Vampire Hunter Novel - Cerulean Sins - An Anita Blake

ok, so let me start by saying i LOVE the earlier novels. however, this one and some of the ones behind it are up to LKH normal standards. i probably would have given this 2 stars if it wasn't for how much i love the series and keep hoping that it will rebound.

what was wrong with the book? well the biggest thing is the indiscriminate sex... lots and lots of meaningless sex. the plot revolves around anita and her uncontrolable impulses. there is little to the mystery. that is my main gripe with the book. i miss the suspense and mystery and actual plot. to be honest if this was the first of her books i picked up i wouldn't read any more of them.

however, it is still a decent book, mostly well written. i love jason, and like anita and richard and other main characters less and less. i hope that LKH returns to what made this series so popular, and it wasn't the sex. (her first book in the series has absolutely no sex, believe it or not)

Being a huge fan of LKH and the Anita Blake books, Cerulean Sins was a must read for me and I wasn't disappointed...much. While CS follows the seemingly departure of NIC, all in all Hamilton's characters remain true to form. Anita is still Anita with all of her flaws and all that makes her fantastic. Some of the supporting characters step up and are fleshed out a bit more and we learn more about Asher and Jean-Claude.
Richard continues to annoy me to no end until the end when I become intrigued because he finally seems to get it. And Jason, well that's one wolf that seems to be coming into his own.
Overall, another hit. My only complaint is that the end seemed rushed. It was as if there was so much more to the story that got edited out to fit into a required number of pages. Whether this is true or not, only LKH and her publishing house can speak to. But when the last page turned I was again left wanting more. Well done!

I just can't read any more of these. After finishing Cerulean Sins I decided not to buy any more of Ms. Hamilton's books. What started out as a really interesting series with complex characters, imaginative plot development, attention to detail, and absorbing storytelling has deteriorated into an excuse to write porn. The ardeur, which was an interesting plot device when it was first introduced, is now simply an excuse to get Anita into the sack with any sentient being with genitalia. A friend who also read the first dozen books in this series tells me that after she found herself flipping through page after page of Anita's bedtime shenanigans in a vain attempt to locate the rest of the story, she gave up and stopped reading these after Narcissus in Chains. Another friend tells me that she didn't give up hope until Anita ended up mulling over whether it might be necessary to start having sex with teenagers, and then she just found the whole downward spiral too creepy to justify buying any more of the books. No idea which book that was. I'm glad I didn't read that far. I don't know what happened to Ms. Hamilton's storytelling skills, but they're gone, or perhaps she's bored with the work of detailing the rules and parameters of the world and characters she's constructed, and it's just easier to write tedious sex scenes. I guess they must sell. Whatever the reason, it's a shame. I used to enjoy Ms. Hamilton's work. She's got real talent as a writer, but she's stopped employing it. As another reviewer herein wrote, there are editing issues: the multitude of typos, spelling and usage errors, poor punctuation, etc., were occasionally disconcerting, and any competent editor should have caught those prior to publication, but another job of an editor is to have a serious talk with an author who's starting to veer off the rails and that apparently didn't happen either. Life's too short to read books you don't really enjoy, and I'm sad to say that I don't find these at all entertaining any more.

I had no idea how to rate this book. If you've followed the series, you'll probably want to read this one. Unless you've hated the direction that last book or two has taken in which case you may wanna skip it.
Before I start complaining about all the kinkiness, let me confess that Anita's priggish-ness in the early novels aggravated me badly. She wouldn't so much as kiss Jean-Claude (her would-be boyfriend who was near perfect other than the whole vampire thing.) No intercourse til marriage she tells Richard-her other would-be boyfriend who was near perfect other than the whole werewolf thing. Who by the way has turned into a rather nutty self-loathing guy who barely appears in the book and when he does you just wanna smack him. The whole leader of the local pack apparently is seriously not agreeing with him.
The story starts out promisingly enough with Anita on the job with Animators Inc. Soon she has a mysterious new client and the bad news that the Vampire Council-specifically Belle Morte the found of Jean-Claude's and Asher's lines-has taken an interest in St. Louis's vampire/werewolf/Anita goings-ons. Pretty soon this devolves into a yet another tale in which every man she encounters wants to get carnal with her even though she is annoying as ever, with pointless arguments that go on for pages that make you wanna throttle her and anyone who would wanna get busy with her. And naturally she just has to enter into a menage with JC and Asher so Asher isn't forced to return to Belle Morte. Uh yeah, that makes sense to me. And I haven't even mentioned the Ardeur that needs feeding. Who hasn't Blake had relations with yet? Let's see...well there's Willie the vamp and Irving the werewolf reporter. Then again they've been missing for a few books now. Maybe they were afraid their draft notices were coming up.
Other bad news for fans of Dolph the police lieutenant-he's as buggy for Richard and hates all supernatural types now since an event occurred in his personal life.
This book isn't entirely bad and honestly I'll run out and grab the next one as soon as it's...available from the public library. I haven't reached the point I have with Anne Rice where I've just completely given up. There's still hope for Laurell and Anita.

But it sure was a bloated mess. LKH's writing abilities have been steadily decreasing for some time. She's sloppy, scatter-brained, and has a bad habit of repeating herself again and again, and again...and again. Any phrase worth writing is worth writing a hundred times. Regulars of the Anitaverse are more than familiar with "so much meat/anybody's meat", the leather pants looked "poured on/painted on", "a case of the lady protesting too much", etc., and these aren't just the stuck-on-repeat catch phrases of our heroine, no, everybody in the Anitaverse has a similar voice. On top of that, plots are recycled too. Put those two issues together and the books are all bleeding into one another, with more of the same ol' discussions between characters and same ol' problems. There is simply no decipherable focus, main plot, big picture, or end goal. The meat of the story, as usual, is lost in a sea of gratuitous characters, rambling, pissing matches, sex, and extremely lengthy and technical info-dump descriptions of EVERYTHING the reader is dragged through on their journey down the rabbit hole. The last, oh, around 13 books have been a mess of weak subplots glued together with orgy scenes and they're not improving. Bullet's just another example of LKH's "too many characters and too much time spent on what's not important" syndrome. There is way too much of what you won't care about and not even close to enough of what you do. Every time I crack one of these, it's like watching a news reporter filming live in front of a tornado and the dipstick cameraman is aiming down at his shoes. Quite frankly, I never knew sex, violence, vampires, and werewolves could be so boring, but Laurell's managed it. She's also managed to make her heroine so all-powerful, important, and ego-stroked that she's a snooze too. Hats off, Laur, few have managed it.

I have continued to read the Anita Blake series more out of loyalty and desire to see it get back to the meat and potatoes it used to have. I keep thinking that even SHE will tire of the endless sex and get back to where her true talents are which is suspense and actual story line. I'm not against a bit of sex in a book here and there, but honestly, if I wanted to read non stop sex romps I'd buy porn. Her first 7 books were unbelievable and I'm still floored that she had the imagination and tenacity for research that was obvious in her description of law enforcement and fire arms. I couldn't believe my luck that I found such a gem! Then, everything changed in one book and has continued to fail every book after. No more story line. No more suspense. I can literally put the book down without marking my page and pick it back up 5 pages later with Anita STILL having sex with either the same person or someone new. It's the most redundant style of writing I've ever had the misfortune to read. It gets old so unbelievably fast that it's almost painful to finish the entire thing. I haven't read her blogs but it sounds that she might be getting indignant about the criticism toward her writing. I imagine when she reflects on her career as a writer she'll be able to filter through her fans' descent to blatant disappointment and know the exact moment she went wrong. It's a shame. It almost makes one beg the question: was she writing WITH someone on those other books? Someone who helped the story line, provided the suspense and the incredible fighting sequences and if the moment that person left her life, she found herself alone with mediocre talent and a propensity for agonizing redundancy? That would at least make sense and allow us to forgive the obvious 180 degree shift in her writing style. I think it might be time to retire Ms. Blake. She can end her saga in the bedroom where she's been chained for the last few years and begin a series in adult fiction where fans are actually expecting and hoping for that particular style of writing. I've continued to buy the series after Obsidian Butterfly desperate for the magic she shared with us in the first 7 books but I've finally, painfully reached my ceiling with Laurell K. Hamilton. This is the first time I just won't contribute money to her anymore. I fear that most of her fans are almost just buying the books out of habit and a tinge of faith that she'll go back to the way things were. I'm done with all that. I haven't bought this book and I won't be buying any book hereafter until I can see a review which rejoices her return to the talent she used to possess. I'm just not convinced that will ever happen. I read somewhere that she was married to a man for the first few Anita books and that she created the Richard character after this man. It could certainly explain Anita's distaste for him. Then, she REMARRIED and hence we can almost see the day her wedding took place. It was after Obsidian Butterfly. Maybe her true talent left with half the house. Goodbye for now, Ms. Blake. I'm done.

I think my first review got eaten...so...
I loved the early Anita Blake books. NiC was only fair. This one is a little better, but not a lot. The graphic sex has stepped up a notch...which is fine...at the cost of the story content dropping down a notch or two...which is not! I hope the trend doesn't continue as graphic sex in books is a whole lot easier to find than good thrillers.
The plot is a bit uneven, with subplots jumping around. The final resolution of the main "mystery" seems just thrown in at the last minute and is a bit anti-climactic (no pun intended). The opening story bit is entirely forgotten until the last page or so and then resolved by just dismissing it.
On the other hand, an interesting start to a new, major storyline. An end in sight (hopefully) to the subplot of angst-torn Richard. Jean Claude-As-Major-Vampire-Power storyline progressed quite nicely. The Asher story doing well enough. Zerbrowski a [heck] of a lot more fun than Dolph.
I'm hopeful that things will get better and I'll keep buying for the moment...but I hope we're not going to bury [awesome] Anita under novels that would be better published by Black Lace.

I won't go so far as to say I think this is one of the best in the series, but I will say that it is much better than the last two offerings and that it has renewed my faith in the series itself.
If this installment had been like NiC, I would've walked away from the series and quit wasting my time and money. I'm glad to say that after reading Cerulean Sins, I'll be coming back for more. Yay! This makes my fan heart happy.
While this title does have flaws, the main criteria by which I judge "fun" books was met and that is--does it hold my interest? At the end of each chapter am I anxious to read on? The answer? A resounding YES.
True, the plot got a bit thin into the meat of the book, and there's still a lot of sex with a lot of folks, but it was believable to me and handled in a way that made it acceptable.
And the minimal amount of Micah exposure certainly helps this book.
I don't mind sex. I'm not a prude. But it has to be handled tastefully and it has to be believable. Micah was not in the least bit believable.
For disheartened fans of the series, I would recommend this book. I think that, in spite of its flaws, this is a great read and offers hope for the future of the series.

I'll go out on a limb here and say that I like reading the Anita Blake books. I must, because I've read all 19 of them. Either I'm an addicted junkie in need of a 12-step program, or there must be something about them that keeps drawing me back again and again. I've given it some thought recently in light of the most recent installment, Bullet. The characters and the world Hamilton has created are interesting and creative. However, the fact that someone can actually make a living writing books of this quality is truly fascinating. Bullet seems choppy and patched together from disparate story lines. It's mired in tedious dialog and lengthy, detailed descriptions that add little to the story.

Bullet is hyped by the product description to be focused on the return of the Mother of All Darkness. She returns but takes a back seat to other subplots, most of which just dragged. There was what seemed like an endless dance recital, no doubt the vehicle to introduce a new reader to the hairstyles, eye colors, grooming habits and love lives of main characters and several not-so-main characters. We were treated to many descriptions like this throughout the book so I'm not sure what was the point.

-spoiler-
Much of the book was devoted to the demise of Haven, the local Rex, and another miscellaneous werelion you'd be hard pressed to remember. We haven't seen Haven in a while, but I'm not sure he was even missed. The events leading up to the crisis happened off stage and were pieced together through chapters of backstory and angst. Too bad he couldn't have been killed offstage too and spared us all. Anita goes through a mini-breakdown over the course of events, yet having read all those chapters I found myself not caring at all. The whole saga seemed artificial in terms of her loading up with all her weapons to meet him, then being so remorseful that she had actually to use them.

What did happen essentially offstage was vampire attack in another city. This could have been an interesting storyline, but instead we just got updates from the field while Anita and the gang were getting their groove on, going to the gym, collecting more wereanimals, and generally coming up with more ways to up Anita's power level to absurd proportions. In other words, just another day at the Circus.

On the upside it was good to see more of Jean-Claude and the vamps in this book. I'm not quite ready to kick my habit yet. It seems the next book is likely headed towards a big show-down with the Mother of All Darkness. Gee, I wonder who will win that.

On most good days I consider myself a fan of Laurell K. Hamilton. I have read and re-read the Anita Blake Series, along with ear-marking favorite pages and gobbling up copies of the series that I find in used book stores to give as "gifts" to friends. I am also a member of the Fan Club. So, it is with much disappointment that I confess that this is not a good day and that this is not one of Ms. Hamilton's better offerings.
The plot goes every which way it possibly can, from vampire politics, to relationship dilemmas, to Dolph's psychological break-down, to the serial killer murders, to the mysterious FBI guys. Personally, I find the most enjoyable moments to be those that concentrate on the police matters as well as Anita's zombie raising and necromancy. But then, I'm not the writer.
Throughout the book, I found myself increasingly frustrated by all the emotional BAGGAGE that so many of the characters bring with them. From Anita's emotional distance and lack of commitment to Asher's fear of rejection to Richard's loathing of his beast, to Dolph's disgust and devastation over his son's marriage, to Gregory and Stephen's horrific past... I just want to say ENOUGH. I've been dealing with Richard's emotional turmoil for 4 BOOKS! Burnt Offerings, Blue Moon, Narcissus in Chains and now Cerulean Sins. Get over it already!
I would recommend that people wait for these books to come out on paperback, but then if you are at all like I am, you have a hard time waiting that long. Oh, well. I guess it's time to wait for the next one and keep hoping for a tighter plot.

Anita has managed to get her power groups together. But the bad keeps coming. Her and her men have to make some hard decisions. She has decided to call her tigers. Mommy dearest is still a major problem. Read on!

This was a pleasure to devour (bought it this morning, finished it this afternoon). Unlike the last book, Narcissus in Chains, this one is about Vamp politics, not shifter politics. Unlike Burnt Offerings, it wasn't edited with a weedwacker. Rather, it is smaller (400 pgs hardcover -- substantial but not mammoth) and much *tighter* on the plotlines.
This one moves forward with the Vampire Council/Belle Morte plotline, and does so very nicely. Also, a lot of attention is paid to Asher and Dolph and Jason, as well as Anita herself. There was a lot less of the "Anita gets a new power this chapter" stuff that has been in the last couple, though a few new things pop up. Lots of good developments on the Asher/Richard/JC/Anita front, and some insightful therapy for Anita from, of all people, Jason.
This is the best of the recent books, as LKH seems to be blending very nicely with her editor in this outing. And the introduction of Belle Morte & the new baddie -- sweet.
The Dolph plotline is *very* interesting for how little screen time Dolph gets.
This is easily my favorite entry since Bloody Bones which is my very favorite. But I am a bit biased as I am all-over tired of the Richard/shapeshifter angst. On the otherhand, Richard is very loatheable in this book, so I was happy there too!

Anita Blake series is still one of my favorites except the rehash of characters gets old real quick. I think if you see there are 11 books you should realize that to understand what the heck is going on start at book one. Anita's moral code is off to and at time is really a selfish Beyotch with all the guys she is accumulating she needs to wise up. Otherwise it is a good story line and worth reading. Happy reading.

I think that the greatest challenge in any series is to have the characters grow beyond the initial boundaries that defined them, characters that fail to do so are either poorly written OR are defined by that lack of growth (in this series, Richard who is rooted in self-hatred and always will be).
Anita, through the first 8 books grew and changed and discovered more about herself morally and mystically... but she also stagnated. Several of the characters in the series have noted that Anita will change, make concessions and discover acceptance.. and then immediately snap back to the old starting points. So a change in that hyper-rigid morality is probably a good thing.
On the other hand, I'd like her not to be a gun-toting bimbette, as she is in some ways in this book and the last. Yes there is the ardeur by way of explanation? But there's also a lot of romance novel worthy physical sex, which seems a bit beyond 'growth' for her.
It's my hope that the next book in the series encompasses more of Anita's understanding of the various men she's bonded with, more of her coming to comfort with NEW aspects of those relationships (as opposed, y'know to the same ones she's dealt wih three or four times now) and, I would hope, an exploration of the metaphysical. We seemed for 3 or 4 books... heck more than that, to be building towards a realization of just WHY the council fears necromancers and just how powerful a triumvirate can be. Perhaps it's time to wrap up some of the more soap opera worthy plot lines (i.e. Richard) and move forward with exploring those new ones.
It's worth reading for the teasing glimpses of an Anita that doesn't completely hate herself, but all in all the promises of this book can be numbered equally bad and good. It continues the trend of Narcissus in Chains, which makes it two disappointing follow-ups to the best book of the series 'Obsidian Butterfly'.

So, sue me. I enjoy a little nymphomania. As usual I could hardly put the book down. It was a fun read, with fun boys and lots of sex. But I have to concede the point, there was hardly any plot.
Scene one... Anita meets with suspicious guy who wants her to raise some dead guy. Very mysterious. Plot thickens. And then... a zillion pages of sex scenes and vampire politics. End of book... first guy shows up, admits something hinky was going on, but no need for Anita to raise the dead guy after all. End of story.
So rather than a story, this was simply a couple days in the life of Anita Blake. Sort of like what Hamilton did with the second book of the Merry Gentry series. Not sure if this was intentional, or if Hamilton just isn't really focusing on the characters any more.
I've gotta say one thing, though, it's a darn good read for a book with no plot.

...is that it could actually have been a pretty good story had it been written differently. Theme: "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

Here we have Anita Blake, an interesting and sympathetic character. With each book she gets more power. Each villain she goes up again, she defeats. The eventual result is a complete degradation of her character. The Anita of Cerulean Sins is indistinguishable from the characters from the earlier books whom she so reviled.

Had only this character assassination been intentional...

but it seem as if the only thing the author is interested in writing is repetitive sex scenes...

I used to love the series. However, after NC and this book, I doubt that I will read anything else by this author again.

Really quite sad.

I finally have to admit defeat with this series. I was able to hang in there for a long time, but this one was way past redeemable. It's as if the author said... "Okay, in this chapter I want a mmmf scene, so let's create a semi-plausible situation where that would work." But it doesn't work - in any sense. There's no steam, and even less of a plot. The characters are so flat they aren't even recognizable anymore. Who are these people? Ugh. That's it for me. I'm done.

Anita Blake is trying to put some balance in her life, but things seem to keep getting worse. Werewolf-boyfriend Richard is still sulking about not getting Anita to himself. Anita is happy with vampire-boyfriend Jean-Claude, but Jean-Claude's alter-ego, Asher, wants in on teh Anita Blake action. He was content to wait until their master-vampire, Belle Morte decides to call Asher home. Anita can either add Asher to her lover list, or lose him entirely. Richard won't be happy. Vampire politics are bad enough, but a serial killer appears to be operating in the area--a killer that Anita believes can only be a were. She could really use Richard's help on this one, but the police aren't even sure that they can trust her.
The Anita Blake stories have been getting progressively bloodier as the series progresses and CERULEAN SINS is no exception. The graphic descriptions of the serial killer's work are disgusting but appropriate for the subject, deeping the horror that Anita faces and making it clear that she has no choice. The violence associated with Anita's sexual appetites will put some readers off--but it just might be what others are looking for.
CERULEAN SINS parallels two subplots--that dealing with the internal politics of the vampires and the threatened rise of the mother of darkness, and that dealing with the serial killer. The two subplots are only loosely connected thematically, and not at all connected from a plot perspective. Thus the novel sometimes appears disjointed. I would have preferred to see a closer link between the two major story elements.
Author Laurell K. Hamilton is completely convincing in her description of vampires and were-creatures, in the subculture that they create and in the ambiguous (at best) feelings that they create in others. Her heroine, Anita Blake, is refreshingly cynical about the government without having given up on it. I found that some of the clothing descriptions went on a bit, but fans may enjoy the richly detailed imagery.
Fans of this series will find a lot to like. Anita continues to mature, struggling with the realization that the simple rules that once guided her are not longer enough. Richard, the deeply damaged were-leader represents what Anita would have become if she hadn't changed--and the destruction he creates in his pack is a microcosm of what Anita could create in the larger preternatural community. Still, each loss of innocence has its costs and Anita must pay those costs in full--often sexually, and always violently.

Having finished the entire 10 book in the series weeks before this 11th book debuted, I could not wait for it to get here. Though I am glad I have read it, and I did find it better than the last book (NiC), I have to agree with others who have said that this book seemed chopped up and not to flow well, and end too quickly with everything unbelievably, and shortly resolved in the end. I have read elsewhere that the publishers cut out hundreds of pages - the story shows it. I also thought this book was going to give readers a lot of info on JC and Asher, I found not much new. It was a good read, enough to make me curious about the next installment, but not the best, and not what I was used to in the series.

Really, another reviewer said it best. If Edward were here, he'd shoot Anita. And it would be a mercy killing, we all agree on that.

Obviously a book was inadvertently dropped from the series and actually the original Anita we all knew and loved, was taken over by a soul-stealing ghost whose idea of life consists of whining and sex, alternating with sex and whining.

So actually, the confusing title turns out to be totally appropos. Every former fan wants to shoot this book.

This series has so many characters and so many plot lines that this installment should have been the size of an encyclopedia, instead it is a short, thrown together sexual bonanza with almost no plot. As the others have said... I AM NOT A PRUDE... but this book is completely driven by sex. It doesn't help that it is overpriced for the Kindle. Publishers are soon going to find themselves in the same fix as the recording labels.. they overcharged and all the smarties out there found a way around their rip-off mentality. I don't mind paying $9.99 for the entertainment but anything over that is laughable. I am a huge Sookie fan... I skipped the latest book because of price and I will continue to skip books until their price declines. I suggest everyone do the same thing - this book was NOT worth its inflated price.

I don't even know if I can stomach thinking about this book to write a full review. Ditto on what the majority are saying about this steaming pile. More of Anita spreading her legs rather than wielding her blade, and less real plot. Potential for awesomeness culminating yet again in complete fail. I want those minutes of my life that I spent on this drivel back LKH. I don't believe I will spend a single cent on another installment. See my review of Flirt for more.

I really have enjoyed the beginning books in this series. And honestly i come back to re read them all the time.

At about book 7 though, it's a completely different series for me. I'll admit i enjoy erotica, i enjoy sex, hell i enjoy a sexy vampire like the next girl.

BUT her writing has taken this WAY above and beyond just sex in the appropriate times and moments. It's like she sat down and said, lets figure out a porn plot to make it so i can sell a terrible book. Just add music!

I miss the old Anita, i want her back. She kicked butt and took names. A strong female character does not need sex 24/7 and is not a complete pushover. She used to work for a living, not just follow men around and act like an animal in heat.

Laurell K really needs to remember the core of this character, or just end the series. I doubt I'll buy the next one, this one was a complete waste of read and money.

The main plot centers around the dreaded representative of vamp Council member Belle Morte--the rep, Musette, arrives early and havoc ensues. There is also a murder plot, but it takes back seat to most of the main vamp story line and the relationships, lots and lots of relationships.
Normally, I enjoy all the aspects of the Anita books: the mystery, the relationships, the new-found triumvirate powers, the wolfy-vampy-leopardy politics, the animating. In Cerulean Sins, the author seems very uneven: some aspects of the story are raised, then dropped for so many pages it was hard to care what had happened before, some remain mere foreshadowing. Certain problems that linger are suddenly solved in a paragraph, and the eventual big finish to the main plot seemed....weirdly anticlimactic. The mystery was almost nonexistent, and I thought a lot of time was spent yacking about relationship issues to not much point. For all of the pages spent, I found that very little was added to the overall series--no clear additions to either the supernatural elements (new creatures, powers, politics) or resolution about Anita and her life. Still, every Anita fan will probably find something to enjoy here, and your time is far from wasted. There are some interesting bits here, especially in the animating sections and in her relationship with Dolph, but I was sorry to see that more time wasn't given to them.
Maybe in the next book.

