Welcome to the Death of a SeriesOnce upon a time there was a girl. She liked to read. A lot. She especially liked to read about books with paranormal alternate realities in them because the real world had lost its magic to things like “Reality” TV, male-dominated debates about women’s reproductive rights and vacuous celebrity worship. One day she stumbled upon a book titled Guilty Pleasures and though both the title and the cover seemed rather cheesy she figured she’d give it a try. Enter one imperfect, stubborn, narrow-minded but somehow highly lovable main character named Anita Blake.The girl had never met such a bad ass chick. Anita didn’t take shit from anyone, never compromised her beliefs because of the opinions of others and never looked to anyone else to get herself out of an impossible situation. The girl was intrigued. Did she like this wise-cracking hard ass? Or was her personality too strong and grating at times? With the arrival of one Jean Claude, master vampire and sex-on-legs love interest, the girl knew that she’d stick around to see where the series went. Who could resist such chemistry? Who could resist such an original and detailed paranormal world? Then came book two, The Laughing Corpse, and with it the progression of Anita as a character. The girl watched this stubborn MC learn from her mistakes, adjust her behavior and her mindset as she gained more and more knowledge of the preternatural crowd into which she had been drawn. The necromancer's mind began to open, just a little, but it was enough that the girl could see the character growth and could tell that there was more to this MC than the tough outer layer she’d been shown. Following this was Circus of the Damned and the girl was treated to more undead “Ma Petite” filled angst, an intriguing mystery and…the introduction of a love triangle. In The Lunatic Café the girl realized that though she abhorred most love triangles this one was executed in such a way that she could actually tolerate it. Not only that, but she could see no clear “winner”. Neither of the men seemed the obvious choice for the heroine, in fact, the girl herself couldn’t even make up her mind! She was also shown the detailed inner workings of a werewolf pack and though she would have preferred another murder-mystery she somehow didn’t mind that this book focused more on monster politics. Three books later the love triangle ended in such a way that the girl began to get nervous. Choosing a man because you fear him less than the other? Because he seems the more human of the two??? Should she stop? Could she go on? Yes. To both. By book ten the girl noticed that sex was beginning to become more prevalent than plotline. She wondered why the MC couldn't make up her mind and how she was able to love so many men at once. Why was the character she once respected turning into a misogynistic bitch? And what was with her raging lady boner for double standards and hypocrisy??? By book 12 the girl...fuck it, we all know it's me. By book 12 I wondered what happened to that character progression I had so looked forward to. It seemed if anything, my beloved Anita was moving backwards in her beliefs and was becoming unable to own up to her actions, blaming them on things like The Ardeur and even other people. She became whiny and overly combative and…unlikeable. I was also incredibly disturbed that Anita’s va-jay-jay was beginning to resemble a preternatural black hole. Why was one man not enough? Why were five not enough???Oh and lets not forget the bestiality. *shudders*By book fifteen I hated almost every character and began to question my sanity. I wondered if watching The Jersey Shore was a better use of my time.After reading the synopsis for Blood Noir as well as a few of the reviews I decided to bag up all the previous books I owned in the series and donate them to my father's skeet shooting club in the hopes that they'd serve better for target practice than they did as "literature". I then sought a hypnotist to erase the memory of this series from my mind. So far that hasn't panned out...
This is the last Anita Blake book that I bought in bulk way back before the series changed from urban fantasy to erotica. I was determined to read and review them all as I paid money for them, even though I didn't much like where the series was going. Now that I'm at the end of the books, it is sad in a way. I like quite a few characters and would like to find out where their stories lead but frankly, erotica bores me and I can't justify skipping huge sections of a book to get to the bits I like. So unless I get them for nothing, the adventure ends here for me!OK on with the story. Jason is a character that I've always loved and during the time that Anita was torn between Jean Claude and Richard, I was hoping that she might end up with Jason as he is a good match for her. Of course it was not going to happen when both of these rivals have control over Jason, but it was a nice thought! Anyway, Jason and his possesive girlfriend have split up because of her jealousy over his ties to Anita, Asher and Jean Claude. Jason's abusive father is dying and he feels he must go and see him, and Anita agrees to go with him to pose as his girlfriend, to prove to his father that he isn't gay. As usual Anita is full of insecurities about being alone with Jason and what their relationship actually is. Jason hits town at the same time as a rich playboy who looks like him, leading to a lot of mistaken identity and angst as Jason tries to confront his father.It was good to get Jason as the star of a book though having Anita having one of her hissy fits over what Jason means to her made me roll my eyes. Does she have to have