasn't caught on that her graphic, weirdly un-erotic sex scenes add nothing to the book. The consummation of the triumvirate (yes, consummation) is enough to make you cringe.

Anita is obviously having an identity crisis -- it's like Hamilton is trying to meld different personalities together. The result? A very weird lead character who spends most of her time being crabby and whiny. Fans of werewolf Richard may be pleased, since Hamilton seems to have lost her disgust for him, but Jean Claude spends too much time clucking. And Micah? A laughable excuse for a love interest. Who needs a personality when you can have gonads?

Hamilton's latest is an improvement over the ghastly "Cerulean Sins," but it feels as if she wants to have her cake and eat it too -- change the Blake series to erotica, yet retain her old "feel." And certainly this time around, it isn't working.

I have to admit, I'm a diehard Anita fan. That said, I can freely admit to being diappointed in this book. I've always loved the crime-solving elements in the earlier books. This one had potential, a series of serial killings you could truly sink your teeth into (no pun intended), but LKH failed to deliver. The crimes are treated as an after-thought. Anita has stepped into all this power, and what does she do with it? Gets laid... again, again, and again. Granted, she did also use those new-found abilities to find the baddies, but that was over 500 pages later. Must have sex first, apparently. Lots of it. LKH stated more than once that Jean-Claude's, and therefore part of Anita's, power is sexually based, but the ardeur has taken on a life of its own, dominating the book like a main character.

As for the characters, there's a lot of missed potential there, too. Nathaniel's coming along nicely, just a touch more assertive. Richard is as annoyingly prudish as ever. While I would never like him as a true person, I get a kick out of the conflict he creates. Jean-Claude spent a lot of time in the background, but after all, it is an Anita Blake novel, right? I would like to see more development of Micah, Damien, and Asher. She and Micah are supposed to be akin to a mated pair, Damien is a third of her triumvirate, and Asher is Jean-Claude's second. I think she ought to add Jason to her 'stable' as well. What the heck! Seven is a good metaphysical number, right?

I'm hoping that the next book will be more on track with earlier Anita Blake novels. Anita appears to have gained more control over the ardeur, so perhaps it will not be the focal point it has been. There are new characters to explore, such as Wicked, and Truth, and new adversaries, like the Dragon, and Vittorio. Perhaps we'll also get to see how these new power levels have affected her own innate abilities, her necromancy.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed, just in case.

I gave up on page 345 (of 722). The mystery hasn't been mentioned since page 24, and Anita has had sex with seven men so far. This from the character who wouldn't sleep with her fiance six or seven books ago. There is no plot, only poorly written, highly improbable, overly detailed sex scenes strung together with dull dialog and cliches. It's mind-numbing. The author has taken a great premise for a series and thrown it away. There are too many books in the world to give this series any more of my time -- I'm done with Anita Blake.

The saying goes "Your only as good as your last book" and if that is the case, LKH is in big trouble considering that people can't give away this tripe once they bought it. And trust me, I have tried.

There really needs to be a "No stars" rating and this book should be first in line for it.

This book is tedious, poorly edited... if it was edited at all. Considering the spelling errors, the grating lack of pacing, and that the main character's are less than one dimension, I literally threw this piece of garbage against the wall in disgust.

The only spark of a decent mystery, let alone piece of story is shunted into half a chapter(if that) and spread across length of this atrocity. LKH needs a better editor or one that isn't convinced that all her readers want is cheap, gratuitous sex with complete strangers. I won't be spending any of my money on her again. I have no interest in being a fool a third time. I purchased NIChains and hated it. I was praying and hoping that ID would be different. It is NOT.

Please, do not waste your time. Go read something else, anything else!! I know I will be.

This "Book" (and BOY, do I use the term loosely) was like a train wreck.

It was excruciating, and you really didn't want to see it, but you were so transfixed by the degree of it's horrendousness that you just couldn't look away.

Don't buy it, and for gods-sakes, do not read it.

If I could give negative stars, I would.

You can't find the plot between the badly-written porn and the glaringly obvious fact that Laurell K. Hamilton is living (ew) vicariously through Anita.

As a reader, I'll find it hard to get past the fact that I was reading an author's disgusting sexual fantasies even if LKH ever does learn how to write again (unlikely).

The author and her books have proved themselves to be one thing: Garbage.

Due to mechanical errors in grammar, editing, and story continuity, what should be a wonderful book is dragged into the quagmire of what the heck just happened?

The author is free to take her stories in to whatever realm that she so chooses, and should.

If you like lots of sex, then this is the book for you. Hamilton's sex scenes are improving, and not so mechanical unlike the first few in earlier books. But, if you like an asskicking taking no prisoner's Anita, sorry, she didn't show up in this book.

I don't buy many books in hardcover, and I think the next one, I will be waiting for the paperback version.

I would have given this book a better rating, but the mechanical and grammatical errors were just too overwhelming for me to ignore. And it did affect the flow of the story, at least for me.

My daughter referred to this book as a "PWP" - "Plot? WHAT plot?" Yep. Plenty of sex - WAY too much, and woefully short on anything resembling a storyline. Absolutely atrocious - really nonexistent - editing. Deity was misspelled in every instance, as was triumvirate. How can something as crucial to the story be misspelled EACH and EVERY time? Grammatical errors, syntax problems, punctuation trouble...my guess is the editors at Penguin/Berkely gave this one to the rookie because they couldn't handle the misery themselves. Apart from the editing is the lack of anything reminiscent of the first few books in the series. Sorry, Laurell. Hope the next one's better!

author i onced admired. This series has become so contrived, so cheap, that i cannot fathom wasting any more time and money on it. Ever since NIC, the Anita Blake novels have CPD (Convenient Plot Device) written all over it. Let me point out the ways:

* LKH wanted to justify the once overly moral, celibate heroine having sex with every single male character in the book with the introduction the ardeur, which has overshadowed the plot with mechanical, porn-like sex.

* LKH has introduced new characters like Micah and introduced several more in ID, characters that will no doubt take precedence in Anita's life over Richard and Jean-Claude. Which is why it explains that Richard is now a "closet sadist" among other appalling things and the reason why Jean-Claude went from the dark, sexy, sneaky anti-hero to a lace-wearing queen who gives advice like a French version of The Karate Kid's Mr. Miagi (sp?).

* Every female character, with the possible exception of Ronnie and a few other expendable females, is a villain who is beneath Anita's overall magnificence. Anita has become such a blatant Mary Sue it's not even funny.

* It seems to me that Anita garners new powers and strength whenever it is convenient for her to do so. I wonder how many more triumvirates she'll be in before this series is over. I mean, really, what's next? Will she become 100% omnipotent by book 20? We might as well start calling her The Bionic Woman.

I could carry on pointing out the many CPDs in ID, but why bother? Suffice it to say that i won't buy her next book. LKH, let me know when you begin writing something a little less crappy next time.

600 pages of pure porn, which got boring and repetitious...200 would have sufficed. That left 58 pages for a skimpy plot. I love(d??) the Anita Blake of old...she has turned into nothing but a sex-craved, sleep-deprived, orgy-loving whore. I agree with other reviews...Nathaniel was the most interesting character in this book.

I don't know where the old Anita went, but she definately isn't here. I usually pick up a new Anita Blake novel and can't stop reading till I'm done!! I had to struggle to get through it, a few pages at a time, and the only reason I stuck with it was because I kept hoping it would get better, around page 590 it got to be good and vaguely resembled the reason why I bought the book in the first place.

Heed the warnings, don't spend your money on this book. You won't miss anything if you skip it: oh wait, (SPOILER!!AHEAD!!) she has a new triumverant, gains a power level, and sleeps with Nathanial, and leaves the murder plot unresolved..it took 658 pages for that..(END SPOILER) Pray Laurel Hamilton reads these reviews. I am hoping she doesn't do to Meredith what she has done to Anita...guess we'll find out in April.

I loved the beginning of this series, in fact I have been compelled to buy each and every one. However I believe Laurell needs to hang her head in shame for what she did to her beloved series. Don't read this book if you liked the others, in fact perhaps you should mourn the end of the series. It's over. Hamilton may claim that this book is a continuation of the Anita Blake series, but thats only so she can sell copies to her unwary fans without having to think about doing her job. What is her job, one might ask and rightly so. As an author her job is to sell as many copies as she can, build up a group of people who will continue to buy the series and remain true to the series. This self destruction of the Anita Blake series is a vivid depiction of Hamilton's deterioration as a writer. I can't believe her publisher allowed her to do this, have they no sense of self preservation? Many authors branch out to other genres, but they not within the same series. Hamilton already has a smut series, did she really need to drag Anita into it too? All this book says to me is that Hamilton needs to get laid, badly.

Talking about sex, having sex, then talking about it some more is all she does in this parody of a book. There is no tough girl taking down the bad guys, there is no intriging sensuality. But worst of all there is no plot!! It's as bad as having your favorite team play beautifully up until the superbowl and watching them sit in the field, joking with the refs that the fans are so stupid to pay good money to come watch them.

I wish I could say I believe "Micah" is going to be a turn around back to the good plot we've come to enjoy, but the truth is I won't be buying it. As far as I'm concerned Hamilton murdered Anita then burried her under ten feet of concrete and built a skyscraper over her.

Okay, don't get me wrong, I'm all for a little steamy sex thrown in, but this was basically the whole book. The plot...uh, was there one...was totally buried and/or ignored for the majority of the book. I'm all about Anita embracing her own monsterness, but where are all the other characters we love. ASHER? EDWARD? DOLPH? Please LKH, keep the steamy scenes, but insert some plot somewhere along the way.

I loved this series and used to eagerly await the next book. The last few entries started slipping off into nothingness and now this? I was hard pressed to find an actual story in this bloated book. And then there is the ardeur. Not a bad element, but it has become vastly overdone and now there are whole books based on feeding it. I love a good erotic novel, but not here. Hot sex and romance are supposed to be fun and interesting. Here, they just seem like something Anita and most everyone in the book HAS to do. At certain times it's fun, but it just goes on and on and on and on. I found myself flipping ahead a lot, just to see if anything else was going to happen.

I have not written Anita off, but am getting close.

Ms. Hamilton - PLEASE go back and read the first five books in the series. Especially Guilty Pleasures. That's what hooked me. I can only imagine how hard it is to come up with plot, characters, etc., especially for the same core group of characters. Please try harder...

Sorry for the bad review, but I am very sad that I'm not enjoying your books anymore. Thanks.

I used to love this series. When this series started it was great. Action/suspense/mystery/bit of sexual tension and now it is basically all sex. I have nothing against sex. If I had wanted an erotic novel though I would have bought one. Now this was not a sudden change, this occurred over time. This book starts right off with a crime and ends with the bad guy getting there's, but the whole middle is just sex. Half way through this series there was a nice balance of sex/action and mystery. Sadly I think Mrs. Hamilton has lost her way.

I have all of the Anita Blake books by Laurell K. Hamilton. I have loved almost all of them. However, her latest book is a huge disappointment. This book, which is over 600 pages long, has no discernible plot, except the theme of sex with vampires and other wereanimals. The reader is forced to speculate on Anita's sexual escapades--with whom and how many will she have sex with in the next few pages. I can't believe Ms. Hamilton has run out of ideas. I am hoping that this book is an aberration. I am still upset that I wasted money on the hardcover edition.

I've been waiting for this book to come out since I finished Cerulean Sins, and I'm completely addicted to the Anita Blake series.
That having been said, this was not my favourite book in this series.
Strong points: Anita resolving some things with Richard (one of my fave characters), some hot sex scenes, the opening few chapters describing Larry's wedding.
Weak points: this book felt more like the Merry Gentry series, with sex for the sake of sex (or so it seemed) as opposed to it adding intensity to a relationship (even a casual one). The mystery or underlying storyline - outside of Anita's relationships with the many characters - felt almost like an afterthought. There was a lot of editorializing on the development of the triumvirate powers with Richard and Jean-Claude, as well as an examination of Anita's relationship with the many men in her life. As for the [WARNING - SPOILERS!] second triumvirate ... that seemed a little far-fetched.
I stuck with it (raced through it and then went back to re-read parts, in fact) because as I already stated, I am a big fan and addicted to the series. However, if you have never read an Anita Blake novel, I would strongly advise against starting with this one. If the mystery rather than the sexual element of these stories is what you like, I would avoid this book as well ... or at least wait until it comes out in paperback.
The crux of this book seems to be Anita getting more aware of her boundaries - or lack thereof - and of her gaining greater understanding of how she feels about both herself and the many men around her.
Overall, I'd give it somewhere between 3 and 4 stars.

I am a big fan of Laurell K. Hamilton. Her latest book will not change this fact either.

If you've read any of the other posts here you will see a adamant love or hate for the all the sex and ardeur scenes in Hamilton's newest novel.

What I loved about Hamilton as an author was her spicy, quick witted humor and the life she breathed into the tough as nails, kick your ass right now if she has to character, Anita Blake.

The plot is weak and so is Anita. One sex scene turns into another and another and I found myself wondering when a plot would start to emerge.

You won't find anything like Obsidian Butterfly or Bloody Bones here--two of my favorites.

I look forward to her next book--where maybe she'll resume the occupation of respected author and use less sex/porn to bring back the Anita Blake we all know and LOVE.

I am a long-time Anita Blake series fan until Incubus Dreams. While the two prior to this had aspects that I didn't like -- they had enough I liked and of the characters I loved to keep going.

Either LKH is now surrounded by "yes" people because of her success and/or she was in some sort of war with her publisher and on purpose wrote this piece of junk.

How can she let her Anita fans down like this? I'm still dreaming that she will announce that Incubus Dreams was a mistake and write the great Anita Blake series book that we all deserve.

Frankily if she would drop her Gentry series (way too much romance for my liking) perhaps she could then focus on a good Anita book.

I enjoyed this book, but only for the character development that Nathaniel goes through. Too many characters doing the exact same things they've done for the past three books, having the same conversations and issues that they've had, using the exact same descriptions and language. Only with more sex that really doesn't feel innovative (again, with the exception of Nathaniel's interactions with Anita). This book felt like watching porn on tv, flipping to other channels during the commercials for long enough to catch the surface of other plots. Entertaining, but not satisfying and certainly not up to the standard of Obsidian Butterfly or Blue Moon.

Another reviewer quoted Hamilton complaining that female authors are discouraged from writing erotica about women, and this is her response to that discrimination. Is she completely unaware of the millions of dollars in the romance novel industry, which consists almost exclusively of female authors writing about female characters for female readers, frequently involving explicit sexual behavior? Hamilton would do well to get over whatever snit she's having about feminism and prove that female authors can deliver well-turned, non-repetitive prose that incorporates effective erotica.

And to add to the list of phrases that were clever the first two times they were used, but lost any sense of creativity when they were used in every chapter of every book:

"spill" (applied to anything not liquid, including cloth, hair, boots and even entire people)
"blood and thicker things" (You know what? Just say gore. Or brains. Or chunks, scabs, clots, mucus, flesh, tissue, gobs or any of a number of words available in your local thesaurus.)

And a spelling lesson:
deity, not "diety"
nein, not "nien"

Spellcheck and a thesaurus are your friends, and can even be used in the middle of writing! I expect more from a professional, published author and her editing and publishing team. I would prefer publishing dates to be set back if such basic errors are to be left in a manuscript. All in all, this was not the worst book I've read, but I was severely disappointed.

It would be interesting to divide the book up and compare how much of the book is spent having sex vs. how much on the actual plot? The plot itself is introduced but never followed through. So many story lines are left hanging in the air, including the case she was on about a serial killer that didn't manage to be solved in 658 pages. Her characters, as always, are engaging but her story lacks anything solid to stand on.

Read it if you've read the other books in the series, if not, don't bother. That's the only reason why I read it - even though the last one and this one are very disapointing to say the least, I feel obligated to finish out the story of Anita Blake.

next Anita book will be nicely wrapped up under a Hustler (...)cover so that people will easily understand what they are gonna get. This is my second book by Ms. Hamilton (the first one was as boring as this one -it was Narcissus Chains or something like that) and it is exciting as much as a piece of cheese going mouldy. Friends here urge newcomers to start from the beginning but I can't help feeling to wonder if an author of such a pointless driver could really write a good book. After all, even editing, which should put the publishers of this book on shame is one of the poorest I have seen in years. How could a good, self-respecting author let this sloppy thing slip through publication?

I am grateful that I started these series late; because if you start from the first one, you cannot help yourself but read all the rest...regardless of how bad they may be, wasting up both your time and money. I know how it feels. That's what happened to me with Anne Rice and Patricia Cornwell...

Anyway, I am leaving Ms. Hamilton here on her journey to laughable adolescent sex world. Stephen King's Dark Tower series,Lord of The Rings as well as Harry Potter are simple and effective examples how good a series can be.

Ms. Hamilton, I beg you to read them...They have stories in the first place.

I wasn't expecting much out of this book based on the last couple of books in the series, and I wasn't dissapointed. I'm a big fan of the earlier books in the Anita Blake Series, but this book isn't one I'd recommend to anyone. Incubus Dreams doesn't actually have a storyline. It's basically about Ms. Blake's need to screw everything in sight. I think it's time to end the series if the author isn't going to put any thought into writing it, because I miss the Anita Blake who walked into any situation with her guns blazing, not ready to make out.

I just started reading the Anita Blake series. I bought all of them and read them in a couple of weeks. My original impressions of the characters are still fresh. However, I don't know why she decided to butcher them.

I loved the series thru Blue Moon, after that I don't know what happened to the characters. I'm far from being a prude, I enjoy reading erotica I just would prefer a little romance with it. If that makes me a prude (seeing as we get lectured about views on sex thoughout the series) so be it.

Who is Anita now? She went from being modest about her nudity and wanting a relationship and monogomy to screwing every and anyone. Now she needs 2 men at a time to "flat to it for her". When she's not screwing everyone she is showing them she has the biggest "balls". I love the thought of a strong woman but she is now in the "god" status with all her new found power's.