I love this book because it's the first time we see Anita care more about herself than everyone else (the police or the monsters). Her personal life is fk'd up enough to fill lots of entertaining books!

Here we go again!
Ok, I'll try to keep this brief. Ms. Hamilton, you've managed to thoroughly destroy the character of Anita Blake. With Merry Gentry, we knew we were getting sex, amoral morons, and really ridiculous amounts of the supernatural.
Sadly, you have decided that this is the direction in which Anita Blake must travel as well. Which is a shame. Anita had conflict, Ania evolved, and Anita was a person. Now Anita, JC, Richard, et al, are simply charicatures of a once-enjoyable series. The only character experiencing any growth is Jason.
What could have been an abolutely amazing and mind-blowing plot was relegated to a few parts of the book. What bugs me is that the publisher had the audacity to state that this was a main part of the book. Please, don't insult my intelligence! <sigh> Instead we get a shot to the head in the middle of a mall food court. <Yawn>
Anita spent sooo much time griping about the lack of morals of everyone around her, she failed to notice that she doesn't have a whole lot left herself. Part of Anita's charm was the fact that things like her faith or a stuuffed penguin or her boyfriend could be her refuge, her sanctuary from the big, bad world. And the struggle to keep from becoming Edward was a huge plus. There was passion, and drama, and well, everything this book lacked.
First, enough with the ardeur and the sex. It's tedious, boring, and dull. Do we really need to read about Anit'as sex-capades? NO. This whole ardeur/incubus/succubus thing could have been handled much less graphically. And with better writing and more effort on LKH's part. Instead, we get the lazy attempt which is this book.
Second, Micah needs to be shot. So do the following characters: Nathan, the wereleopards, the werewolves (I think that's enough). Oh, and please stake Jean Claude, Damien, and Asher. Then please put Anita out of our misery. Probably the only way to save the series.
Third: What happened to Animators, Inc.? Where are the fun bunch from there? The human element of Anita's life? What happened to Ronnie? Burt? Anita's zombie-raising red-headed trainee? His wife? Their kid? C'mon, all these perfectly good characters going to utter waste.
Fourth: Resolve the Dolph sitch. Or spend more time on it. It was handled very poorly. Period.
Fifth: Enough with the "Super-Anita". Able to make all men love her, constantly develops new powers through judicious use of the sadly overused "deus ex machina", etc. I understand that Anita has to grow and evolve as a person, Animator, triumverate member, pard leader, werewolf enforcer, girlfriend to the Master of the City, Federal Marshall on all things supernatural, and I think that about covers it. Too much going on, LKH!
What this book needs is for most of te characters to be cut. There is talk that Edward will be returning, and hopefully that's with enough grenades to take out the Circus of the Damned, the Thronnos Rokke Clan, the Blooddrinker Clan, and any spare freaks left laying around. LKH, you've gone completely over-the-top, and I'm not sure how you plan to resolve this. Or are you just laughing all the way to the bank as we, your fans, spend out well-earned cash on this literary masturbation?

I don't even know where to begin with this one. It's really that bad. A book about nothing that sucks you into the abyss of Anita Blake (pun intended). An almost sublime urban fantasy version of daytime tv with Anita Blake, who fills in for Laurell Hamilton, filling in for Erica Kane. I don't even know why it's called "Bullet"- maybe for the assassins?

Imagine a Seinfeld episode done in pathos- that's what this is. I literally finished off a bottle of tequila trying to slough through this thing- good booze gone to waste. Bullet is a bunch of random sub-plots wrapped around a half-baked premise of giving Anita even more superpowers... and it still never goes anywhere. It's a 350 page set-up for the next epic tale where she no doubt cures cancer all over the world by using the ardeur on everyone. If anyone thinks I'm being snide, check out Hamilton's own blog about the book: she starts out asking the question of what readers can expect from "Bullet", and avoids answering her own question. When even the author knows there's nothing to say, that's called a `hint-and-a-half.' Maybe it's called "Bullet" because she's under soooo much pressure- you know, staring down the barrel of a gun. Naw, that's not it...

She couldn't even so much as repeat the teaser blurb, because that would be misleading. In fact, the blurb got rewritten to remove all references to assassins being sent to St. Louis to kill Anita & Co. because, well... Somewhere in here there's supposed to be a threat upon the group from Mother of all Darkness so she can return to the world and Anita is being 'forced' to becoming the new Master of Tigers to stop her. *sigh* Maybe it's called "Bullet" because MoaD has Anita in her sights? Nah- that one gets buried under so much other garbage you keep forgetting about it...

[...]

Speaking of trash- here's what you can expect to find littered between the covers: *Potential Spoilers Alert*

Assassins- 10 pgs
Belle Morte/Mother of all Darkness Attack- 16 pgs
New Were-victims for the Ardeur- 60 pgs
Rotting Vampire Attack (in another city)- 28 pgs
Asher/JC/Richard Angst- 79 pgs
Anita Angst- pretty much every page
Sex on a String- every other page
Great Big Death Scene- 4 pgs

Swoon!- at the idea of JC and Asher getting together! They actually do, but if you sneezed you'd miss it.

Thrill!- to the astounding lack of plot as the two main storylines combine for less than 10% of the book! If this is supposed to be about MoaD returning and sending killers after Anita, where the heck are they?

Facepalm/Headdesk!- to the ripoff of The Last Airbender cartoon series! Yeah, Hamilton has sunk that low! In order to beat Belle Morte, Anita must shag the young tigers into their full power: Black Tigers are Waterbenders, Blue Tigers are Airbenders, Red Tigers are Firebenders, White Tigers are... some kinda metallic, but still Firebenders since they do lightning, and Gold Tigers are Earthbenders- just like the anime! And guess who gets to absorb all of that power in the afterglow...?

Gasp!- at how quickly the shocking, overhyped, tear-jerker of a fatality unfolds! And it occurs smack in the middle of the book, leaving an already flat story to go careening downhill. Actually there are two deaths here, but neither of them are of any real significance. Put it this way: the first one you'd be hard pressed to remember who they are even after being told, and the second one hadn't even been seen for several books, and quite a few chapters are spent trying to build them up into some kind of overwhelming threat needing to be dealt with. Here's a clue: he's a formerly married were- as of this book- who's desperately in love with Anita and doesn't like sharing. The whole drama is soooo traumatizing yet new boytoys- and girls- arrive within hours to fill in the gap (rim shot!). Maybe it's called "Bullet" because both these guys died from gunfire...

I can't even think of any real spoilers to talk about- nothing happens! People come and go, group sex ensues, Asher whines about JC, Richard gets grumpy, Anita gets more weres to sex up for fun and profit, more superpowers are just around the corner... bet you never saw any of that coming! And as if it couldn't get any worse, all the other plot lines are left dangling until the last chapter, where you get a four-page exposition summing everything up. Assassins, Rotting Vampire, New Weres- all wrapped in a bow and shoved aside to make room for the impending new powers...

Wait- I know why it's called "Bullet". Reading it will make you want to eat one.

I read those unflattering reviews and thus held off buying this book, big mistake. I should have just trusted one of my favorite authors.
I love this Anita, she is not such a hypocrite in this book. She seems to have mellowed out a little and is trying to take care of her people. Yes, I do miss the wise cracking shoot them first Anita, but I don't miss the Anita that was just such mean sprited self-rightoues ... to those around her. This book dealt with things that had been sitting on the sidelines for too long; ie., Asher/Jean Claude and Jason. Despite what was written by one reviewer concerning Anita's new Federal Marshall status, I think she handle it quite well and wasn't pushy just professional. Yes, this book dealt a lot with the arduer but that is also where NIC left off, and showing her dealing with it and controlling it is important so that by the next book she can have it more under control like JC does. Also people complained about the amount of sex, the way I look at it is: 1. she is not having sex with strangers, the two/three people that she is with are long time friends and confidants. 2. if you don't like the sex scenes (which there is not a lot of), skip that part.
Now that things have been worked out and through for Anita in this book, I too would like to see a lot more action (not in the sexual form). The way I look at this book in comparision to the rest of the books in the series, is that she needed this time to come to grips with her personal life, instead of running away like she had done it the past. And as for those who are uncomfortable with her sexual nature, then realize that this is a fantasy realm and either don't read that section or just lighten up.
Overall I wish that I had read this book sooner!!! I can't wait for the next installment.

I've read this series from book 1 (Guilty Pleasures) and have loved each book. Anita has become such a complex character and her supporting cast members are enigmatic and beautifully created. Yes, the books are much different than they were in the first few installments, but I don't believe that to be a bad thing.

Cerulean Sins carries on with a character introduced in the previous book (Narcissus in Chains). This character is Belle Morte, the vampire who turned Anita's boyfriend, Jean Claude, into a vampire. She also created Asher, Jean Claude's second in command. Both men are former lovers of Belle Morte. She is insulted (to put it mildly) that both Jean Claude and Asher chose to leave her, as she considers herself the most desirable woman/vampire in the world. Thus, she sends her second in command vampire to "visit" Jean Claude's territory. The troubles that this visit causes are the central plot in the story (and there's definitely a couple surprises). There is also a sub-plot involving a series of murders that Anita helps to solve.

Some readers of the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter books believe the series has gone downhill since Anita began engaging in sex with multiple partners as a result of a condition passed on to her from Jean Claude. This condition (called the arduer) causes the person to experience intense sexual desire until "fed". I don't believe this is a problem in the books, or just an excuse for Anita to have sex. I think this condition represents the only thing Anita has found that she can't yet control or kill. It's something she has to face head-on and must be patient with until she learns control. In the books leading up to Narcissus in Chains, where Anita first learns she has the arduer, there are references to her reliance on guns to control situations. I think the arduer is to teach Anita that guns won't solve all her problems. Plus, she's not having sex with random people on the streets and, considering the length of the book, I didn't feel there were too many sex scenes in this book. I never felt like I wanted to just get past the sex and get on to the plot, as I do with some books.

I think the Anita Blake series is still going strong and Laurell K. Hamilton continues to add new elements of surprise.

I mindlessly read the entire book before I realized that it's just covering more of the same territory as the previous books. I think Obsidian Butterfly was the last one that I really enjoyed.

There's no longer any suspense. All of her books involve a bad guy/guys who Anita triumphs over in the end. During the course of all of the books people/creatures are going to die and/or be tortured, some of them may even be Anita's "friends/soldiers/sex partners". The difference with the later books is that it's become difficult to feel any empathy for the characters, especially since they are all seen from Anita's increasingly twisted point-of-view.

Anita has a falling out with the head of the local paranormal crimes unit, and traps him into admitting his prejudices against them, and being recorded. This is a distinct change in character from the first books, where she would be agreeing with him, most likely. More evidence of her completely distancing herself from normal humanity.

Even more so when she has to deal with the ruler of Jean-Claude's vampire line and another even more powerful female vampire ruler.

How do you fight this problem. Yep, you guessed it. Vampire threesome! Anita sandwich, or whatever you want to call it.

Still, a semblance of a plot here, as well.

I believe this was the best Anita Blake novel yet. I don't particularly like the way Richard is going but over all I enjoyed the story line. I know Ms.Hamilton is a n excellent writer and knows what direction she wished her characters to go. I read a few of these reviews and could not disagree more with the one that stated there was too much sex. I my self could have appreciated a few more scenes. I love the was she writes its been a long time since I have enjoyed reading this much about this subject. I especially enjoy the first person narative which I would have never picked up before, if a book was written in the first person it automatically went back on the shelf. Thank you so much for this book and I am looking forward to another fairy book soon.

I have now read all eleven of the current books in the Anita Blake Series. This story follows a simular theme from Book 8 on, and as such it is both enjoyable and frustratingly annoying, simultaneously. I am not sure what happened at the point when Blue Moon was written, but someone desided that making the major thread of the story a continual sexual exploit was the way to go. To be honest, there are a few places where I simply didnt read the story but moved ahead several pages. This wasnt because of the content but because what happens to Anita is too difficult to go through, a strangely uncomfortable kind of reader-voyeurism. It is absolutely full of 'Were-everything' and any scenario that 'forces' Anita to induge her appetite. Hence the contradiction, Anita started out knowing what she stood for, and her very strength of conviction, her sheer will was very appealing. That vanishes from Book 8 on, inlcuding this one. However, Laurell Hamilton has gone where no other author I have read has dared to go, and I dont mean the sex here, and she has created a very unique blend of horror, eroticism, mystery and woven it well. I just wish she would give the other main characters a better chance to develop and ease up on the obvious sexual ploys. Subtelty is often far more potent anyway. All of the books are worth your time, but be forewarned, DONT identify with any of the main characters because it isnt going to make you happy. Try and not think like a human, read it as how she intended, in an imaginary world, and you will probably think this book is pretty good.

Cerulean Sins wasn't that entertaining. I've collect the entire series of AB books, but this book was the most uneventful novel. Anita's personal has become a disaster. Yes, the roles of the supporting characters around her have finally been defined, but I felt like I was in the middle of a sex therapy session instead of the usual LKH fiction. Everything from the usual crime mystery to the preternatural threat seemed VERY secondary to the main character's love life. And since that was the case, LKH's attempt to add the usual sub-plots (RPIT, the spook conspiracy) in the book seemed almost inconsequential and moot. Truthfully, it seems LKH has a problem eliminating the male characters she creates around Anita, the last and only other one being Phillip from Guilty Pleasures. This book has become more cluttered than NIC with relationship problems. LKH needs to start trimming away the male competition at some point. The cliche`, handsome men chasing Anita around is becoming monotonous.

I've been a fan of the Anita Blake series for three years now, and enjoyed all of them up until "Narcissus in Chains." Because of this, I decided to give "Cerulean Sins" a chance. Surely, I thought, it was possible for the series to bounce back.
Unfortunately, "Cerulean Sins" falls farther down the sinkhole established in "Narcissus in Chains."
Complaint the First: There are an extremely large number of run-on sentences and comma splice errors. I don't know why, unless this was rushed into publication hot off the press, which I suppose is possible. They distracted me from reading the book and made it extremely hard to finish at all.
Complaint the Second: The sex scenes are more numerous and have even less point than in "Narcissus in Chains." There were several that had true potential, but tapered off into simple repetition. Where is the woman who at the beginning of the series refused even to sleep with a human whom she didn't know well? Dead, I suppose.
Complaint the Third: Belle Morte appears, briefly, as truly threatening, only to turn out to be a pawn of an even more powerful vampire. This is a trick Hamilton keeps pulling, and it has long since worn thin. Unless the next book somehow manages to end with Anita's death, one knows that the powerful vampire will be defeated and Anita will live on, though probably with added angst. It robs the book of all suspense.
Complaint the Fourth: All the males in the book, with the exception of Richard, now worship Anita. This deprives many of them, including Asher and Jason, of most of their personalities. When other characters cease to exist save as shadows around the hero, then I want to read a different series.
I think I stuck with this series for so long because it was one of the few examples of dark fantasy I know of. But there are others. Try "Kushiel's Dart" by Jacqueline Carey, or (at least the first book of) the Black Jewels Trilogy by Anne Bishop. They go more firmly towards the fantasy side of things, being set in other worlds, but the darkness is blended with the world and intensified, and every motion of the characters has a point.

In her usual style, Ms Hamilton ends each chapter with a reason, a desire, a need to read the next chapter. I especially like the wit and banter between the characters in this book. Reading CS was like getting back with your friends or family. You might not like everything about them, but you still love them. I can not imagine trying to pick up the series / story line without starting at the beginng.
I do agree that some of the sex is past erotica; however, it is the beasts and learning to deal with these animal instincts that makes the character development so interesting. If we readers are having a difficult time with the level of sex; imagine how Anita is dealing with this (Dolph certainly expressed his opinion, do we want to be as closed minded?)
I still believe that Richard is being a "baby". He needs to grow up and deal the hand he has been dealt, but then that is part of his growing process and he has the most potential for character growth and development (at this time). Also I am glad for a main character with short hair (ops sorry! spoiler-he cuts his hair); I do get tired of the detailed descriptions of the long hair on the men. (give it a rest, please!!)
I feel that this is one of the more exciting books (yes I agree similar to Burnt Offerings) but a very enjoyable read. A lot has been set up in this book for future books. I eagerly await the next in the series (which is what? about 18 months away?). Being from St. Louis, I do enjoy the references to the Landmarks and areas. I live between Chesterfield and Wildwood where the murders take place.

This series and this book are most certainly on my "Adults With Open Minds Only" reading list...having said that...

Ah, to be Anita Blake now that Asher has her in his sights, or does she have Asher in her sights, or is it Jean Claude who has them both in his sights? Hard to say, even for Anita, and that's just one of the many "interesting" parts!

I have thoroughly enjoyed this series from book one, but this book...this one is something else again...all I can say without spoiling your fun is that I'd suggest you buy the hard copy, because if you've enjoyed the "in's and out's" of the relationship between Anita and Jean Claude, you'll be reading this one twice. To use an analogy that Ms. Hamilton has used in other ways, this book is like candy, it tastes so good you want to gobble it down, but if you do it won't last long enough!

On the more "philisophical" side, I really enjoy how Laurell K. Hamilton can take the most outrageous situations, and through Anita's self-analysis, make us take a look at our own selves (even if truth sometimes seems rather mundane compared to fiction!); our morals and values, our individuality, our levels of security and vulnerability when it comes to how others view us, and the lines we all draw in our own sand that circumstances and feelings may make us question at a later date. She makes US think, as we read Anita's thought processes, about how we live with who we are...the good parts, the not-so-good parts, and all that lies in between. Whether we'd cross the lines that Anita does or not is not the question, for many of her choices are based on purely fictional "stuff". On its own however, to be able to look at one's self as directly as Anita does is a very revealing process, if you allow yourself to go that deeply into who you are and what you are about. Even if you're not into thinking that hard about yourself, observing Anita's personal dilemmas is interesting, entertaining, and allows us to harmlessly fantasize about being a "little naughty"!

If you're looking at this for a first time peek at the Anita Blake series, don't start here...give yourself the treat of starting with the first book and proceed from there. You'll enjoy "the trip"!

I started reading the Anita Blake series sometime ago and instantly loved it. It got to the point where I ordered three books at once because I knew I'd be reading them in a day. Well once I got to Obsidian Butterfly I couldn't get past the third chapter. I also skipped Narcissus in Chains, but thought to give cerulean sins a try.
Needless to say I was disappointed. If I wanted an eratic adventure I'd rent a movie from the little back room at the video store. I find myself missing the old Anita. The new one kicks less...and has more sex. Where's the raw action?
The other thing that put me off was all the details. It took almost two pages just to tell me what two characters were wearing. I don't care much about the clothes! I want to see guns slingin' and mouths shooting! But Anita doesn't do any of these things anymore. She just has sex, with several men at that!
Give me the old books, get ride of this new [stuff].

I'm a long-time fan of the Anita Blake world. I relate to the characters (some) and the books have become a comfort-object for me. Nothing makes me happier than taking a bath with bubbles and a couple of Anita Blake books.
But NiC and this last one are just not up to par. Below are several spoilers and if you don't want to read them.. well.. don't!
This book is mostly about Anita's personal life, just like NiC was, and it's not even a very dangerous personal life anymore. It's all sex. She has sex within the first fifty pages with someone new. Later on, she has more sex with another person she never wanted to have sex with. The mystery, the blood and guts and suspense that I've come to love, isn't really dealt with until the very end of the book.
There wasn't very much character development. As the new 'guy' in her scene, I would have thought Micah (I like him!) would be in the thick, but no. The only time you see him is when Anita sends him off on another errand, or when she wakes up from passing out.
Out of the new characters introduced, again, not developed, none of them brings out anything new in Anita. Fear, rage, territoriality, some pity. That's it.
In conclusion, read the book, if you're a fan of the series. But don't expect too much. We can always hope for an improvement down the line, though.

All I can say is that I am disappointed. I keep waiting for the Anita of the first half of the series to be there and she just isn't. I don't even really care about the explicit content, I am just missing our fierce heroine. I understand that she has gone through a lot, but the entire book passed by in flashes of shock and depression. I want that Anita that was secure with herself. I started reading these books for a strong heroine and she seems to have disappeared, lost amid all of the men.

I really don't care about the sex, but the sheer number of people in the books makes some of the scenes ridiculous (there are just pages and pages of describing in detail every male in the room). Also, while Anita might not feel anything about the certain activities of Jean-Claude and Richard towards the end of the book, the description of the scene shook me to the core. I just feel like while Anita might not feel a certain way, I cannot help but feel betrayed on her behalf. I am sad at where these characters are going!

Basically, the strong heroine, well defined plot with plenty of action and mystery and loving ties between the characters have all been twisted. I guess (as a disclaimer) I still read it though! I am still going to see her tonight in Seattle, I just cannot help but be disappointed!

I was originally a little bit nervous to purchase this in hardcover, as the last few Anita Blake novels have really let me down. So, I approached reading this book with trepidation. So, first off - I liked it much better than Narcissus in Chains, which beat even Bloody Bones for the not-so-coveted "worst Anita Blake novel ever" award.

Cerulean has an actual murder mystery that runs alongside Hamilton's continuing (and confusing) vampire politics plot that hasn't slowed down in ages (and in my opinion needs a serious breather). The RPIT return, Larry is mentioned (where did he go for so long?), and gosh, we even have Anita in the thick of said investigation, helping solve it. Who'd've thunk? It was good to see the same sort of book I'd loved near the beginning of the tale.

That was the good stuff.

The bad stuff is the continuing use of ardeur to make Anita sleep with everyone and everything that moves, including public metaphysical sex to a large audience of Musette/Belle Morte vampire contingency, and her having threesomes and so forth. This is getting old, fast.

All that said, the side-characters got a lot more interesting in this tale, Richard had a turning point (and it's not further into Idiot/Moron/Angry/Jerk territory), and I'm very curious to see where Hamilton is taking Dolph. We'll see. It seems like Blake is back on the upswing, and that's a very good thing.

'Nathan

This series started off so different than where it's at in this 19th book. Anita Blake's storyline has been more about the group of men she has sex with rather than solving paranatural crimes as a vampire hunter/necromancer. I've enjoyed the special relationships she has with some of the men in her stable but this one was a real disappointment. I went ahead and read the 20th and it's much better than this one.

Ms. Hamilton has fallen into the trap of making each new book more sensational than the last, at the expense of the twisting plotlines that made us love Anita in the first place. The preternatural crimes in Cerulean Sins are relegated to a secondary role, while Anita's enthusiastic love life takes center stage.

The summary on the back of the book says Cerulean Sins is about a hitman who hires Anita to raise a dead relative. That happens in the first 30 pages then falls off the radar for 400 pages of Anita having sex with various vampires, werewolves and wereleopards...sometimes more than one at a time. I'm all for plenty of sex in a book, but as Richard the wereworlf, Anita's ex-boyfriend, says, "What is it with you, Anita? Are there any men in the world you haven't slept with?" At least she loves them all.

For a good Catholic girl who started out 10 books ago not believing in casual sex, Anita has certainly broadened her horizons. Richard is about the only male not on her list of bed buddies.

At long last, Anita crawls out of bed long enough to investigate the murders almost as an afterthought. C'mon, Anita, you've a better hunter than this!!!

I can't remember what book in the series I was on when I stopped reading it, but I remember I stopped when the plot and characters went down the toilet, and it was all just sex, sex, sex, and more sex. I don't get into romance novels much because that's all they're usually about. No really good plot to keep you turning the pages in them. Unfortunatly, that's how this series ended up, a really trashy erotica novel full of sex with strange men and that's all.

A previous poster said something about her "ardeur". I remember when Anita would get this, but then it turned into just an excuse for Miss Hamilton to write a few more pages about having to have sex with some other strange guy (maybe two at once) because the "ardeur" flared up again...and again....and again....and again. It's sad really, the direction this series went.

I've been an avid fan of the Laurell K books (Anita Blake books, anyway) since someone handed me a copy of Guilty Pleasures about 6 years ago). Loved her premise, loved the idea, thought the books a little rife with hyperbole, but loads of fun for all that.