these issues in every conversation about sex? I mean you think she'd be dealing with it by now with all the sex she's had but she is still as uptight as she was in book one! The mistaken identity storyline did get a bit annoying for me in places but it was a nice change to have Anita on the road with someone more interesting than Micah. Jason's parent issues show a more serious and vulnerable side to him which I liked and it explains how he ended up with Jean Claude. The other interesting development was the idea that Anita can eat rage as well as lust, taking all that anger from Richard which had made him such a dick through most of the series. However one thing I fault LKH on constantly in these books is repetition and Marmee Noir is a prime example. She invades Anita's mind, messes with it and Anita needs rescue. This is just so damn boring when you are seeing it for the umpteenth time in nearly every damn book in the series. It never changes, it never becomes interesting and it always causes the same reactions in Anita. Seriously boring by book 16! What is the POINT of this stupid Mother Darkness crap? The whining and fighting that we always see with Anita and whoever she is fighting with this time is just the same as always. Richard has the same hissy fit he's been having since since book 6. Anita has been having the same anxieties about sex since we met her. Why does this drive me so crazy? Because there is so much that you can DO with these characters except sex and complaining! New adventures, new bad guys who aren't visiting Jean Claude just to try and overthrow him, Anita actually doing a days work in those interesting jobs she has! There has been little character development in those like Richard since book 6 when he embraced his beast. The few good characters who have developed have all become complete tossers like Dolph and Ronnie. The characters are not growing and evolving. The plot is not moving on. The whole thing is just stuck in a never ending rut and needs a giant kick up the arse to get it moving again. Stagnated plots and characters have killed a series that still has the potential to go somewhere.But I believe that is it for me. I can't hang in there any longer hoping for change as the only changes we ever see is a new lover as dull as the last new lover, a new decibel level for Anita to reach during sex and the same angst and fights dressed up as 'new' problems. I'm done. Goodbye Anita-it was fun for a short time at least.
What do You think about Blood Noir (2008)?
I have decided to write off this series and not pick it up every again. Hamilton has no sense of timing or style any longer. She repeats phrases within paragraphs of each other. Her one liners don't hold the same endearing quality and charm they once used to. My fiance' skipped entire chapters of "sex scenes" to get to the story and had it read in a matter of hours.The message boards are alight today! Part of the problem might be her "die hard" fans that won't hear any bad critique, and keep telling her to write the sloppy mess the Anita Blake series has become. Even here on Goodreads, the only Hamilton group has a softly worded warning telling you not to talk about how bad they have become.I suppose I should start my own Hamilton group and provide her with the real support a true fan would...and tell her it's all gone to shit and she needs to turn it around before her sells get too low. Working in a library I can tell you this, her holdings for the new book are sad, only five. As compared to only three Blake books ago on release week it topped over forty.Don't even get me started on the graphic novels.UPDATE (1-22-09):Okay, I'm trying to read this again. I'm in chapter 6 and the thought has occurred to me to edit the book to my liking. The copy I have is a water damaged library withdrawn and I could just attack it with a pen and see what I'm left with. This could be fun! I'll let you know when I'm done, and how many pages I remove.
—Athena
I've read every Anita Blake book but have never purchased one. This wasn't an exception. I've honestly been getting a little tired of the porn aspect of this series, and while Blood Noir is steeped in sex, I enjoyed this book better than most.Blood Noir essentially centers around Anita and Jason, the werewolf. Jason's estranged dad is dying of cancer and he wants to return home before he passes on. Apparently, Jason's dad thinks Jason is gay and Anita comes along to prove otherwise.Chaos ensues as Jason is mistaken for Keith Summerland, who is wanted by some nasty people. Sex ensues no matter what. And Marmee Noir, the oldest vampire who is catnapping, pays Anita a pretty intense visit at the wrong time.Like I said, better than the last few Anita Blake books. But she could stand to tone down the porn aspect just a little.OH! I forgot. Richard is a pussy. I cannot stand that character and the sooner he's killed off, the better.
—Amanda
WTF?To je asi přesný popis... Moje první myšlenka byla, že museli změnit překladatele, protože to bylo naprosto diametrální rozdíl. Ani nevím, co nějak říct. Tohle bylo špatné na tolika úrovních, že to ani nejde popsat. Ničí jednání v podstatě ani nedávalo smysl. Nic z toho, co dělali nedávalo smysl...Osobní poznámečka: Jestli Anitě došlo až teď, jaký dopad v úpíří komunitě má její chování na J-C postavení, tak je ještě blbější, než jsem si myslela.Tohle by bylo na 1 hvězdičku, jenomže jak tomu můžu dát 1 hvězdičku a přesto si přečíst další díly? Anita je jistá úroveň nostalgie. Něco co bylo boží, a člověk se k tomu pořád vrací, protože doufá, že to ještě trochu boží bude. NENÍ. Ale naděje zjevně umírá poslední - teda, docela by mě zajímal souboj Anita versus naděje.
—MischaS_