I'm a romantic at heart and I actually thought Richard/Anita was a good love story. I could live with a Jean Claude/Richard/Anita traingle. Instead I had to live with Jean Claude/ Asher/ Anita, Nathaniel/Jason/ Anita, Nathaniel/ Damien/ Anita, let's not forget Micah or anyone else that may be sitting around. But she love's them all. No plot, no romance just boring sex scene after sex scene. I'm enjoying Christine's Feehan's Mind Games and Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark Hunter series more than the last 3 installments of the Anita Blake series.

What a shame the series started out so interesting.

This is the 12th book in the Anita Blake series. Every book in this series (with the exception of Obsidian Butterfly) has become more erotic in stepwise fashion as Anita's Catholic inhibitions are broken down one step at a time. Many readers appear to be disgusted with this particular book because of the kinky sex, sex, sex throughout. There is hardly any mystery and no significant resolution of said mystery. I view this book differently than many. Rather, I see it as a transition point in the series for the development of the characters. Now that many of the erotic pressures are 'out of the way' and Anita is accepting of what she has become, I feel the series may be able to move in a different direction (ie, better quality of sex scenes, NOT quantity -- make them count toward the plot). This book introduces a new group of dangerous vampires and proposes a major problem with the Church of Eternal Life. Plotlines which I am sure will be explored in later books. (Ms. Hamilton is contracted at least thru book 15, I have been told.) Overall, as a major fan of the series, I found it very satisfying. The only regret I had when reading it was previously reading her short story in the 'Cravings' anthology. This short story became the plot for the first full third of the book -- and if I had been warned, I would not have read it and ruined the first part of this novel.

I have been awaiting the arrival of this book for some time.. I am a huge fan of laurell's Anita Blake series... I was extremly dissapointed with this book.... there were TONS of errors... I mean.. time to get a new type editor perhaps? She repated herself over and over in this book... yes we already know who Belle Morte' is thank you... this book was open for sooooo many things.. and all she put in it was a TON about the arduer... sex is interesting.. but come on now... we want more vampires and more were-animals... not more sex.. all in alll this book was a huge let down... hopefully her next one will make up for 685 pages of sex...

First, can I say I was a fan of Anita Blake before the series really took off and perhaps that is why I am disappointed. Laurell, if you read this, may I suggest you reread your earlier work and see if you can perceive any difference. There is no plot to this work. It is simply a series of sexual encounters with a bit of angst driven soul searching in between. I am not a prude nor do I mind well crafted descriptions on sexual encounters (even if it does seem that you are drawing on sealed section girlie mags for inspiration but at least try and keep my interest with a plot. Anyone who is interested should divide Laurell's book into how much is devoted to sex and how much to the underlying plot (rogue vamps on the loose). My impression was sexual congress 95% and plot treatment 5% (the usual Anita battling redneck stupid police officer at crime scene stuff. The most telling thing of all is how Laurell is forced to dispose of the plot in a page and a half at the end with someone we never even met writing a letter of explanation and the bad vamp (who we also never meet) just crossing state borders to be someone else's problem.

I like Anita Blake, I like the world Anita has crafted for her to inhabit but this book was just going through the motions in a big way..(I think I also got sympathetic chafing as a result of Anita's incessant sexploits..

I won't say don't buy this book but if you like me got hooked on the interesting storylines of the earlier books, you will be disappointed or at least nowhere near as satisfied as Anita was in this book (how many back scratching rainmaking orgasms was it Laurell, 10, 15 ..I lost count in the end, and that was just one of her encounters..

God, I do sound like a prude but I stand by my criticism of this book.

I had fantasies about doing it with Anita Blake, I read the Guilty Pleasures to Obsidian Butterfly novels and they were truly one of the best series of books I had ever read. And I love eros as much as the next person, when I got Incubus Dreams a 30 disk cd set, by disk 16 there were three descriptions of the Anita Blake I grew to love, the rest of it was Anita as sex object, I undertand the integral part her powers have in the novels, however I got it the first time, I didn't need to hear it over and over and over and over....get the drift???? When I want sexy, I get sexy, same for adult themes, I wanted Anita Blake Vampire Hunter, what I got was Anita Blake S**T, which if made into an adult movie and advertised as such I would purchase, Laurel Hamilton is still an excellent author, just package the novels honestly, and beleive me I am no prude.

I have been reading the Anita Blake books since the beginning of the series. The early books are wonderful and I highly recommend them. I stuck with the series through the "less than stellar navel gazing porn" novels thinking that the series would rebound. Not a chance.

As the other reviewers have said, it's a meaningless, thinly rationalized, mostly boring porn film on paper. No sooner does a new character show up than you can count the seconds until Anita is "forced" to bed them for one pointless reason or another. As for plot - well, you could pull out all the pages actually related to the purported storyline, bind them together and maybe (if properly edited) have a short story of moderate interest.

I'd say Incubus Dreams has driven a stake through the heart of this series - what a shame.

I like so many here have been a die hard fan since Guilty Pleasures and have "stuck" with it through all the new books despite their declining quality. This book is just another in the past 3-4 where her once great plots get lost in pages upon pages of repetitive porn. Even the vocabulary she uses to describe these "erotica" scenes is recycled. She has reduced once complex male figures into 2-dimensional (or less) adoring sex slaves or sulky child figures.

Her main character Anita Blake has gone from a commanding/feisty "do it herself" woman to an over-sexed drama queen. Hamilton really seems to be dragging Anita down in more than plot, but in character depth as well. Realllly disappointing.

I don't think I will anymore of her novels since they are now more inept erotica rather than fun detective fiction. When in an almost 700 page book only about 100-150 pages actually involve a recognizable plot you know you have entered the erotica/romance zone.

Laurell Hamilton is one of about 2 authors that I will cough up the bucks for the hard back. It's been interesting to see her writing style evolve. Her first couple of Anita Blake books involved a whole new kind of story line which I liked. Her next several books involved a whole new kind of story line with a very sensual element which I really liked. Now we've come full circle. Most of the book covers sex scenes, usually kinky. A lot of what's left over involves discussion with people in her life and with herself; lots of angst here. Obviously, this leaves very little room for anything resembling an actual plot.

Laurell isn't the only game in town with this kind of supernatural story line any more. I hate to say it, but some of the other authors are doing it better. Even when she's poor, Laurell Hamilton is still worth reading, but I'll probably wait for the paperback on her next effort.

I am truly saddened that my favorite author has written such a piece of garbage. This book was horrible. I had to get past half of the book, (which was mostly sex scenes), to actually find the plot of the story. This book could have been at least half the size and been much better. There was a love scene that lasted about 3 chapters.

Since I love Anita I finished reading the book. However, you may be able to skip the book and not miss anything important from Anita series. My recommendation... Borrow the book from someone so that you don't feel so bad when you read it and realize that you wasted your money and time.

Boring. I just want to reflect on what that word means.

uninteresting, tiresome, dull, monotonous, unexciting...

All of these are very apt words to describe the quality, the storyline, the plot-- Well, just about everything about this book.

I've tried to "read deeper" into what Anita is going through. I've tried to see her incessant humping as "character growth". But frankly, the only thing I saw growing was the amount of men in her "hisem" and the bits and pieces of said men.

I'm not going to wait and see what happens next. I refuse to see if she pulls out of this slump or decides to put more effort into writng a good novel. I've already given this woman a buttload of my money and I don't intend to give her any more.

And I just want to say that I'd really have loved to give it a negative score but they don't have that option.

Anita Blake was such a great character. Was is the key here.

I have eagerly awaited each new installment of the Anita Blake books and continue to feel disappointment with each new offering.

It has taken a little while to get around to write this review, hoping a re-read of such a large book might change my initial view. However, the attempted reread stalled.

Lack of a central plot, absurdly extraneous sex scenes, poor character developement, TERRIBLE spelling and grammar reinforced the first impression.

One can only hope that the next book will see an end to this downward spiral.

As an LKH fan, I appreciate the author's imagination and original premise. I also applaud her willingness to take her stories in new directions in spite of the bald face criticism from her core base of fans.

Hopefully, she will take note of the growing trend of disappointed fans and take a harder look at her books before approving them for final manuscript delivery. All I can think at this point is that her publisher is so eager to toss out a book for profit that editing and series development clearly mean little to them.

I have high hopes for Stroke of Midnight, Merry Gentry series. After reading her web log and some of her thought processes as she was writing the new Merry Gentry book, I'm afraid this too may be a shadow of what it could be if she focused on the intergrity of her stories and characters.

I like many of Hamilton's fans waited with bated breath for the release of her new book. I was thrilled when I found a store that put it out early when I was on vacation. Now I wish I had saved my money and bought it at my local used book store.

On the front cover it clearly states that this is the next book in the Anita Blake VAMPIRE HUNTER series and that small text is the only way you would know it. It reads more like Anita Blake super skank. I have never had any problem with the sex scenes in any of the anita books before. They were mixed in at a nice rate making the book wonderful, but in Incubus Dreams all she does is have sex. Constantly. In 600+ pages there are only TWO scenes where she fights vampires. In such a large book you would think there would be room for something else.

I am so disappointed that I spent so much money on this book.

Well.. everyone in the multitude of reviews I've read has already said everything I wanted to say on a higher intellectual level -- so I wont go over the fact that this book has finally changed the Anita Blake series from a series of wonderfully imaginative supernatural thrillers to a series of unfortunate pornographic "accidents" over which all the characters must then agonize fruitlessly until they share endless group therapy and we are forced to read all the the session transcripts ("Hi... my name is Anita Blake and I'm a necromancing lupa out of work vampire executioner with a possible large felid entity inside me and I'm a nymphomaniac -- no, scratch that... I'm a helpless nymphomaniac boinking everyone against my will... however, I do like it).

Anyway -- that's what I read between the sticky lines.

So, now I'm going to gripe about something totally non-intellectual.... here goes (pacifists, please stop reading this review now).

Did anyone else realize that in ths whole book, never once did Anita get all decked out in her battle-gear or get any new, fun battle toys? She used to speak often and with such fondness of the favorite Browning High-Power, and low if I recall one mention of the little darling.

Now me, I'm no lover of guns or violence -- but I did love that aspect of Anita... the girl who knew her way around an automatic weapon, wore custom made knives on every possible body part... and ALWAYS had her Browning near her heart... and the Firestar someplace else... and the oozie hung in the shoulder sling... etc.

Does this sound shallow? Childish? Does the fact that I actually missed the battle scenes and the anticipatory thrill that always came with the battle prep and waiting to see how many weapons Anita could hang on her five foot frame? How many new powers she might get to throw at the enemy? And of course, having the plot actually being somehow connected to all of the above?

Was I the only one who, when it came down to it, really missed the kick-arse action and attitude which always left me feeling charged up when I finished yet another installment?

Now... sheesh... someone could toss her precious Browning out the window into a steaming septic tank and she probably wouldn't even notice it was gone (what with the pile of lovers that are likely balanced atop old Anita a la Cirque du Soleil).

In the end, I really don't mind if Anita has a dozen boyfriends who are all happy to have their 1/12th ration of the new and lusty Anita Blake -- but I want my scary plots back! I want to hear what hardware she's packing for the dangerous night out! I want some bang for my buck (well... I guess that is the wrong phrase to use -- we got WAY more than enough bang in this book)... I just want some of the old Anita back; you know? How can I get my vicarious arse-kicking excitement now? I don't need porn... (sex is legal, thus, one can be a "do-er" when it comes to sex so I don't need vicarious thrills and impossible blue plots -- that's my feeling anyway). But when will I ever get to cut in half a rabid vampire with a sawed off shotgun -- NEVER!

So -- there. I said it. All intellectual commentary given by other reviews aside (all of which was completely valid and I agree entirely with almost everyone)... when it comes down to it, I missed the non-PC Anita Blake blood and gore action. Forgive me if my opinion is less than high-minded -- but I just had to tell the truth. Why? Because I hope one of LKH's "people" start to hear that this low-brow non-PC stuff is also some of what we are missing from the new Anita Blake. Yes, we want better character development and continuity, yes we want interesting and complex plot lines, yes we would very much like less typos and repetitive phraseology... but heck... we also want our tough, shoot-first-ask-questions-later Anita, too. Or, at least I do.

If we never see her again... it was a fine 11-12 book run. Sigh...

I can't tell who was more bored...me, reading this book, or LKH writing it! I may be in a minority-- someone who REALLY LIKED Cerulean Sins and all the hot sex, but who HATED this new installment of the Anita series. The sex scenes, as some have mentioned, were broken up by CHAPTER UPON CHAPTER of talking! Turning what should have been a juicy romp into a raging snoozefest.

Oh, and I also didn't appreciate LKH's typos, and her repetitive phrasing. If I hear "he took one for the team" or "I made it a question" or "that just flat out does it for him" or "I went to that dead place inside myself" or "eff me!" one more time -- I'm gonna throw something! Namely this book, into the trash! Sorry LKH: There's no excuse for lazy writing , particularly after we fans have stuck with you for twelve books. To sum up-- more sex, less talk, more action, less typos, more Edward and Asher, less lazy writing.

I've "taken one for the team," so you don't have to. Don't buy this book, unless you're having trouble sleeping, or need to practice your copyediting skills.

I like so many here have been a die hard fan since Guilty Pleasures and have "stuck" with it through all the new books despite their declining quality. This book is just another in the past 3-4 where her once great plots get lost in pages upon pages of repetitive porn. Even the vocabulary she uses to describe these "erotica" scenes is recycled. She has reduced once complex male figures into 2-dimensional (or less) adoring sex slaves or sulky child figures.

Her main character Anita Blake has gone from a commanding/feisty "do it herself" woman to an over-sexed drama queen. Hamilton really seems to be dragging Anita down in more than plot, but in character depth as well. Realllly disappointing.

I don't think I will anymore of her novels since they are now more inept erotica rather than fun detective fiction. When in an almost 700 page book only about 100-150 pages actually involve a recognizable plot you know you have entered the erotica/romance zone.

Laurell Hamilton is one of about 2 authors that I will cough up the bucks for the hard back. It's been interesting to see her writing style evolve. Her first couple of Anita Blake books involved a whole new kind of story line which I liked. Her next several books involved a whole new kind of story line with a very sensual element which I really liked. Now we've come full circle. Most of the book covers sex scenes, usually kinky. A lot of what's left over involves discussion with people in her life and with herself; lots of angst here. Obviously, this leaves very little room for anything resembling an actual plot.

Laurell isn't the only game in town with this kind of supernatural story line any more. I hate to say it, but some of the other authors are doing it better. Even when she's poor, Laurell Hamilton is still worth reading, but I'll probably wait for the paperback on her next effort.

I am truly saddened that my favorite author has written such a piece of garbage. This book was horrible. I had to get past half of the book, (which was mostly sex scenes), to actually find the plot of the story. This book could have been at least half the size and been much better. There was a love scene that lasted about 3 chapters.

Since I love Anita I finished reading the book. However, you may be able to skip the book and not miss anything important from Anita series. My recommendation... Borrow the book from someone so that you don't feel so bad when you read it and realize that you wasted your money and time.

Boring. I just want to reflect on what that word means.

uninteresting, tiresome, dull, monotonous, unexciting...

All of these are very apt words to describe the quality, the storyline, the plot-- Well, just about everything about this book.

I've tried to "read deeper" into what Anita is going through. I've tried to see her incessant humping as "character growth". But frankly, the only thing I saw growing was the amount of men in her "hisem" and the bits and pieces of said men.

I'm not going to wait and see what happens next. I refuse to see if she pulls out of this slump or decides to put more effort into writng a good novel. I've already given this woman a buttload of my money and I don't intend to give her any more.

And I just want to say that I'd really have loved to give it a negative score but they don't have that option.

Anita Blake was such a great character. Was is the key here.

I have eagerly awaited each new installment of the Anita Blake books and continue to feel disappointment with each new offering.

It has taken a little while to get around to write this review, hoping a re-read of such a large book might change my initial view. However, the attempted reread stalled.

Lack of a central plot, absurdly extraneous sex scenes, poor character developement, TERRIBLE spelling and grammar reinforced the first impression.

One can only hope that the next book will see an end to this downward spiral.

As an LKH fan, I appreciate the author's imagination and original premise. I also applaud her willingness to take her stories in new directions in spite of the bald face criticism from her core base of fans.

Hopefully, she will take note of the growing trend of disappointed fans and take a harder look at her books before approving them for final manuscript delivery. All I can think at this point is that her publisher is so eager to toss out a book for profit that editing and series development clearly mean little to them.

I have high hopes for Stroke of Midnight, Merry Gentry series. After reading her web log and some of her thought processes as she was writing the new Merry Gentry book, I'm afraid this too may be a shadow of what it could be if she focused on the intergrity of her stories and characters.

I like many of Hamilton's fans waited with bated breath for the release of her new book. I was thrilled when I found a store that put it out early when I was on vacation. Now I wish I had saved my money and bought it at my local used book store.

On the front cover it clearly states that this is the next book in the Anita Blake VAMPIRE HUNTER series and that small text is the only way you would know it. It reads more like Anita Blake super skank. I have never had any problem with the sex scenes in any of the anita books before. They were mixed in at a nice rate making the book wonderful, but in Incubus Dreams all she does is have sex. Constantly. In 600+ pages there are only TWO scenes where she fights vampires. In such a large book you would think there would be room for something else.

I am so disappointed that I spent so much money on this book.

Well.. everyone in the multitude of reviews I've read has already said everything I wanted to say on a higher intellectual level -- so I wont go over the fact that this book has finally changed the Anita Blake series from a series of wonderfully imaginative supernatural thrillers to a series of unfortunate pornographic "accidents" over which all the characters must then agonize fruitlessly until they share endless group therapy and we are forced to read all the the session transcripts ("Hi... my name is Anita Blake and I'm a necromancing lupa out of work vampire executioner with a possible large felid entity inside me and I'm a nymphomaniac -- no, scratch that... I'm a helpless nymphomaniac boinking everyone against my will... however, I do like it).

Anyway -- that's what I read between the sticky lines.

So, now I'm going to gripe about something totally non-intellectual.... here goes (pacifists, please stop reading this review now).

Did anyone else realize that in ths whole book, never once did Anita get all decked out in her battle-gear or get any new, fun battle toys? She used to speak often and with such fondness of the favorite Browning High-Power, and low if I recall one mention of the little darling.