I had felt, and this feeling is apparently echoed by a number of readers, that the books lost momentum about mid way through the series (although the book that marks the downturn varies from fan to fan). For me, the books descended into the realm of glittering sexual antics wrapped in leather and smelling of gunsmoke around the Blue Moon stage. Blue Moon was great - but Burnt Offerings was pretty much in sync with its title. Obsidian Butterfly was good in its sheer difference, and Narcissus in Chains was a romp, but one got the feeling that it was a)rushed b)an offering to fans that might have been getting a little too demanding c) relied less on cohesive narrative and more on resolving character issues that were dragging on far too long (eg Richard and Anita's on again-off again-in again-out again-gone again Finnegan relationship - oh the pain of it all). It is important to state, however, that I don't read Laurell K to expand my mind, but to curl up and enjoy myself - and on that level, all her books work to varying degrees.

I feel however (yes, I'm finally getting to it) that Cerulean sins marks a tentative up point - where she seems to have settled in to new developments, and maybe new ways to handle these developments, and is gathering steam oncemore. I've read the first chapter of Incubus Dreams - and its looks promising!! And although most of us would like to (at times) slap Anita upside the head with a "Please, get OVER yourself" - its not enough to make me stop reading

Here's to hoping!!

Bex

Most series by the 11th books become dull, but not the Anita Blake series. Of course, there are some books in the series that I like better than other's, but I am never disappointed. How often can someone say that and mean it?
That being said, "Cerulean Sins" is one of my favorite books in the series. Anita is really growing as a person and into her powers. Her relationships just keep getting more intimate, erotic, and enjoyable to read. What I liked most about Cerulean Sins is that Anita seems to be (at last) coming to terms with whom and what she is -- and appreciating the people in her life for who and what they are as well.
While this is a stand alone book, this is a series that is worth reading in its entirety and in order. I would recommend going out and buying all of the books in the series and devouring them like a box of chocolates, if you have not any of the other Anita Blake novels.

I started with this author a little differently than most others. I am a big fan of fantasy/science fiction and I was really looking forward to the Merry Gentry novels. I read all of them and I really liked the idea, but there was just way too much sex. It seemed like she was making up outrageous scenarios just to include more sex. I started the Anita Blake series and at first I thought they would be better. The first novels were not all about Anita and her sex life. Then I hit Blue Moon. Half of that book was nothing but outrageous situations for Anita to have sex, especially that horrible munin thing. Obsidian Butterfly was better, although a little boring and too much detail spent on things that just were not important or interesting. Then the rest of the series so far has been sex, sex, sex. There is nothing wrong with sex, but like others have stated, if that is what I wanted to read I would pick up some of the cheap romance books out there. Some of them involve supernatural creatures too but they don't pretend to be anything but porn novels. Hamilton's books are getting to be like that. It seems like she is trying to create a story just to write in the sex scenes. It doesn't work and this is the last novel I will be reading until she writes one where sex isn't the main focus. I have read many reviews in different places about these books trying to figure out if the rest of the series gets better and it doesn't appear that it does. I feel like the author is trying to make her fans angry and just keeps including more of the things people don't really like.

I don't have much that's new to add to the many excellent one-star reviews here, but would like to state the following:
- thigh high leather boots and 'painted on' leather pants aren't sexy. They're smelly, squeaky and a total cliche.
- frilly shirts went out in the 70s and thankfully have never come back. If Jean-Claude is an early adopter with tech, why not with fashion? What's wrong with some nice Armani?
- the dresses etc LKH describes Anita wearing are frankly scary in their wrongness. LKH badly needs a stylist for Anita. Talk about the worst excesses of trash fash! At one point she even has Anita wearing a see-through dress and showing off her underwear. That is quite frankly a descent into vulgarity, which is one of the unforgiveable sins.

I'm voting with the other reviewers - the whol ardeur thing has gone from a useful plot device to totally taking over the whole show, and not in a good way. Anita has gone from being the most powerful girl in the room to a serial victim and I don't like it. I want the kick-ass Anita back! I'm particularly disgusted that all of the actual action took place while Anita was hiding in a cave. That is just NOT Anita, she should be out there in the thick of the action, not hiding away from it.
LKH needs to take a holiday and then hire a better editor and re-think the whole thing. I'll give it one more chance because I'm an optimist, but that's it.

What happened to Anita Blake? The first 6 books in the series are absolutely wonderful. The series was still good for a while after that, but for anyone wanting to read the series, I would tell them to stop at Obsidian Butterfly. That was the last one worth reading.

After Obsidian, the books take a major dive for the worse.

By the end of Cerulean Sins, our once strong, independent, and amazing heroine, has been dragged down to the lowest of the low - she has been turned into nothing but an absolute gutter slut.

The entire book MIGHT have 4-6 pages of plot line. The rest of the entire book revolves around her being unable to control her sex drive and banging everything and anything around her.

I'm was so disappointed in this book that I just can't believe how terrible it got. I've quit reading the Anita series at this point.

At one time, she was a great character. If Anita was a real person, the only thing I could say after this book would be, "There's not enough alcohol in the world to make me want to sleep with you." - It's sad that Laurel turned her into such an piece of trash.

I have been a loyal Anita Blake fan sinice...well, since last August. I bought Guilty Pleasures, and instant fell in love with the series, and devoured the next nine books by November. Although Narcissus in Chains was...wow, really different to say the least, I couldn't wait for Cerulean Sins. Hm.
It starts out good. Anita is actually back at her job for the first time in a long while. Then sex seems to take over again. Although I wanted to see her hook up with a certain male character whose name starts with a "J" (not to spoil...) I didn't actually think it would ever happen, and now all the fun is taken out of it. Why Anita has to sleep with some of these men is sad. The Ardeur is just an excuse for gratutious sex. Thankfully, there is more plot inbetween the sex than there was in "Chains", it still isn't enough. The basic plot is Anita feeding the Ardeur, Musette coming to represent Belle Morte, and lots of vampire politics. And some murder Anita that is supposted to be helping figure out, wich is concluded in the last few pages of the book. It almost seemed like Hamilton thought, "Well, I'm not quite sure how to solve this case, so I'll just throw some stuff together that leaves my readers feeling cheated"
Not to say I didn't like this book. I did, in fact, like it a lot. There are some good plot points. You feel pain for Asher and Jean-Claudes past. And as for Richard...I coudn't bring myself to hate him until this book. I'm glad it gave me a reason to, I was getting so sick of him. He is awful, and a certain thing he did to himself [made me very angry].
I reccomend this to loyal Anita Blake or vampire/supernatural creature novel fans only. It doesn't have that same multi-genre appeal that the earlier novels did.

Okay, most everbody else has panned this one and I agree, BUT I still count myself a loyal (albeit exasperated) fan. Dear Ms. Hamilton, please put Anita to bed. At least until you can come up with a plot that has a bit more to offer in the way of externalization and adventure. I like the sex just fine, but I don't want to spend 400 pages in the bedroom. I want more Obsidian Butterfly and less Bullet, please.

If this is the best you can do, then close the door on her world and start something completely fresh and new. Yes, you do have another perfectly good series that I also read, but that one, alas, is also starting to look a lot like Anita's world. Anita and her friends have become jaded; and never more so than here. You have the chops to start something different, and a huge fanbase that is willing (and I'd say eager) to follow you into a new adventure world. Please, no more like Bullet.

It would be nice if she would stop worrying about the quantity of books she puts out and more about the quality.

Sex in great detail throughout this book... yet the important plot wrap up? Glossed over with not so much as a "how they did it" over the last 2 pages. Really this is beyond bad and should be skipped.

Like the 10th book in the series - Narcissus in Chains - the focus of Cerulean Sins is very much on Anita Blakes emotional conflicts with her lovelife. It is almost as if the action has taken a backseat in preference of detailed and lengthy description of Anitas erotic encounters. The book is not badly written, but I soon found myself skipping large parts of the book to get on with the plot. And talking about "plot", there isnt much, if you look past the emotinal and erotic stuff. It is allmost as if that IS the plot. Before long I was thinking: "If I see the word "ardeur" ONE more time, I'm going to scream!" If you have read the book, you will know what I mean... :-)
I have been told that mrs. Hamilton has twice as many female readers compared to males, so maybe she is simply adjusting her style to fit her main audience. In the later books Anita Blake seems to have changed her personality from the Marlowe-Gumshoe kinda toughie to a whiny gothic drama queen. Character development is a good thing, but to me "the new" Anita Blake is far less entertaining than the old one. Despite this, I find mrs. Hamilton to be an excellent writer and I will continue to follow the Anita Blake series to see where it goes in the future. If for nothing else, then because I've been a fan from the beginning.
But so far I consider the first nine books to be vastly superior to the last two. Therefore I would recommend that new readers start with book nr.1 - Guilty Pleasures - and work their way up. Book 1 to 9 are brilliant, book 10 is a bit slow, but sums everything up nicely. Cerulean Sins is the worst of the bunch so far, in my humble opinion.

The 11th book in the Anita Blake Vampire series seems like Laurell Hamilton is running out of ideas. The stories are feeling more and more like a daytime soap opera. She has to understand that a soap opera is on every day, but we only get a new Anita Blake book every year! It should be important and mean something - make it count. Anita's character seems to go along with the flow of everything happening around her, instead of making decisions for herself. Yeah, I enjoy the sex as much as anyone else, but not at the expense of a compelling story. I also think the author desperately needs an editor with the courage to stand up to her. What Ms. Hamilton has written in 500+ pages, could have easily been done in 200 or so. Note to Laurell - keep the action moving and tell an interesting story! Don't worry about quantity, worry about quality.

Belle Morte, the vampiric "mother" of Jean Claude and Asher's bloodline, has sent her representative, Mussette and her entourage to St. Louis a month early, causing a whole slough of headaches for Anita. She has to figure out a way to protect Asher from being claimed by this beautiful sadist, handle Richard's being well - Richard, the increasing ardeur that is making her need more erotic feeding, and a serial killer. Her police friends are making life no easier, since Dolph is having a melt down on her. The mother of all vampires is waking up to make life really interesting. Anita's life was so much simpler when she could just shoot something and make things better.
***** With every new book, Anita Blake's romantic life gets a little more complicated. Each book in this series gets more fascinating. Though Anita breaks all the rules and sets up her own, it all makes a certain kind of sense. The characters continue to grow in depth and complexity. The only missing thing is Edward. *****
Reviewed by Amanda Killgore.

Cerulean Sins is a decent Anita Blake book; and that is quite disappointing, since I got used to them being great. The things I like most in the series are the combination of hardboiled detective and magic/vampire/werewolf, with a little sex tossed in and bloody s/m to make you dislike the bad guys and feel sorry for the victims. Unfortunately, Anita's sex life and problems are taking up huge numbers of pages in the more recent books, except for Obsidian Butterfly. I understand that Anita is growing in directions that she (Anita) didn't expect and that is a major series plot point which needs to be dealt with, but I do wish that it took about 1/3 the page count it did in Narccisus In Chains and Cerulean Sins, so that there could have been more time spent on the other major plot points for those particular books.
If I wanted to read vampire/werewolf erotica or romances, there are numerous other authors and series out there, including LKH's other series about Princess Merry. I've generally read one or two of the books in a series and quit because they aren't what I want to read. I don't want a vampire/werewolf erotic romance, I don't want blood/terror/s/m with my romance. Nor do I want a book with a supposedly tough, smart protaganist who is always having to be rescued.
I want a book with a tough, smart main character who will pull the trigger when required, solves crimes/problems, and rescues others. The fact that the character is female and magic/vampires/weres are included are major pluses. The fact that she sometimes needs help herself means she's human, not a cartoon charcter. I'm hoping that the Anita Blake series will return to that.

I wrote this review on another site before there was another book.

Oh thank god that series is done! Damn my inability to stop reading a series once I've started. I can only hope that LKH won't write any more or that when she inevitably does, I have the will-power to resist.

Another reviewer on Good Reads summed up the demise of the series perfectly in her review of this book:

"Anita's vagina has officially become the Macgyver of all vagina's."

While that quote is delightful, this book is not - do not let it sway you into reading this and if you do, it's all on you.

I have been an avid reader for over 40 years and the paranormal, alternate universe stories have always captured my interest. Laurell K Hamilton has created the most amazing, complex and original culture for vampires, werewolves and other preternatural creatures that I have ever read and, in my opinion, she is the person most responsible for creating the urban paranormal genre as we know it today. This is my favorite book in the Anita Blake series which is saying a lot, but it's the culmination of a building love story from the first ten books and you will lose the best part of the story if you don't read those first. Many Laurell K. Hamilton fans did not like this book because the early series was not sexually explicit and starting with Narcissus in Chains, the book before this one, the series took a very sexually charged direction. But for me, Cerulean Sins was not about the sex, but about the relationships between Anita, Jean-Claude and his former lover, Asher and about trying to save the ones you love. Jean-Claude is the sexiest, smartest, most manipulative, vulnerable, iron willed vampire in literature. Anita is a complicated, cynical. strong alpha female with abandonment issues. Jean Claude woos her over ten books using romance, guile, honesty and whatever other tool he can find. These books are witty with some great one liners and contain complex, well developed characters who grow over time. They are a mix of mystery, romance, and horror and the paranormal which at the time they were first published, was an unheard of combination. If you like urban paranormal, you will love these books.

I used to be a hardcore Anita Blake fan... Until this book came along. For the past two books I've been losing interest, and this book just killed it altogether. There is nothing I can say that hasn't been said in previous reviews. LKH isn't even trying anymore, the book had too much description of decor and clothes, the only action were the sex scenes which are overdone at this point (and I was a huge fan of the sex scenes), the fight scene with Haven was over before it begun (which was the only interesting thing in the whole book), no vampire slaying, no zombie raising, no mystery to solve, no character development, Anita whined a lot (like she has been doing for the past few books), JC is still Anita's doormat, and Asher was really anoying. It has taken half the series to make Richard hateable, it took two pages for him to be "I'm sorry, let's have sex" (because that's how LKH fixes everything now). She has forgotten about 1/3 of the characters she introduced (they seemed important when they were introduced, and then she never mentioned them again), another 1/3 she doesn't know what to do with them so she's winging it, and the last 1/3 have become uninteresting. So, I am done. I'm not wasting my money on her following books.

What happened to Anita Blake? The first 6 books in the series are absolutely wonderful. The series was still good for a while after that, but for anyone wanting to read the series, I would tell them to stop at Obsidian Butterfly. That was the last one worth reading.

After Obsidian, the books take a major dive for the worse.

By the end of Cerulean Sins, our once strong, independent, and amazing heroine, has been dragged down to the lowest of the low - she has been turned into nothing but an absolute gutter slut.

The entire book MIGHT have 4-6 pages of plot line. The rest of the entire book revolves around her being unable to control her sex drive and banging everything and anything around her.

I'm was so disappointed in this book that I just can't believe how terrible it got. I've quit reading the Anita series at this point.

At one time, she was a great character. If Anita was a real person, the only thing I could say after this book would be, "There's not enough alcohol in the world to make me want to sleep with you." - It's sad that Laurel turned her into such an piece of trash.

I have been a loyal Anita Blake fan sinice...well, since last August. I bought Guilty Pleasures, and instant fell in love with the series, and devoured the next nine books by November. Although Narcissus in Chains was...wow, really different to say the least, I couldn't wait for Cerulean Sins. Hm.
It starts out good. Anita is actually back at her job for the first time in a long while. Then sex seems to take over again. Although I wanted to see her hook up with a certain male character whose name starts with a "J" (not to spoil...) I didn't actually think it would ever happen, and now all the fun is taken out of it. Why Anita has to sleep with some of these men is sad. The Ardeur is just an excuse for gratutious sex. Thankfully, there is more plot inbetween the sex than there was in "Chains", it still isn't enough. The basic plot is Anita feeding the Ardeur, Musette coming to represent Belle Morte, and lots of vampire politics. And some murder Anita that is supposted to be helping figure out, wich is concluded in the last few pages of the book. It almost seemed like Hamilton thought, "Well, I'm not quite sure how to solve this case, so I'll just throw some stuff together that leaves my readers feeling cheated"
Not to say I didn't like this book. I did, in fact, like it a lot. There are some good plot points. You feel pain for Asher and Jean-Claudes past. And as for Richard...I coudn't bring myself to hate him until this book. I'm glad it gave me a reason to, I was getting so sick of him. He is awful, and a certain thing he did to himself [made me very angry].
I reccomend this to loyal Anita Blake or vampire/supernatural creature novel fans only. It doesn't have that same multi-genre appeal that the earlier novels did.

Okay, most everbody else has panned this one and I agree, BUT I still count myself a loyal (albeit exasperated) fan. Dear Ms. Hamilton, please put Anita to bed. At least until you can come up with a plot that has a bit more to offer in the way of externalization and adventure. I like the sex just fine, but I don't want to spend 400 pages in the bedroom. I want more Obsidian Butterfly and less Bullet, please.

If this is the best you can do, then close the door on her world and start something completely fresh and new. Yes, you do have another perfectly good series that I also read, but that one, alas, is also starting to look a lot like Anita's world. Anita and her friends have become jaded; and never more so than here. You have the chops to start something different, and a huge fanbase that is willing (and I'd say eager) to follow you into a new adventure world. Please, no more like Bullet.

It would be nice if she would stop worrying about the quantity of books she puts out and more about the quality.

Sex in great detail throughout this book... yet the important plot wrap up? Glossed over with not so much as a "how they did it" over the last 2 pages. Really this is beyond bad and should be skipped.

Like the 10th book in the series - Narcissus in Chains - the focus of Cerulean Sins is very much on Anita Blakes emotional conflicts with her lovelife. It is almost as if the action has taken a backseat in preference of detailed and lengthy description of Anitas erotic encounters. The book is not badly written, but I soon found myself skipping large parts of the book to get on with the plot. And talking about "plot", there isnt much, if you look past the emotinal and erotic stuff. It is allmost as if that IS the plot. Before long I was thinking: "If I see the word "ardeur" ONE more time, I'm going to scream!" If you have read the book, you will know what I mean... :-)
I have been told that mrs. Hamilton has twice as many female readers compared to males, so maybe she is simply adjusting her style to fit her main audience. In the later books Anita Blake seems to have changed her personality from the Marlowe-Gumshoe kinda toughie to a whiny gothic drama queen. Character development is a good thing, but to me "the new" Anita Blake is far less entertaining than the old one. Despite this, I find mrs. Hamilton to be an excellent writer and I will continue to follow the Anita Blake series to see where it goes in the future. If for nothing else, then because I've been a fan from the beginning.
But so far I consider the first nine books to be vastly superior to the last two. Therefore I would recommend that new readers start with book nr.1 - Guilty Pleasures - and work their way up. Book 1 to 9 are brilliant, book 10 is a bit slow, but sums everything up nicely. Cerulean Sins is the worst of the bunch so far, in my humble opinion.

The 11th book in the Anita Blake Vampire series seems like Laurell Hamilton is running out of ideas. The stories are feeling more and more like a daytime soap opera. She has to understand that a soap opera is on every day, but we only get a new Anita Blake book every year! It should be important and mean something - make it count. Anita's character seems to go along with the flow of everything happening around her, instead of making decisions for herself. Yeah, I enjoy the sex as much as anyone else, but not at the expense of a compelling story. I also think the author desperately needs an editor with the courage to stand up to her. What Ms. Hamilton has written in 500+ pages, could have easily been done in 200 or so. Note to Laurell - keep the action moving and tell an interesting story! Don't worry about quantity, worry about quality.

Belle Morte, the vampiric "mother" of Jean Claude and Asher's bloodline, has sent her representative, Mussette and her entourage to St. Louis a month early, causing a whole slough of headaches for Anita. She has to figure out a way to protect Asher from being claimed by this beautiful sadist, handle Richard's being well - Richard, the increasing ardeur that is making her need more erotic feeding, and a serial killer. Her police friends are making life no easier, since Dolph is having a melt down on her. The mother of all vampires is waking up to make life really interesting. Anita's life was so much simpler when she could just shoot something and make things better.
***** With every new book, Anita Blake's romantic life gets a little more complicated. Each book in this series gets more fascinating. Though Anita breaks all the rules and sets up her own, it all makes a certain kind of sense. The characters continue to grow in depth and complexity. The only missing thing is Edward. *****
Reviewed by Amanda Killgore.

Cerulean Sins is a decent Anita Blake book; and that is quite disappointing, since I got used to them being great. The things I like most in the series are the combination of hardboiled detective and magic/vampire/werewolf, with a little sex tossed in and bloody s/m to make you dislike the bad guys and feel sorry for the victims. Unfortunately, Anita's sex life and problems are taking up huge numbers of pages in the more recent books, except for Obsidian Butterfly. I understand that Anita is growing in directions that she (Anita) didn't expect and that is a major series plot point which needs to be dealt with, but I do wish that it took about 1/3 the page count it did in Narccisus In Chains and Cerulean Sins, so that there could have been more time spent on the other major plot points for those particular books.
If I wanted to read vampire/werewolf erotica or romances, there are numerous other authors and series out there, including LKH's other series about Princess Merry. I've generally read one or two of the books in a series and quit because they aren't what I want to read. I don't want a vampire/werewolf erotic romance, I don't want blood/terror/s/m with my romance. Nor do I want a book with a supposedly tough, smart protaganist who is always having to be rescued.
I want a book with a tough, smart main character who will pull the trigger when required, solves crimes/problems, and rescues others. The fact that the character is female and magic/vampires/weres are included are major pluses. The fact that she sometimes needs help herself means she's human, not a cartoon charcter. I'm hoping that the Anita Blake series will return to that.

I wrote this review on another site before there was another book.

Oh thank god that series is done! Damn my inability to stop reading a series once I've started. I can only hope that LKH won't write any more or that when she inevitably does, I have the will-power to resist.

Another reviewer on Good Reads summed up the demise of the series perfectly in her review of this book:

"Anita's vagina has officially become the Macgyver of all vagina's."

While that quote is delightful, this book is not - do not let it sway you into reading this and if you do, it's all on you.

I have been an avid reader for over 40 years and the paranormal, alternate universe stories have always captured my interest. Laurell K Hamilton has created the most amazing, complex and original culture for vampires, werewolves and other preternatural creatures that I have ever read and, in my opinion, she is the person most responsible for creating the urban paranormal genre as we know it today. This is my favorite book in the Anita Blake series which is saying a lot, but it's the culmination of a building love story from the first ten books and you will lose the best part of the story if you don't read those first. Many Laurell K. Hamilton fans did not like this book because the early series was not sexually explicit and starting with Narcissus in Chains, the book before this one, the series took a very sexually charged direction. But for me, Cerulean Sins was not about the sex, but about the relationships between Anita, Jean-Claude and his former lover, Asher and about trying to save the ones you love. Jean-Claude is the sexiest, smartest, most manipulative, vulnerable, iron willed vampire in literature. Anita is a complicated, cynical. strong alpha female with abandonment issues. Jean Claude woos her over ten books using romance, guile, honesty and whatever other tool he can find. These books are witty with some great one liners and contain complex, well developed characters who grow over time. They are a mix of mystery, romance, and horror and the paranormal which at the time they were first published, was an unheard of combination. If you like urban paranormal, you will love these books.

I used to be a hardcore Anita Blake fan... Until this book came along. For the past two books I've been losing interest, and this book just killed it altogether. There is nothing I can say that hasn't been said in previous reviews. LKH isn't even trying anymore, the book had too much description of decor and clothes, the only action were the sex scenes which are overdone at this point (and I was a huge fan of the sex scenes), the fight scene with Haven was over before it begun (which was the only interesting thing in the whole book), no vampire slaying, no zombie raising, no mystery to solve, no character development, Anita whined a lot (like she has been doing for the past few books), JC is still Anita's doormat, and Asher was really anoying. It has taken half the series to make Richard hateable, it took two pages for him to be "I'm sorry, let's have sex" (because that's how LKH fixes everything now). She has forgotten about 1/3 of the characters she introduced (they seemed important when they were introduced, and then she never mentioned them again), another 1/3 she doesn't know what to do with them so she's winging it, and the last 1/3 have become uninteresting. So, I am done. I'm not wasting my money on her following books.

Anita's come a long way since we met her in Guilty Pleasures. Her moral high ground is not so very high anymore - some might argue she's even standing in a small hole she dug all by herself... Anita will do anything she had to do to help her friends, even if it means sacificing some of her own morals. But the way she's going, soon she won't have many morals left. Like she says herself: she's becomming a good little sociopath... But if you read them in the right order you understand why she's becomming what en who she is. It all seems so very logical at the time she makes her decisions. And she knows she's being really unfair to the men in her life. And yet they keep hanging on...
Although the books changed a lot since the first one, I still love them, always looking forward to the new one.

I've been reading reviews for Cerulean Sins and have found that the opinions of the readers are split; half find the book just as entertaining as the other novels and the other half does not. I am of the half that find Cerulean Sins extremely entertaining, and believe that Laurell K. Hamilton had done an excellent job. Granted, this installment of the series was not as fast pace as the other novels and sex was a reoccurring theme, just as in Narcissus in Chain. If you don't look at the big picture, then yes this book will most likely be a slight disappointment. Being a writer myself, I understand the big picture. CS is a bridge of sorts. It furthers the plot from Narcissus in Chains, and the character relationships and beliefs that changed in NIC were further developed in CS.
In NIC Anita took the last steps that officially elevated her into the ranks of the "monsters" that she fights on a near daily basis. The lines are blurred for her as to who and what the monsters really are. The other books in the series worked on humanizing the monsters, showing their pasts, vulnerabilities, shortcomings and strongpoint and NIC and CS takes that a step further.
Minor SPOILERS read at your own risk!
*******SPOILER ALERT*************(...)*******SPOILER ALERT*************
Faithful readers of The Anita Blake Vampire hunter series, this newest installment of the series has to be read, it sets up the plot for the next book as well as the rest of the series. Don't turn your backs on LKH just because this book wasn't what you are used to from her. Continue to read her books with the faith that she wrote CS the way she has for a reason, we just don't know what that reason is yet.
Personally, I enjoyed CS immensely and I can't wait to read Incubus Dreams in September!

Loved this book - I'm an avid reader and have each book of the Anita series. I admit they've turned from thought provoking to a bit of a guilty pleasure read, but they're still wonderful (and the sex is always well written and tactful). I love Laurell's writing style, and the depth a realism that all the characters have - She really makes her world come to life.

Guilty Pleasures, the first Anita Blake novel, was an apt title for me because I enjoyed the book and its successors as a fun read. Though sick to death of the romanticized vampire I enjoyed the alternate reality world, the mixture of crime, and supernatural. What I enjoyed most was the strong female character of Anita. Her initial dislike of vampires and the creatures of her world, made for great conflict as she got to know these "creatures" as people, and the hints of her childhood troubles with her mothers death, her step mother and half siblings gave a depth to the character as did her slow moral ompromises made in the interest of survival. Cerulean Sins, like Narcissus in chains, suffers from Anita becoming less a character and more a reputation. Conflict in the book consists of a vague psychic kind of mind battle that becomes dull and repetitive and can only be fought with a ghost-in-the-machine solution usually involving sex, sex and more sex. Instead of a story we have characters had feeding us the events through dialogue, its not enough to have every character comment on how tough and uncompromising Anita is every two pages, show us. The many supporting characters each require their share of back fill slowing the novel and the characters them selves have become redundant. I know there are at lest two or three long hair submissive, damaged, sex toy types, a few sadomasochists, a couple "beautiful" androgynous male vamps and werewolves that have that woodsy feel. They all have one thing in common every guy wants Anita, they all run around her mind, and the girl who once would save her self for marriage is now a rampant nymho. We know that many vampires all are eye-catching, posers because we are reminded every few pages. The only compelling slice of the book for me was the disintegrating relation ship between Anita and Dolf of the crime unit. Her embrace of the "monsters" is alienating her coworkers and friends. This is interesting stuff. The rest felt like i was reading some soft core porn novel.
I miss the detective angle, the once expanding world creation that made it so much fun. For example: the rescue of comatose Vampires from the burning house in an early novel gave us a fun moral twist. Fire fighters questioning the rescue of creatures they fear and hate. The politics of this New World were vampires have rights, discrimination takes on new allegories. Lacarthrophy as an AIDs metaphor; as when Richard feared losing his job as a schoolteacher if he was "outed". But poor Anita spends half the book as a sex maniac and plot points such as a new case and murder are all but forgotten for the next two hundred pages. Laurel K. Hamilton has given me much enjoyment, her books are fun, scary, and action packed. Her last two offerings in this series seem to be forgetting what made these books fun. I owe her some loyalty but next time I am waiting for the paperback.

This book is a disappointment. I couldn't even finish it. The writing is focused more on how the characters look and what they wear and if they've gone all the way with Anita yet, instead of focusing on an interesting plot that you want to read about. I have read all the Anita series and her other fairy princess series, and I loved both series because of the erotica in them and the fun crime stories but the scenes in this book are very boring. I also have to agree with the other comments- Anita's character is not the same as she used to be. She's overly dramatic and cheesy. I think Anita needs to go on a vacation- like in the next book (if there's a next book) and maybe while on vacation, she'll run into something interesting to tell us about.

I started the Anita Blake series about 3 weeks ago. A couple of my friends were reading them & recommended them. Before this series I only read romance books. Paranormal, historical, contemporary, but romance. So, I wasn't 'in love' with the first couple books. By the third I was hooked. I liked the next couple books, but I felt so bad about Richard. I was so torn between wanting Anita with Richard & wanting her with Jean-Claude.
Then came Micah. I didn't like his character, or Anita being with him...at first. As I read on, I grew to love Micah & Nathaniel. They became my favorite's. I loved books 10-14. I thought 'The Harlequin' & 'Blood Noir' were just okay. I didn't really like Skin Trade. There wasn't much to 'Flirt'... Then came "Bullet"....
I think because I've read the whole series all at once, it's all I've thought about for close to a month. I was so excited about 'Bullet", I even tried to go see if I could find it early. On Tuesday, I had my copy waiting for me when I got out of work. I stayed up until 12:30 to finish it. I was soooo disappointed.

*****SOME SPOLIERS*******
I didn't like the change in Richard. AT ALL. I didn't like him angry & crazy, but more like the way he was when Anita first met him. I wish he could meet someone & go away from the crazy circus. I wanted him to end up with Anita before. Not anymore. I don't mind lots of sex in books. Almost every book I read has sex in it. (I LOVE Lora Leigh, & her books are filled with sex) I just don't like the ENDLESS sex with EVERYONE. The sex scenes before in other books, like the first time Anita had sex with Jean-Claude, or Richard, most of her scenes with Nathaniel. I thought those were hot. Now, they just seem dirty to me. Like none of them actually care about each other anymore.
I liked it when Jason told Anita in 'Incubus Dreams' that Nathaniel considered her his girlfriend, & he didn't want to be with any other girl. Now they bring in this female Tiger, (Envy) and all the guys are supposed to start having sex with her? I was so upset with Jean-Claude & Richard having sex with her. I really don't want to read about Micah & Nathaniel sleeping with other women too.
I'm going to go back to the other paranormal authors that have hot sex mixed in with the romance. (Kresley Cole, Gena Showalter, Larissa Ione, Sydney Croft, J.R. Ward) I've read a lot of people slamming Laurell K Hamilton. I don't know much about her. I truly hope she does care how her fans feel. I know everyone has their own opinion, & you can't please everyone, but when you're getting more negative reviews than positive, perhaps something needs to change.

The turmoil and angst that we've come to expect of Anita continues. The book was a good new edition, but not my favorite so far. It was very sexually based with only a small part going to Anita's professional life as an animator/necromancer and detective. We do get to see the executioner in action, which was a nice surprise, but are otherwise caught in a soap opera of personal anxiety and indecision. The good news? Anita learns something about herself from a surprising source. I enjoyed the book, as always, and didn't want it to end, but was looking for a little more than I got out of it.

There is no other explanation for the abrupt, drastic decline in the quality of writing in the series after about book 10. For those not familiar with V.C. Andrews's story, basically the author died and her greedy family hired someone to write under her name so they could keep making money off her fame.

So ... LKH must be dead. And her family hired her biggest fan (her hubby Jonathon) to continue the series. It's the only explanation for why these books read like bad fanfiction of the earlier books. Any recent pictures of LKH are actually of Jon in drag (if you look close you can tell that it's really a guy dressed as a middle aged lady with a bad fashion sense).

Jon can't write of course, so he keeps introducing new characters and endless cut and paste descriptions of what characters look like and what they are wearing to distract readers from the fact that nothing actually happens in the book. That's also why anything that might be remotely interesting happens behind the scenes and is quickly glossed over -- the LKH/Jon just doesn't have the talent to write anything other than filler. It also explains why the sex scenes are so boring. I like well written erotica, but what LKH/Jon think is hawt and edgy is actually dull and kind of sad.

There you have it. Mystery solved. RIP LKH (1953-2000)

Don't get me wrong, this series started off good, and I have reread all the books up to Blue Moon several times. Obsidian Butterfly pushes it, but I didn't mind it. I wish this series had ended with Obsidian Butterfly, because now when I think of it there is that awful taste of needlessly bitter disappointment.

Anita Blake was a great character. Strong, feminine, and kick-ass. Her wit was the best part of the series. Now, I can't stand Anita. She is whiney and, I am sorry to say, skanky. Normally I don't care about a person's sex life, but Anita has so little discrimination, a realistic plot twist would be that she contracted herpes, and that isn't sexy at all. Her sex scenes just feel UNCLEAN. More like animal pornography than sex. I loved the love triangle between Anita, Jean Claude, and Richard (although I have personally always favoured JC a bit more) but now there are so many extra men thrown in I can't even keep track. It seems to me like Laurell K. Hamilton has turned a clever, sexy vampire series into an excuse to write boring, tasteless erotica, at the expense of her readers. And yes, her erotica is boring.

I read the entire book of Narcissus in Chains, just to be faithful, and by the time I finally closed it, I couldn't even remember what it was about. I could barely glean a plot from such a big, thick book. That alone is sad, considering how rich her first books were. They also sported little to no sex. I can remember even that there was once a time this lack of sex between Anita and either JC or Richard frustrated me, and I suppose this is the classic case of "Be careful what you wish for" because it is once they start having sex that this series goes downhill. I can pinpoint it to a certain scene in a bath tub.

I am not even continuing past the first few chapters of Cerulean Sins. It's quite simply awful. I have lost all the respect for Anita that I once had, and I used to come pretty close to idolizing her. I desperately hope that Laurell creates another series with a new heroine and doesn't destroy the heroine like she did to Anita, and Merry Gentry, because Merry's series is even worse than Anita's. Gawd, servicing a roomful of policemen? And countless other people, all in the same book, which takes up only a few days of her life? I consider myself extremely liberal, and even I find that repulsive.

For a more promising author, who manages to balance the supernatural and steamy sex scenes without ruining the entire book, try Kelley Armstrong. She started writing books at about the same time Laurell started writing trash, and Kelley's books are my consolation.

At this point its hard for me to be objective on these books. I got hooked long ago. The break for some people seems to be if you are bothered by intense sex and violence (sometimes combined), you will not like the later books, but if you are not, you will be as hooked as I am.
Bottom line, Hamilton's imagination is without bounds, and I for one do not mind tagging along on her sexual fantasies as they are played out in this series.
DEFINITELY do not start the series with this book. Read them in order. But if you have been with the series up until now, you will love Cerulean Sins. There are tuns of interesting plot-building transition stuff happening. I especially like the Queen of the Damned similarities.

I am a diehard Anita fan but these last books especially this one I wanted to literally throw it across the room! It is so terrible i could have wrought a better one at 13. Anita's golden lined pussy can turn people into "Thunder Cats" and "Super Heroes" well I think Laurell should screw her so Anita can turn her back into the imaginative writer again!

Everybody likes sex but overboard is overboard. She is drowning herself in pages of bull descriptions that nobody cares about it's boring and we all skip it next, next until we find sustenance. Sometimes it's hard to find. I mean if she wants to do something shocking bring back Edward and Olaf and have her do Olaf. I like the Executioner doing her job or crimes and crimescenes, raising the dead. She has lost herself. Skintrade was a surprise and not bad but her sexing is getting in the way of her job. Shoot put her in a coma and have her wake up and none of this dumb crap with the ardeur ever happened or something. Bring the old Anita back! i'M COMPLAINING BECUASEI feel like she owes me the time back that I wasted reading this crap! Make it worth it again!

I will admit that Hamilton has gone into overload a bit with some of her sex and violence, but Im still so entertained by it all. My main complaint with this book is that none of the plots are completed in a way that I felt truly satisfied..the way that the plot with Musette was resolved left me so disappointed..it was too easy! What I really want more of is Asher..I can say that I ALMOST like him more than Jean Claude..I also really enjoyed delving deeper into Jason..hes been one of my faves for so long..it was fun to have so much of him here...all in all another entertaining read..

As you get in to the last few books in the Anita Blake series they become more sexual in content (with Cerulean Sins being the most graphic, by far), but do not let this dissuade you or sidetrack you. Some readers find the sex to be too much. However, it is not 'porn' as others have unfairly charged, but something that fits with Anita's growing magical abilities and the 'fuel' that feeds them. Remember that as you read and it isn't as offensive when read and consumed with that understanding.
For those calling Ms. Hamilton's writing 'porn', it is obvious you have never read TRUE porn. Instead of seeing it through the eyes of an observer of an orgy, see it as it is meant -- the 'fuel' needed by Anita and what she learns about what she needs and how she can use what she gets from the sex act.
I have loved Anita Blake and her characters since the first book and I still do. This is a series that forces the reader to re-examine their own boundaries and grow with the main character. I highly recommend this series, but strongly recommend it be read in order to fully appreciate the eventual growth and changes that occur during the course of time.

Cerulean Sins could have been two great novels, but instead comes off as one average book. That is not to say that Anita's adventures are any less exciting than her previous exploits, but I would have liked to see each of the ideas presented at the fore of the novel expored more.
First is the whole, 'Anita is asked to raise a very ancient ancestor' for a mysteious assassin. Then the assassin and his plotline disapears until the last 30-pages of the novel when everything is conveniently wrapped up.
Second is the return of the Vampire Council, specifically in the form of Belle Morte, the vampire who created Asher and Jean Claude. Belle doesn't physically come to St. Louis, but makes enough appearances through her underlings that she plays a major role in the story. Basically this side of the plot deals with someone on the Vampire Council wanting to take total control from the Vampire who created the Council in the first place. This takes up most of the novel and could have been a really interesting study on the politics of Hamilton's vampires, but again this plotline is quickly tied up in a few short pages before Anita et al wrap up the first plotline mentioned above.
I feel that Hamilton is starting to lose a bit of what made Anita attractive in the first place, her outside job and human friends. After Ronnie was explained away conveniently a few novels back Anita has no one outside of the Vampire/Lycanthrope community to interact with, unless you count the RPIT team whom she only sees while standing over some gruesomely dismembered corpse(s). Like the Simpsons creators, who found that by focussing on Homer instead of Bart would prolong their series, Hamilton needs to stretch Anita beyond the borders of St. Louis again and have her interact with people/lycanthropes/vampires outside of her direct group otherwise she runs the risk of stagnating the character.

LKH created a great series and these characters that were so life like...then she took them away and gave us this 4th rate one's in their place. If I wanted to read porn, I would buy it. LKH...if it is going to take you three years to write a book that is worthy of your talent - take the three years. At this point you have destroyed your name and drained the proverbial "fountain of goodness" dry.

I am sad at the loss of Anita and friends, because you have torn down such fabulous characters, and made them into a couple of two bit whores. If it weren't for a couple of sentences in your last few books that are definably yours...I would think you hired someone else to write them.

This book can be summed up as "the mother" is not dead and still out for blood. I think Anita gained more powers (as usuall) and gained some control over the tiger clan. Every character in the new book has been pussified and really not worth caring about anymore. Anita is now someone who has lost all previous abilities at any humor, and is so overprocessed I got lost in translation... Sorry LKH, but you lost so many fans with your last six books (don't forget the other series "Princess Meredith"). We keep waiting and hoping, but I think this last disappointment was it.

Anita Blake vampire hunter is gone and not for good. The strong character I fell in love with is gone. She has been replaced by a "Holier than thou" Anita that has become nothing more than a "yes" girl to most of the men she comes in contact with. The ARDUER (one of the worst plot twists I have ever seen) is an excuse for Anita to end up in various sexual or sexually charged situations. As the vampires feed off of blood we are given an excuse for her ending up with the various men as part of the ARDUER.
The chemistry of the story has been absolutely lost. The whole dynamic of Jean-Claude/Richard and Anita had been killed. Simply explained by Richard coming across as insane simply because he's trying to show everyone that if they want him to be a vicious leader he can. Then Anita holds it against him. It was a further nail in the coffin that is Richard. It is easy to see that LKH has decided to remove him from the picture and replace him with the vast array of Vampires/Wereleopards and a few submissive Werewolves. Totally lost is the erotic edge the story used to have Jean-Claude hasn't gone crazy but become a mild mannered YES man.
In an attempt to keep Asher from ending up back with Belle Morte Anita allows him into bed with her and Jean-Claude. Even though Asher protests and even YIPPEE complains that he won't be like the others are with her and that he won't agree to joining them only to be turned away later by Anita on and off again libido/Arduer. Even though Anita assures him that won't be the case, it is. She gets angry with him for using his powers/rolling her mind another excuse for her to complain and as he said back out. That was a stand out moment that didn't last because even though he stood up to her it didn't last. He becomes content with the fact that she's like that. Not happy but content.

As for the other cast of characters Micah is Anita's new love! PLEASE I do not get this at all and Anita even mentions that the Tri that exists between her/Richard/Jean-Claude could probably work with Micah/JC/her. It was another nail in that coffin of Richards.

I was never pro-Richard he was whiney and annoying, but after this book I realize he was the only thing that seemed believable in this series. No matter what he'd remained the same. Now he's portrayed as insane. When in truth all he is saying is that in order to be one of the monsters you don't have to become one in your soul. He's trying to keep his soul and as punishment he's become the bad guy of the series. It's a sad day that this series has become more about Quanity than Quality. It wouldn't be so bad if it were good sex instead it's a neverending stream of sexual situations with men who are all overly endowed with no real sense to say "NO" I won't share as Anita demands out of all of them.

How many men does one girl need? LKH has done this with her Merry Gentry series and now with Anita. It looks downhill from here.

I started out a huge fan of this series. Many fans of LKH left or became disgusted with the turn this series took after Narcissus in Chains, but this one was the straw that broke this camel's back. Where there was once a dynamic plotline rife with action, drama, diverse and interesting characters......it became an ill-conceived series of pointless sex, zero plot, and disappearing personalities. I, as of yet, have not picked up the latest book and don't plan to based on what I've heard of it. I'm personally relying on a friend of mine that has stuck with the series to let me know when it's safe to pick up another one of these books because I refuse to do so on my own. As of yet, she has told me not to bother. How anyone who claims to be a fan of this series can say that the latest 3 books are even nearly on par with the rest is beyond me.

I just finished reading this anita book and it had some interesting turns in it. I believe it has answered some questions about anita and opened up some new avenues as to how far anita's powers will go. I was very impressed with this book and highly recommend it to others.

Cerulean Sins almost seems to be the first half of a really good Anita Blake story. Future plot twists and character developments are liberally strewn about.
But the mystery component never quite develops beyond the crime-scene walkthrough. The killer is identified in an almost off-hand manner, and the other 'bad guys' never pose a serious threat - we only know that there are 'men in black' looking to exploit Anita's talents.
Other key elements seem rushed or underdeveloped. Dolph's problems have taken a sharp right turn and shaded over into psychosis; Richard's personal problems follow in the same vein - it's been several months since the events of 'Narcissus in Chains', and we're to believe that Anita didn't notice (or didn't care) about Richard's depressive state? What would happen if one third of the triumvirate offed himself? Wouldn't it be the job of Jamil, Shang-Da, or Sylvie to break their leader's wishes and get him the necessary help - even if that's from someone Richard doesn't particularly want to see?
As for the extended adult content this time out, I'm not sure what to make of it. While it underscores the difference between humans and lukoi/pard/vampire ... Anita's world seems to have become a binary bedroom-or-boardroom sort of place.
All in all, it's good to see old friends again, even if we're left with the feeling that the visit was cut short.

I was happy with the book, and the way it ends. because now i know there'll be more books. i don't understand why you would want it to be rushed... other reviews said it had no substance, but i disagree. i've read all the series and think in the interest of showing the many facets of the characters it is good that the book has more communication than events. and whomever put 'utter carp' as a tag needs to use the suggestion for 'needs rewrite.'

I have also read all of the Anita Blake series & this is the first time I have commented. I don't know how many times someone's hair has to be talked about or the color of one's eyes. This book could have been cut in half for all the repetition in it. Was there a story line? I keep waiting for Anita to actually do something that actually involves her job. The author would probably make a good porno script writer if she decides to stop writing novels. I think this is it for me. It was just boring.

I have been reading Anita Blake for 8 years. It has been going down hill in the last 3. This book was in the top 5 worst so far. The opening feels more like the reader has fallen into the middle of a great Anita Blake book. After Richard comes in I felt like it was a really really long dream sequins. But by the middle of the book I had to give in and let go of the hope of a dream, that this was the real book. I feel like Laurell is setting things up in this book; that later books will steam from a lot in this one. But things were rushed and just not explained. I miss the 700 page Anita Blake books. That is what this book should have been, not just 300 something. I miss the vampire excisioner and the zombie raising. I'm sick of all the were animals Anita has and all the sex she HAS TO HAVE. I don't mind some sex in books but she just HAS TO have it. Give me a break. I love Laurell as a writer but can we please have our old girl back? The one that works as a vampire excision and raises zombies every night. The more mysteries murder solver. I use to have so many pages marked in the old books with quotes and funny things. This book only had 3 or 4. If the next book doesn't get better I'm giving up. And thats a lot coming from a girl who flunked a sci test back in high school b/c she was caught reading a anita blake book during a test.

I don't know if I will read any more of her books. I definitly will not plunk out my hard earned money for one.
CS is better than NiC (how could it not be) but no where near the quality or caliber of her earlier books...too many men (get real please-it's repulsive to me, and unrealistic) I read these books for entertainment but lately I am torn between disgust and disbelief. While I know the books aren't real, it's nice to get lost in the world while I am reading, but the books aren't realistic enough for that any more.
For those who hate Micah like I do, Anita is still waiting for the other shoe to drop. maybe the kitty will find a wereleopard in heat and she finds them together and BANG! He is in the book, not much, thank God. But far too much for me.
I miss Edward. I miss the honest to God real police mysteries, you know with a real, serious villian. The crime scenes which used to be what the books revolved around, are scattered, not really part of the book, just more like background scenery.
As always, she harps too much on RAZ 'values' and Anita's disgust with them, even though they no longer really seem part of RAZ. More like she's throwing it in for consistency, enver mind that it's reading like bull. And here's a fact, I can relate to RAZ, his disgust and pain at what's he
s been forced into. But by sticking to his morals, other people got hurt. Repeatedly. And good men which RAZ is, do not allow other people to get hurt for their mistakes. Yet another inconsistency.
Sorry folks, but the books ..., especially when compared to TKD or BO or COTD.
AND LKH...how could you cut Richard's hair!

After reading all the negative views I won't rehash the plot. But I will say people fell in love with the prudish Episcopalian Anita Blake who was almost 2 dimensional and flat. And people, remember, always remember how young Anita Blake is.
Through the series she's been growing and so to read this one first would be a jumbled shock to the system. Read them in order and you'll see how she grows.
Admitedly Dolph's anger and Richard's depression are, well sad and useless to me. I've always hated Richard the gorgeous but wimpy boy scout who can eat your face. I wish he'd just slink off.
This one is as good, if not better than NIC, way better than and I mean way than OB. But if you liked the first eight you might find this one disappointing.
It's very long and poorly edited but the ideas are gorgeous and it's a good escape. I've been a fan since GP and I'll read to the end.
PS
to REALLY understand not only character development, but Laurell's development as a writer, read Guilty Pleasures through Obsidian Butterfly. Notice in OB how Laurell AND Anita have gotten sick of the whole scene. Then read the first two Merry gentry novels, then go back to Narcissus in Chains and read on. It flows seamlessly and you'll get Anita Blake a lot more.