Now me, I'm no lover of guns or violence -- but I did love that aspect of Anita... the girl who knew her way around an automatic weapon, wore custom made knives on every possible body part... and ALWAYS had her Browning near her heart... and the Firestar someplace else... and the oozie hung in the shoulder sling... etc.

Does this sound shallow? Childish? Does the fact that I actually missed the battle scenes and the anticipatory thrill that always came with the battle prep and waiting to see how many weapons Anita could hang on her five foot frame? How many new powers she might get to throw at the enemy? And of course, having the plot actually being somehow connected to all of the above?

Was I the only one who, when it came down to it, really missed the kick-arse action and attitude which always left me feeling charged up when I finished yet another installment?

Now... sheesh... someone could toss her precious Browning out the window into a steaming septic tank and she probably wouldn't even notice it was gone (what with the pile of lovers that are likely balanced atop old Anita a la Cirque du Soleil).

In the end, I really don't mind if Anita has a dozen boyfriends who are all happy to have their 1/12th ration of the new and lusty Anita Blake -- but I want my scary plots back! I want to hear what hardware she's packing for the dangerous night out! I want some bang for my buck (well... I guess that is the wrong phrase to use -- we got WAY more than enough bang in this book)... I just want some of the old Anita back; you know? How can I get my vicarious arse-kicking excitement now? I don't need porn... (sex is legal, thus, one can be a "do-er" when it comes to sex so I don't need vicarious thrills and impossible blue plots -- that's my feeling anyway). But when will I ever get to cut in half a rabid vampire with a sawed off shotgun -- NEVER!

So -- there. I said it. All intellectual commentary given by other reviews aside (all of which was completely valid and I agree entirely with almost everyone)... when it comes down to it, I missed the non-PC Anita Blake blood and gore action. Forgive me if my opinion is less than high-minded -- but I just had to tell the truth. Why? Because I hope one of LKH's "people" start to hear that this low-brow non-PC stuff is also some of what we are missing from the new Anita Blake. Yes, we want better character development and continuity, yes we want interesting and complex plot lines, yes we would very much like less typos and repetitive phraseology... but heck... we also want our tough, shoot-first-ask-questions-later Anita, too. Or, at least I do.

If we never see her again... it was a fine 11-12 book run. Sigh...

I can't tell who was more bored...me, reading this book, or LKH writing it! I may be in a minority-- someone who REALLY LIKED Cerulean Sins and all the hot sex, but who HATED this new installment of the Anita series. The sex scenes, as some have mentioned, were broken up by CHAPTER UPON CHAPTER of talking! Turning what should have been a juicy romp into a raging snoozefest.

Oh, and I also didn't appreciate LKH's typos, and her repetitive phrasing. If I hear "he took one for the team" or "I made it a question" or "that just flat out does it for him" or "I went to that dead place inside myself" or "eff me!" one more time -- I'm gonna throw something! Namely this book, into the trash! Sorry LKH: There's no excuse for lazy writing , particularly after we fans have stuck with you for twelve books. To sum up-- more sex, less talk, more action, less typos, more Edward and Asher, less lazy writing.

I've "taken one for the team," so you don't have to. Don't buy this book, unless you're having trouble sleeping, or need to practice your copyediting skills.

I was drawn into this written, imaginative story within the first few pages. A woman with emotional conflict; a vampire hunter with a few secrets other than solving murder cases. I was influenced to read this book because of its title, "Incubus Dreams."

The main characters are Anita, Micah, and Nathaniel, they all live under the same roof. They aren't exactly human, and their everyday lifestyle isn't what you would call normal. Anita is a necromancer, and possesses some abilities that don't have. Despite these abilities, there is a major downfall, the arduer...only feed-able by sex or blood. Anita is solving a series of murders, while trying to contain her arduer and person conflicts.

This book is only one of the beautiful novels in this series. It's wonderful because even without reading the previous books, you can easily understand the novel.

I couldn't put this book down it was so captivating. This is a very graphic novel and I wouldn't recommend it to a young audience. Overall there is some necessary sex, but in my opinion it intensifies the storyline. This book was very enjoyable, mainly because of the level of detail. If you find intense, suspenseful, romantic graphic novels enjoyable to you, I think you should read Incubus Dreams.

Each word will leave you wanting more, her best book yet.

Let me begin by saying I am not a prude. I enjoy porn and erotica, and have specific series of books and movies I avidly enjoy. In the early part of this series, I happily rooted for Anita to get past her puritan tendencies and longed for intimacy between her and JC. I hated Richard's selfishness and even liked Micah for standing in as a new *lover*.

But I was most drawn to the series for its solid plot, dark mystery, fascinating world creation, and the interplay of "evil", "good", and "grey". Anita stood as a strong and independent woman who was defined by strength of character. Her inner struggles as she worked through the puritan and patriarchal ideals of sex, of what was proper, and of what was "appropriate" for a lady, or for a good human, resonated with me and many twenty-something friends of mine as we worked through the same issues in our own lives. We looked to the books for a engaging, fast, witty, intelligent, dark, and mysterious story that held depth of meaning to us.

In ID, I actually find myself almost unable to finish the book. I am insulted and embarrassed *for Anita* as I read ID work and watch as a character that used to stand as an example for me and others of a woman trying to *balance* herself (the powers within her, her job, the power around her, what she was expected to be, what she wanted in life, and the reality of the world around her) become an embodiment of the one-dimensional clichés that all power for a woman must come through sex (or through pleasuring men) and that powerful women are necessarily promiscuous. LKH is now defining AB not by her strength of character, intelligence, wit and charisma, but by her sexuality and its creativity.

Yes, as has been said so many times before amongst these reviews, there was little to no discernable plot, little to no editing, and little to no connectivity within this book. But above all there was no LIFE to the characters anymore.

I will not be continuing a series that I had loved and for that I am sorry. But more I am bitter over what LKH has done to such a wonderful character.

LKH you are a wonderful writer as evidenced in your earlier books. Your creativity and charm of voice was astonishing and built an audience that waited breathlessly for more. Please, revisit the muse that inspired you before and remember the voice that was Anita. If we want lurid and exciting supernatural sex and erotica, you have created the perfect world and vehicle in the Meredith Gentry books (a series I hope to continue enjoying), give it to us there. Step back and return to us the AB we have grown to love. Some fabulous sex is fine, even needed, but use your literary talent to make the scenes *matter* and *add* to a solid and definable plot and interesting involving character arcs.

Having loved this series, the last two books (Narcissus in Chains and Cerulean Sins) were utter disappointments. So I picked up Incubus to give Anita one last shot. this was the worst of the bunch.

I will say that despite the 600+ pages, it is quite a fast read because one can just skip between the repetitive and monotonous "audeur inspired" sex scenes for the few pages that actually had something to do with the plot.

This series started out as something I couldn't put down. Now it's just something to avoid.

I was really looking forward to this novel. I read the reviews on this site and just knew the harsher comments were over blown. They weren't. Lots of sex scenes do not make a good novel. They just cover the fact that the novel is weak. Sure-- we learn more about the characters and how flawed they are which makes them 'human' and more likeable but the story... the murders... are like a side dish thrown in as a filler. More plot, more story line is needed. Hope she does better on the next Blake novel or that will be the last one I read.

I LOVE the Anita Blake series...up until this one.

The story is all about sex, which in itself would not be bad but all Anita seems to be doing is well...doing it...over and over with anyone and everyone...in detail...again and again...I miss the other books where there was actually a story. I have about a quarter of the book to go...I may just forget about reading the rest....

The Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series is the best series I've read. Incubus Dreams, in my opinion, is the worst in the series. The entire book was one sex scene after the next, and I usually enjoy the sex scenes. This just became monotonous. I was at the point of skipping pages and almost forgot the original story line. Maybe Laurall was having a bad year but she's definately done better.

Have the agree with a lot of the other reviews here. I enjoyed the book, having read all of the other Anita Blake series, but the sex scenes are becoming the majority of her books. More plot PLEASE! By the middle of the book I found myself skimming through the sex scenes trying to find where the plot picks up again. I have NEVER done with with one of LKH's books. I understand the whole JC's "power is sex related" thing, but in the next book could you have Anita crawl out of bed ONCE in a while and take care of business? Some sex is fine but It's her business that readers find so fasinating.

Okay, okay...first off who did she call for help? I must be missing something. About five chapters of this novel is filled with crime solving the other 77 is LKH excuse for Anita to sleep with every male character that is willing to have her, and lets just say even the "I thought he was gay" guy shagged her. Sadly when I bought ID I knew that this was probably going to be some porn movie in book form and I was right. Although hoping deep down that things had finally changed, that this could infact be the redeeming book for Anita, it is not, SO NOT! Although it was filled with sex, the book did show a few good character devolpments. Most pleasing is Richard, he has now left my LKH should just kill him phase. Really pleased how his character has finally turned around, as long as it will last. JC showed amazing devolpment, he is now something more than just a power hungry sex-filled vampire. All in all i'm pleased with this book b/c I knew what to expect, slim plot filled with sex, really wish LKH would go back to the root of the novels so we could actually see more crime solving murder investigations like we did in OB. I really wish Edward had made an appearance, can't wait to see his take on Anita's new life, i guess he will also be one that "takes one for the team" as Jason very well did.

...expect A LOT of it. I though Laurell would get the need for gratuitous sex out of her system with the Merry Gentry series, but I am proven wrong. Not only is there a lot of sex, but Anita's character has now accepted all the random sex. There was the hint of a plot, and unlike Cerulean Sins, we actutally saw Anita at work...briefly.

Plus side, at least Richard is once more loveable.

Here's the things with the Anita Blake books - they've changed. The focus of the early books was firmly on Anita's work as an animator and her police work. Any book after about about number 7 is different. Most of the reviews for those books are funerals for the fact that the later books are not the same. Seriously, people, build a bridge and get over it.

The good stuff about this book: Anita and her estranged best friend Ronnie have an intense conversation about her lifestyle, which Ronnie does not approve of. It felt to me like Laurell K Hamilton was talking to the readers who have been obscenely verbose on hating the new directions she's taken Anita in. It was an interesting read and I don't disagree with Hamilton - this may not have been where she envisioned Anita ending up, but we're all here now and she's making the best of it. I enjoyed seeing Richard give up some of his sulking about being a wolf. Wicked Truth is a really fun set of vampire names. Anita's increased powers with the dead were an interesting sideline. Micah was developed more in this book and actually has more of a personality now which makes me like him more, him and his kitty-cat eyes. The scenes where Anita is working with the police were snappy, interesting and well researched. I liked most of the sex scenes too. They were a bit drawn out but on the whole, pretty solid (ha). I liked the emphasis on Anita's personal development and hearing how she's changed but I get that not everyone is into that.

The not so good stuff: There was no resolution to the big "mystery" of this book. It just sort of died out, which was not good. There were spelling errors which were unforgivable (and not the author's fault). Hamilton needs to stop using the following phrases: "flat out does it for me" and "sweetie". I don't really like Nathaniel. Too many people are attracted to Anita who for all intents and purposes is an average looking woman. It just doesn't make sense that all these ridiculously beautiful men want her. One or two yeah, but ten or fifteen? No.

My advice is to enjoy the books for what they are. If you only liked the first seven or eight, read them again or branch out into other authors. I'm enjoying the ride and will continue to read on.

And I don't mean "nightmares" in a good scary, enjoy-the-ride sort of way. Not that there isn't a lot "riding" going on in this book.

When you read a thrown together mess of a book, like this one, its almost impossible to figure out how to write a review for it. The mystery plot is so inconsequential, it hardly seems worthy of mentioning. Funny that. This supposed mystery is still being put on the book jacket, and used at the various book sites, to advertise the book. Come on Laurell, lets stop the ruse. False advertising if ever there was an example. Just like "Vampire Hunter" still being used to describe the main character. Take the n & t out of Hunter, and stick in m & p, and its a much more accurate depiction of the plot and main character.

I certainly don't mind a good sex scene. In fact, love 'em. There isn't one to be found in this book, unless your idea of good sex generally involves a visit to the emergency room and a drop cloth. I find Ms Hamilton's need for graphic details to be so curious, and somewhat disturbing. Did anyone need to know Anita was a "rainmaker"? Thanks for that visual, I'll never be able to watch the Burt Lancaster film again. And the painstaking description of a manuever involving oral sex is so clinical as to be hysterical. Is this a fictional novel, or a sex manual? If its the latter? *shudders*

To set out one scene for its particular badness, I'll have to choose the long anticipated coming together of Jean-Claude, Master Vampire extraordinaire and sexy French guy, Richard, powerful werewolf king, gorgeously sexy, and totally messed up in the head (he used to a GREAT character, until Ms Hamilton gutted him) and Anita, bestest everything in the universe. I know so many readers that longed for this scene for 5+ books, and what they got was do disappointing and unsexy, one almost wonders if it was written intentionally in a manner to kill the desire for this trio. Jean-Claude and Richard seem to be yesterdays love interests, pushed aside for newer guys. Less complex, 2-dimensional males that enjoy the "wife" role with Anita, worshipping to the Goddess 24/7. Or maybe its that the scene comes after Anita has already had sex with a legion of other guys, and frankly, this scene doesn't read much differently from the rest. Ms Hamilton seems to have only one way to describe graphic sex, and she does it over and over and over. And hysterically, Anita's inner dialogue always seems to suggest she's NEVER experianced anything like that before. Sure you did sweetie, 40 pages ago. Apparently with Anita's ramped up libido, she's developed the memory of a cocker spaniel puppy.

So many good minor characters missing in this book. Edward, Rafael, Shang-Da, Jamil, Sylvie, Stephen, Cherry, Zane, Willie, Irving....nary a mention. Instead, brand new characters are introduced for some unfathomable reason. Just what this series needed, MORE characters ... NOT. And just try and ignore that all the new characters introduced seemed like prime candidates for Anita's ever-increasing stud factory. Subtle Ms Hamilton, Subtle. Anyone want to know why the 2 kid vampires from CS were dropped? Simple, Anita can't have sex with them.

From a technical aspect, this novel is a hoot. If it was a drinking game, I'd give it 5 stars. Everytime Ms Hamilton uses the word "spill", drink. Everytime you find a misspelled word, drink. Everytime Anita begs someone to **** her, drink. I promise, you'll be passed out by page 200. Try and keep going after that, and you risk alcohol poisoning.

Others have mentioned the mind meld between Merry & Anita. Absolutely, and there can be no doubt. Some authors have the time, juice and talent to write 2 distinct series, and some shouldn't even attempt it. After one Merry book, I realized that series wasn't for me. Now Anita is Merry 2, and its not for anyone who was a fan of early Anita books. I'm all for growth and evolution of characters. The invasion of the pod people is something altogether different.

I won't repeat the detailed reports of other reviewers, but I can not hold back my frustration. LKH used to be one of my favorite authors. But the the number of continuity errors, spelling errors and just bad writing/editing have reached a point where they are infuriating. The repetative pet phrases and the complete lack of pacing are amateurish. The way the 'plot' is put on hold for the majority of the book for the sex scenes (or more to the point, the ad nauseum talking about the sex) is simply self-indulgent.

If what you really love about the Anita Blake books is the endless romantic analysis, the beautiful men and their slavish devotion to Anita, and the hot, erotic sex scenes, you're obviously the audience for whom LKH is writing now, and you may like this book, because there is plenty of that. If you're looking for the mystery/intrigue/adventure that characterized LKH's earlier work, you will only be frustrated here.

You know, I have been reading the Anita Blake series for almost 2 years, all 12 books in the series, 3-4 times over by accident honestly, in waiting for Incubus Dreams, I was so excited after finishing Cerulean Sins because that book wasn't completely based upon Arduer, Sex, Guilt, Morals, etc. It had a good edgy mystery theme as all the Anita novels of old do. I love this series but I was highly disappointed with Incubus Dreams as I have seen others to have been as well.

First of all...I like steamy scenes, I will admit it, but not 350 pages of it -_- Maybe a chapter here or there with purpose. And not with every freaking man who Anita catches wind of.

Another thing, GET OVER RICHARD. He obviously isn't interested in someone who is more comfortable with "The Monsters" Than he is. Enough said on that. And Nathaniel...My god woman..He isn't a little boy. -_- And you aren't his mother. Even though you are Nimr-Ra. *Sigh* I will stick with this series because I am a die hard fan, but I can seriously offer to keep the sex scenes with the Merry Gentry series. Its more fitting that way, LKH please give us back our old Anita, when the novels truly surrounded a forsenic case!!!!

While I have enjoyed the previous Anita Blake books, they are just getting boring. If you are out of puberty 400 pages of sex scenes are about 300 pages too much. I'm getting where I read them like I read a Tom Clancy novel. Plot, skip 70 pages of detailed submarine description, plot, skip 50 pages of helicopter description. I wish Laurell Hamilton would get a sex life herself so she can start back writing an actual story or two.

Could someone please explain to me how a series that was so great has been reduced to such rubbish? If I read one more time about Micah's "kitty cat eyes", or about everything being like "candy on my tongue", or how giving oral sex is one of Anita's favorite things to do I think I will scream! I enjoy a good, erotic, tension filled sex scene but there are none in this book. This is just one ridiculous, tacky sex scene after another. Nobody (even Anita the great) could be having this much UNBELIEVABLE, MIND-BLOWING sex continuosly with seven guys (or is it 8- I've lost count) Not only should Anita have trouble walking by now, but she should also have some serious hygeine/health issues. Oh but rest assured Jean Claude does not share Anital lightly. Is LKH for real? I don't even like the characters anymore. Reading about Anita buying pearls and a white frilly apron for Nathaniel just turns my stomach. I'm so sick of all these girly men with hair down to their feet. Not to mention Micah (of the kitty cat eyes) with his feminine facial features - I just don't go for guys who could be mistaken for women from the neck up. Another reviewer said it best- Edward should just come and shoot her dead. I've had enough.

Well . . . what has happened here? I almost feel as if I have missed several books in the series before this one. I seem to recall that Anita was developing more and more supernatural powers. I guess that's not imporant anymore.

I completely agree that this book is a mess. Don't bother trying to clean it up. If you are a completest, as am I, you will, unfortunately, be unable to pass up the next Blake book no matter how bad we know it will be. We shall suffer together.