While the book was well written, it lacked the kick butt Anita that we all know and love. This book was way too much sex, politics and the ardeur. Anita used to have morals, and now she seems to be sleeping with everyone. Please have Anita go back to the old Anita. As a fan, my wife and I couldn't wait for the new book to be released, but we are both disappointed with this story. Ms Hamilton seems to be confusing Anita with Mary from the Fairy series. Let's get Anita back on track, and be the old kick-butt, monster killer. The story would have been better if she had been tracking the killer the whole time, and dealing with the vampires as a side story as in the earlier books.

This is the third Anita Blake novel that I've borrowed from the library instead of buying and once again it was a wise decision. There were a few glimmers of what could have been a good book in here. The showdown with Haven (who was the only man in her harem who actually acted like a man and will be sorely missed), the Atlanta vampire murders and the set up for Jean Claude to become the most powerful vampire in America. But once again there was way too much of the same crap that has bogged down the last five or six books making them almost painful to read. Does everything have to be explained to Anita like she's a mentally challenged child? How much more powerful can she actually become? And is there any limit sexually to what she and her men will do? If Anita and Jean Claude are both bi-sexual, the next book is sure to be a sexual free for all. What made the relationship between Anita and JC so hot in the beginning was his desire to be with her, his jealousy over Richard and the special bond they originally shared. Doesn't LKH understand that the lack of sexual tension in any of these relationships makes this whole thing a total bore? Everybody wants to sleep with everybody and nobody seems to care how many more men are added to Anita's harem. Some of the men now seem more interested in sleeping with each other than Anita! It has gotten to the point where I can't even keep track anymore. I thought about the book once I'd finally finished and it occured to me that LKH no longer writes these books for the people who buy them. She is writing them for herself. I think the cardinal sin of any writer is becoming too emotionally invested in your own characters to the point that things like plot, action and forward motion no longer become important. The endless dialogue and over the top sex scenes are written for her own enjoyment, not ours. It's frustrating because LKH is capable of writing a really good book. We all know it because that's the only reason we continue to read this series. In the hope that she'll work out whatever issues she's trying to work out in the pages of her books and finally write the book we've all been waiting for.

Bullet is book 19 in Laurell K. Hamilton's "Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Series." I have mostly enjoyed the entire series, with the exception of a few of the more recent installments. The storyline running through Bullet was entertaining. The reemergence of the The Mother of All Darkness kept tension running through the plot, revealing the need for the St. Louis supernaturals to reach out to old allies and new, to reinforce their power against the ultimate evil. The plot was strong and full of metaphysical-gooey-goodness - so if you like that sort of thing (as I do,) then you will probably be happy overall with Bullet.

Now to the things that I didn't appreciate and some things that downright bugged the heck out of me. There was A LOT of superfluous description in Bullet - every piece of clothing, every physical description, every bit of decoration was described in great detail, but added nothing to the atmosphere in the book. It seriously felt like LKH was just padding the plot with a lot of unnecessary fluff. Also, Anita's physical descriptions are completely sexist. Mostly I let this go, but it's starting to bug me that the men in Anita's life have a "feminine" beauty or are "girlishly" sized. Enough already! And it doesn't help that Anita refers to some of her actions as "the guy thing to do." Ugh.

Some things that irritate other reviewers don't bother me as much: group sex scenes, LKH's use of certain tried-and-true phrases over and over and over again, Richard's sudden "evolution" into his place in Jean-Claude's triumvirate, the fact that there was no necromancy in Bullet and very little involvement in the police-procedural type drama that many fans are hopelessly devoted to - I'm good with those things for the most part. The poor editing job bothers me a little more than normal - meaning that is was REALLY noticeable in places.

I'm torn over the star rating for Bullet. I'm going to judge it based on the best in the series and say it was just mediocre. I liked the story itself, but not enough to give it 5 or even 4 stars. Taken on the whole, I'd give it 3.5 stars, but since I can't do that here I'm going to lower my rating to 3. Bullet is not bad, but it's certainly still off LKH's A-game.

I read an excerpt from "Narcissus in Chains" in Nora Roberts "Out of this World" collection and have since been looking for that book or its sequel as it seemed from the excerpt to possibly be a fascinating series. I am very disappointed with the book as a whole as it is definitely not my type of story. Anita has sex with and or sleeps with too many guys and all of them either lycanthropes or vampires!! She tries to show she has morals by not having actual intercourse with all of them but to me that is naive, which she is not. The sexual escapades and their descriptions are more pornographic than erotic and without any romance - a deep disappointment.

However, I did enjoy the tracking down of a serial killer as that subplot was interesting although this time it was the violence and gore that were too graphic!

If you like graphic violence and sex, you would enjoy this book. I do not.

LKH used Bullet to finally kill the strong, independent Anita and what is left is a boring, hot mess. The Books that started it all were creative, had plot and story, and lastly an interesting main character. The latest in the Anita series are too overwrought with uninteresting and insignificant details, repetitive sex scenes, and men with way too much emotional baggage. I, unfortunately, kept buying the series but this will be the last. The dance recital scene was bizarre and uncomfortable to read. Anita and her toys were completely inappropriate for a venue with children that it just doesn't sit right when reading. Richard, the only one whom seemed to be somewhat normal, has finally given in to the ridiculous notion of the arduer. I keep wishing that LKH would bring Anita back, but unfortunately Bullet has killed her off for good I fear.

FIrst off, I want to say that I really, REALLY lOVE the Anita Blake/Merry Gentry series and have looked forward to each new book release. Which makes this book a bit of a disappointment for me. I did enjoy the book but I didn't really LIKE it overall. Does that make sense?

I was astonished that Asher could turn into such a horrible whiner because of the fact, Jean-Claude and he hadn't had sex yet, even thought it was implied in the past and the situation seemed to have resolved itself with all three of them living comfortably only to find out it was all a lie! Hence, Asher throwing a fit for sex. Also Richard flipping around and becoming man enough to be part of the triad? It's like the book said, was he on drugs? Yes, it's great that he came through but once again it all turned icky with sex. Richard shows up, makes amends, they all have sex and blah, blah blah...

The sex scenes usually are so well done you feel like you are there and WOW! But this book just seems like it was a chore. Sex, part one, sex, part two, sex, part 3, bam, bam, bam... in order. Bring in a new character, have sex with him or her. Nothing fun, relaxing, all part of cementing their 'power' or her magic 'overpowering' her and forcing everyone to have sex.

As usual, Jean-Claude comes across as the weaker one between Anita and him. However, the one defining characteristic throughout the books was their 'love' for each other and how protective of her he was, and she of him. Not so much this time. Also in the end, her giving the okay for Jean-Claude to have sex with another woman? and then to feel nothing about it? No anger, hurt, etc.... eh. Instead she watched briefly as Jean-Claude and Richard double teamed this beautiful, tall woman that looked like she fit those men better then ANita would because of her height and I got the sense of loss. I liked the fact, Anita was jealous of her men. NOw it just seemed a free-for-all ORGY with no rules and no one really jealous of anyone.

In the end, I closed the book and thought,.... Whatever. Usually, I could pick the book up again and reread scenes or the whole book. I couldn't pick a scene from this one, it seemed like to much of a chore. It was enjoyable but my liking it ... not so much.

I was not one of those who read Narcissus in Chains and then immediately jumped back in horror. Sure, LKH had managed to surprise me with the unexpected twists, but i thought that it was not too below her usual caliber. And so, i was willing to read Cerulean Sins.

I was glad to see Zerbrowski and the other cops, but i disliked how LKH changed Dolph into a hulking, vampire-hating pain. That just really annoyed me. And i'm not too happy about Anita's numerous bed partners.
but that wasn't the worst part. the worst part was how much paper and space LKH wasted with anita's angst. every other page was filled with, "No, i can't have sex with all these men... But i have to, the munin and JC's sex hunger forces me to do it... Oh, my goodness, i can't believe i just did that... Oh screw it, i'm gonna do what the hell i want to do... Oh wait, did i really just do that?" Halfway through the book, i honestly had a headache from the way anita battered her situation from all sides mentally. i mean, at least in the Merry Gentry series, paper isn't wasted on how internally uncertain she feels about sleeping with all the men. she accepts it as something she has to do.
Not only that, but most of the action/plot in the novel was basically present only in the last...fifty or so pages. And they were not soooo good that i was willing to forgive the not so likable parts of the book.
for me, the anita blake series ends at Obsidian Butterfly. I highly doubt that i'll be willing to venture into any new AB books again.

This is one of the worst books I've ever read. It is boring: All of the "action" takes place in the underground lair of the vampires. The descriptions of clothing and hair go on and on, adding nothing to the story. I'm no prude when it comes to erotic scenes in books, but the amount of boring, repetitive, meaningless sex was ridiculous. What was the point? The idea behind the story could have been good, but Hamilton ruined what might have been an interesting story with her whining, tedious characters.

I love the Anita Blake series. However, and I've seen other people comment on this same thing, it's losing some of it's originality by becoming exactly like her Merry Gentry series. I like both series and don't mind the sex but the Anita Blake series started out as a strong woman who kicks (...)type of story and now it's more of a strong woman who is a (...)story. I wish she would move back away from it, although I don't see that happening with the direction these books seem to be going. It was nice to have the (...)kicking series and the naughty series as it showed different sides of her writing. I still like the book, but just be warned if you are looking for an action book that this has action, but alot of it isn't the type you are looking for.

I was such an LKH fan. I bought every one of her books, I shared them around, I encouraged all of my friends to read her work. Now I let my friends email me digital copies of her latest books because I don't believe she deserves my money. And I'm glad I didn't waste my time actually paying for this book, I didn't even finish it. Awful and boring and sad. LKH has lost the ability to write interesting, intelligent, exciting books.

This is the second offering by Hamilton I've read...I will admit the first offering I read was her short story included in Cravings-I was simply awful. Cerulean Sins was my attempt to give the author a second chance to come up to snuff (several people suggested I read some of Hamilton's work). Well, it took nearly 2 hours to read 82 pages...the reading was slow, silly, and boring. I thought the heroine (read whinny Anita) was just a spoiled-I-want-everything-my-way brat. How could powerful master vampires put up with that kind of stuff??

I would advise the author to exercise rewriting her stories before she sends them to the publisher...200 hundred of the 500+ pages were not needed.

Is Ms. Hamilton just phoning it in, now? I used to enjoy this series, but turning Anita into a nymphomaniac has made her boring. She used to be a kick-butt heroine. She's given up kicking the butts for...never mind.

What ever happened to plot? To character development? I like sex as much as the next person, but page after page after page of two-somes, three-somes and more-somes gets monotonous. This isn't even hot sex, since most of the characters are one-dimensional nonentities.

The only person who could enjoy this junk is a randy adolescent. It's a brief step up from the Penthouse forum.

After reading some of the reviews for this title on the store, I felt compelled to share my own. One particular review had more adjectives than my dictionary! The reviewer spent more time trying to impress me with her vocabulary than actually talking about the book.
I feel that LKH is taking Anita on a very complicated journey. I think she has hit some major road blocks on the way. Ones that she might not have wanted to share with her readers. I still have to say that I enjoyed the book. I would love to see LKH concentrate more on the characters she has now, instead of adding any more to the mix. I would love to see Anita and Richard fill the gap between them. We shall see. I think LKH is trying to bring Anita to a new level. We just need to be patient and wait for this to happen.

I know, we don't confuse fiction with reality. Yet, when you read enough about a character, you start relating to "it" (him or her) as if that character were a personal friend. Sadly, I have broken friendship with Anita in this new installment. "Anita" books used to have two major strengths, I think: a good mystery plot which got solved at the end (and if Anita kept pulling increasingly unbelievable tricks out of her sleeve, more power to her), and Anita's coherence as a character. The reader may have gotten a bit bored with her constant moral qualms ("An affair with Jean-Claude, does that make me a monster? Maybe yes...maybe no...yes...no...") and may not have agreed with some of her choices, but at least they used to make sense within Anita's system of beliefs, the way the author described it. In this book, we encounter a new Anita who, while trying to learn self acceptance, also stops making sense. I don't mean it as moral judgment, but Anita's quite brusque transition from "prudish" to "orgiastic" seemed more motivated by real market pressures than the internal logic of a fictional character. Anita is as coherent as a software with a virus: push the button marked l'ardeur, and lo and behold, there's no stopping her. (I have to say that at this point I sympathize a lot more with Merry Gentry from the other series, who at least does what she enjoys best.) To top it off, one of Anita's strong points, her ability to take control of an explosive situation, here turns into the obsession of control: she whines, she complains, she complicates fairly straightforward circumstances. Unfortunately, that doesn't come across as complexity, but rather as a badly constructed character.
My second problem was with the plot of the book. Surely enough, the first 100 pages or so build the right momentum and offer the promise of great suspense. Then it all goes away, leaving the reader increasingly frustrated. The story is only partially resolved - we don't find, for example, the key to Anita's visions (or at least it wasn't clear to me), probably in anticipation of a sequel. Because of that, you cannot help but feel throughout the remaining pages that the author actually had two books in mind, couldn't quite figure out which one to concentrate on, and decided to wait awhile and hope for the best. I don't think the best happens, not in this book. I am not sure whether to give it 4 stars out of nostalgia for the early series, or 2 stars out of disappointment. An average it is.

There were two threads running through this novel and neither of them were resolved. It felt more like a piece of a trilogy than a true series installment. I'm hooked on the characters and their world, but a little less focus on the sex and more on the meat of the story would get a higher rating. Loose ends all over the place.

Anita Blake is back on the job, but not back to her old tricks. Long time fans of the AB:Vampire Hunter Series will not find the Executioner in these pages. They will find a new, and perhaps, not improved, Anita Blake, one who engages in a great deal of self-examination and cares more about flashing her "undies" than flashing her Browning.
An incredibly long book, CS spans 62 chapters. It's as if a short Anita Blake novel was written, and a second novel was then quickly typed out and stuffed into the middle of the original book. Events become confusing as Anita fights Belle Morte, the Council member, and head of Jean-Claude's line. The mystery and crime briefly mentioned at the beginning of the book takes a back seat to Anita's inner angst and a new "awakening" of her personal relationships.
Cerulean Sins reads more like a fantasy/romantic adventure than a noir detective novel with a preternatural twist. Numerous, and glaring mistakes and rule changes, compared to the previous novels, leaves the familiar reader scratching their heads. Characters we've come to know and love seem to have sprouted new personalities between Narcissus In Chains and the new offering. Many beloved characters are almost unrecognizable, including Anita Blake, Executioner.
Cerulean Sins is not in the style we've become accustomed to from Ms. Hamilton. If fantasy romance is your style, and you are already familiar with the Anitaverse, you may find Cerulean Sins an interesting read, if you can ignore the glaring and numerous YABBIS (Yet Another Anita Blake Inconsistency). New readers looking for a kick detective novel with a preternatual bent will only be perplexed and quickly bored by the disjointed, dual plots and bloated cast.
~Not Reccomended~

While these books have become somewhate formulaic, this is still a rollicking good read. There is, of course, a monster reeking havoc in St. Louis that Anita must track down and kill. She must also deal with Vampire politics, moody lovers, and protecting her pard. Oh! and don't forget the Mother of all Darkness touching her psyche, too.
Our girl is sleeping with just about anything, but she feels guilty about it (sometimes).
As ever, Anita realizes a new power that neither she nor Jean-Claude knew she had. There seem to be more humans in this book, and some very interesting human reactions to situations.
Not for everyone, but far better than the previous installment.

I have read every Anita Blake book and for the last 6 or 7 years. I have sworn I would never buy another one again, but like an alcoholic I slipped up and bought some of them after reading the first chapter I thought this book seems better - only to be disappointed again and again, well the last few books I didn't buy, I borrowed them. An yes they were very bad, but this one has cured me of my Anita Blake addiction. I can honestly say I will not buy or borrow another one. I started reading it and the sex scene seemed to go on for nearly 100 pages, and it was boring. But what really turned me away was at the end when Jean-Claude and Richard got it on with another women and Anita didn't seem to concerned about it except for the 'Oh me I think I may be jealous - Oh well I will deal with this later. I'm one of those weird girls, I don't mind if the women has a few men in her life, but god damn it the man will remain faithful. Or he can pack his bags - Normally this scene would have stayed with me long after the book was finished and it would have upset me, but by the end of the book I really hated all the characters. I'm not sure it deserved the 1 star.

I really enjoyed "Cerulean Sins" and feel it to be an improvement over the last book "Narcissus In Chains". While I like the werewolf politics that permeated Narcissus it is the vampire politics which is front and center in Cerulean Sins that I really enjoy. Jean-Claude is once again threatened by his figurative "blood" mother Belle Morte. This time Belle feels she has a claim on Anita through her connection to Jean-Claude. As anyone who reads this series knows, Anita does not like feeling owned by anyone. During this challenge Ms. Hamilton seems to be laying the foundation for a much larger future conflict and I look forward to seeing the repercussions of this installment's events. For those who enjoy the werewolf/shape-shifter aspects of this series it is in short supply in this installment. There are some Richard/ Anita scenes but this book is more about Anita beginning to come to terms with her feelings about several of the men in her life. These include Micah, Jason, Nathaniel and most centrally Asher. I think Anita is on the verge of some personal closure by the end of the novel and I am happy to see it finally come to her. Oh yeah, as if there wasn't enough going on there is a grisly serial murderer loose who may be shape shifter. Anita is asked by her police friends Dolph and Zerbrowski to assist. There are some startling revelations about one of the characters during this investigation and while it only takes up a small amount of the book it does have its place in the overall fabric of this novel. It is this sense of so much going on in these novels that makes them so darn fun to read. This is not a place for someone to start if you haven't read the previous books. In fact it is probably impenetrable if you don't know who's who from the previous books. If you've been reading since the first book "Guilty Pleasures" I think you'll be very pleased with "Cerulean Sins"

Anita's once again in the middle of some heavy vampire politics. She's still trying to work out just what her relationship is with all the men in her life, including Asher. Works been busy. Old friendships are wavering. And to top it off, Anita has met the mother of all dark mothers...not a fun experience in the least.
Anita Blake is a complex, compelling character whose stories always keep me guessing. And, as always, with Cerulean Sins, Laurell K. Hamilton gives a page-turning read as she mixes a satisfying dose of Anita's personal and public problems.

This book was good. I enjoyed it throughly. I've already read past this, and this book is definitely not the 'downfall of the series'. This one is good. Incubus Dreams and thereafter are really, really disappointing.

I love that Anita finally starts to see that her annoying stubbornness isn't only annoying to constantly read, but that it hurts the characters in the book. She finally swallows some of her anger, and it's really refreshing. Asher and Jean-Claude also finally show some backbone and stand up to her. I wish I could say we're finally seeing a new, stronger side to Anita - but after this book there is no plot to see character development. This could have been the first book in a great turn of the series. Instead, it's the end of a great series, and the start of an erotica series.

This version of the series of Anita Blake was horrible! Laurell K. Hamilton has added so many men to this series that it has become laughable. The "ARDUER" is an excuse for Anita to end up in bed with so many different men I can't even keep track of all their names. The once difficult yet fun triangle of Jean-Claude/Anita/Richard has been kicked out the window and unlike most fans I see it as gone forever. Anita even mentions at one point the bond could become her/JC/Asher/Micah. Micah in this novel is her steady boyfriend when in a previous novel they'd had one of the most violent sexual encounters that it bordered on rape for my taste. Now suddenly he is just another yes man in her arsenal.

Asher speaks his mind once saying that Anita does things sexually with men and then once the passion or ardeur fades she tosses them aside wanting distance. I found this added item a horrible addition to this series. I don't understand why in order for Anita to be with Jean-Claude Laurell K. Hamilton had to take away so many of the aspects that made Anita great by making her nothing more than a whiney sex starved creature of the series.

Richard and Jean-Claude together had enough to carry this series, but now we have a cast of characters I personally can't keep up with half the time. Richard seems to have become the bad guy because he refused to deal with Anita having a harem of men who do her bidding with no questions asked.

An interlude between Anita/JC/Asher has Anita once again whining over the fact that JC asks her to leave after she once again cries that Asher has used Vampire wilds on her. But eventually they all give in to her.

This version in the series is shallow and doesn't hold up to the series.

I concur with many of the other reviewers. This book was overwrought with colorless conversation about Anita's conscience and the politics and power struggles of the top vampires. I could not care less about Mommy Darkest and all that blah. Richard cast in the role as the prodigal son was pretty unbelievable, too. Can we have a plot, please?

Sheer disappointment. I keep seeing that word, "disappointment," all throughout these reviews, and I don't think that's simply coincidence. These are my personal, major complaints in no particular order:
1) *Shift of plot type*
I got hooked on these books because they were a cool, supernatural combination of the whodunit, detective, and action genres. Don't get me wrong, Anita's love/sex-life has always been part of the stories, but it wasn't ever really the primary plotline. Now it is, and since I don't dig soft-core erotica nor romance novels, I don't care for it.
2) *Apparent metamorphosis of major characters*
When I was reading passages involving Dolph or Richard, I couldn't imagine why they're now such different characters. People go through difficult, sometimes traumatizing times in life, but for pete's sake, these guys are so different from the way they were in the previous books that their names ought to be changed!
3) *The ardeur*
I'm sick of it, sick of it, sick of it. That's about as concisely as I can put it.
4) *Long hair on men*
Okay, Hamilton, so you like long hair on guys. So do I -- on the right guy, of course. But get over it! I'm weary of reading endless descriptions of some man's long, flowing, beautiful, cascading, lustrous, rippling, flaxen, luxurious, blah blah blah hair. Oh, and lets not forget how traumatizing it is for his friends when a man cuts off his long hair!!
5) * "So much meat" *
Might there possibly be any other phrase to describe a human being who's been ripped to shreds? <reaching for thesaurus...> Seriously, I should've kept track of how many times that particular phrase was abused... er, used.
6) *Lack of editing*
Way too many typos, grammatical errors, blatant overuse of some phrases and words (e.g. #5 on my list). Need I say more? Although, like another reviewer said, this is less the fault of Hamilton than of her editor/agent/publishing house/whatever.
There's more, but I think I'll leave it at that.
Back when my friend first got me hooked on this series, I practically salivated with anticipation during the weeks before each new book was released. Since _ Narcissus in Chains_ was a letdown to me, I was eager to see if the next book would be an improvement. How sad that it wasn't. I would say I won't bother to read the next book in the series, but I know my lack of willpower won't let that happen. I'm sure I'll read it anyway, if only out of pure, morbid curiosity.

I couldn't finish this book only because I have no interest. I have faithfully read every LKH Anita Blake book, rated them ALL 5 stars. Every book I believed just got better than the one before it. I was glued to Narcissus in Chains, and my gears came to a grinding halt after about 1/4 of this book. Just so boring, and pathetic and way way too much useless needless dumb sex that means nothing. I am scared for the next book - "Incubus Dreams" I am hoping that the plot will come together (or that there will be a plot. I am hoping that Anita begins to get her mind back together and I am hoping that this is just a bump in the road of this series. Very dissappointed.

I have read all the LKH books and love each one for what it contains (and not what may be left out). This book follows her well proven formula for success and with it, she succeeds again. I think my favorite things about LKH books is that #1 she makes me fall in love with all the "good guys" and truly hate the "bad guys" and #2 I am from St. Louis, so any mention of landmarks, streets, etc. are not lost on me. This is a fun read. I can't wait for the next book to come out!!!

First, I have to express what a huge fan I am of Laurell K. Hamilton. I wait impatiently for the next installment. So, please take this into consideration of what I am about to say.
Cerulean Sins is an excellent fiction read. It doesn't offer the meaning of life or the cure for cancer. However, it offers the reader a ride through a world full of colorful characters.
Yes, there is more sex and violence, but one has to consider that Anita Blake is falling deeper and deeper into a world completely ruled by magic and non-human elements. If you wish to revisit the 'old' Anita, then I suggest you reread the first books.
Hamilton has allowed her character to grow, perhaps in ways we don't all agree, but grown nonetheless. When there are so many cookie cutter series, Hamilton tries to give the reader new and inventive plots each time. This current installment focuses on the vampire element in Anita's life. Something we have missed for awhile. Also, a greater force (scary, too) starts to raise it's head. Without revealing any of the plot, I would consider this story one that should be read by those interested in strong women, mystery, and the paranormal.
I consider my time reading an investment, and I will always invest in Ms. Hamilton...no matter what road she decides to take us down.

I have read all of Hamilton's books as soon as I could get my hands and them, and loved every one of them. So it was somewhat of a disappointment that after only eleven books Hamilton wrote one that wasn't as good as the ones that came before it (scarasm). Normally when you open one of her Anita Blake books, the "monster" that is terrorizing people is the focus, and each book could be a stand alone story. Anita, the police, and 'friendly' pernaturals (vampires, faries, etc.) all interact with this being the biggest worry of almost everyone. Instead, for this book Hamilton focused more on the charcters themselves and the "monster" only actually comes into the story enough to do some bodyguard work at the begining and to get shot at the end.
This book seems more to be a transtition book between the past and what is to come. The charcters are getting older (Jason, Zane), some are dealing with their problems sucessfully, others (like Richard and Dolph Storr) are letting their personal problems devour them. Real people change over time, so has Anita and the rest of her friends. So the focus of this story is how everyone is changing and settling in to their less than normal live. Anita is learning how to handle the Audor (a kind of curse that forces Anita to feed off of people, not blood like vampires but sexual energy and lust), Storr is not handling the fact that his son may become a vampire in the near future, Asher is getting over his psychlogical scars, Jason is becomeing an adult, Richard is becomeing sucideal.... The list goes on.
And that was just the main plotlines. There was alot of set-up happeing in the backgroud. Someone set some very dangerous men to draft Anita into zombie making for them, Storr may not be the head of St Louis Pernatural police division in the next book, people may think that Anita was pregnant, and Bele Mortum (a very powerful member of the vampire world government) is going to try to become THE head vampire in the world...
"May you live in interesting times" is an eastern curse, but for Anita and her friends, I hope it is not any other way!

I have been a fan of the AB novels since I worked at a bookstore 3 years ago and got hooked. After I'd read all the ones to that date,I'd salivate each time a new book came out. I loved the fact that Laurell was able to so easily incporporate magic and fantasy into a regular world setting. It was great having a female heroine who though human (she loved Sigmund) was as tough and capable as any male one. The characters personalities were all different and each novel more exciting. There was that perfect combination of action, fantasy, realism and romance. But in this last book, all the personalities seem to have changed, or become the same. Anita herself has metamorphed from a wise mouthed, capable woman, into someones chew or sex toy. The writing doesnt even read the same; She sounds more like a star struck teen then The Executioner. Since when does Anita start going goo goo eyed whenever a good looking guy is around? The language is also a bit off... A bit too graphic and way too many sex scenes. I mean, wasn't she supposed to feel guilty about sleeping with two guys at the same time, let alone having a menage a trois?
Don't get me wrong, a little bit of erotica can go a long way--I know all Anita fans were cheering when she finally gave in to Jean Claude, but Ive stuck with this series because Anita was a fun, realistic hard-ass, not the herione of a Harlequin novel.
I will stick with the series till the next novel comes out, hoping thinngs will change. I do think the ardeur needs to wear off though, and she has to start getting her priorites straight. Bring back some past characters and close up loose ends like Edward and Donna and Olaf, and expand on the new themes, not just tease. And Ms. Hamilton PLEASE stop making the men more feminine then the women in each passing novel! No more male make-up! You are a wonderful author but fire your editor...I found more typos then plot in this last book.

I don't want to go on and on but all I have to say is I miss Anita. I could barely get through this book due to the 6 chapters of orgys. I love the sex but I just cant keep track if there is more than three sets of three-somes at the same time. I agree with a PP that there are just too many charachters to remember and their ties or no-ties to Anita. I just miss the books that had to do with her work, interaction with the outside world and vampire world. I think this is the end of my Anita days, wish it could have been better.

Sorry to say that I just can't take it any more. Truly enjoyed the early Anita Blake books, when she seemed to be somewhat grounded in reality, and possessed some interesting and human characteristics. But the past few books in the series have been weak on plot, weak on character, and unbearably self-indulgent from Anita's standpoint. She is sooooo sexy, soooooo deadly, sooooo irresistable, ad nauseum. In this mess, the increasingly gelded Jean Claude (we all know who the real "Master" errr, "Mistress" is), is having his image propped up through Anita living at the Circus, and Asher is getting bitchy because JC won't do him. So Anita (after having others explain everything about the problem to her) fixes everything through an Ardeur orgy. Drivel ensues about Marmee Noir, who has been "awakening" for what seems like decades, but is in reality just another device (can't be a "plot" device without an actual plot) for Anita to discover how truly, really supernaturally bitchin' she is. She comes to discover that that she is, in addition to being Queen of Leopards, Necromancer, Executioner (err, excuse me "The Executioner"), U.S. Marshall, and for all I know, Feng Shui master, also the only one who can tame all of the kaleidoscope of Tigers, and thereby somehow thwart Mommie Darkest. Sorry if this sounds like a rant, but I guess it is. This series used to be a decent read, but Anita has become truly unbearable. The characters are two dimensional, the plots wafer thin, and if Ms. Hamilton doesn't realize that Anita is annoying, unbelievable and a complete bore, and that she cannot write sex scenes, she desperately needs to fire her editor or hire one.

If you are not a fan of the series/new to the series, this is not the book for you. If you are a long time fan of the series, this book will be a great disappointment.
After the redeeming Narcissus in Chains, I thought the series was back on track. However, Cerulean Sins is just Hamilton's foray into the world of Harlequin Romance novels. The crime subplot, usually expertly weaved into the story, seems vague and tacked on. The "Sweet Mother" concept seemed a little far-fetched and unnecessary (as far-fetched as possible in a world populated with preternaturals). Richard's involvement seemed like simply a "Remember this guy? He's still a lame-wad who needs counseling."
This book is most assuredly one of the low points in an ordinarily fine series. Stick with books 1, 2, 4, 5, and 8-10 for Anita at her finest.

I love this series and Cerulean Sins has exceeded my expectations. Laurell's books are always fast paced, page turners. How many times can you say that about such a long series. No book drags they keep you entertained page after page. Not even Stephen King can say that anymore. He just rambles on and on. Thankfully that's not Laurell's way. I only wish she wrote faster and bigger books. Write Laurell, write!
I highly recommend all this author's books. If you've never ready anything by her go purchase the entire series now. Believe me you will be rabid for the next book after you read the first one.

A friend introduced me to the Anita Blake series and I loved it for a while, until this book finally 'jumped the shark' for me. The sex scenes used to be an irritation that distracted from the plot. This book is nearly all sex with a few pages of plot. If I wanted to read about sex and angst, I'd read free erotica online. I miss Anita Blake as she once was: a strong, decisive female character. This series has degenerated to the level of Anne Rice's "Beauty" books.

I stopped reading and gave all the books away free of charge.

If the Anita Blake of Guilty Pleasures could travel forward in time to see what the Anita Blake of Bullet is up to she would probably put her Browning Hi-Power to her temple and blow her pretty head off. I used to love this tough, smart, character and now I can't stand her. What a bunch of drivel. Don't waste your money; I haven't read one of her books I've liked since shortly after she woke up and started doing Micah without even knowing him, and then nailing everything and anything that moved. I kept reading her books in the hope that the last dozen or so have been a horrible nightmare we'll all wake up from, but there is no hope left. The last dozen books have the same plot line: boinking and talking, boinking and talking and boinking and talking some more, plus people asking her stupid questions so she can show how smart she is, and Hamilton using the same phrases over and over again. "Puppy pile", "long line of his body, neck, thigh" (add your own body part here), "sweet copper pennies", gun "naked in his/my hand", and a new one "proof against"...(again fill in the blank). She must have used that one six times. Who ever edits this trash should be fired. There are more new people than you can ever keep track of. The best part was when Anita killed someone (finally) and another one died - yay, two less crappy characters to keep track of! What a disappointment..Jean-Claude has been de-fanged, he used to be scary. None of the monsters are scary any more, they're all sensitive men, under five ft 5 with long hair. Hamilton's descriptions of what everyone is wearing are tedious and a waste of page space, not to mention their height, eye and hair color, facial shapes and anything else she can fill in to avoid actually writing a story with a plot. How boring. No more Dolph, Zerbrowski, Ronnie and most importatly, no more Edward. I want Nathaniel's ankle-lenght hair to get caught in a woodchipper; I want Micah to grow a pair and say "no" to Anita once in awhile. I'm going back to read Guilty Pleasures and remember the good old days.....I would have given this book no stars but you can't.

I've never written a review for a book before but I was so disappointed that I had to. I was a fan of the earlier books but now it is just regurgitated phrases and descriptions of cloths, oh yeah and porn. And not even good porn. I think it took her 4 chapters to describe one sex act. You could kind of piece together story between the sex but frankly it was a waste of time. I keep hoping she'll write a good story again so I keep reading (from the library so I don't waste my money) but after the last couple of books I don't think so.
If you've never read her books before read the first 10 or 11 then stop, it just goes down hill.
If you like the supernatural there are a some great writers out there that actually tell a story.

"Cerulean Sins" is the eleventh book in Laurell Hamilton's "Anita Blake Vampire Hunter" series. These are amazing novels, but I want to emphasize that the degree of enjoyment one gets from them depends on a level of familiarity with Anita Blake and cohorts. These are not stand-alone books. Author Hamilton has developed her characters over a period of eleven-plus years, and one should read at least a few of her early works, beginning with "Guilty Pleasures," before tackling "Cerulean Sins." Action-packed and plot driven though the books may be, knowledge of the characters, and their growth, is essential for maximum appreciation.

"Narcissus In Chains," the novel prior to this one, was a pivotal point in the series, where some tension, built over a long period, was relieved and crucial decisions were made concerning the direction of Ms. Blake's life. Anita achieved the level of master necromancer, enhanced her status as human servant to Jean-Claude, and acquired a vampire servant of her very own, Damian. She has also become Bolverk of the Thronnos Rokke Clan, Nimir-Ra, (with her own Nimira-Raj - Micah), of the Blooddrinkers Pard, and a lycanthrope politician, of sorts. Anita, Jean-Claude, the Vampire Master, and Werewolf Ulfric, Richard Zeeman, finally married their forces and have become a triumvirate, powerfully tied to one another. Anita merged her blood and her being with two extremely vital creatures, for whom blood lust and sex are major motivators. The two preternaturals took on a touch of Anita's humanity in this exchange, and she, in turn, has become more otherworldly - her sexuality included - especially the part inherited from Jean-Claude. He has within him elements of an incubus, and is able to feed off sexual energy. Anita now has this same capacity and need, called the "ardeur." She is not able to control this drive yet and needs to have a trusted man around to allow her to feed when the urge overcomes her. Needless to say, the concept of monogamy is kaput, at least for the time being. She also possesses an inner-beast, as does Richard. Her ability to deal with an overabundance of additional superhuman features is just another stage in her development. Laurell Hamilton has made a courageous decision to take her protagonist over the dangerous terrain she now travels. She is definitely pushing the envelope. This is a crossroads for Blake fans, as well as for Ms. Blake. Ultimately Anita had to deal with making a decision about Jean-Claude and Richard, and either accept her growing preternaturalism, the merger and its consequences, or look for another career.

"Cerulean Sins" begins in a relatively low-keyed manner. Leo Harlan, a new client whose job description reads "assassin" meets with Anita and hires her to raise a dead ancestor for genealogical purposes. Hah! That same evening she has cemetery duty, to reanimate a man thought to have been a suicide. For insurance purposes, Anita needs to interview the corpse with a judge, insurance agent, former wife, and various others as witnesses to determine whether the family is entitled to receive insurance money. Vampire Asher, second-in-command to Jean-Claude, arrives as the zombie-raising ceremony is concluding. A major emergency has arisen - so what else is new?

Belle Mort, the 2000 year-old fountainhead, "le sourdre de sang," of Jean-Claude's and Asher's bloodline, and member of the all powerful Council of Vampires, had scheduled a visit to St. Louis for three months in the future. The Master of the City, and everyone connected to him, are responsible for wining, dining, (she thrives on blood, sex and fear), and doing everything possible for La Belle Mort and her entourage. Displeasing her could mean death or serious long-term torture. However, no one is allowed to harm this Queen of vamps - no matter what she does. She is their mother and their liege lady. Mussette, one of her lieutenants, has arrived early, on purpose, to wreck havoc. Mussette has some unreasonable demands, (of course), including the return of Asher to Europe and La Belle's lair. The only way he can be saved is for him to become the third member of a menage which includes Anita and Jean-Claude. Hmmm. What will Anita, the former Miss Priss decide?

On another front, a series of hideous murders are being committed in St. Louis, and although Anita has been called to work the case, her longtime mentor and former dear friend Lt. Dolph Storr, seems to hate her for her intimate contact with the preternatural set, especially the vampires. Then problems arise with Richard, and the allegiance of his werewolves, whose back-up is especially needed during the visit of Belle Morte and Mussette. The action is totally non-stop, as are the multitude of conflicts and dilemmas Anita must confront in her personal life.

Laurell Hamilton is one of the best storytellers around. I have now read eleven Anita books, and I rarely read series novels. The plots are spectacular. The labyrinthine vampire and lycanthrope politics makes US election brouhahas look like child's play. The characters are some of the most fascinating and complex that I have encountered in fantasy fiction. They have all grown and changed tremendously since book #1. The author's humor is often dark, but hilarious. I can't wait to read "Incubus Dreams," the 12th and last published Anita Blake novel. On the other hand, I am reluctant to begin it, because the 13th book won't be out until 2006. I highly recommend "Cerulean Sins," and every other book in this extraordinary collection.

JANA

First of all, this book will not appeal to everyone. Explicit sex and increasing involvement with the 'monsters' may turn off fans who loved the original kick-ass style of Anita Blake. However, I believe that this book shows a major improvement over the past couple of installments. Anita's directionless and complicated personal life becomes even more complicated but at last has some rules that she can understand. Richard the reluctant werewolf finally seems to be coming to grips with the reality of his own existance. Most important of all, we see that the humans may be just as monstrous as the 'monsters', which anyone reading a newspaper probably already knows.

First off the sex in this is great, sex wasnt the problem for me in fact its the part that made me finish the book, if your like me and you like some sauce in your reading then the series is starting to deliver in this regard.

Unfortunately there is problems, while the series was getting 5 star ratings from me from the start it is taking a slide in the last few books and heres whats losing it for me.

* This is probably the main flaw and some of the others stem from this, Anita's powers are getting excessive. The series used to be full of tension and fear and some of the best bits were reading about Anita about to enter a dangerous situation. There are no more dangerous situations anymore and regardless of whats thrown at Anita and her endless powers of necromancy, Lycanphropy and vampirism along with her small army of vampires and wereanimals, Anita will shrug off all challenges with little fuss. If anything manages to survive this onslaught she also happens to be one of the best assasins in the world.

* Everyone is in love with her, lusts after her fully and without exception. If there world does not revolve around Anita they are one of the following...
- a negligible character and will be killed by Anita in the next few chapters.
- A star character in the first few books who crossed Anita and is now suicidal/biggot/tool or all of the above.
- Once a big focal point but now are non existant see Larry, building up to a very likeable and strong character, he got involved with another woman besides Anita and is now gone.

* I do not like Anita anymore, her personality has taking a tumble along with her silly prudish ways. The men around her would literally take the shoes off her feet and lick them clean yet she always finds reasons to be nasty to them. God help it if any of her friends or lovers deem to stand up against her in any small way, fortunately this is an event that is yet to take place thanks to the frantic bootlicking of the cast.

* Micah? Who invited this guy? Why is he here? He seems to serve no actual plot purpose except for maybe a small part of the one book, send him the way of poor Larry now please.

*Jeane Claude, noooo what happened to the proud devious calculating vampire of old, whenever Anita needs his advice she retrieves him from her handbag where he is kept, uses him, and places him back for when he is next needed.

I havent read Incubus Dreams yet though i shall now astound you with my cunning predictions as to its plot.
Anita will beat up the Vampire coucil, steal all there powers and becomes God. Meanwhile Richard finds new ways to be depressed over nothing, Jeanne Claude waits at home till Anita calls for him, Micah justs hangs around doing nothing useful except nod his head approvingly whenever Anita looks his way. After the hiding they received the council join Anita's retinue and take up the cleaning duties around her house as Nathaniel has had a terrible accident after being crushed to death by his hair.

Anyway back to Cerulean Dreams - 2 stars to any book that i finish and dont regret reading, and 1 for the hot vampire orgies.

If you haven't read any of the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter novels, this one is not the place to start. There are too many events and characters that would not make sense unless you know their backstory. However, for devoted fans of Anita, you can't skip this one.

Some threads finally come together in Anita's personal life, and some get unraveled in her professional one. But Anita is finally beginning to grow up and come to terms with herself as an emotional being. All of the characters show consistent development, something that Ms. Hamilton does with such ease and aplomb. We feel as if these are real friends, growing and learning, rather than imaginary characters in a book. It's good to visit with them again and see how they're doing.

Anita Blake doesn't show her muscle much in this book. There were hardly any gunshots at all, and she barely beat a few people up. It was a little disappointing for her to be behaving herself (perhaps just because I'm PMSing), but then that is another sign of Anita's growing maturity. And after the bloodbaths of "Obsidian Butterfly" and "Narcissus In Chains," perhaps we needed a bit of a break from the gore. Although there is still enough violence that it isn't a complete departure.

There are things revealed in "Cerulean Sins" that will be essential to the understanding of any future Anita Blake novels. The only real detraction is the fact that the proofreaders at Berkley Publishing need to pay a little more attention to their job - there are some glaring typos that are like speed bumps in the story. But besides all that, the novel is just a great read. I highly recommend it.

Thank you, Ms. Hamilton, for giving us another installment in a very entertaining series.

In the first books about Anita Blake the focus was on the tention between Anita and her boyfriends, in adition to her zombie-raising work and her friends (and penguins). In the last 2-3 books in this serie the focus has gone from some violence and romance with a little sex, to much violence and then sex, sex, sex and a tiiiiny bit romance. What will be next? She _becomes_ the new "Mommy dearest" hyper-vampire-queen? I still loves her series.. but I wish she would tone down the sex-part. I don't mind there beeing some sex in the books - but I DO mind when it takes up more than half the space of the book. I wish for more Richard, more Ronnie, more stuffed penguins, more fun, more Edward.. and more of her old, good humour :)

Ok, I really liked this book. It could tone it down a little (or a lot) on the sex, because it's beginning to get to the point where plot is just an interlude between sex acts with random people. Also, who edited this book? Does anyone realize that halfway through the book, Hamilton changed the spelling of Jason's last name? Also, she needs to work on her comma usage and occasional sentence structure. It was yet another distraction from the plot. I don't remember the other books being like this. I love the series, but this book needs some work.

This series has been about the most addicting thing ever for me. I started with Guilty Pleasures just after Christmas (after hearing the name Laurell Hamilton on another website) and read the first 10 books in just over two weeks. ***
Ms. Hamilton's newest novel, Cerulean Sins, is not the best of the series, but it is acceptable. The new evil introduced could definitely lead to some great action in future books, but the bad vamps of this story weren't as bad as those of old, in my opinion. Anita is kick-butt as always, but not like we've seen in other books. In fact, I was slightly surprised by the lack of action -- This novel definitely allows the characters, especially Anita, to get very introspective. All in all, though, this is a must read for all AB fans!

I love this series and Cerulean Sins has exceeded my expectations. Laurell's books are always fast paced, page turners. How many times can you say that about such a long series. No book drags they keep you entertained page after page. Not even Stephen King can say that anymore. He just rambles on and on. Thankfully that's not Laurell's way. I only wish she wrote faster and bigger books. Write Laurell, write!
I highly recommend all this author's books. If you've never ready anything by her go purchase the entire series now. Believe me you will be rabid for the next book after you read the first one.

A friend introduced me to the Anita Blake series and I loved it for a while, until this book finally 'jumped the shark' for me. The sex scenes used to be an irritation that distracted from the plot. This book is nearly all sex with a few pages of plot. If I wanted to read about sex and angst, I'd read free erotica online. I miss Anita Blake as she once was: a strong, decisive female character. This series has degenerated to the level of Anne Rice's "Beauty" books.

I stopped reading and gave all the books away free of charge.

If the Anita Blake of Guilty Pleasures could travel forward in time to see what the Anita Blake of Bullet is up to she would probably put her Browning Hi-Power to her temple and blow her pretty head off. I used to love this tough, smart, character and now I can't stand her. What a bunch of drivel. Don't waste your money; I haven't read one of her books I've liked since shortly after she woke up and started doing Micah without even knowing him, and then nailing everything and anything that moved. I kept reading her books in the hope that the last dozen or so have been a horrible nightmare we'll all wake up from, but there is no hope left. The last dozen books have the same plot line: boinking and talking, boinking and talking and boinking and talking some more, plus people asking her stupid questions so she can show how smart she is, and Hamilton using the same phrases over and over again. "Puppy pile", "long line of his body, neck, thigh" (add your own body part here), "sweet copper pennies", gun "naked in his/my hand", and a new one "proof against"...(again fill in the blank). She must have used that one six times. Who ever edits this trash should be fired. There are more new people than you can ever keep track of. The best part was when Anita killed someone (finally) and another one died - yay, two less crappy characters to keep track of! What a disappointment..Jean-Claude has been de-fanged, he used to be scary. None of the monsters are scary any more, they're all sensitive men, under five ft 5 with long hair. Hamilton's descriptions of what everyone is wearing are tedious and a waste of page space, not to mention their height, eye and hair color, facial shapes and anything else she can fill in to avoid actually writing a story with a plot. How boring. No more Dolph, Zerbrowski, Ronnie and most importatly, no more Edward. I want Nathaniel's ankle-lenght hair to get caught in a woodchipper; I want Micah to grow a pair and say "no" to Anita once in awhile. I'm going back to read Guilty Pleasures and remember the good old days.....I would have given this book no stars but you can't.

I've never written a review for a book before but I was so disappointed that I had to. I was a fan of the earlier books but now it is just regurgitated phrases and descriptions of cloths, oh yeah and porn. And not even good porn. I think it took her 4 chapters to describe one sex act. You could kind of piece together story between the sex but frankly it was a waste of time. I keep hoping she'll write a good story again so I keep reading (from the library so I don't waste my money) but after the last couple of books I don't think so.
If you've never read her books before read the first 10 or 11 then stop, it just goes down hill.
If you like the supernatural there are a some great writers out there that actually tell a story.

"Cerulean Sins" is the eleventh book in Laurell Hamilton's "Anita Blake Vampire Hunter" series. These are amazing novels, but I want to emphasize that the degree of enjoyment one gets from them depends on a level of familiarity with Anita Blake and cohorts. These are not stand-alone books. Author Hamilton has developed her characters over a period of eleven-plus years, and one should read at least a few of her early works, beginning with "Guilty Pleasures," before tackling "Cerulean Sins." Action-packed and plot driven though the books may be, knowledge of the characters, and their growth, is essential for maximum appreciation.

"Narcissus In Chains," the novel prior to this one, was a pivotal point in the series, where some tension, built over a long period, was relieved and crucial decisions were made concerning the direction of Ms. Blake's life. Anita achieved the level of master necromancer, enhanced her status as human servant to Jean-Claude, and acquired a vampire servant of her very own, Damian. She has also become Bolverk of the Thronnos Rokke Clan, Nimir-Ra, (with her own Nimira-Raj - Micah), of the Blooddrinkers Pard, and a lycanthrope politician, of sorts. Anita, Jean-Claude, the Vampire Master, and Werewolf Ulfric, Richard Zeeman, finally married their forces and have become a triumvirate, powerfully tied to one another. Anita merged her blood and her being with two extremely vital creatures, for whom blood lust and sex are major motivators. The two preternaturals took on a touch of Anita's humanity in this exchange, and she, in turn, has become more otherworldly - her sexuality included - especially the part inherited from Jean-Claude. He has within him elements of an incubus, and is able to feed off sexual energy. Anita now has this same capacity and need, called the "ardeur." She is not able to control this drive yet and needs to have a trusted man around to allow her to feed when the urge overcomes her. Needless to say, the concept of monogamy is kaput, at least for the time being. She also possesses an inner-beast, as does Richard. Her ability to deal with an overabundance of additional superhuman features is just another stage in her development. Laurell Hamilton has made a courageous decision to take her protagonist over the dangerous terrain she now travels. She is definitely pushing the envelope. This is a crossroads for Blake fans, as well as for Ms. Blake. Ultimately Anita had to deal with making a decision about Jean-Claude and Richard, and either accept her growing preternaturalism, the merger and its consequences, or look for another career.