Beyond the abundance of errors, both editorial and the just plain "WHAT?" factor, the biggest error of all was the title of the book. Rather than Incubus Dreams, it should have been Succubus Dreams.

For those of you NOT paying attention in Sunday school, Incubus: male who feeds off female sexuallity. Succubus: female who feeds off male sexuality. Anita seems to have to feed off every male in the area, that makes her a SUCCUBUS. Get it, psuedo-editors? Where is the male nightmare in this . . . story?

Her need for sex has become boring in the extreme. I don't know, can we go perhaps six chapters without sex? Oooo-oooo, I know, how about a book about a vampire executioner named Anita Blake? You know, she could KILL VAMPIRES AND S**T !!??!!

I cannot even express how disappointed I am in the direction of this series. I read erotic novels, I even enjoy them, but I want to know what I'm reading. If I pick up an Anita Blake, Vampire Executioner, I expect to read blood and gore, not "c** shots" that last for 150 pages.

Can't wait for the next book. (She said with ever so obvious sarcasm.)

This book was so disappointing, I am not even sure where to start. The amount of typos was appalling, there was no story line, and hey, I can admit freely that I have no problem reading some sex in a book. SOME SEX. When Anita has seven different partners in one night and the sex scenes continue on for three or four CHAPTERS, there is a problem. I used to love the Anita Blake series. I would start reading one and not be able to put it down. With Incubus Dreams, I had to force myself to finish the book. What happened to the story line from Cerulean Sins? I was expecting Incubus Dreams to continue on with that. And there was no Asher, no Edward, and after the beginning of the book Damian just dropped off into nowhere. And when did she become so wordy?! The whole book could have been summed up in less than half the pages! It's like reading Anne Rice's later work! To anyone who is considering reading Indubus Dreams, DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME!!! I am sure you can find something better to do.

After reading the mostly negative reviews of this book, I finally got it from the library and managed to plow my way through it. The reviews I read were pretty well spot-on in describing it as too much of nothing.

Anita's job as an animator and her tricky relationship with the volatile groups of supernatural beings around her has devolved from fascinating to farcical. The reasons to love the earlier books have become overshadowed (and in some cases, eliminated) by the relentless sex scenes between Anita and almost anyone who happens to be around. Plot developments from previous books that seemed critical have disappeared as if they never existed; characters have become caricatures. The happy exception is Nathaniel, who shows some real growth and remains interesting.

Alas, the reviews for LKH's next book, "Micah", seem to express the same disappointments as "Incubus Dreams". I may or may not read it -- and Laurell, if you are out there, take a hint and dump some of the story-killing sex in favor of some solid plotline.

I am returning this book...

The jacket cover an all of the advertisements suggested that Anita was finally up against the ulitmate evil... A serial killer that is a vampire and that preys on strippers.

Well, not very original.. because what serial killers don't prey on strippers? but I wanted to see where LKH went with this one.

By page 317 of her 650 atrocity named Succubus Dreams, she has devoted only 5 pages to the story line.

She is not doing any investigating, she is not being asked to consulate on any Federal cases, she is not doing anything at all but sleeping with anyone and everyone that comes across her path... and then afterwards sharing this information with anyone that comes into her life.

I am just going to return this book and buy a magazine or something.

I discovered Anita Blake when she was on the second novel of the series. I have been an avid reader ever since. No more.

Frankly, I do not understand LKH's attachment to the "ardeur." This book was over 600 pages. I quit reading at 237. I was sooooooooo tired of Anita's endless self-searching and conscience-stricken monologues about whether she should have sex BEFORE she had sex again. There was only about 20 pages of real plot or conflict in 237 pages. That's less than ten percent. It started to feel like Anita was channelling Richard, a character who has always bored me to tears. The old Anita: morally certain, decisive and action-oriented was nowhere to be seen.

If I didn't know that LKH had written this book, its bloated, overly focused sexual approach would have made me think I was reading Anne Rice.

I have always loved the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter books. I have read every single one published to date. But, this is ridiculous! It's just page after page of sex with vampires and wereanimals. Besides, there is something bizarre about the S&M fixation. A little sex adds spice to a good novel. But, the basis for the novel should be it's plot. This book had a poor plot line thrown in, so Ms. Hamilton could publish blatant pornography and call it a novel. Yeah, I read all of it, but I won't bother with the any future books in the series. I just can't express how much it saddens me that such a fun series should become have evolved into such complete trash.

I liked the plot and story of the book, it just felt like it repeated things over and over. The beginnings the book was very tedious, almost all over the place and down right boring. But once you get about halfway through it, it starts to pick up.

I haven't enjoyed reading the Anita Blake books since before Obsidian Butterfly. Each book used to have a plot and had more to it than sex and whining, and Anita Blake came across as strong and capable rather than as petulant and irritable. Erotic writing is one thing, but this book (and other recent ones) sounds as though LKH was being paid for each page on which her characters discuss or have sex. And it isn't particularly interesting sex. I used to look forward to different characters being introduced, but recently so many of them have been one-dimensional and seem to serve only as prospective partners for AB. If people want to read poorly-written porn, there's plenty for free on the internet.

If LKH begins to focus more on the supernatural/mystery/adventure/horror/folklore of her earlier books, her books and readers will benefit.

This series has just gone to complete shambles, and I am so disappointed. There is absolutely NO POINT to this story. The series has gotten so convoluted and meaningless. The Anita in this book is a weak parody of her former self. All you get is five thousand versions of the same sex scene. You would think Laurell Hamilton would have some qualms about abandoning her fans, but I guess she doesn't. Forget this book and the rest of this stupid series and go read Kim Harrison or Charlaine Harris!

I am very dissapointed in this book. Anita Blake novels have been like a drug to me, and this one just didn't give me my fix. What happened to all the action? I want my bad-ass vampire hunter back!!! I love the characters, and I was glad that we got a little history on Damian, and some more insight on Jean-Claude, but overall it was a big let-down. Thw whole book, I was sitting there asking myself, where is the big bad that she always battles? Anita has been going down hill since Cerulean Sins, where she gained these new powers all of a sudden at the end of the book to defeat Belle. I just thought it was all starting to go a little overboard. I love Anita Blake, and I will continue to read the books, but I can't help but ask myself if it's time for Laurell to put an end to the series.

P.S. I enjoy sex in the books, but not as the only thing. If I wanted to read porn I would pick up some of my mom's old romances.

Does anyone else think that this ardeur is a stupid, contrived excuse to get AB to get laid with all those monsters? Of course you do, hence all of the negative reviews. It is poorly written and a cheap excuse to turn AB into a Wonderslut. Getting laid seems to be the forefront of the story; she even saves lives by having sex. Shyeah. Micah shares a painful part of his past? She's all shocked and sympathetic but really she just wants to get laid. There's a vampire killing strippers? She wants to find the vamp but not before she gets laid. She wants to straighten out her life and relationships with her men, but there are more pressing matters in life for her, like getting laid. This ardeur needs to be stopped. It's a good thing LKH is already a bestselling author 'cause she never would have gotten a book deal if she had started with this garbage. I think I'll pass on the other books.

When I first started Incubus Dreams, the details about Larry and Tammy's wedding were pretty cool. Add in Micah, the Nimir-Raj, Nathaniel and Jason, and well, very cool. But after the parking lot scene in which Louie tells the gang he and Ronnie are on the rocks, things seem to go down hill from there. Between Damian going bezerk, becoming a day walker perhaps, and watching Anita flog Nathaniel onstage then have sex with Jean Claude in his office, I seem to have lost the whole point to this newest book. A second Triumvirate is formed but there's no real reason given as to why it was formed. Too many new characters and not enough of the older, more developed characters, were found in here as well.

I sincerely hope the next AB:VH book will return my confidence in Ms. Hamilton's ability to make this series worth the money I spend on the books.

In this 12th instalment of the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series, Ms Hamilton loses her way. The action takes place over a short time period but the plot gets lost along the way. The author does resolve some issues and shows some of the main characters in a new light but.... enough with the over-long and repetitious sex scenes. A little more plot please. I usually enjoy her books but this one is definetly not one of my favorites!

This is the 12th book in the Anita Blake series, or at least it is by title... I like to refer to this book as the third release in Laurell K Hamilton's new erotic series.

The last good Anita Blake book was Obsidian Butterfly. That book was the embodiment of what the series used to be.

Don't buy Incubus Dreams. It is a waste of money. It is about 100 pages or less of actually story and the rest is either badly written sex or angsting over the badly written sex.

Save yourself the misery and buy something else. The money spent on this book would be better spent on something actually worth it.

Incubus Dreams by Laurell K. Hamilton, the latest effort in the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series, is a big disappointment for me. I used to be a rabid fan but not anymore. I expected the author to deliver on her stated intent to fix the series that she damaged with the publication of Narcissus In Chains. Ms. Hamilton acknowledged that she never should have given Anita the ardeur. She also said it was a mistake forcing the events of the book in order to allow her to add a new major character that she admitted she didn't want to take the time to develop. The series has suffered since NIC for those reasons. It should be put out of its misery with Incubus Dreams.

Incubus Dreams is no more than sex wrapped around a very thin crime plot. In actuality, the ardeur has become the plot and the minimal pages given to the crime are only justification for leaving "Vampire Hunter" in the subtitle. When asked about the amount and type of sex in ID, Ms. Hamilton admitted that she was contrary and the more New York told her a woman couldn't write that kind of sex the more she had to do it. Well, guess what Ms. Hamilton. New York was right. You can't write that kind of sex. Not because you're a woman, but because you can't write sex. Period. The sex in this book is cold and lifeless. It falls more into the category of rutting because as much as Anita claims to "love" most of the men she has sex with, love doesn't enter the equation. The long awaited threesome of Jean Claude, Richard and Anita reads like a sex manual not an act of love and delayed consummation. Anita adds Nathaniel, a character she sees as a damaged boy, to her sex stable because basically, God told her to through her psychic therapist Marianne. If you are looking for hot, steamy sex you won't find it in this book. You'd fare better looking up the "Erotica" section on this site and choosing blindly.

Jean Claude, once the intriguing bad boy and master manipulator, has had his fangs pulled. Anita is his Human Servant and she supposedly loves him but he is continually pushed further down the list of importance in her life. Micah, who waltzed in in NIC and stepped into her affections and life without earning his place, has supplanted Jean Claude as number one. Nathaniel, who lives with Anita and Micah and sleeps in the same bed with them, lands in second place. In addition to being Anita's "pomme de sang," Nate is her "wife" keeping house when he isn't working as a stripper in one of Jean Claude's clubs. Richard, Ulfric of the St. Louis werewolf pack doesn't even make it on the list. He is reduced to begging for Anita's forgiveness every time he opens his mouth and compromising his own scruples by agreeing to "feed" Anita's ardeur every three days. Asher is only referred to and never seen. The plot endings from Cerulean Sins are totally ignored.

The editing is nonexistent. Spelling and grammatical errors abound. YAABIs (an acronym for Yet Another Anita Blake Inconsistency - yes, the inconsistencies are so routine throughout the series that fans have a name for them) are everywhere. The use of certain words and phrases are so repetitive that it is distracting. Ms. Hamilton has also fallen into the habit of writing the same thing three different ways in the same paragraph as well as repeating something 3 times for emphasis. Both techniques I admit to using in school to pad reports and essays but very annoying when used by a professional writer.

Do not waste your money on this book. Do not waste your money on this boring book. Do not waste your money on this long, boring book.

This book completes the destruction of the Anita Blake character. This series used to be one of my favorites, but now... I mean I could take it when she had two lovers, I could understand that. When they added in Micah I'm still like okay what the heck it's still a good series with great writing, so okay I'll go along with it. In Cerelean sins Anita got like two more boyfriends and I'm thinking well it was still a pretty good book so I might as well see the series through. Now with this book she seems to be screwing every guy she sees, so enough is enough I mean, Hell, I could take all this if the story was still good, but if I just wanted porn I would've spent the money on nice video instead of this crappy book. The Author has taken a strong character and turned her into lord knows what.

Another steamy entry in this great series. A serial murderer who's a vamp plus a new triumvirate make Anita's life more interesting. Learning to navigate her new power before a new body turns up is a challenge she is up for, maybe

I finished this book, with all its glorified 600+ pages in less than 24 hours. How? I skipped over half of it. How could I not? If I wanted to read erotica, I would've bought something else. If I wanted to read erotica, I wouldn't have bought this book. "Anita doesn't do furry." Oh no, Anita does anything now, with or without fur.

I've been faithfully reading all of the books in the Anita Blake series ever since I picked up the first three from a book club. If you didn't mind the last book, then you won't mind this one. If you expect quality literature than this entire series isn't for you, and you probably already know that. If you want something thats a fun, fast, and reasonably light read then this is a great choice. If the idea of Anita having sex with something like 8 different men in the course of the book (sometimes only implied) than this probably isn't for you. I'm giving it three stars because it gave me an enjoyable couple of hours to let myself relax and be entertained but it wasn't anything particularily exceptional, and in fact (like its direct predecessor) was not really up to par with some of Hamilton's other books.

On the other hand, it really is exactly the sort of book that I want for light reading, something that i can read even when I'm stressed or distracted, but without the inanity of a common romance novel.

Anita Blake started out as refreshing. A dirty Harry style heroine in a world of uncertainty, grappling with morals in a city filled with sin and dark temptations.

But at every un-edited turn of this bloated piece of tripe Anita is a total slut. She sleeps with every men who enters the book it seems, but she has to have 1-2 chapters of mindlessly boring chit-chat first.

Anyone who disagrees with her is relegated to the status of a jealous, churlish moron. Such as Ronnie, who is written in her only scene as a PMS-happy b*tch, jealous of Anita's harem and who calls Anita "unfairly" a slut (though Anita spends the whole chapter talking about what a slut Ronnie is. Well, takes one to know one)

That there is a plot is a cleverly hidden facet. Who is the bad guy? Dunno, because he never gets caught. Oh, joy, so we get to relive this novel again? I'll pass.

Hamilton claims that this is an homage to erotica for women. Uh, lady, didjaknow that the romance industry is primarily porn with a plot for women? We don't need this egotistical, skeezy crap.

Bestiality? Serial orgies with bad hygiene and old vampires who like sloppy seconds? Feminine men with attitude problems and sexual attitudes that are 100% opposite of what they've been billed as? Long boring conversations that cover A: what you the reader already know, B: what all the characters present know, and C: what no one cares about?

If that's your cup of tea, enjoy. But that probably means you're a masochist so let me tell you, you'll enjoy "The Lunatic Café" and "Narcissus in Chains" much better, what with the disemboweling sex.

And PS: I don't care how many books this woman sells, her editor at Berkley should be taken out and shot. Here's why:

#1 - 40% of the scenes and dialogue need to be cut, or pared down to a more concise vision.

#2 - The characters need to react realistically. If Anita is dressed like a hooker, she shouldn't be offended when the local cops think she is one. The old Anita would be horrified, not indignant.

#3 - The spelling errors. This is proof that the editor just stamped "OK" and never bothered to read this. For shame!

when I first thought of a female vampire hunter, I imagined a powerful, self assured woman and unfortunately Anita Blake is slowly turning into the village champion of mattress tag. Originally I was intrigued with the characters of Richard, Asher and Nathaniel. Now, again unfortunately, I'd like to slap Richard, send out a search party for Asher and send Nathaniel over to a better novel. For all of Richard's intelligence, he is an awfully common man who seems like a self absorbed jelly fish content to wallow in his own gloom and doom. Somewhat disappointed in this book, though I don't have really high expectations for this genre.

The once brave and smart-witted main character, Anita, has turned her back on us who loved her for her strong minded and sassy attitude...to lie ON her back. Yes, she has turned into a whore.

The amount of sex that the author has incorporated into her story for no apparent reason than to fill up pages has turned this book into a lousy, boring piece of crap best left near the crapper. Supposedly, the author promised resolutions to the on-going conflicts between Anita and her lovers. She resolved them alright...with sex.

Someone call Buffy to slay this vampire humper.

r

This book is an embarrassment to the publishing industry. The advertised plot, takes up about 100 pages of a 658 page book that is loaded with typos, habitual misspellings, missing words and phrases, and repetitive purple prose. Over 20 of the same `pet' words and phrases and fill in the blank effects like `...' and `-` are used repeatedly. Reading this book was as annoying as reading a 5th graders science report.

The protagonist Anita, is the most unlikable, self righteous, weak, and hypocritical female character ever brought to life in fiction. She makes mistakes, blames them on everybody but, takes no responsibility, and faces no consequences, as usual. `I didn't know' is her patent excuse. She comforts or confronts her many lovers and hangers on while her internal diatribes are; `why should I care', `I don't want to deal with this', and `he doesn't agree with me so he doesn't love me'. Blake is not somebody you would want to meet or call friend, not because she is dangerous, she's just an ugly person.

Damian is just a South Park's Kenny rip-off. He doesn't die, but gets close every time we see him. And only Anita's shagging can save him.

Nathaniel is introduced as a boy soon becomes the authors attempt at a pedophilia fantasy.

The rest of the core cast have been reduced to 2-D supports with no personality. No one is safe from the refitting to fit the new vision. More characters are introduced, some with the sole purpose of shagging Anita in the throes of her latest metaphysical emergency.

The long awaited ménage a trois between Anita, Richard, and Jean Claude, is awful. It's awfully long, awfully repetitive, and an awful disappointment to all her fans who waited to read it.

The book is full of graphic sex and is blatantly pornographic to the tune of `rainmaking', bestiality (Anita does furry), a sad S&M scene, plenty of oral encouragement to the under enthused members by Anita, and the obligatory `it's not really sex because it didn't include intercourse' scene(s). The repeated use of the f word and the `eff me' rampage with the ardeur throughout the scenes with Anita's breasts, which are mentioned and investigated more often than the mystery.

After learning that 'rainmaking' is rare, every sex scene from that point forward makes mention of how wet she is, which is the vast majority of the sex scenes in the book. Her many lovers are sure to check too.