"Cerulean Sins" begins in a relatively low-keyed manner. Leo Harlan, a new client whose job description reads "assassin" meets with Anita and hires her to raise a dead ancestor for genealogical purposes. Hah! That same evening she has cemetery duty, to reanimate a man thought to have been a suicide. For insurance purposes, Anita needs to interview the corpse with a judge, insurance agent, former wife, and various others as witnesses to determine whether the family is entitled to receive insurance money. Vampire Asher, second-in-command to Jean-Claude, arrives as the zombie-raising ceremony is concluding. A major emergency has arisen - so what else is new?

Belle Mort, the 2000 year-old fountainhead, "le sourdre de sang," of Jean-Claude's and Asher's bloodline, and member of the all powerful Council of Vampires, had scheduled a visit to St. Louis for three months in the future. The Master of the City, and everyone connected to him, are responsible for wining, dining, (she thrives on blood, sex and fear), and doing everything possible for La Belle Mort and her entourage. Displeasing her could mean death or serious long-term torture. However, no one is allowed to harm this Queen of vamps - no matter what she does. She is their mother and their liege lady. Mussette, one of her lieutenants, has arrived early, on purpose, to wreck havoc. Mussette has some unreasonable demands, (of course), including the return of Asher to Europe and La Belle's lair. The only way he can be saved is for him to become the third member of a menage which includes Anita and Jean-Claude. Hmmm. What will Anita, the former Miss Priss decide?

On another front, a series of hideous murders are being committed in St. Louis, and although Anita has been called to work the case, her longtime mentor and former dear friend Lt. Dolph Storr, seems to hate her for her intimate contact with the preternatural set, especially the vampires. Then problems arise with Richard, and the allegiance of his werewolves, whose back-up is especially needed during the visit of Belle Morte and Mussette. The action is totally non-stop, as are the multitude of conflicts and dilemmas Anita must confront in her personal life.

Laurell Hamilton is one of the best storytellers around. I have now read eleven Anita books, and I rarely read series novels. The plots are spectacular. The labyrinthine vampire and lycanthrope politics makes US election brouhahas look like child's play. The characters are some of the most fascinating and complex that I have encountered in fantasy fiction. They have all grown and changed tremendously since book #1. The author's humor is often dark, but hilarious. I can't wait to read "Incubus Dreams," the 12th and last published Anita Blake novel. On the other hand, I am reluctant to begin it, because the 13th book won't be out until 2006. I highly recommend "Cerulean Sins," and every other book in this extraordinary collection.

JANA

First of all, this book will not appeal to everyone. Explicit sex and increasing involvement with the 'monsters' may turn off fans who loved the original kick-ass style of Anita Blake. However, I believe that this book shows a major improvement over the past couple of installments. Anita's directionless and complicated personal life becomes even more complicated but at last has some rules that she can understand. Richard the reluctant werewolf finally seems to be coming to grips with the reality of his own existance. Most important of all, we see that the humans may be just as monstrous as the 'monsters', which anyone reading a newspaper probably already knows.

First off the sex in this is great, sex wasnt the problem for me in fact its the part that made me finish the book, if your like me and you like some sauce in your reading then the series is starting to deliver in this regard.

Unfortunately there is problems, while the series was getting 5 star ratings from me from the start it is taking a slide in the last few books and heres whats losing it for me.

* This is probably the main flaw and some of the others stem from this, Anita's powers are getting excessive. The series used to be full of tension and fear and some of the best bits were reading about Anita about to enter a dangerous situation. There are no more dangerous situations anymore and regardless of whats thrown at Anita and her endless powers of necromancy, Lycanphropy and vampirism along with her small army of vampires and wereanimals, Anita will shrug off all challenges with little fuss. If anything manages to survive this onslaught she also happens to be one of the best assasins in the world.

* Everyone is in love with her, lusts after her fully and without exception. If there world does not revolve around Anita they are one of the following...
- a negligible character and will be killed by Anita in the next few chapters.
- A star character in the first few books who crossed Anita and is now suicidal/biggot/tool or all of the above.
- Once a big focal point but now are non existant see Larry, building up to a very likeable and strong character, he got involved with another woman besides Anita and is now gone.

* I do not like Anita anymore, her personality has taking a tumble along with her silly prudish ways. The men around her would literally take the shoes off her feet and lick them clean yet she always finds reasons to be nasty to them. God help it if any of her friends or lovers deem to stand up against her in any small way, fortunately this is an event that is yet to take place thanks to the frantic bootlicking of the cast.

* Micah? Who invited this guy? Why is he here? He seems to serve no actual plot purpose except for maybe a small part of the one book, send him the way of poor Larry now please.

*Jeane Claude, noooo what happened to the proud devious calculating vampire of old, whenever Anita needs his advice she retrieves him from her handbag where he is kept, uses him, and places him back for when he is next needed.

I havent read Incubus Dreams yet though i shall now astound you with my cunning predictions as to its plot.
Anita will beat up the Vampire coucil, steal all there powers and becomes God. Meanwhile Richard finds new ways to be depressed over nothing, Jeanne Claude waits at home till Anita calls for him, Micah justs hangs around doing nothing useful except nod his head approvingly whenever Anita looks his way. After the hiding they received the council join Anita's retinue and take up the cleaning duties around her house as Nathaniel has had a terrible accident after being crushed to death by his hair.

Anyway back to Cerulean Dreams - 2 stars to any book that i finish and dont regret reading, and 1 for the hot vampire orgies.

It used to be that television tried to be like books.
Today, it's more that books are trying to be like television!
When I set out to write a story like my vampire novel, Those Of My Blood ...I think in terms of tv series such as Buffy, Angel, Andromeda, MutantX, Smallville, Enterprise.
So in P. N. Elrod's "The Vampire Files" series and here in the "Anita Blake" series, and in a mundane detective series like Faye Kellerman's "Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus", you are getting a Babylon5 (or Dallas) style "story-arc".
Some readers find that confusing, distracting or diluting, while others thrive on it. "Anita Blake" is one of those series that moves at the pace of a soap opera, with about a year's progress in each novel.
In the first novel, Guilty Pleasures, 1995, Anita Blake is possessed by her self-image. One cornerstone of the identity she thinks she has is her idea of who she will or will not sleep with.
In Cerulean Sins, we struggle with Anita through a collapse of that entire cornerstone of her identity. She was so sure of herself. She was willing to die or to kill rather than do what she's doing in this novel.
Why is she doing this? Because over the course of these novels, Anita has acquired aspects of the magical creatures she's been dealing with -- vampires, werewolves and were-cats. She has not become vampire or were-anything. But she has these traits magically rooted into her identity, and that magic is forcing a change in her identity.
Now, in Cerulean Sins, she is a victim of a kind of sexual esurience as powerful as the vampire's bloodlust. If she fails to have sex, she will go mad with it and force herself on someone -- possibly on someone she cares for or someone she hates. She will have no conscious choice.
The very thing we originally marveled at in her character -- her absolute refusal to be anyone's or anything's victim -- is gone. She is a victim of her own esurience for sex. Worse. This esurience has been forced upon her -- not exactly against her will, but still forced on her.
She is helpless against the results of the choices she has made. Karmically, she has come to exactly the place she was headed to in Guilty Pleasures.
The sense of "confusion" and the difficulty in following the plot that some readers have had stems from the way Anita's internal loosing-battle has left her essential character in tattered shreds. Anita is "confused" so we are confused. Anita can't "follow" her own life, so we can't follow the plot.
Anita was a "winner" -- she's "won" every physical battle in all these books. But with each win, she's lost something of "herself." And in this book, she's more loser than winner, very much aware that each win is an irretrievable loss. She is on the edge of despair. Considering who she used to be, that is massively confusing.
The background of this series is "fantastic" -- vampires with civil rights, werewolves who teach high school, weretigers, necromancy -- all of it is so "unreal". Therefore the psychology of the characters must be impeccably "real" to the reader so that the fantastic will seem plausible.
The classic test for whether a novel is science fiction (or fantasy) or not is whether you still have a story when you remove the "science". The "science" in the Anita Blake series is psychology. Psychology is the core science behind all magick, as Dion Fortune and Marion Zimmer Bradley describe it.
If you remove the psychology from the "Anita Blake" series, or from P. N. Elrod's "The Vampire Files" series, you no longer have a story. Therefore, these series are in fact Occult Fantasy -- just like Buffy The Vampire Slayer.
If you can't follow the psychology, you won't find any story here that you can get your ahem teeth into.
Live Long and Prosper,
Jacqueline Lichtenberg
...

If you haven't read any of the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter novels, this one is not the place to start. There are too many events and characters that would not make sense unless you know their backstory. However, for devoted fans of Anita, you can't skip this one.

Some threads finally come together in Anita's personal life, and some get unraveled in her professional one. But Anita is finally beginning to grow up and come to terms with herself as an emotional being. All of the characters show consistent development, something that Ms. Hamilton does with such ease and aplomb. We feel as if these are real friends, growing and learning, rather than imaginary characters in a book. It's good to visit with them again and see how they're doing.

Anita Blake doesn't show her muscle much in this book. There were hardly any gunshots at all, and she barely beat a few people up. It was a little disappointing for her to be behaving herself (perhaps just because I'm PMSing), but then that is another sign of Anita's growing maturity. And after the bloodbaths of "Obsidian Butterfly" and "Narcissus In Chains," perhaps we needed a bit of a break from the gore. Although there is still enough violence that it isn't a complete departure.

There are things revealed in "Cerulean Sins" that will be essential to the understanding of any future Anita Blake novels. The only real detraction is the fact that the proofreaders at Berkley Publishing need to pay a little more attention to their job - there are some glaring typos that are like speed bumps in the story. But besides all that, the novel is just a great read. I highly recommend it.

Thank you, Ms. Hamilton, for giving us another installment in a very entertaining series.

In the first books about Anita Blake the focus was on the tention between Anita and her boyfriends, in adition to her zombie-raising work and her friends (and penguins). In the last 2-3 books in this serie the focus has gone from some violence and romance with a little sex, to much violence and then sex, sex, sex and a tiiiiny bit romance. What will be next? She _becomes_ the new "Mommy dearest" hyper-vampire-queen? I still loves her series.. but I wish she would tone down the sex-part. I don't mind there beeing some sex in the books - but I DO mind when it takes up more than half the space of the book. I wish for more Richard, more Ronnie, more stuffed penguins, more fun, more Edward.. and more of her old, good humour :)

Ok, I really liked this book. It could tone it down a little (or a lot) on the sex, because it's beginning to get to the point where plot is just an interlude between sex acts with random people. Also, who edited this book? Does anyone realize that halfway through the book, Hamilton changed the spelling of Jason's last name? Also, she needs to work on her comma usage and occasional sentence structure. It was yet another distraction from the plot. I don't remember the other books being like this. I love the series, but this book needs some work.

This series has been about the most addicting thing ever for me. I started with Guilty Pleasures just after Christmas (after hearing the name Laurell Hamilton on another website) and read the first 10 books in just over two weeks. ***
Ms. Hamilton's newest novel, Cerulean Sins, is not the best of the series, but it is acceptable. The new evil introduced could definitely lead to some great action in future books, but the bad vamps of this story weren't as bad as those of old, in my opinion. Anita is kick-butt as always, but not like we've seen in other books. In fact, I was slightly surprised by the lack of action -- This novel definitely allows the characters, especially Anita, to get very introspective. All in all, though, this is a must read for all AB fans!

I, like most people, loved the first 10 books. I loved that Anita was a strong female character that could really kick ass when she needed to. She was strong and capable. But the series has turned to a whole new focus--EVERYBODY WANTS ANITA. Her main boyfriends, her extracurricular boyfriends, and all the bad guys--that includes international vampires and international terrorists--want her. Only a few people don't and they seem to have jealousy issues. The whole book seems to be more of a teenage fantasy than a slick vampire story.

Anita is offered up as such a powerful female figure and I like that. But where are the others?? Anita has no real women friends... Ronnie, Cheryl, and Claudia all have bit parts--although no Ronnie in this book--and do nothing that advances the plot. They are all only token. The books are all about Anita and her harem of men. In some ways, Anita is beginning to remind me of the vampires in that she suffers no one that could be any sort of competition. It almost seems to me that Anita, and perhaps LKH, don't care for other women. A few more people not in love with Anita would really air out the storyline.

I wish the series would change with the next book, but from the reviews I have read it seems to be more of the same with more typos. The whole "ardeur" problem needs to go away. I am okay with Anita having sex with whomever she wants, but does LKH have to give her such a silly reason to do it? How about she just wants to? It reminds me too much of the woman that must get drunk in order to give herself permission to have sex.

I am losing hope for Anita.

...almost all reviewers make it out to be. At least I don't think it deserves the one-star ratings and heavy bashing that it's gotten here. Anita Blake is back and this time she will protect her monster friends from the leaders of the vampire council. This one picks up right where Narcissus in Chains left off. Musette arrives earlier than everyone had anticipated, and she is there to help start out Belle Morte's revenge against the only two men who had dared to walk out on her. Belle Morte is top dog of the vampire council and the most desired woman of all time. She was the one responsible for all the pain and suffering Jean-Claude and Asher endured as sex slaves many centuries ago. She has sent Musette to reclaim Asher -- something that does not sit well with Anita. In order to stop Belle Morte from taking Asher, Anita decides to claim Asher by sleeping with him and Jean-Claude at the same time. Thus, starting a menage a trois not unlike the one the two vampires had many centuries ago with Julianne. Anita might save Asher from Belle Morte, but could she save him from his inferiority complex? To make matters worse, there's a killer werewolf on the loose, an international terrorist is after Anita, Richard has become suicidal, and Anita has to continue to feed the ardeur. There are various twists throughout the novel...

As said earlier, the novel isn't as terrible as some of the reviewers make it seem. I for one was entertained. However, there are various things that I did not like about this installment. I didn't like that LKH devoted almost the whole middle part of the novel to metaphysical contacts. LKH centered various chapters on a rather long drive to the Circus of the Damned in which Anita fights the ardeur and has mind conversations with Belle Morte, Richard and the Mother of all Darkness. That was not the highest point in the novel for me, to say the least. And as much as I enjoyed the ardeur in Narcissus in Chains, here it comes across as mere plot filler. I hate to say it, but the subplot centered on the ardeur does come across as a blatant excuse to have Anita sleep with various characters. The ardeur wouldn't have bothered me if it had been remotely relevant to the overall storyline in this novel. And I hate what Hamilton has done with the character Dolph. She's turned him into a bigot. He used to be one of my favorite characters. Oh well, at least Zerbrowski is still a fun character. I won't even deign to comment on Richard. I don't know what to make of the ending. It just seemed rushed. And last but not least, I still don't like Micah. What I do like about this novel is that Asher finally plays a more prominent role in the series. He's become one of my favorite characters. I also got to know Jason in a deeper level. He too is a favorite character of mine. And of course I loved the threesome between Anita, Jean-Claude and Asher. JC and Asher are scrumptiously described in this series and that scene was a real treat. There are of course a few twists and creepy moments in that scene as well. I guess you'd come to expect that from Ms. Hamilton. I also liked the erotic scene between Anita and one of my favorite werewolves. And I finally got to read about Anita doing an assignment as the Executioner. I can't believe it took LKH eleven installments to finally delve deeper into that part of Anita's work. All in all, Cerulean Sins isn't the best Anita Blake book, but it isn't the horrid reading experience I came to expect based on the reviews. I guess the reader will either love it or hate it. The storylines and characters have evolved -- the series would've become boring if it had remained in the same vein as the earlier books. I advise AB fans not to give up on the series. Well, I for one can't wait for the release of Incubus Dreams...

I am such a L.K.H. fan. And I still love her writing style and I love the Anita Blake series. But really, how much longer can this go on this way? We all know she sleeps with more men than most hookers in month. And I have been ok with that but I want more story with the people already in her life. I'm tired of adding new lovers and no new story with the old. I will keep reading because I love this series but I am sad. Throw a baby in there or something odd that brings her and her "main" men closer. But I'm afraid we are losing my favorite series. :-(

most of the books in the blake vampire series have offered something new. not this one. i still plan on reading the next book(s) in the series, but very little happened. the excitement peaked in the middle, and the ending was a let down. also, the plot was not extended much at all, leaving me wondering what Ms. Hamilton was trying to accomplish. In that respect it reminds me of Robert Jordan's latest, i read it so i can read the next book, but felt like nothing happened. Wait for paperback or till you can borrow it from someone.
the only reason i rated it 2 stars instead of 1 was that it still involved characters i liked, and it was easy reading, just like the rest of the series.

I would've given this book 5 stars, if I thought its intent was to inspire fits of hilarity. But seeing as how the author wants to be taken seriously for this laugh riot, I have to go with 1 star. None wasn't available.
Now, don't get me wrong, its quite an achievement to put the word "ardeur" in the books as many times as Ms Hamilton does. And its not just anyone that can make sex scenes so mechanical and uninteresting. And one particular sex act gets described in painstaking detail not once, not twice, but THREE seperate times. Is this a book or a sex manual? (and a bad one at that).
And its frankly miraculous that so many incredibly stupid characters can find their way onto these pages. I think they might have had a brain once, though not since Blue Moon. But now? Whether its the totally self-absorbed Anita, a character that has become so unappealing its amazing that the rest of the characters haven't ganged up and staked her already. Or Jean-Claude, the once clever and manipulative vampire who seems to lead his life according to what Anita wants on any given day. Or Richard, the once sympathetic and very human werewolf who now gives new meaning to the terms "bipolar and moody". Or how about Micah? A character that wouldn't know a personality if it bit him on his enormous...uh...nose. And then there's the increasingly whiney Asher who puts his foot down with Anita. At least for a whole 50 pages he does. Then he caves like the rest of the girly-men that inhabit this book. Someday I might understand why Ms Hamilton thinks men with long hair, feminine feature, the ability to wear Anita's clothes and no visible signs of a backbone are interesting. But I seriously doubt it.
What was once a very interesting, fun and exciting serious seems more and more to me like a soap opera/authobiographical/erotica mishmash. Someone send in Edward with an uzi to clean house, and make sure not to miss Miss Blake.

This is a pornographic orgy book. Fantasy and science fiction takes a back seat to sex and rock and roll. The book seems to use sex as a rebellious weapon against former readers' complaints. Anal seems to be the only faux pas in this montage of hetero,lesbian,man on man swaree. Anita's most powerful weapon is sex,it is what makes her moral compared to Marmee Noir,gain powers from other vampires and tame were animals. I think what disappoints Hamilton's readers is the inconsistency of her writing. Is she a sci fi/fantasy writer or a author pornographer who adds a little sci fi for spice?

When the Anita Blake series first started it was excellent! Anita Blake was, in my opinion, the most fascinating female character in modern fantasy or adventure fiction. The idea of a woman character, a petite woman at that, being so formidable that super human monsters were frightened enough of her to call her The Executioner was just so durn cool! I use to really look forward to these books, but that was then; this is now. Instead of remaining an impressive heroine Blake has become, to be brutally frank, just a (...) for monsters. Slowly, but surely these book have gone from being dynamite adventure/horror fiction to becoming nothing more then weird porn of which Cerulean Sins is the worst so far. Ms. Hamilton is so focused on describing in intimate detail Anita's sexual escapades that everything else has become insignificant. I don't know why Ms. Hamilton took this tact with such a wonderful character and no longer care because Cerulean Sins is so bad it convinced me that Anita Blake, and the series as a whole, is completely irredeemable as anything interesting.

I agree with many of the previous reviews. A book has to have character development and exciting plots in addition to sex scenes--otherwise it is just porn. Porn is just sex, only there for the sex, and that is what Hamilton's books are now. Anita Blake used to be one of my favorites.

But it certainly was better than the waiting period until the next book came out. Although I must say, it could have been polished a little. And the ending was something of a flop to be brutally honest. But overall, this book was still enjoyable. The beginning started out just like any other of her great books, yet something was missing. It was hard to pin down, but the missing link (so to speak) to this being a great read was simply that the entire affair seemed a bit rushed; like Hamilton had a deadline to meet, and didn't have time to nurture the plot into something spectacular.

CS so far is very different from most Anita Blake books. It takes a little bit of the heighten sex appeal from NiC, and focus on relationships while trying to include the mysteries of old and a new sense of maturity in the characters behavior. Before all the men in Anita's life would take her limitations without a second thought and now they rebel against her and make her question everything in her life--and its about time! Some of the plot is run over a bit too fast, but overall I like the new maturity in the relationships and the continuing search for Anita to be able to be at peace with her life. It reminds us of our own struggles, but in a more interesting way with the complications of supernatural creatures and forces. These books never seem to stop entertaining and enthralling me and I'm sick of people complaining about the sex because it is the most well done and most meaningful sex I've read.

Anita Blake was a great series! I loved everything about Anita, even if some of the other characters were a little stereotypical (Jean-Claude) or annoying (I find Richard's "poor me" act irritating). But it seems like Ms. Hamilton peaked with Obsidian Butterfly. Naricissus in Chains was excruciatingly long and pointless. But I'm talking about Cerulean Sins, so let me get back to that.

All in all, it was much better than Naricissus, that's for sure. I even got excited, thinking things were going to get back on track. But I agree with many reviews about this book. Hamilton's losing her edge and is resorting to sex to make up for it. The serial killer plot in this book became a subplot and left a lot of things unexplained. I bought this book because half of the reviews raved about it and the other half downed it. I wanted decide on my own, now I feel like I should've checked it out of the library instead of buying it.

If you cut out all the relationship angst and repetitive monotonous sex, you'd have an interesting exciting 300 page novel instead of this bloated monstrosity. Like Clancy, Hamilton started to have success as a writer and predictably her editors became afraid to make her pare anything away.

This book has a little more plot than most of the other later Anita Blake books, but only a little.

It's about half sex. Stale, repetitive sex at that, too. I can't recommend any of the recent Anita Blake books with a good conscious. Hamilton was never that great a writer, what made her books worth reading was the character: Anita Blake. But, now, it's only the same character in name only. There really isn't anything else recongnizable about her anymore.

I really enjoyed this book. Anita's morals are highly challenged throughout this book. With the ardeur, her needs to feed it through sex challenges her morals.
Richard is struggling with his own depression and the triumvirate suffers due to his problems. Anita can't even be in the same room as Richard because she doesn't want to begin to hate him. Musetta, a lietenant of Belle Morte, comes to St. Louis three months ahead of time and chaos is reigned. Negotiations are not complete and Musetta demands Asher as her "treat". In order to protect Asher, Anita will test the bounds of her morals which will bind Jean-Claude, Anita and Asher closer together than ever before. Or drive Asher away for good, and cause a wedge in the relationship between Anita and her beloved Jean-Claude. But underneath all of this someone is beginning to wake, the Mother of all Vampires. She is curious of Anita and her powers, the mother does not love, hate, or feel any emotions, she is darkness itself.

I've read a few of the negative reviews and am at a total loss where these are coming from. It isn't like LKH has suddenly surprised everyone with Anita's abilities and the ardeur. It has been a progression and has been stated how many powers Anita is gaining along with the way the ardeur works so she has to have so many men in her life. I have liked all of the books, including Flirt, which I thought was a very nicely done novelette.

This book finally has Richard and Anita growing up and realizing they have been childish and unrealistic in what they want from the people around them. They are now embracing what needs to be done and doing it. Asher has been wanting Jean Claude for so long it was a relief to finally have that happen. It was also nice that he was punished before he was rewarded because he had been a very bad boy. JC can now work toward protecting everyone and have the power supporting him that he has needed for a long time.