Anita did no investigating or vampire hunting except to run and look at bodies between shagging men. The last four chapters are a message to the series' detractors and her disaffected fans alike, you complain and I will do the opposite just to be contrary. She does take the time to consider traditional Christianity and basic morality often and slam them all. The new focus and plot of the ABVH is the ardeur, as EVERYTHING leads to sex now. When given the chance to lose it, she CHOOSES to keep it. It is a part of her now, thru and thru. She doesn't want to be without it. It is tied to every single page, regardless of anything else going on.

The book as a whole, is plotted for the ardeur and the authors message. Not Anita or her story, not the publishers or the agents, the author. The protagonist, Anita, often and blatantly morphs into the author's avatar and voice. A quick read of the authors `blog' for any given month is proof of that.

This book is a reactionary piece of fiction and if the pen is truly mightier than the sword? Then the message to the committee of the ABVH core fan base, disaffected fans, and critics is razor sharp; You complained about it all, well here you go, in your face, now shut up and go away.

I love the Anita Blake series. i love the kick ass hard girl. the sexy vamps and werewolves. the crime and detective bit. and the council politics and scheming. or i used to. where has that all gone now? for the last few books all the characters seem to do is whine about how they cant cope with their love lives, go over old ground continually OUT LOUD (for whose benefit?) and have lots of sex. Now don't get me wrong, i usually really enjoy the sex scenes, with vamps and blood and were-animals and things just making things more interesting for all us vampire fans out there, but these weren't even fun, they were boring and pointless and still full of whining! i want the old Anita back with maybe a good dose of Edward, keep the sex in but make it part of a PLOT, where the reason for the book is to solve a crime or take out a Master, not just have it going on in the background.

I will read the next book, as i love the idea behind the series but there might come a point where we might have to admit that the Anita we love is gone and we might have to move on.

That's what my copy of this book is now doing....in the fireplace that is.

700+ pages of useless crap has to be good for something, and tinder for my fire appears to be it.

"Anita does St. Louis" is even being polite about this book. Sure I like my erotica, I even like my romance.

This is not it.

Where are the zombies? The animators? Hell, even a decent serial killer and some cops might have been nice for a change.

Not only does the baddie get away (and not even with a decent scene to themself) but anita is too busy to care. She has more important things to do - like boasting of her deep throating abilities, doing it furry, and having a general free for all (complete with "rainmaking" and screaming "fvck me while I'm tight" in a truly hilarious scene after about six men already have "had" her...)

All in all, if it wasn't for the fact I got this book cheaply second hand, and the book shop owner won't take it back, I would be upset at the amount of time I wasted here.

Worth zero stars, but it's not an option here... Seriously - do NOT waste your money here. Go to Mary Janice Davidson, Charlaine Harris, Maggie Shayne, anyone but LKH.

As with many of the reviewers, I agree that this book is the worst of the 12 books, and the last three have left a great gaping hole in series. This is one of my favorite characters and I miss the old Anita. Yeah, I'm glad she's finally having sex, but does she have to have it with everyone? Up until the last 2 books I've really enjoyed LKH's ability to write a steamy one-handed read, but now I'm on sex overkill and I'm bored. Ok, ok, ok, LKH, we get that Anita can deep throat already! Don't need the tutorial. Yes, LKH, we know Anita likes it rough...do it and stop rehashing that fact. I'm going to hang in with the series because I hope it will be as good as it once was. I will say I enjoyed the 150+ pages that dealt with the case. That felt more like the old Anita to me and kept me interested. I could have easily skipped the majority of the book and not missed anything crucial.

The main problems with this book: not enough carnage/adventure, no Edward, too much Nathaniel, but perhaps the worst is the emasculation of Jean-Claude. Oh do I miss the Jean-Claude of old.

Please, LKH, bring my Anita back.

I started reading Hamilton's novels in middle school, and they progressed into porn faster than I could hit puberty and have any interest in them. What started out as a legitimate fiction novel (plot included) has turned into flat out porn. It seems that these novels are now an outlet for the authors own sexual fantasies, and every once and a while she remembers to add in a little plot. After these last few books I have lost all respect for Hamilton has a fiction writer and wouldn't recommend her novels to anyone who is lacking in sexual perversion.

If you are a longtime fan of this series, you will simply not recognize the Anita Blake of Incubus Dreams as the same Anita Blake of Guilty Pleasures. Of course there must be room for character growth. In fact, it is a must for any long-running series. But that growth must be believable. In Incubus Dreams, Ms. Hamilton asks the reader to believe that a woman who once could not kiss a man without an emotional committment can participate in group sex that would be the envy of Jenna Jamison without a second thought. Anita's transformation is the most dramatic since Mary Magdalene's and is just as realistic. Incubus Dreams is simply a pathetic attempt to prolong the series in an effort to maximize profits to the publisher and the author.

I never thought I'd say this but Ms, Blake needs to get her life back. She has to have sex so often I don"t see how she can even stand up. Ms Hamilton , please give us Anita back. So much sex so often becomes booooooring. The plot line gets lost, the charactors lose thier appeal, and the book drags, and drags. I swore I would stop buying these books , but I failed. I still have hope Hamilton will turn it around and write a book like she is capable of. not this one though.... booooooring.

I am going to see her at a book signing next week. And if I have enough courage I want to ask her why such a huge shift in perspective, purpose, and philosophy. I agree with another reviewer on here that the plot is gone and it's all about sex. Another reviewer said it's now erotic fantasy. Yes, it is. But I won't get over it. Not until I have at least stated to Ms. Hamilton how disappointed I am and offended that she would treat her loyal, die-hard readers with such disregard.

If I want porn, I will go buy it. It's not like I have a problem with people reading porn either, btw. I don't get all shocked and offended by that. Because that is its clearly stated purpose. The Anita Blake series did NOT start out as such a genre of writing. It was a detective/mystery/horror series. I love vampire novels. Always have. And my absolute favorite series of all time (Anita series) has been reduced to personal disintegration, not integration resulting from self-exploration. We won't see a woman becoming a whole, complete person who accepts herself, her womanhood, and as a sexual being unafraid of exploring her sexual feelings. Anita has went beyond that, if she even could have gotten there.

This is way outside any type of normal psychological development for any human being, even in a fantasy novel. I can't even stretch it that far anymore. It's way outside what could even be realistic. And this series, albeit fantasy for the imagination to ask "What if...", used to smack of realism enough that you could see her world happening in its own right.

Yes, it's over all right. And I mourn the loss. I am going to ask Ms. Hamilton what great and terrible tragedy changed her life so that she has been on such a deep quest to find herself. Because that is really what this is all about. She infers something about a tragic loss in the acknowledgement section of one of the books. So I know there is something there.

She has been merging the Merry series with this one and I wonder if the loss didn't occur about the time she started writing that series. You could see the sexual deviance begin with the Merry series and then bleed deeply into this one. Both are consumed with it.

Needless to say, I had hoped it would turn in the other direction again- Ms. Hamilton would heal as time passed, and we would get back on track with some great plots. It's become nothing more than a good writing piece to get turned on by.

I've been a AB for over seven years. I remember when these books used to come out every six to eight months. And when Mrs. Hamilton slowly shifted the focus of the series (starting around "The Killing Dance") to Anita Blake's relationship struggles, I only had a tiny, *little* problem with it. It wasn't until "Narcissus in Chains" that it became a real problem. (enjoyment wise, for me)

The earlier Anita Blake were truly something unique. A modern urban fantasy series, with a strong female protagonist, that drew on elements from each of the major book genres (fantasy, mystery, romance, horror, humor, ect.). Mrs. Hamilton showed a skill for blending/balancing each of these elements, along with an addictive first person POV style that drew you straight into the story.

Sadly, with the release of "Incubus Dream" all of that has come to an end. The inventive, creative writing that once appealed to so many, has now completely been erased and replaced with a load of uninteresting, Plot? What, Plot?, sexual filler.

For the last few books, Mrs. Hamilton has slowly filtered out any and ALL non-erotica elements. Namely the paranormal mystery, the fantasy, the world building elements, the humor, the character development, and plot. You know, the things that made the books unique and appealing and interesting to those outside of the romance/erotica genre?

You will find less then a hundred of the overall, 658 pg., dedicated to the mystery plotline summarized on the blurb. Instead, you will be treated to scene after scene of Anita Blake repeatedly screwing the last of the guys she hasn't gotten around to yet.

If you enjoy the characters of Nathaniel and Damien, and hardcore erotica(not romance), then Incubus Dream will be a definite treat. Anyone else on the fence, I suggest you borrow a copy from the library, or check out your local used bookstore.

This is one of the most boring books I have ever read. It takes a really unique writer to make sex so dull and repetative, but LKH manages in this book and CS before it. The series started with such a promising idea and Anita was a fun character; funny, tormented and strong. Now? She's predictable and bitter. LKH has stretched out this idea past its limits. She has run out of ideas for Anita and now resorts to the amatuer writing styles of lots of hot sex. But wait...it's not so hot because every sex scene is the same thing over and over. Frankly this series has been reduced to a cheap copy of Penthouse letters w/ a skimpy plot. We deserve better and LKH needs so stop cranking out crap and start writing again.

In TV terms, this is called "Jumping the Shark". Quote from jumptheshark.com "It's a moment. A defining moment when you know that your favorite television program has reached its peak. That instant that you know from now on...it's all downhill. Some call it the climax. We call it "Jumping the Shark." From that moment on, the program will simply never be the same."

I LOVED Anita Blake, read all the books, got them in hardcover when they came out, couldn't get enough. While I'm sure there will still be more books, unless something serious changes, none of them will be worth reading again. Its a real pity.

Laurell Hamilton does it again. I've read all the previous books of hers and this is awesome. I love how Anita has been changed into a promiscuous man chaser who can't get enough sex. Jean Claude, Asher, Nathaniel, Jason etc. She has bedded them all and total strangers quite frequently. I can only hope that she manages to get it on with Dolph. Wouldn't that be the best!!!! Laurell's imagination and how she grows Anita's character is without equal. I can't wait to get started on the next book. Maybe with the ardeur she might test her sexuality with Ronnie!!!! OMG would that be cool!!!! Go Laurell, You rock!!

While I could never "hate" LKH's work, this was not my favorite. If you are looking for answers or continuity from previous books, you won't get it. It was high on prose and porn, low on plot or storyline regarding the serial killing advertised in the jacket of the book, or even a mention of what happened the last few chapters of the previous book.

I was very frustrated with the lack of backround storyline, and missed Anita dealing with people in every day life ...meaning relationships and meeting new people without having sex.

The 8 to 10 different partners, on multiple occassions within a 48hour time frame, without the luxury of a shower was too much for me.

I'm far more interesed in the Merry series and the unveiling of the world of fae as well as the people we are meeting in those two courts than I currently am with the world of Anita.

If you love Anita, buy this book, but don't expect it to be anything like the first few books. (Sorry to the fans...I really am one too!)

I guess my feelings about "Incubus Dreams" can be summed up with one phrase: not bad, but not terribly good either. It's actually kind of sad, considering that the series used to be *so* good and has now become merely mainstream erotica. Anita has turned from a powerful, kick-ass character to one who is whiny, shrill, and eye-roll inducing. And, well, to be honest, I think every character got on my last nerve during reading this--Micah, especially. Does anyone think he and Anita have any actual chemistry? Because they kind of come off with all the combined sex appeal of curdled milk.

The second trio was another low--ummm, what about the first one which was infinitely more interesting and actually relevant to the series? What this AB series needs, if it's going to continue with any readership at all is for Anita to get control of the ardeur (as, relegate it to the background), shed the misc. boyfriends and, once again, get a spine and a clue.

Here's the gist of the 'plot':

Anita has sex 6 times.

4 of those times, were with two guys.

7 different guys are involved.

4 of those guys she'd never had sex with previously.

2 of those guys hadn't shown up in the series previously.

(Minus one on some of those, depending on what you count as sex.)

Variations of the phrase "just flat does it for him/her/me/you" are slung around 7 times.

The Mother of All Darkness and the two vampire children from CS weren't even mentioned in this book. And the barely-there mystery isn't even wrapped up at the end! It's... a special book, no doubt. It's about a millimeter better than CS and NiC were, but it was still so disappointing in comparison to the pre-NiC books. I feel no less than betrayed.

It's as though Anita Blake was one of my best friends. She was tough, down to earth, practical. One day, she disappeared and an absolute stranger took her place. This big-boobed stranger slapped on a curly black wig and a knife and started a ticketed queue for a round of vigorous (does she ever have any other kind?!) sex.

I miss the real Anita, the self-proclaimed "something that would kill you before it'd kiss you." She might as well be dead. I'll probably give the next book a chance but I'll be reading it in the library before I buy it, just in case. As for this book, I recommend reading it in the library first.

I, like other reviewers, found this book very disappointing as compared to the earlier (pre-Narcissus in Chains) Anita Blake novels. However, this book was frustrating not so much because of the typos or occasionally annoying catch-phrases, but because it actually has some elements of both the best and worst of the series. For example, the murder investigation was pretty interesting. . . but the story unfolded in fits and starts and it had no resolution, really. Also, some fun/interesting characters were represented (Nathaniel, Damian, Jean-Claude), but really only one develops in an appealing way character-wise. (I'll let you discover which one.) However, other characters that I like and who also seem to be fan favorites are missing completely; a stray mention here or there does not count as that character's presence (Edward, Asher). Still, other characters I view as ancillary (Micah) are still around. And, of course, that brings us to the gratuitous sex scenes. Honestly, many of them weren't even that hot. (Plus, it's gotten a little hard, at this point, to believe Anita is that conflicted about her new sexual freedom.) I just knew that with a book this long, there'd be enough going on to save it, but I was wrong. The early reviews I read when the book was first released were bad enough that I had fairly low expectations. I thank those reviewers, because I picked the book up from the library, and wasn't nearly as disappointed as if I had spent money on it. Hoping for much better next time.

LKH has done the unthinkable. She has taken well-crafted and much loved characters and thrown them out the window. They have been replaced by fragments of themselves.

In Incubus Dream LKH has made it clear old fans if you do not like it too bad. She has filled this book with more sex than actual story and I am sorry to report not even good sex.

Anita Blake vampire hunter is no longer that. She has so many men in her life that are there for nothing more than sexual page filler, that the Vampire Hunter no longer applies. It has become a laughing joke of a series trying to keep up with who Anita has/or has not done something with.

Morally a pain at times Blake now no longer has to worry with a conscience. She is only led by the plot filler LKH loves to throw in at every given moment the Arduer feeding from lust/sex. Might have been an interesting idea had it not taken over the series.

The two male leads in the series Jean-Claude the Master Vampire and Richard Zeeman the Werewolf spent several volumes of the series as strong characters fighting for Anita's attentions. Seduction and erotica well thought out and followed through with at the time exquisitely. These two men are now thrown over for submissive types that remove any romantic attachments from Anita's life. Micah (her were leopard lover) is now her wife type character. Instead of one of the strong interesting lead characters we had grown to love, we are slapped in the face with Anita taking up living with Micah and the other submissive were leopards that other than look pretty simply are there for sex and to take care of her.

Jean-Claude who it seemed had finally won Anita's heart has been thrown over as well. He is good for everything but the real relationship his character had built with Anita. He accepts too much. For a rather dominate man normally he has become the A typical man who does whatever Anita wants no more wonderful voice of his own. It's a sad day in the Anita Blake universe when Jean-Claude sexuality has been demoted to clinical descriptions that do not suit him.

Anita in this volume has multiple sexual encounters with a variety of different men for metaphysical sex/actual sex/plain old hard to explain sex. Something that all of these men could not get away with and still be in the company of Anita. She wouldn't have any of it. Her arduer feedings are sexual encounters. Jean-Claude who has the same power is not allowed any of the freedom Anita is. His once strong voice is now silent and he is there for his share of Anita's body, but has lost her heart as much as her inner voice says otherwise. The double standard Anita lives by she would never allow of any of the various men in her life. Anita no longer sustains friendships for longer than her next sexual conquest. By looking at my review, you would think for erotica all of this might be fine. However, it is not LKH has proven she is capable of much better work than this and this book was a thrown together piece of trash. In no way am I self-conscious when it comes to sex. I adore erotica. This however was cold and unfeeling although we are continually pummeled into submission with how much Anita loves every one of these men. Just once, I wanted Jean-Claude to tell her she had gone too far. I know he is a sexual creature and love him for it but this book looks like a slap in the face for Jean-Claude as earlier volumes did for Richard. Micah a two-dimensional sex toy for Anita who cleans and cooks sounds more like a live in prostitute than an actual boyfriend. Nathaniel a very abused guy that Anita once thought of as a brother now is in Anita's pants as well. This book kind of made me feel dirty. I don't say that very easily I've read graphic stuff before. This reminded me that had LKH been a man this book would have been criticized from every major book reviewer in the country. As a woman this doesn't make me feel as if the author is achieving anything. The final blow for me was a much-anticipated ménage between JC/RZ/AB and it was pitiful. Cold and tasteless with none of the emotions the three characters share. All their hang-ups aside, the three have always had a great sexual chemistry. LKH seems to have taken a very big turn towards submissive men who are pretty boys with no real saving grace other than the size of their...

LKH must have truly won major rights on her books editing process because this one was full of holes/errors and repetition. It comes across as if it were cut and pasted from one sex scene to the next with a fill in the blanks/names style.

The whole crime thing was only a blip on the screen of this novel. This was a 600+ page NOVEL (not paperback), but hardcover novel that had more sex than actual novel. Wouldn't have been a problem if the Anita Blake series had begun about the Arduer and Anita's moral conscience hadn't kept her from the two men who she really loved.

Jean-Claude has become a watcher and Richard an erratic nut who although claims he wants nothing to do with Anita still continues to accept the pull of their connection.

LKH committed the worst of crimes with this book she took her anger at her readers and put it into the book. She tore apart the whole core of the series. This book is a slap showing that she has an open-ended contract on these books and proving that she can write something this bad and it will still make her sales margins. Finally, I have had my fill of being slapped around by an author who could do such a disservice to her own characters.

If you've never read a LKH book you probably won't understand the passion of those that have stuck by for so many years. However, if you finish ID and start with the others you will probably ended up feeling as empty as I did after reading this book. Such a sad affair for an author with so much talent.