While I am an avid fan I will say that I have had issues with some of the books. Not the same issues some folks have. Mine have been from an editing stand point. An example is I loved the storyline in Harlequin. Hated the editing. Some of the characters names were incorrect, some of the things said about them or by the characters were wrong, and it bothered me these small things were not corrected. However, I will continue reading the books and enjoying them.

One thing I had an issue with while reading some of these reviews is the fact that people think they can tell an author how to write their books and where to take the storyline. The author has complete autonomous power to write the story they want to write and tell it the way they want to tell it. No one has the right to dictate how that is going to be done except the author. Where do these people get off thinking that because they put something on a blog they will be obeyed? If you don't like the books then stop reading them. If you think you have a better idea write your own book.

I am looking forward to the next Anita Blake book. And by the way, if you don't like the sex in these, don't bother to read her Merry Gentry books. Personally, I love both series and can hardly wait for the next in each of them.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of the Anita Blake series, but I feel like Ms Hamilton has lost the plot (and the characters) in exchange for more sex and sensationalism. In addition, there's a lot of repetition of sentences lifted directly from earlier books which is boring. Her prose seems to have gone down the tubes compared to the punch-packing flow of the earlier stories. The last great book in this series was Obsidian Butterfly, but if you must read this I'd say check it out from the library and save yourself the cash. You'll be glad you did.

I will not spend time telling you what is going on in this book. All I want to do is be able to speak out and let the "human" population know that Laurell K. Hamilton is one phenomenal writer who knows how to grab your attention and keep it from the front cover all the way through to the back cover. I have been lending the entire series out to all of my friends, none of us could wait for the 11th book "Cerulean Sins" to come out. Well, now that it has and we have read it, I honestly don't know how we will all wait till book 12 comes around! I have never taken the time or effort to RE-read a series before, but I had to start over at book ONE and go all the way through again, just to take up the slack time between books. Guess I will be doing it again! I just want to beg Laurell to write faster and keep up the wonderful work!

Anita Black was a great series for a long time. It was funny, sexy, action-packed, and creepy. Anita was a cool tough chick who did things her own way with style and self-effacing wit. That was the good old days, all right, up through Obsidian Butterfly.
But something's changed. The books are no longer sexy, but just sexual. Anita is under a curse ("ardeur") that forces her to do something sexual every twelve hours. It's absurd if you think about it--what if she's on a long plane trip? What if she gets hurt and has to stay in the hospital? What if her family comes over to stay with her for a couple days? But the author takes this curse, which seems more like a cheap porn setup than an actual plot, with deadly seriousness.
The end result is sad. Anita, once tough and in charge, is reduced to a porn cliche, sleeping with people she used to hate, writhing about on the floor and begging every man in St. Louis for more, more, she must have more sex! I liked the erotic bits in the previous books, but they coexisted with action and horror--as erotica alone, the series just doesn't work.
The usual murder mystery plot takes place entirely in the first 10 and last 10 pages of the book, and is ignored completely in the intervening 390. Too bad. It's got potential. The vampire-politics plot runs all through the book, but it's paced at about a development every five hours, so good luck staying awake.

I'm very disappointed I feel cheated and scammed, Flirt had led me to believe that she was finally going to at least meet us half way and tone down the sex but instead I feel like Laurel just wanted to rub it in our faces (those of us that miss the classic Anita Blake, that had depth) and say ah ha gotcha. The entire book is the same thing as the last other 9 or 10 books. We have sex, someone trying to break through the mighty triumvirate ... sex saves the day Oh! Excuse me love saves the day. With yet more sex with anyone new that comes along. Though this book really takes the cake, people will be talking about this one for now on.... the dreaded dance recital. Nothing more to say about this, that others have not already pointed out.
I wish I would have bought this book in the store, so I could return it! I will not make this mistake again. If you have read the last 9 or 10 books and were disappointed than trust me just skip this one this was the worst yet...

I have read Cerulean Sins, along with the other ten books in the Anita Blake series, and so far I think Cerulean sins was the worse. In the beginning of the series, Anita was such a strong character, had strong morals, and she had to fight for things. Once I hit the tenth book, Narcissus in Chains, I thought her character went downhill. I thought there was too much sex and not enough plot. But then I read Cerulean Sins. In Cerulean Sins Anita's morals seemed to deteriate all together. She didn't seem like she had to work for anything anymore. Anita has so many ties with the vampirs and the wereanimals that she never really has to actually put up a struggle.

There were only two main plots to the book, the vampire council that comes to town, and the man that Anita has to catch. Most the book was filled with sex scenes, the vampire council doesn't seem like much of a plot to me, because it's the same sexual vampire bull that always goes on. So that part just blended in with all the useless sex that I had read earlier in the novel. Then, the thing that I was actually interested in, her catching the man. Which, honestly, I don't remember why she had to catch him. But that part of the book was at the end, and only took about 50 pages. It wasn't even if those last pages were exciting. Anita just seems to powerful now that it's not very fun to read.

I am a big-time Anita Blake fan. Yes I am one of those who waits with anticipation for her newest novel. From my first reading of Guilty Pleasures I was hooked. I was still very happy novels 2 through 4. Novels 5 through 8 started to become whiny and melodramatic, but I hung in there, hoping the newest addition to the series would improve. I AM DONE! This is my last Anita Blake Novel! I not only spent my hard earned $22.95 plus tax to purchase this novel, but used my free time to read this smut.
Now where do I begin? First there is our hero Anita Blake. Imagine a comic superhero gone wrong. Give this superhero the attributes of Superman, throw in all the skills of the entire X-Men cast and the strength of the Incredible Hulk. Now take this overblown superhero and then try to turn it into a workable character. Well you have Anita Blake in a nutshell. She has now become a twisted cartoon character from hell. And if that is not bad enough, a miserable whinny, self-centered cartoon character from hell.
Anita Blake, who is not only the best necromancer in the world (she not only raises full cemetaries of zombies with the wave of her hand, but can raise sleeping hundred year old vampires with another wave of her hand). Take that and add the fact that she is part of a very powerful triumverate which gives her more power than most of the other powerful creatures who are working alone. On top of this, she is becoming a master vampire with her very own little vampire follower. Now throw into this mix, the fact that she is the queen of the wereleopards, and has her very own wereleopard pard that follows her around with devotion (even though she can't change into a complete wereleopard. I'm still not done! She is also the assigned enforcer for the werewolves. Now you have the new and improved Anita Blake on steroids. (Is she going to grow a penis soon I wonder or is it already there and coming about in a future novel?)
Take this overblown cartoon character and now throw in all her followers which include: (1) a pack of wereleopards who spend entire novels on their hands and knees just to rub against her and acknowledge her for being a mini cartoon god. (2) the enforcer for the werewolves (because even though the werewolves are a powerful race in their own right, there is not one other werewolf in the entire world who has the power to fill this job which of course makes the werewolves fear her. (3) Throw in her necromancer/zombie raising skills which make vampires tremble at her feet (I mean she can raise you from your coffin with the wave of her tiny little hand) and finally (4) don't forget she is also Ms. 5'3" commando unit with her own set of guns with silver bullets that she can spray and kill you with if you look at her wrong. Who could handle this much power? Only Ms. Anita Blake, sterioid super hero extraordinaire!
Now that the main chracter is set, you get to watch her interact with all the other characters in this book. Please note all characters are one-dimensional so therefore not worth naming, and there are only three types of chracters in the novels anyway: (1) Powerful Men that Anita is having sex with (this of course includes orgies but not anal sex because she is a lady); (2) Male characters who want to sleep with Anita; and (3) a couple of male characters who do not have the privilege of sleeping with Anita at the moment. Of course, these two chracters have the most problems.
Now describing these one-dimensional characters in more depth. First there are the most powerful men in the book (master vampires hundreds of years old) who follow Anita like puppets on a string, waiting for her every command because they can't make her angry or she won't have sex with them.
Then you have the characters who Anita sleeps with as one night stands who follow her around and worship her hoping they get to have sex with her more than once. Of course, there are the other male characters who want to have sex with Anita, but because she's having sex with everyone else in the book, have to worship her without the sex. Still like dutiful one dimensional characters, they follow her around like puppets and give in to her every whim. Then there are the last set of characters who are not having sex with her at the moment and do not worship her. And, in this entire Anita Blake world of course it only amounts to two people. Now because they do not worship her and are not having sex with her, of course they have to be either a suicidal depressed werewolf who wants to die because he can't have sex with Anita, and a racist psychotic cop.
So for over 400 pages you get to watch Anita have sex, have group sex, walk around naked, and then have more sex. You also get to listen to her whine about her life and her moral values and then you get to watch her have more sex. While all of the powerful vampires and weres follow her around and listen to her whine. Still, don't piss Anita off, or she'll pull out a gun and shoot you with a silver bullet. Vampire writing at its best!
Now I know this is a long shot, but do you think somewhere in this world of Anitas there is a manufacturer out there that maybe has a second gun with silver bullets that someone in the novel can buy and go on a hunting spree and kill every chracter in this series and then shoot his or herself in the head so this depressing sickening waste of paper and space series can end!!!! Good bye Anita I will miss the woman I met in Guilty Pleasures, but there are too many good authors out there for me to waste additional money and free time on you. Adieu!

I've been reading the Anita Blake series since the very first book and have always looked forward to the next in the series. This book, however, has really disappointed me. It was basically 500 pages of vampire politics and the main character's internal conflict of should she or should she not have sexual relations with multiple guys. The usual action-packed, crime-solving, tough heroine I always loved was no where to be found. The inner workings of her vampire world may be fascinating to the author, but 500 pages of it is way too much for me.

This is NOT typical of the series and I hope Ms. Hamilton gets her character back on track, for I would hate to see the loss of an overall very good vampire series.

I'll give her next book a try when it comes out on paperback. But if this new trend continues, I won't continue to buy her books.

I've been a long time reader of this series, and have all of her books both paperback and hardcover. For many, this series is dead to them, because of how the author is writing Anita, a complicated character to say the least, as well as the overall storyline and where it is going, or not going for most.

With book 17, Skin Trade, it is as if the author was beginning to try and listen to what the fans wanted, more compelling story, more substance, and to go back to how the first part of the series was written. With this latest installment, she seems to have fallen flat and not live up to expectations.

As a fan, I will continue to read this series, I just can't help myself, but as a reviewer I had to look at the story in a completely different light and what I saw is that while the story has potential, the overall plot fell short.

Anita, as per her usual self, does a lot of internalizing about why should or should not feel a certain way. At this point in the story, it would be more effective for Anita to actually let go of her issues. I mean, she sleeps with countless "men" and as this is an ongoing story, she will continue to have a harem. Though the author has begun to deconstruct Anita, to make her look at things objectively, it took so darn long that the book was practically over.

If you read book 17, Skin Trade, then you know that the big bad, Mommy Dearest was killed. But we find out that she didn't really die and she is now after Anita and all her men. While in theory this sounds like a great plot device, the story is a bit stagnant and only plods along very slowly. Yes there is sex, because if you've been reading the series, then you know her vampire boyfriend/Master Jean-Claude uses sex to seduce and feed, and so too does Anita, because of her ties to him as his vampire servant.

Don't get me wrong, there are some scenes in the book that are a bit gory, but these snippets of violence are just that, too short moments, that only move the story along so far. Even as a fan of this series, I would have loved if the author could have changed her tactic with story a bit more. Maybe less sex, more action. Because that is what is missing from the book: action.

Bottom line, the fans still rallying behind Laurell K. Hamilton (like yours truly) will continue to buy these books, because after all it is a vampire story with bite, though the bite is more akin to a hickey now a days. For the casual reader of this series, then you are not going to want to spend your money on this latest installment, especially if you had doubts from prior readings. While she does make the attempt in book 17, she has taken two steps back on this one. My recommendation would be to borrow from the library, borrow from a friend, or listen for fans who have given up on this series; well they may be willing to give you their copy. Just saying. I give the book 3 stars out of 5.

I have to say this is the worst book in a series that has been going downhill for years. I will not be buying anymore of these books unless they return to more detective work and lot less sex. The first five to seven books were great, but these latest books are pretty much nothing but sex and metaphysical ridiculousness. If you want to read good paranormal books again I recommend trying Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan series or even Rob Thurman's Cal Leandros series.

This book was incredible. I started at 3pm and finished at 4am. I think I strained my eyes trying to read it in one setting. I was so mad when I finished because I will have to wait another year for the next one. Anita Blake was, as usual, as funny and vicious as can be. I laughed, and on one scene I even cried. For a while, I thought that Richard was the best for Anita, however, after reading this book, I find that I must reconsider. I will not disclose why, but for all those people out there who were die-hard Richard fans, be prepared to be very angry with him. I had but one problem with the book, and that was that the ending seemed hurried. Mrs. Hamilton should have added an additional 20 pages to the book to give it the smooth finish her work usually contains. Aside from that, I am completely satisfied with this masterpiece.
Warning: Lots of sex and moral decay. Don't you just love it!!

Warning - Contains Spoilers

I have been a faithful reader of this series since it began. I loved the series, notice past tense. Up until this book, I really did love the books. After Bullet, though, I am done. I will not read another one and I truly would love if I could undo reading this one but I can't and it taints every one of the previous books. The reason I loved the books so was that I felt the connection between Anita and Jean Claude, my two favorite characters. Now, I feel betrayed by Jean Claude having sex with another woman, having sex with another man. I felt the love and romance between Anita and Jean Claude. Now all I feel is disgust. They both deserve each other.

I am a huge Laurell Hamilton fan. The Anita Blake series is one of my favourite series. Bullet was great!! To keep a story strong for so long must be incredibly difficult. I was very happily surprised. Hamilton is an amazing writer!! I have tried writing myself and you either have it or you don't. The only thing I missed was more time with Richard and Anita. And I still wanted her to be his Queen!!! Somehow!! Micahs great, but I like complicated. Maybe this can still happen. Also, Jean-Claude has gotten too good at sharing!!! I want him a more possessive again. I am probably completely biased however because Richard and Jean-Claude will always be my favourites!!!!!And I love it when they are dominant and opinionated!!!!

Of all the Anita Blake books, I found this one to be the most disappointing. I have read the entire series, and I feel that the series started to fall apart aound the same time she slept with Richard in Blue Moon. The endings seem rushed, and there are too many sub-plots to ever really wrap the books up nicely.
That said- it bothers me that now it is alright for her to just jump anything in sight. Part of what was so fun about the earlier books was it was just Anita, there wasn't a penis on hand at all times. I think the ardeur was really only an excuse to add an extraneous sex scene here and there.
The book could have been good, as with the last couple books (not including obsidian butterfly- best one since bloody bones) the general idea of the plot was good, but execution was faulty.
I am disappointed that I spent the money on this book that I did.

Enough is enough. This book is not sufficiently different from porn to make a distinction. When Hamilton starts describing the mystical transcendence of having a different male in every orafice of Anita's body I just wanted to weep for the series. If you haven't yet read this book. Don't. In fact, stop at Obsidian Butterfly and then pick up "The Dresden Files" series by Jim Butcher.

Anita Blake was one of my favorite series but I stopped reading after 10. LKH decimated the series and is a poster child of what not to do with beloved characters. I keep coming back to look at reviews to see if it is safe to start reading the series again. Evidently not. That's a shame as I miss the old Anita.

I just throughly enjoyed this book. After reading Flirt, I thought all was lost and there would never again be another Anita Blake like the one I had come to know and love, but I was wrong. Anita Blake is again in her full glory. It ties all the experiences she has had in previous books and is taking us with her into the next stage of her life where war is inevitable.

Well, the book had all of the requisite Anita Blake plot point items. It's like she has a list - dead bodies, check. Police snarkiness, check. Vampire politics, check. Mystery, check. So she put the minimum amount necessary in for each required item, and then spent the rest of her pages on boring and pointless introspection. Nothing is better at the end of this book, and some things are much worse. The bones of a good novel are in there, but the way it's fleshed out, the character development, the action...
Nothing hangs together. The times of day are all wrong. Going from one place to another takes too little time, or too much. It's like the editors just didn't care, or were too anxious to get the book on the shelves to insist on anything like a consistancy check.
I know the author is capable of much better writing. I don't think I'll be buying her hardbacks until she returns to the level of quality she showed in Blue Moon and Obsidian Butterfly.

I was very eager to read this book after reading Flirt. I found Bullet to be a big disappoint. It's hard to even explain my disappointment without giving out spoilers, but I can say the constant descriptions of what each men was wearing and the conversations about what everyone was feeling really dragged on. Sadly I won't be adding anymore Anita books to my collection but I will continue to read the series with my fingers crossed.

I am a HUGE fan of the Anita Blake series. NIC was starting to break from the usual excellence of the line, Cerulean Sins is even further off the mark. The book was still well written which is why I gave it 4 stars, but I miss the elements that made the first 7 in the series excellent. There isn't much in this book about Anita's 'work,' only a few gratuitous mentions of her side-kick Larry, and NOTHING about Ronnie. There is a lot of sex though. While some sex is fine (since ALL the main guy characters are hotties) but time after time gets old. Please, have Anita controlling the ardeur by the next book and fill the pages with a true story, not just sex. If the next book doesn't veer back on track it may be my last.

This was one of my absolute favorites of her series. I loved them all, but this is my favorite. I read it over and over and over. It's probably because not only have I come to adore Anita and the way her character and her powers have evolved, but alot of light has been shead on Asher and Jean-Claude's past, whom I must say I truly love. Asher is my favorite fanged fiend. For while I normally have a tendre for men who are tall, dark and sexy like Jean-Claude, Asher's character pulls my heartstrings. Don't get me wrong, I adore all the others. Jason, Nathaniel, Damon, ....Goodness, there are so many.

But anyway, by now Anita finds herself as human consort to both Jean Claude, Vampire Master of the City and Micah, a leopard shapeshifter (who Anita finds herself immediately attracted to). But it doesn't stop there. Oh no. It gets better. Or worse, however you look at it. Anita isn't exactly as human as she once was.

To explain it, Jean Claude comes from a bloodline that humans once called them incubus and succubus. He feeds from the sexual energy from others, as well as blood. So there you have it. Then you have the fact that in Narcissus In Chains, Anita was scratched by a wereleopard. SO not only does she crave sex, but blood as well. When the head of Jean-Claude's bloodline, Belle Morte, sends one of her underlings, Valintina, to St.Louis, trouble begins to really brew. Belle Morte comes to town, stirring up trouble in her wake when she come to claim Asher back as one of her lapdogs. Plus, while that's going on, Anita's got problems in the human world and in the lycanthrope world. Richard, the King of the Werewolves (Ulfric of his pack) becomes a bigger jerk, Dolph begins to really have issues with the fanged and furry, Anita has a murder to solve and to top it all off, you manage to get a small glimpse of the Mother of All Vampires. (I really hope Laurell brings her character into play in one of her novels one day)

Just to give you another juicy hint, Asher, Jean-Claude and Anita have a very hot menage scene chapters 11 through 13. I had to read it a couple of times. I just couldn't help myself. I read those chapters every once in a while just to give myself a little jolt, and a smile.

For those of you who love this series, this is a great book to have. But if you are a first time reader in this series, with all of Anita's members in her harem, the evolving of her powers and how she got them, you'd do best to start with the beginning. Start with Guilty Pleasures. If you don't, you'll be lost.

Happy reading. I hope you enojy this book as much as I did.

So, I read the first couple of other reviews and I wonder why these people are still reading the series if they don't get it? After so many books in one story line there is going to be a large cast of charecters. Several plot threads that started books ago are finally being woven together and we are starting to see where the author is headed. Yes there is sex involved, but heloo? Anita is a succubus. Get over it. I thought this book was well put together and while I would have liked more of a knock down fight with regard to the Master of Beasts, rather than an annecdote, on the whole a small criticism. I mean it is not like anyone really thought that the Mother of all Darkness was REALLY gone, right? I am really looking foreword to the next book in the series and I think that while some of the books have read more like the short stories they were, all of the books have added information that ties into the overall storyline. This is one of my favorite series and I reccommend it to anyone I think is interested. Anita has gone from an almost one dimensional charecter who just fights everything or kills it and grown into a more mature well rounded personality. This is exctly what I look for in a long series and I think that the auther has done an admirable job. This book in particular is drawing together several diverse plot lines and any avid reader of the series ought to be able to follow along. I was very pleased with this book.

Unfortunately, the Anita Bryant series are being written using a predictable formula: Super scary uber monster comes to town, threatens Anita and her monster family. Anita has gratuitous sex. Anita insults uber monster. Anita has sex. Anita kills something. Anita has sex.

Look I love that Anita is now leader of her own wereleopard pard (pack) and has almost super powers, but I wish we could do more interesting plot development and less gratuitous sex.

I'm not quite to the point of giving up on the Anita Bryant series but unless things get better ...

I got hooked into the series last year and usually burn through all of her books fairly quickly. Cerulean Sins, though, just seems to lack that amazing suspense that all of the earlier books had. It was a good read and you learn a lot more information about Jean Claude and Asher, but there was too much psychoanalysis in the book and not enough hard core action. I guess that I was just too hyped up for this new book and expected more.

The whole Anita Blake series is simply amazing!!! LK Hamilton's last 3 of the AB series and her most controversial are simply some of the best character development ever! NC, CS and ID have some of most amazing depth of characters revelations in them I have ever read ( did not say they were hard to read sometimes but they were essential to the characters development not just Anita's ) in a long time. The famous desk scene with Jean Claude and Anita this leads up to one of the most important revelations in the whole series ( you will have to read the book). Each character is unique and brings a depth of humanity to the series. I think sometime people do not like change in there main characters but there has to be growth or the character stagnates and LKH really knows how to shake things up !!! I don't know what everyone else read but I read three wonderful books.

I am officially done w/ Anita. I have always reread books but starting w/ Narcissus and now this abomination, I am boycotting her!
Sex is fine, I'm no prude, but LKH either needs therapy or a good lay, because her frustration is ruining her writing. I wish she paid even a modicum of attention to her fans. Just about all of them hate the direction that this series has gone, the only reason the Anita makes the bestsellers list is because her fans buy the book in hopes that this time it will be different. That won't last two more Anita books.
If you like LKH and want to read something that is closer to her older stuff than I recommend the Merry series. Consign Anita to the grave, something I wish that LKH's publisher would do!

Hamilton is at the top of her form in terms of what she does best -- staged sex on command. Poor, poor Anita Blake is forced by the demands of her magic to sate her appetite frequently and in all sorts of combinations. I'm not against that particularly, but it really gets to be repetitive and predictable.

Like the last reviewer, I was a big fan of the orignial books. One after the other they have disintegrated into utter nonsense. The characters were cool and individual. Now they all clump into one big mass of silliness. And I no longer care about Anita. This was my last book. I thought the last one was my last, but I decided to give it one more chance. And what I've read of the next book bodes ill. So nope. They all went to goodwill and I've a whole row on my library shelf to devote to a new author. Like Susan Sizemore or Tanya Huff. Jeeesh, Christine Freehan is starting to look good.

I don't even remember which book the series i read first, just that it was before OBSIDIAN BUTTERFLY. I got so hooked that I had to read the rest and with each one I could not, would not put it down until I reached the last page. I can't say the same for these last two efforts of LKH. The characters are still there, but there is no growth or change, and while I understand that the personal aspect of Anita's life is important, I liked the actual work and action that was present in the earlier books. I hate to say it, but maybe it is time to end it all, because if all that can be offered is more of who is going to sleep with who, and why so and so is too emotionally handicapped to be with, and so on, I think LKH should spend more time on something else like the GENTRY series. I could be wrong and things could improve but the way I see it is simple. I read to escape reality and all the tedious drama, I don't need it in my books too. So if you do decide to read this book, go to the library or wait for the paperback.

I would not have wanted to pay money for it. I used to love this series. I don't mind the sex as long as there is an decent store line behind it. This one does not. This author is going way down on my list of want to reads for the future.

We did get to see a lot of characters that we haven't seen in a while, which was fun. And Anita is finally getting used to seeing her stable of men have sex with other women. Thats about it for the plus side for me.

No real story line and no mystery.