I, like many long time readers of this series, have looked forward eagerly to each installment. I must admit, Incubus Dreams was something of a disappointment. I wasn't drawn in to the story the way I've become accustomed to, the momentum was constantly interrupted and the ending seemed like more of an unwanted obligation that had to be got through than anything else. I was left feeling cheated.

There is so much in this book that is left hanging: new ideas without resolution or obvious development beyond the initial introduction, old ideas that we've been waiting years to bear fruit and are still waiting (though with even less idea of where they might be headed)! I'm all for growth and change in a character but radical shifts from their previous behaviors and belief systems are more than a little jarring to say the least. Anita has changed so much throughout this series and, for the most part, those changes have made sense. In this book, she's taken giant leaps beyond herself and, having gotten to know her a little, this seems basically out of character.

The endless rounds of sex got tedious but I was willing to work my way through them, assuming there would be a point somewhere and, thankfully, there generally was, though I could do w/less emphasis on the constant need to feed the ardeur and what that means for Anita's boundaries becoming ever less clearly defined. I don't know why I'm more comfortable with her becoming a colder and colder killer than with her becoming a more...adventuresome lover but there it is.

I was sorry to see so little of Jean-Claude and nothing at all of Asher. It was odd that Anita should go through so much self realization and end up not really exploring/experiencing that with Jean-Claude or really any of her usual cast. The scene with Richard and Jean-Claude, as much as I have been longing for some sort of resolution in that relationship, was mostly difficult to get through and even worse to try to incorporate into the existing history between the three without feeling like some significant things had been left out/overlooked completely.

All this said, I'm still giving this book 3 stars. I like that Anita is learning to accept herself as she is, I like that Nathanial is finally growing up, I like that Richard is becoming less of an ass, I'm really fascinated with the idea of a new triumverate and the implications of that, I like the idea of Wicked Truth because I feel like we're being set up for some pretty nifty things to come and I'm hoping the upcoming books will develop these ideas in the usual unexpected but enjoyable ways.

I don't know what everyone is complaining about... yep, the zombie-raising & detective work take a back seat in this one, but instead there's lots of hot, steamy sex... and taboo sex has been integral part of vampire lore for a long time, so why should that be dropped or denied now? It only makes sense that the sex scenes are outrageous, filled with S & M themes, and all the other stuff of dark fantasy. I say, leave the vanilla sex for faint of heart, hold me down and keep it coming!

I've read all the Anita Blake books. I have a hundred pages left and for the most part I have enjoyed the first 568, regardless of the 1 & 2 Star Ratings. It doesn't have the gut grabbing plot twists & turns or the gory murder scenes. Mostly, Anita moves beyond some of her more stubborn boundries. But then, this character is all about evolving. And to be frank I was tired of the whole "this isn't what I was taught" thing.

Yes it contains a LOT of sex, but if you accepted Micah who dropped out of nowhere in Narcissus in Chains and her sex with Jason then her coupling with Asher and Jean Claude, hasn't the line already been blurred, if not crossed, for multiple partners?

Cerulean Sins did leave issues unresolved, all of the books have to some extent. I didn't actually like Cerulean Sins until the last 100 pages. I kept thinking it had to be leading up to the next book and maybe it is. You just need to be a little farsighted.

If the events in Incubus Dreams did not take place, all the unresolved issues remained, no new vamps joined the group, and Richard was just negative energy out there trying to commit suicide second hand, then what chance would the Triumvirate have now against the Mother of All Darkness. Yes...Yes where did the two child Ambassadors from Belle go, what of Asher's new powers, where are Belle and the Mother of all Darkness,...ect...ect....ect. No mention of these is why I only gave it 3 Stars.

However, had this book tied it all up in a nice tight little package where would the plot go from there? Anita and the gang were over due for a little repair and preparation. Remember, the ultimate goal is Undefeatable Power. Enough power to keep everyone they love safe from Belle or whoever else might come along. This book patches up some of the wholes and builds a larger power base.

I really had wanted to see Asher's tortured character embraced by someone who loves him, not just as an adjunct to Jean Claude, but I'll have to wait for that. Anyway Anita is already spread a little thin (no pun intended) So would it really be so unforgivable if he had someone of his own?

This book could've had more concise explanations, less wordiness and more detail on new characters and it didn't explain all the whys or whats from Cerulean Sins. Less he said: she said, he did: she did would be wonderful, but isn't that what these conflicted, self-loathing, paranormal characters have been doing all along. In every book, Anita and Richard have gotten more and more neurotic.

I'd rather not wait a year for the next installment, but it must take a while to plan, write and execute a volume of complicated characters and plot twists that flow and make reasonable sense. I'll wait, I've read enough that didn't.

If you want a monogamous character who grows, but morally doesn't change that drastically, try Eve Dallas in J. D. Robb's (aka., Nora Roberts) `Something' in Death series. They're great, lots of detail, futuristic scifi, with a main romantic character.

Anita Blake used to be interesting. Now she's just a superhuman sex-machine that's laden with Catholic guilt and typoes. At one point I accidently skipped ahead 50 pages and didn't even notice. Nevertheless I will probably still read anything else that LKH comes out with because I'm a completist like that.

I'm probably one of the few men who love*d* LKH and her books. I was punching through her books one every couple of days... they were that engrossing. But now, all her books are nothing but soft-core porn. Anita Blake has gone from a small, kickass girl to a nymph that screws anyone she can. Her stories have gone from mystery, suspense and adventure, to sex sex sex.

I'm not even going to touch "Micah"! Not after reading this BS! Incubus Dreams read like LKH had wrote this book in a coma. No plot whatsoever, just pages after pages after pages of mind numbing sex scenes that were completely boring and angst-ridded dialogue between characters that was repeated throughout the book. I felt like I was stuck in some sort of time warp reading this book because everything was so repetitive!

The errors in this book was pretty bad, worst I'd ever seen, especially coming from a huge publishing house. But I've read books with errors in them that STILL manage to deliver a phenomenonal plot and realistic characters, take D.N. Simmons's Desires Unleashed for example. Great story, great characters, great new series and that's who I'm going to replace LKH with, a better author!

I wanted to keep reading this series, because I liked some of the characters, but the characters have been dying with each new book and I'm not going to stick around to see their final death throes.

If I had to recommend Laurell K. Hamilton's novels to a friend -- I would definitely steer them towards her earlier work. I found this book to be too Anne Ricean (you know -- stream of consciousness writing, poor editing and a cast of thousands). The many gratuitous sex scenes are monotonous and uninteresting (they seem to be tacked on just to fill pages) and there appears to be little or no plot -- creating an unwieldy and excessively long novel.

Hamilton used to be an innovative and amusing writer -- with good character development and plots that involved the reader. Her stories were filled with snappy dialogue, fun twists and turns and nice characterizations -- in short, they were cleverly written and never boring. Unfortunately, I can't say that about her books now -- she seems to have lost her way. A once good author, I hope she goes back to her earlier style of writing.

Okay peeps, I promise I will not repeat what everyone accurately stated on how and why this book is worthless piece of (well, you get the idea.)But I like some many others read this book from front to cover. Why you ask? I'm a glutton for punishment, well not really. I was hoping Hamilton would somehow redeem herself somewhere, anywhere. But she did not, and my heart is heavy *sighs*, I need a long hot shower to rinse the filth. I wish Anita had a desire to shower after every beast she humped, wishful thinking.

Point of the matter, don't be sucker like me and read this book. Instead buy the book and give it to your worst enemy for a Christmas gift.

Stay fabulous!!!

...I'm not sure I like where she's going. I read the interview with the author and she said that one of the reasons she's adding more sex to the books is because people told her she should tone it down more. I can understand 'being contrary', as she puts it, but this seems over the top a little.

I was fine with her 'feeding' and am thrilled about the changes in her relationship with Nathaniel. The scene that made it too much for me was the one with Jean-Claude and Richard - those who have read the book will know which one I mean.

Okay, enough about the sex - now about the story. As storylines go, this one was just okay. This book was more about Anita's new powers than it was about the murder investigation and the crime scene stuff seemed a little stale. Plus, it wasn't even really wrapped up in the end.

Some of the other things in the book are familiar territory for those who've read the entire series. Anita faces some people who view her as 'coffin bait' - no big surprise there. What?! Some of the guys underestimate her abilities - no way!

A couple of the literary devices were also a little annoying. First, couldn't Hamilton have used some other way to set off the flashbacks? I found myself getting pulled out of the story because I lost track of where everyone was. Second, all the references to events in previous novels seemed forced. Anita has conversations with Micah and just happens to drop into the conversation about saving a naga? It seems to me that Hamilton was just trying to make this a stand-alone novel in a new way - we normally read about the past events in Anita's head. I think it's fine for them to come out in conversations, but it needs to be more natural.

Overall, I give this book 4 stars - even though I'm not sure I like the direction Anita is going, I still want to see how she gets there!

After hearing rave reviews about this author I decided to listen to the (libraries copy) audio version while driving to and from work. You'd think for being a 30 hour disc set it could at least be a little entertaining. Too much unnecessary details in my opinion, cussing, and overall horrid violent sex described in the first disc alone. Oh, and there is a murder mystery tucked in there somewhere. Details about rape, rough sex, a lot of "F" words and other descriptions of a sexual nature discouraged me from moving on to disc two. I might look into her earlier books since so many expressed how bad the new ones have become. Don't waste your time with this one!

Well I just got done the copy I borrowed from a friend and I have to say I am glad I refused to but it until I did.

Leaving aside the extreme number of editing and spelling problems aside the plot what little there was of it was good but it needed more fleshing out and less bare flesh and trashy and sex scenes that any fanfic writer could post.

I know its harsh but this book blows chunks and the author has clearly let her writing style for the Merry Gentry series ruin this series.

If I want a trash sex scene I would read her other series or better yet online free stories that actually are better staged then the author does hers.

If you loved the first 7 - 8 books then avoid this book at ALL costs and do not waste your cash on this piece of toilet paper pretending to be one of the books for formely excellant series.

With its many pages of stupid, perverted sexual activity (prettied up by calling it "feeding the ardeur"), and the talking, talking, talking about the relationship(s), there wasn't any room for like ... an actual story. And would it have killed somebody to edit and proof the thing? Off-putting and boring as all get-out. As far as the series (and quite possibly anything else from LKH) I'm tapped. Borrow this from your library - I'm SERIOUS.

Eh, the sex scenes here are actually part of the entire mystical foundation of the complicated triumverate that Richard, Jean Claude, and Anita have. I think it depends upon your idea of sexual freedom and what you think of as being sensible or "dirty". I liked it. It was a crazed and wild ride. That is supposed to be what these types of books are for!

If readers want literature, they should try reading one of the classics, like "A Tale of Two Cities". Books that are written to be an epic of their own time - to reflect politics and the human drama of their own age. This is not one of them. This is a fantasy world made up with fantasy people. They get to live with exciting and dangerous elements that most of us do not know and may never know. Welcome to Fantasyland folks. Its awesome and provides an escape from the world that we live in today - heaven knows we all need one!

Kisses.

I love Laurell's work on this series, but I have to say the past two books (including this one) are moving away from what she originally started with the series. I have been a fan since Guilty Pleasures and have turned many friends on to reading the series, but I'm starting to become disappointed with the way Anita's character is going. Personally I think we need to have Edward make a long awaited appearance in the next book!! I still thought the book was great, but it's not a 5 star like I've given most of the other books in the series.

I have read all of the Hamilton books so far, and have to say that this was by far the least interesting of the batch. I simply could not finish the book. I had to write a review.

Seemingly gone are the raising the dead days for Anita Blake, and the agency days, which were so interesting - to be replaced with page after page of unnecessary and repetitive descriptions of the "pard" dudes. After ten chapters in this newest book, we still hadn't gotten beyond mundane descriptions, none of them any different from the over-lengthy descriptions of the guys in her Kiss of Shadows book. With no real story at chapter twelve, I gave up.

I have long been a fan of the Anita Blake series and I continue to buy each installment though the writing gets steadily worse. I love the characters--plain and simple. I'm very glad to see Nathaniel and Damian have more time in Incubus Dreams, but that's the only kind thing I can write about Hamilton's newest novel. The writing is horrible--lines are repeated over and over again. The little plot that there is appears in the last 100 pages. Incubus Dreams reads as though it were written--and edited--in a hurry. I don't appreciate that kind of minimal effort in a hardback and won't be buying another anytime soon. I'm also sick to death of Anita arguing--though, honestly I don't read these books for Anita (I like Asher, Damian, and Nathaniel). I strongly recommend waiting for the paperback version--Incubus Dreams just isn't worth the money.

I have been a loyal reader of this series, but this will be the last book I purchase. What happened to the plot, the mystery, the character development?

This book is a tedious series of sexual situations thinly glued together with rare mentions of a group of serial killers that we never meet. So what if there are a couple dead strippers-there's a sex scene to get through!

What happened to the tough, smart, resourceful woman who raised entire graveyards of zombies or slew ghouls? She's too busy having sex in the back seat of her car.

She can enjoy her new found powers and partners-I am not enjoying the stories anymore.

I was really disappointed by this book. It seems in Ms Hamilton's books that you're either a nice girl or you'll `do' anything. Why couldn't Anita be a strong sexual character without losing her personality? The spoilers in R. Clifton "sithean"'s review (below) pretty much sum it all up. I think this'll be the last book I purchase from this series. The actual story line was about 40 pages. The rest was sex. If that's what you're after - this book is for you. But if you want more storyline then your average b-grade porn movie then I think that it's time to find another author!.

I agree with a few other posters that there was an amazing amount of sex. Considering there wasn't anything but a few steamy kissing scenes prior to The Killing Dance, Anita seems to be making up for lost time. While I think some of us may disagree with the way Anita is going, it's unfair to say it wasn't a well-laid development.

However, there were spelling errors. They were easy mistakes that spell check should have caught. Though that doesn't lessen my enjoyment of the book, I still notice and think a little less of the publisher for it.

For the sheer size of Incubus Dreams, not very much time elapsed and a lot of threads seem to be dropped. The actions of the first few hundred pages were not resolved nor addressed.

The new powers Anita gains at the drop of a hat are getting a bit old as well. I can usually lend my imagination to the world of the author, but I admit that the constant stream of new powers strains my credulity.

Anyhow, that being said, I enjoyed Incubus Dreams a lot. If you take off your couch-Author/Editor hat and skim a few of the sex scenes, it's a very enjoyable Anita book.

But I tend to agree. Anita's whole struggle to stay herself through what she faced, her humanity in the face of everything was what kept me coming back. I was embarassed to tell people what I was reading because of all the sex, with a crime thrown in to get her off her back once in a while.

I miss Edward.

There was this whole fascinatiobn built up with Olaf. Let's have him turn up in the next book, see if it brings us back our girl.......

I started reading these books a few months ago because I'm a fan of paranormal romance novels and these seemed to come highly recommended. I really liked the whole feel of them and the writing was excellent. To be honest, I was a little disappointed in the lack of sex in the first five books. I was not expecting erotica, but the sexual tension and prudishness of Anita was starting to annoy me. These are some sexy guys and I wanted to see a little action because that seemed to be where things were headed. I just took a while to get there :)I love the way Hamilton built the characters and the zombie raising kickass Anita Blake was very interesting. After reading so many bad reviews for the later novels I decided to quit reading after Blue Moon and not risk being disappointed. But I actually picked up Cerulean Sin the other day while waiting on some other books in the mail and really liked it. So then I read Incubus Dreams, and wow it wasn't the literary monstrosity it was made out to be.

First of all, I totally get how some people would hate the direction these books have taken. Die hard fans of the first novels could easily be offended by the actions of the characters in these later books. The grammatical mistakes can be a little distracting. I saw two or three out of a 650 page book. I know there were more because others have pointed them out, but overall it wasn't as bad as i had expected. And yes, some phrases get used and abused over and over... "so much meat" haha but it actually became a inside joke with myself whenever I saw phrases repeated.

As for the big bad SEX. There is a lot of it in this book in particular. BUT it is not the entire book. After reading dozens of reviews I expected her to be having sex right after the first page. But, I found that not to be true. Yes, she is still fighting the audeur. And yes it disrupts the flow of a normal plot. But I think Hamilton is a good romance writer and the development of the characters and my personal investment in them makes the sexual relationships really hot and interesting. I like that she writes outside of the box (a little BDSM). It makes the scenes more interesting. Granted, some of the sex scenes I could totally have done without because the characters are blah and it did nothing for the plot or character development. And I got a little tired of all the talk before sex, especially when she was talking herself into it and then out of it, and then back into having sex again. When that happens I just skim over a few pages til i get to the main scene. Her conflicts should really be resolved my now in my opinion.

Anita have evolved as a character. She is not a total sociopath yet, but she is not wreaked with emotions over what she sees as survival killings. I LOVE that about her character. I love that sex has become part of her world. Hamilton writes book sex in my opinion. I love the new characters that have been introduced. Though, someone mentioned in a review that there are like 50 characters now b/c every book introduces another 5 and nobody gets killed off. (SO TRUE) Some characters do not seem necessary to me...Micah anyone...but I'll give her the benefit of the doubt for a few more books.

So far I like the direction Hamilton has taken the books in. It might have helped me that I came into this series having read a lot of reviews on each book and I was expecting the later books to be total stinkers. So, the evolution of Anita's character was not such a shock and I was able to enjoy the new turn of events.

Lastly, some have said in the reviews that the plot in this book (the stripper killing part) is hardly ever mentioned. It is true that the mystery plot is not as central as the previous books because this one deals a lot with the characters themselves. But I do believe that there was enough of it to still remind me of the old Anita kicking butt and mouthing off to the police. hehe

It is a shame that LKH went from writing good, interesting stories to basically soft porn. She cannot go back from here, and she has changed Anita into something unrecognizable. I am sad that we see less of raising the dead and fighting vampires and more of sleeping with any man that moves. I miss the writing and stories of the first books in this series.

I've read all of the Anita series and I worship Laurell as one of my favorite authors BUT pleeeease there could of been more plot. Thought it was great to see her with her men and was very nice to see Richard get a bit of spine back. I found myself skimming over quite a few pages because it was the same over and over again. In this book it was wam-bam ty ma'am with the murders. Don't get me wrong, as I said...keep the sex scenes but give us our marshall back for half the read too! Love you Laurell and I await the next one.

Ok, I've been a diehard LKH since Guilty Pleasures, I've read all her work I can get my hands on, but I'm sorry, this book sucked! What happened to the hangers in Cerulean Sins, what happening with the Mother or Darkness thing? Theres maybe 30-40 pages of grisly crime tops, page 74 on is all SEX! I mean, don't get me wrong , its nice, but not 700 pages worth of it!

Some things here are dealt with I guess, with plp psycho-analyzing other people, and some metaphysical twists, but the whole book from page 100 on is just so....predictable, except maybe which stranger Anita's gonna screw next. What happened? Wheres the plots, the twists, the thrill I used to get reading about Anita's adventures? I paid $8.00 for a porn! Im sorry laurell, but I hope your books take a turn for the better, but of the reviews on Micah, im starting to lose hope. Cross your fingers in July for Danse Macrabe....

I guess I'm not the only one here who is dissapointed with what has happened to Anita Blake. This book in my opinion was slightly better than CS but only because Richard wasn't such an (...).

I don't mind a little sex in books, but I miss the intensity of her earlier stories, with action, monsters, and situations where I had no clue how Anita would escape unscathed.

now it's just one sex scene after another, I never thought I'd have to say this but sometimes less is more.

Anyway, don't buy this book, if possible check it out from the library. Unless you like reading soft porn, this is no longer really an Anita Blake story. The author has taken that wonderful character and replaced her with someone else.

Incubus Dreams is Laurell K. Hamilton's 12th Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter novel. I've been reading the series since it was only three books, so you could say I'm a fan. First thing you need to know about Incubus Dreams: there's a LOT of sex in it. If that bothers you, stay away. If not, read on. Several books back, Anita was infected with the ardeur, i.e. she became a succubus, now she has to have sex several times a day. In Incubus Dreams, her control of the ardeur goes out the window; I'd estimate about 3/4 of the book is sex scenes. Thing is, far more than these scenes being just porn (though at their worst they'd be very well-written porn), Laurell uses them as a springboard for meditations on the concepts of friendship, love, sex, commitment, fidelity, monogamy, polygamy, trust, S&M, and the relationship between pleasure and pain. It's all fascinating stuff, insightful, compassionate, and, while I don't agree with everything she says, I do with 99 percent of it (maybe 99-plus). I'd say Laurell K. Hamilton has her head screwed on pretty straight in these areas.

That doesn't mean everything here is wine and roses. As always, Laurell is weak on the gun stuff. She has Anita carry her Browning Hi-Power safety-on but chamber empty, and rack the action to chamber a round while chasing a bad guy. Okay, here it is, folks, coming from someone who makes his living writing about guns, and was a 2002 Washington state combat pistol champion: no one with two brain cells to rub together carries an auto pistol without a round already in the chamber. After that, she has Anita holster her gun chamber loaded with the safety off, just in case she needs to draw and fire fast - she doesn't know that for the well-trained shooter, flipping off the thumb safety adds exactly zero time to the draw and fire stroke. She has Anita let the gun hang at the end of her arm, pointed at the ground as a sort of "at rest" position. Serious gun people call this "dangling." It is invariably the sign of an unsafe, poorly trained person, and a darn good way to shoot yourself in the foot. She has Anita fire a shotgun from the hip, a hideously inaccurate technique despised by every true gunperson. And so on. I cannot read a Laurell K. Hamilton novel without being tempted to write her and say, "Look, I do this for a living, would you like me to proof your next manuscript for firearms correctness?" The fact I give the current book five stars (and have stayed with the series this long, actually) even though Laurell ALWAYS screws up in my area of professional expertise, every single shot out of the box (pun intended), is an indication of just how strong she is in every other area.

i got very wrapped up in the Anita Blake series. i couldn't get enough of it. But things started to go south (literally) in the later books and finally, it fell off my chart with this latest book. i think Miss Hamilton is having trouble keeping her stories separted. if you want smut and erotica, stick to her fairy books. Anita Blake has gone off the Deep End and i weep.

This is the twelfth book in Hamilton's "Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter" series, which is a bad place to start any series. For regular readers, the background has been pretty thoroughly filled in and can be taken for granted, the regular characters all have tons of shared history providing context for their current interactions-and on top of all that, most series, if they reach book twelve, have started to run down several books back.

Nevertheless, despite the fact that I was plunging in cold, with no prior background other than the fact that there was an "Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter" series, I only occasionally and briefly found myself feeling a bit lost. Hamilton does a pretty good job of salting in enough background and character history that the new reader has a sense, however illusory, of knowing what's going on.

For those as new to the series as I was: Vampires, werebeasts (wolves, leopards, and rats, most prominently in this book), zombies, and other unnatural and frequently nasty things really exist. The vampires and werebeasts, at least, have some legal rights, but distinctly limited ones. Anita Blake has the ability to sense and to some degree control the restless dead, which is the basis of both of her lines of work. By day (loosely speaking) she's a professional resurrectionist, raising the quite restful dead as zombies for a few hours so that they can answer such crucial questions as "what did this clause in your will really mean?" By night (usually), she's a federal marshal, the go-to person when a vampire's gone bad and you need him staked, quickly and permanently. In this capacity, she gets consulted by the local police in what are or might be preternatural crimes, a lot.

All of that might be relatively straightforward, if she weren't also one of the lovers of Jean-Claude, Master of the local vampires, and Nimir-Ra of the local wereleopard clan and lover of Micah Callahan, their Nimir-Raj. (No, she's not a wereleopard herself.) But, really, her love life is more complicated than that, and gets more so as the story progresses.

The story opens with a murder, a vampire-gang murder of a stripper at a local strip club, which looks like it might be the work of a serial killer. It's not long before there's another stripper killed, the same way, and the bite marks match those from the first killing. Inquiries also turn up the fact that there have been similar killings in other cities, and it looks like the killers are stepping up the pace. Anita is sure, for numerous sensible reasons, that it's not the work of Jean-Claude or any of the local vampires, but, of course, she might not be totally objective.

Since one of Anita's lovers is a stripper, and another (Jean-Claude) owns the club he works in, she's personally involved in another way, too. And if Jean-Claude's not involved, that's not really good news, either, because it means there's another master vampire in town, powerful enough to hide himself from both Jean-Claude and Anita.

While Anita and the local police, and eventually the Mobile Reserve, are trying to solve the murders before more people are killed, she's also juggling her job as a resurrectionist, where one client wants a resurrection that would be a really bad idea (zombies of murder victims do not play by the rules), and trying to manage her personal relationships along with her growing magical powers and the growing demands of those powers. Those last three things are all, of course, deeply entangled with each other in the most frustrating and inconvenient ways. It all builds towards a satisfyingly exciting conclusion.

I do have several observations, the first of which is not a complaint, but something you should be aware of if you're picking up an Anita Blake book for the first time: There's lots and lots of mildly kinky sex. It's not, mostly, gratuitous, in that it does advance both plot and characterization significantly. On the other hand, the sex scene that took up several chapters, important as it was for plot and characterization, clearly could have been shorter if that had been its primary function. So, if you don't like reading mildly kinky sex scenes, don't complain that I didn't warn you. In this book, if you skip them, you will miss important stuff that matters later.

This next one is a complaint. Early on, someone does a tarot reading for Anita, and one of the things that comes out of that reading is a prediction that she will receive help from someone from her past. At the end of the book, this hasn't happened-and we're reminded of the reading, and the fact that it hasn't happened. This isn't something I missed due to prior unfamiliarity with the series. This is a 658-page book in which major threads are left hanging, the story not really finished. That's annoying. The pace moves quickly, those 658 pages don't ever drag, and there is a conclusion-but this is putting the gun on the mantle in the first scene, and saying, in the last scene, "we'll get to that in the next play."

Thirdly-and this is a big complaint, but not directed at Ms. Hamilton. This one is directed at Berkley. Whoever decided that proofreaders were an unnecessary extra expense ought to be thoroughly embarrassed by the result in this book. "Liability" is spelled "libility." "Your" and "you're" are repeatedly confused, in both directions. Apostrophes are stuck, apparently randomly, in plurals. An exhaustive list would be exhausting for everyone, so I'll stop now. But Hamilton's a good writer, and she deserves better than this from her publisher.

If you're an Anita Blake fan, you'll surely want to grab this one. If you aren't, but you enjoy vampire fiction at all, this isn't the best one to start with, but you may want to go find the earlier ones.

This book made me want to cry. I am a long time fan and own all the books including Cerulean Sins. First the editing slowed my reading of this book. The excessive mistakes were annoying, was this book even edited? I had to stop and try to figure out what word was actually meant to be there. The gratuitous sex was sad. Anita is not even recognizable as herself. Major characters were no where to be found in this book. This book was about 400 pages too long.

DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS BOOK, GO TO THE LIBRARY.

I have now tried four times to read this book.

Four attempts in over six months. That alone should express how awful I find this book.

There are few books at ALL I have never managed to finish. A few years ago, I was able to quote verbatim entire paragraphs, remember page numbers of escpecially loved scenes etc.

And now I can't even manage to finish the damn book because it so so disgusting.

As hundreds of people have said:

Too much meaningless sex

Too much indiscriminate sex

No plot

Nearly no bad guys

No zombies

Almost No police work.

What the hell is wrong with LKH? Get a grip, pull your head out, get over the sex/arduer already and write a decent boook.

PLEASE!

I saw the reviews of this book, and it made me not want to read it. I too, am tired of all the sex. Mainly because it was more like rape, not by choice.

This book is about Anita's personal life. There is alot of sex in this book. I do believe that Anita chose to have sex each time, and the scenes had points to them, and done well in the most part. There is one scene near the end of the book that made me uncomfortable, and felt like she was forced into it, closer to rape then I like. But it wasn't a long scene, and they haven't done anything like it in any of the rest of the books up to book 17.

There are alot of interesting things that happen in this book. Don't let the sex scene stop you from read this one. But I agree, if I wanted to read porn I would.

I have read every Anita Blake novel along with my 26 year old son. He stopped at Cerrilian Sin, and I've stopped at Incubus Dreams. Where was the plot. I could have thrown out 150 pages of heavy breathing and hard core porn description and the bad guys got maybe 10 pages. Sorry but this book sucked big time. Hamilton needs to cut down her descriptions of foreplay and get to an understandable plot. I am not a prude and understand the need to describe her changes, but what a waste of my time....

I believe that if one peruses the current collection of reviews, a consensus emerges on what has gone so horribly wrong in the most recent Anita Blake offering. No tension, pointless sex, egregious grammatical errors, etc. I would only like to add this comment made in the author's online blog during the writing process, 'PLOT CALLED ON ACCOUNT OF SEX SCENE, Incubus Dreams'.

Truer words were never spoken.

I thought the series was great up until Narcissus in Chains. It's all downhill from there folks. Incubus Dreams is the worst of all with 300 pages of pointless sex, no plot development, or any interesting characters with the exception of Nathaniel. I was reading a book a week until this one came out. I started it in December. After reading the threeway between Anita, Richard, and Jean-Claude, I put the book down and haven't picked it up since. Three months later it's still sitting unfinished on my nightstand serving a better purpose as a coaster. Way to kill a great series Laurell.

And she's changing. I've read the reviews about how the series started going down hill with Narcissis In Chains. Actually, the series was headed towards this latest book starting with Blue Moon. Obsidian Butterfly is what messed everything up. Anita was moving along with Jean-Claude, Asher and Damian, then suddenly, there's Obsidian Butterfly, but none of the regulars are there. Yes, she needed time to get herself together, but she'd already inherited the incubus. Where was it in Obsidian? Then, she's back with Narcissis. Had she left Obsidian out of the series, or added the regular cast to it, I don't believe most reviewers would be having the problems with the series. I would prefer more time with the plot, but apparently, something is coming (maybe the mother of all darkness?) that the powers (which are needed without personal conflicts) need to be at their strongest. I don't believe that the sex is going to go away. I certainly hope not. But, I do hope that the plots are going to thicken a bit.

This book was so bad.
Bad Bad Bad.
I have decided to leave it unfinished. There was no plot. So far Anita has had sex with 8 men/animals, mostly in groups...
Uh,the murders and conversations with cops only took up maybe 2 chapters per murder but then Anita jumps into bed, or floor, or car, or whatever is handy, and that takes up about a hundred pages each escapade.
The book is not worth buying, check it out from your local library instead but make sure to get it back on time because it is not even worth the late fees. :(

Too much sex, not enough plot. I am a huge fan of the Anita Blake series; but this one was a huge disappointment. I had such a hard time getting through this book, I nearly quit reading it several times. It was a chore to get through. Not one of her best and, hopefully, the next one will be oh so much better.

There was just too much filler (Anita having sex with everyone) and not enough of the case. In fact, I realized that I had actually forgotten what the case was. I didn't even finish the book before I returned it to the library.

I thought the book would totally suck and that's why I bought it from the half-price bookstore. But it was a decent read. I'm not all that into Nathaniel but I was interested in Micah and Anita's new powers , as well as Damian. I wanted to know more about Wicked and Truth. I'm glad she and Ronnie have patched things up. I could have done with out all the sex with strangers. I liked that she admitted that she loved Micah and Nathaniel. Don't care too much about Richard, just think he's a bit of a punk. Jean-Claude was in the background and that was cool with me too. The four + pages of sex was a little over done. But overall even with the thin almost plotless story it had me reading it and enjoying it because Anita seems to be learning to move on and grow. I thought it was certainly not Laurell's best and it completely dropped previous loose ends but it was better than expected but then what everyone else didn't like about the lack of Jean- Claude I didn't care about and though I missed Asher he wasn't really warranted. But alot of sex and little plot gives this book 2 stars even though I liked it to an extent.

First and foremost, I have loved the Anita Blake Series. However, Incubus Dreams has almost completely turned me off. It is very hard to like a character that requires and demands all the attention but complains the whole time. She has gotten very "all about her." I didn't mind the sex, but c'mon 5 people in less than 24 hrs? Am I the only one who is bored by the various ties and metaphyical explanations that I skip it now? I want the cases and vampire hunter back. Was there even a case in this one? I was so irritated, i can't remember. Why have all the characters become unlikable? Where is Edward? I want the old Anita back!

Laurell K Hamilton is so much better than this. The book spends far too much time fretting over Anita's X-rated personal life and never really gets into the crux of the murder mystery we were promised in the beginning. By the end of the book, we don't really know any more about the original plot than when we began, and we know far too much about Anita's bed hopping. This isn't a character "maturing", unless you rate maturity by the number of sexual partners a person has. This is a character degenerating.

Up until Incubus Dreams I was loving the Anita Blake series. This book is nothing but sex scene after sex scene with little regard to anything resembling a story. Quite frankly I'm sick of the 'ardeur' and Anita is looking more and more like an unpaid whore. Unfortunate, but I'm done with this series. I didn't take the other poor reviews seriously...I thought I would read this myself and make up my own mind. I wish I hadn't spent the money. I couldn't finish this book.

Anita is an expert of deep throating, has wild, tumultuous sex several times in one day with several men, is a rainmaker *and* multi-orgasmic without the need of female-centered foreplay? Sounds like every man's pornographic dream come true to me! And that is just the problem. LKH wants to make Anita Blake sound like a such an amazing woman that she has lost track of what this series is supposed to be about. Ms. Hamilton, if you have issues about creating some sort of superwoman in the Nietzsche fashion, go seek therapy, but please bring back the no-nonsense, gun-happy, self-assured heroine that we once knew and loved.

If you can ignore the poor writing, editing errors,you will still find this book VERY Disappointing. Almost all sex, safe sex-NOT. Anita Blake has become VERY boring having to have sex every other minute,Anita no longer has time to fight the bad guys, develope a plot, or finish a story line. It is time to put Anita Blake on a new road or retire her to the dead or undead. I will not buy another A.Blake novel-So sad to say goodbye ma petite.

Ms. Hamilton has truly lost track of what this story was about. I thought the sex "phase" would pass, but it's not going to. I didn't have a problem with one, two, or even three sex scenes, but this book was nothing but sex. I used to be excited when these books came out, but I've finally realized that the characters are not going to develop any further, which is sad because Anita used to be a Kick as Bitch with a purpose...I don't think I have to say what she is now.

I agree with the other reviewers about this book - sex, sex, sex. I enjoy a little sex in novels as well as the next person but to give up the story line - NO! I have been a fan of the Anita Blake series from the beginning and am sorry to see the down turn in the novels. Maybe she should return to the land of Nightseer for awhile. I hope the writing improves regarding plot, as for steaminess she already excels in that area.

I have read a number of Anita Blake series. This is the only one I have ever REread. The sex scenes were off the wall, just what you would hope for with Werewolves & Vampires. What could be worse than tame vampire sex??? I loved that the relationship with Nathaniel finally took off. I look forward to more encounters between theme.

Laurell Hamilton's Anita books have gotten longer, and the additional length is pretty much all explicit sex scenes, some of which go on for multiple chapters. This is not a criticism. Hamilton writes sex very well, and her Anita and Meredith series are the most successful erotic fantasy that I've encountered. It is hard to write a book with this much sex without having the sex "take over," so that the plot begins to seem like a device for getting people into bed. One thing that makes it work for Hamilton is that it is very "female" eroticism. Every sex act has consequences, for the characters' relationships, and (because the magic is essentially sex magic) for their powers and vulnerabilities. So I don't find the sex scenes boring or gratuitous.

But there is a problem. The books have gotten much longer, but because it's all sex, there is not more (non-sex) plot. For a thick book, this one felt kind of "thin." It seemed like the balance between "internal" (i.e. character relationships) and "external" plot elements was off. Virtually all of the plot threads that are developed in a satisifying way concern Anita's sexual relationships with her crew of vampires and lycanthropes. Some external conflicts are introduced, but they are mostly left hanging. There is an issue with a police coworker, which is left unresolved. New vampire antagonists are introduced, but they never even appear "on stage." The major vampire-hunting scene of the novel resolves nothing and is not particularly suspenseful. With Hamilton now dividing her time between the Anita and Meredith series, it's a long time between plot updates, and a novel that is as obviously transitional as this one is a little frustrating.

There also seems to be a problem with the copy editing. I came across more typos and grammatical errors than I recall in any of the previous books. Particularly jarring is the repeated misspelling of "deity" as "diety."

Despite the criticisms, this is still an enjoyable, if not quite satisfying, addition to the series. After a dozen books, there is still a sense that Anita is growing and changing, which is quite unusual for a series character. And it is not always clear (to the reader or to Anita) that the changes are positive, which adds an element of tension that is not often present in a long-running series.

I picked up the book from the library and still felt cheated after I'd read it. There is only enough plot to keep the erotica progressing. This really should have been published as a Harlequin Romance, except it might even be too graphic for that.

To add insult to injury, this book has not been proofread. I stopped counting incorrect spelling, bad grammar and the use of incorrect homophones about halfway through. Does Jove employ editors?

LKH took a really cool, independent, take charge type of woman and turned her in to some sort of porn star. I have no problem with sex, but the relentless, often distasteful, gratuitous sex in this book is off putting. I'd like to get back to the "story" and less of the twisted sexual proclivities of of a wannabe porn star.

As can be seen by the majority of reviews- Too much sex and not enough Executioner. I'm no prude and have enjoyed the sex in the previous books, but they weren't the main thrust (pardon the pun) of the story, and didn't go on endlessly- the stories were mysteries and that is what I liked about them. If I wanted a pure sex romp I would read her Meredith Gentry novels.

I knew what I was getting into when I picked up this book. I had few illusions about LKH's talents as an author post "Obsidian Butterfly." I could go on and on about how BAD this book is and how it lacks any redeeming factors which make a novel worth purchasing. Others have done that job already.

I think the most stinging review I can give this book is that I'm going back to the bookstore and demanding my money back. If people stop paying for feces on paper, maybe the author will finally get the point, put down her copy of Marquis de Sade's "Ettiquite in the Bedroom" (which at least was well written), and write a story with a plot.

This one was really bad. Out of 650+ pages you get 500 of them are focused on Anita's numerous sex partners and her need to have sex with anyone walking by at anytime. It's sad because the little that Ms. Hamilton gives you which dosen't deal with Anita's sex play is good and imaginative and should have been played up more. If that had happend this would have been a great book.

Ms. Hamilton has strayed so far from her kick but heroin to this sex starved nympho, it makes you wonder if the author is wrighting what she thinks her fans wants. If she beleives that we want to read page after page of sex then she'll keep putting out this soft porn and pretty soon it won't be so soft.

Those of you looking for an author who deals with werewolves, witches, fairies and other little creatures of the night and has this kick butt heroin again, you might want to purchase "Dead Witch Walking" by Kim Harrison.

I have about twenty pages to go in this book and I don't care if I finish it or not. I miss the flavor of the first books in the series...fun and a bit dangerous. Now it's just skimming till you get to a half-way decent part. I'm sick of vampire politics and pard rules. I'm hoping in the next book Edward comes back and does them all in!

Incubus Dreams I have to admit is one star better than CS. I should check this review for typos, but since nobody checked Incunbus Dreams...why should I?

Reader Beware!

I am a die-hard LKH fan and when my husband saw me bring this book home he was prepared to run the house for a few days because I usually can't put her books down. Not this one mama. It took me so long to read because it just was NOT intersting. It really doesn't add much to the series so my advice is to just skip it. Maybe her next one will be better after she reads all these harsh reviews (fingers crossed).

I didn't believe it could happen, well don't bet on it, it has been done! At the fifth book the sueness started to show and by this last book it is nothing but. This book is bad, let me count the ways... nevermind I have a life and wasted several hours of it wading through the muck in this book. I'm a man so I can't be a prude, it's an oxymoron. I'm glad I'm a man too. If I were a woman I'd be raising hell about the downward spiral of morphing Anita Blake into the writers stand in from the roof tops. I don't care what writers do behind closed doors, but to advertise it in book form is disgusting and so is this so called novel. That's the only justification there seems to be why this book is what it is. Bad. I couldn't find the plot and it wasn't because I didn't try. This book is definitely not a stand alone and in comparison to the other twelve barely stands at all. Don't buy it, don't borrow it, don't even read it on a bet like me, you'll regret it.

Incubus Dreams begins at the wedding of Larry & Tammy (whom after this interlude are not mentioned again). Anita is one of Larry's groomsmen. Her dates are Micah and Nathaniel (hey, why bring one when you can have two?!). Anita's trying to duck out on dancing with them when she's called to visit a murder scene. Yay, a murder investigation, I thought, the book is getting back to its roots! No need to get excited, though, as it's only for a moment then we get back to the sex.

As expected at this point in the series, the book features lots of sexual tension with Nathaniel (he of the beautiful violet eyes and desire to be bound and beaten) and Damien, and Asher, and Richard, and Jean Claude and Micah and . . . well, you get the picture. When the book begins Micah is Anita's #1 bedmate and partner but as the book progresses Nathaniel finally moves up a little in the ranks. I was thrilled to see this as I have a soft spot for Nathaniel.

This book was described to me by a friend who enjoyed the earlier books as "boring porn" and I can easily see why she felt this way. The sex with strangers which fills far too many pages is dull, unnecessary and frustratingly vanilla. How many men does Anita need in her harem anyway? It has reached ridiculous proportions. She'd be waddling like a penguin if she were entirely human . . . If the book had been subjected to a little editing I'm thinking it could've been oh-so much better.

However, I still thought it was much better than the last few Anita Blake books because the author does delve a little deeper into some of the relationships. The Jean Claude/Richard triangle is explored. Micah breaks down and becomes more than just another pretty face (though he's quickly forgotten for most of the book). Nathaniel comes into his own (take that however you will) and becomes a little less of a doormat for Anita to use for feeding her various hungers and for cooking and cleaning. Hey, where can I get a Nathaniel, anyway?

The plot is all over the place. At one point Anita is called in to raise a zombie. I'd almost forgotten she's a necromancer so it was nice to see her "working" again. But that plot thread, which I found very interesting, quickly went nowhere. She's also called in to investigate a suspected vampire serial killer targeting strippers. This plot fizzles and limps to a less than fulfilling end. In between the short moments of work, Anita seems to be angsting about the way her life has turned out and dealing with the ardeur while attempting to reconcile her feelings and complicated relationships with all of her boys.

Incubus Dreams managed to hold my attention for most of its many pages which is something most books can't manage to do these days so I'm sure I'll read the next one.

I have to say that after being disappointed with the last book in the Merry Gentry series I wasn't expecting much. While I enjoy both characters I definitely feel that sex is over taking the plot in both series. I will say that while Incubus Dreams had a little too much sex it also had an intriguing story line. I started off reading slowly, unsure if I could finish what I think is the longest book in the series. Then at around midway I started getting into the book and ended up finishing it in a few days. I feel that it was good and despite Anita departing from who she was in the beginning of these books I still enjoy the character. Someone else on here said how some of the other characters were completely left out and this is true. But there are so many people populating Anita's universe that there is no way that the stories can remain comprehensible and juggle every one of them. However I would like to see Edward come back, especially now that Anita has changed so drastically. Otherwise I think Laurell K. is still able to write an intriguing and beguiling story.

but I enjoyed it. The sex did get repetitive and I did want to read more action and [...] kicking, but I am completely addicted to this series and cannot give it low scores. I just wish that the repetitive sex with whoever is near when the ardeur strikes would cease. I started reading this series because of the amazing characters and the way Laurell Hamilton makes your mind believe they are real, not for the sex. It is a bonus, but not what the entire book should be about.

Also, please give us more Jean-Claude!

Incubus Dreams represents a turning point, at least in this readers mind. I'm done with the series! A once interesting series has devolved into a chaotic mess where the author doesn't even bother trying to write a coherent plot or storyline any more.

What's touted as character growth reads more like character assignation. Anita Blake and the huge supporting cast of characters have been transformed into two-dimensional cardboard cutouts loosing all of their original uniqueness and appeal in the process.

And lastly, if the author chooses to write nothing but erotica that's fine, but market it as such and quit hiding behind the mystery and suspense elements dangled as bait in the dusk jacket.

This one time fan is done and moving on.

I am extremely dissapointed in this book. I am 400 pages in and I am not sure what is going on except that Anita engages in carnal activity every 2 chapters. This book reads like a bad porno movie where the "plot" exists simply to get from one sex scene to another, except I am not exactly sure what the plot is about. I guess the warning signs have been there in the last couple of books, but sheesh, if I wanted to read trashy romance novels I would just subscribe to the Harlequin romance novel selections.

Should be better descriptive of this book. Is there anyone left for her to have sex with? There was so much of it in the story that I started skipping pages to try and avoid the repetitious bordom of it. I feel that Anita who was a courageous,smart and witty character is now just (...) weak and obviously nymphomaniac. I feel MS. Hamilton lost alot of her focus somewhere and about half way through remembered there is suppose to be a story so tried to save it by throwing in a plot, at this point why bother. In my opinion her demoralizing of her characters, herself and her readers is a complete let down. Good luck on the next one.

I was a great admirer of the Anita Blake series up until the end of Obsidian Butterfly. All the books after that degenerated rapidly into erotica, and plot became secondary. Laurell Hamilton seems to have imposed all her private sexual fantasies on the character of Anita Blake, regardless of whether they fit the original character or not. She's no longer writing for her audience; she's writing purely for herself. This would be fine, except that I'm not particularly interested in her sexual daydreams. I feel that Hamilton has inserted her own new point of view into that of her protagonist, with the effect that Anita is now doing things she would never have previously done. It's as if someone else was writing the character and writing her poorly.

We do get to see more of Richard and his conflict between humanity and the beast, but unfortunately, Anita spends her time trying to get him to accept his inner animal. By the end of the book, Richard has been convinced to try dominant sadomasochistic games, and Anita is exploring her inner submissive side. Also, Richard, Jean-Claude, and Anita are now in a menage a trois. Anita is sleeping with almost everyone in the cast in almost every sort of sexual situation you can imagine. Dominance and submission play heavy roles, and the sex is even more graphic than before. I'm starting to really wonder about what the writer does off-stage. I wouldn't mind the series turning into a sex novel quite as much if I hadn't loved the earlier works so much. Now, I'm just disappointed, and Hamilton uses cheap tricks like the "ardeur" to keep the erotic fantasies coming. Character development and plot are only there to get new sexual adventures onstage.

Some people will tell you that Anita's sexual and moral fall are character development. Perhaps. But I see no signs of an upward spiral, and Anita revels in her corruption and abandonment of all human morality. In Incubus Dreams, she has almost completely come to terms with her status as a monster. She has become a cold-blooded killer while channeling all her passions into sex. I found her original struggles to embrace all parts of herself to be much more interesting. Now, it seems she has resolved her inner conflict by total transformation. Previous books were tightly plotted, full of murder mysteries and intrigue, but set tightly in the outside "real" world. Here, entire chapters go by that are just pure supernatural soap opera. Many of the characters, like Micah, are poorly developed and I have no interest in them. When Hamilton stops long enough to fully detail a character, like the police, we see flashes of her old writing style, but not nearly long enough. Unlike the last two books, this one actually has a plot, but unlike the series up to Obsidian Butterfly, the plot is completely subsidiary to the supernatural romance and sexual experiences of Anita. It is possible to read this one and get a story out of it, but you will have to skip heavily through the porn scenes. The series has gone from erotic undertones to throwing all caution to the wind. While Hamilton can write sex scenes well, they tend to distract and disturb when compared to the scenes of graphic violence, which are also frequent. Often, both happen at once. People who love both in heavy doses and are not disturbed by mixing the two will find Incubus Dreams exactly their cup of tea. Others should avoid it.

Faithful readers of the Anita Blake series will find no great surprises in this latest installment of the series. Anita grows into her power, spends more time in supernatural society and increasingly assumes their values... as she copulates copiously.

Are the sex scenes worth avoiding? You betcha. Nearly two hundred pages of sex scenes and none of them got a rise out of me. It is far too late to save the trees, but you can save this book by skimming through the sex. Decide for yourself how much you can take. Self-service editing is the wave of the future.

There is a lot to like here. Anita continues to develop powers far beyond the ordinary. The rules governing human society correspond to her own experience with disturbing infrequency. Her ironclad certainties rust away. With every book, Anita steps further away from the community of ordinary humanity and into the world of the supernatural. She'll cross the line one of these days; maybe not this novel or the one after that, but soon. And she'll justify herself every step of the way.

This kind of character development is worth a few hundred pages of bad sex scenes.

This series has gone steadily downhill for the last 3 books, in my opinion. LKH has taken a strong female character and turned her into a nymphomaniac. If there was a plot to help things along, I wouldn't mind so much, but Incubus Dreams has almost zero plot.

Bring back Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter!

I like her writing, LKH does good sex, really good sex. She also does good ass kicking, which I admire as that seems to be harder to write than sex. But strangely enough the best part of the book to me was Zebrowski and her doing the standard police work. I love their banter and they way they are simply good friends. She also does a good job of showing how Anita still feels the odd man (woman?) during most of her work with the police.

I was happy about the closure on her relationship with certain individuals in the books (not spoiling it!!) But where are Shang, Ash, Willie, etc? I miss those guys, some of which she didn't have sex with so I guess there was no room for in this book.

I am waiting for the next one, and I will buy it too. Because as some of them have said this book is so so, that is fine, a so so LKH bets a damned best effort by most other authors any old day. Thanks again Ms. Hamilton, I am looking forward to my Merry fix now.

After reading a few of the reviews, I really don't have anything new to add. Just wanted to register my displeasure at the destruction of a great series. I agree with every negative thing said in the other reviews (and few of the positive ones). If you like this stuff, read her Meredeth Gentry series which started out this way and continued it. I see no difference between them now.

I think that I might have liked this book a little more if I hadn't read all these reviews first in my anticipation of it arriving in the mail...never make that mistake again. Like some of the others said, I did get kinda sick of the sex scenes...I think I actually got a yeast infection just from reading this thing. How many guys can one woman screw??? It's getting a little harder to keep it in my head that this mysterious ardeur is what keeps Anita bed-hopping (or desk-hopping, or floor-hopping...) so much and not think of her as a slut. I also kinda missed the whole murder mystery plot. It was kinda like: Open at a wedding where Anita has to go and start another murder case, then she comes home and has sex, then she goes to the club and has sex, then she has a threesome, foursome, then-some, has some more sex, then sex, sex, sex, and oh yeah, the strippers are dying in St. Louis, so let's sum that story up in about thirty pages, but not all the way in case we want to bring back the vampire serial killers, and then lets go have a little more sex before the book ends. Don't these people get tired of doing the nasty??? The Good Points: Nathaniel is stepping into some manhood and finally getting what he deserves from Anita, moving to another bed partner for her rather than just the hired help; Richard has maybe stopped being such a whining pain and will suck it up and be who he is; beginnings of an interesting new issue with the other vamps in town from the Church of Eternal Life (will LKH follow it up?). I kinda missed Micah and Jean Claude in this one though. Micah was MIA until Ronnie got drunk (and it was nice to see her back too), and it seemed like the only time Jean Claude stepped on the scene was to whisper something in Anita's head...was he asleep for the whole book? Overall, I hope the next one is better, but it's still a worthwhile read for long-time fans.

650 pages. how many are plot? about 10. that's right. only 640 pages of unneeded fecal matter and unneeded sex scenes. There's public sex, beasiality, pedophillia (no matter how old he is, Nate is a kid), orgies, snail trails, and virtually any other disgusting thing you can think of. If that's not enough, the spelling errors (which average about 1 per sentence) and grammar errors (same average) really ruin being able to just sit and read... assuming you can stomach WHAT you are reading. Personally, I've never wanted to vomit because of a book before... until I read this feces filled book. The book is no longer about any kind of plot, but 'how many people can AB have sex with", 'how many different positions', 'how many sexual fantasies can the author push into the book'. That's it. And if that isn't bad enough, the writing is so horrible any one of my cats could write with more intelligence and less errors.

But, honestly, no matter how much I detest this book, what I truly feel sorry for is that I wasted all that money on the older books, with high hopes for a good series. Only to have it come to what it has.

I would really like to know what happened? I was a dedicated Anita Blake fan. WAS being the operative word. Previously LKH books had plot to them. This book is 98% sex with practically everyone walking dead or alive. 2% plot! I felt really cheated that I blew good money on the hardcover (that's never happening again). I could have gotten the 98% from a cheap penthouse paperback. Instead of expecting a fun book and a good read I was bitterly disappointed. Save your money. LKH should go back to formula!

Man, that was $16 down the drain. I really liked this series before, but this book, well, it was about NOTHING. Another reviewer has already posted the sexual body count, but LKH barely even addresses the actual dead bodies - you know, the murder victims? What happened to - Anita, champion of those helpless against supernatural evil? Now its all - Anita, product of sensitivity therapy and nymphomania.

I just don't know if I will buy the next one. She might have killed it for me. Hopefully she won't mess up her Meredith Gentry series like she did this one.

I've read all of the Anita Blake novels. If you have too, then what I say here won't matter much. You've probably already read this book. You decided, just like me, that reagardless you were going to read it. Stop reading, this review ain't for you!

If you have not read this and are either new to the series or just haven't read very much Hamilton, this review is for you.

This book is mostly sex. Flat out. This book contains long winded descriptions of Anita and various monsters getting thier groove on. If plot advancement is 40% of this book by weight I'd be shocked. But that's what Ms. Hamilton writes. That's what I thought I was buying when I bought this book. I was not dissapointed. I also thought that some of the plot advancements were good too. I like the prose, the story telling and the characters the author creates. Besides, if you think this novel is trashy, you should read any of the Princess Meredith novels. Whew!

So, basicly, I'm saying that this is an entertaining book. I enjoyed it for what it was. I tried not to place any higher expectations than that on any book.

Summary:

Heavy on the sex.

Great characters.

Good dialog and story development

Fair pacing (previous novels were much faster paced)

P.S.

I do think a visit from Edward is long overdue. I'm afraid that Anita badly outclasses Edward now. If Edward wants a crack at killing her while there is some remote chance of success he better get on the ball!