"Why do I put up with you? You insult me at every turn."Well, LKH broke the formula with this book. Anita actually TAKES a client and leaves St. Louis to head to Branson, Missouri, where she is being paid to raise an entire graveyard to see who owns the property (because, of course, Anita is the only one in this entire world who can do anything). While she is there, she learns that something is killing young boys AND a vampire is on the loose.This book, more than any of the earlier books, set my teeth on edge. Anita has to be one of the most rude, most obnoxious protagonists I've ever read. As I continue to read through this series, instead of growing fonder or closer to Anita, I find myself gathering an arsenal of weapons to take her out.What does Anita do that strikes the wrong chord with me? How about this for starters:"I admit, I took comfort in the fact that I was better dressed than most of the girls. Petty as hell, but I had been chunky in junior high." You are in your mid-twenties. You have a great career, two of the hottest guys fawning all over you, you are highly skilled in your field, and YOU ARE GLOATING OVER BEING BETTER DRESSED THAN GIRLS HALF YOUR AGE?!?!!! (Girls, may I add, whose bodies are changing, whose parents are picking out their clothes, who aren't able to slip into Victoria's Secret with their uber fashionable friend, Ronnie.) F@#$ you!"But, Crystal, that is no reason to dislike Anita."How about stupidity?"It hadn't been my idea to date the Master of the City. Jean-Claude had given me two choices. Either he could kill Richard, or I could date both of them. It had seemed like a good idea at the time."When had dating Jean-Claude EVER seemed like a good idea? Jean-Claude was the guy she spent several books trying to AVOID. And here's the woman who'd rather shoot first, ask questions later, who'd rather do her own thing than listen to and obey ANYONE including her boss--and her choice, when faced with the death of her boyfriend, is to date the guy she supposedly hates, instead of, oh, I don't know, SHOOTING THE PANSY VAMPIRE AS MANY TIMES AS POSSIBLE!?!!?!?! (I know she supposedly "loves"/"lusts" him and she's probably dating him because she's an idiot female using Jean-Claude's stupid offer as an excuse to makeout with him, but I believe that as much as I believe that Peeps are magical fairies descended from Yoda of Vulcan).Or how about false modesty?"I'm not the kind of woman to elicit jealousy on sight. Not tall enough, not blonde enough, not Nordic enough, not exotic enough. I'm pretty, but I'm not beautiful."Yeah, you are so normal. It's not like you are dating two hot guys--one a Master Vampire, the other an Alpha werewolf. And it's not like that bartender guy you just met asked you to his bed. And of course, random men at a construction site wouldn't catcall you or anything..."The construction workers were appreciative. Whistles, catcalls, and one offer to check under my skirt."Oh...RIIIIIIGHT.(By the way...is this 1960? What construction workers are going to be THAT openly sexist? I've worked in a male-dominated field and NO MAN has EVER done anything like that to me, because they know they'll get a nice, fat harassment settlement.)What about being judgmental? Does that count?"She always this judgmental?"Larry nodded. "Usually."Or what about knowing she gets away with crap when everyone else can't?"I could get away with being a pain in the ass, and most people wouldn't take a swing at me." Or what about demanding very rudely to be called "Ms." instead of "Miss", but when someone asks her to refer to him as "Mr. Sterling", Anita refuses and calls him by his first name? I think I agree with Jean-Claude, who provides this review's title: "Why do I put up with you? You insult me at every turn."But enough about Anita. We're used to that by now. What else upsets me about this book?How about the fact that LKH feels that a novel is just non-stop action scenes piling one on top of each other until they explode into one big shootout at the end that SOMEHOW solves all the previous mysteries?How about ignoring that a child is missing (and thought to have been captured by a pedophile vampire) in order to have some vampire posturing?How about the fact that nearly every male in these books is a stripper/hottie straight out of a magazine and if this were a men's novel, people would be criticizing the male gaze?How about how we can't have a person enter the scene without a blow-by-blow of what horrible fashion they are showcasing?"[Jason] was wearing black leather pants tight enough that I knew he wasn't wearing the underwear anymore."How about how, in books that are supposed to be celebrating a woman's sexual freedom, Anita is embarrassed to look at Jean-Claude's naked body--not for being caught, but just for looking and admiring?"I was spared another glimpse of [Jean-Claude's] naked body. Now that the hormones were receding, I was embarrassed."If this doesn't clarify what I didn't like about "Bloody Bones", I have no idea what will."But, Crystal, why are you rating this 2 stars? It sounds like you really hated this book."Yes, the dislike/hate for this book runs strong. However, there were things I liked. I liked Larry and how he is learning and coming into his own. He feels like the Anti-Anita: he says some rude things occasionally, but he also has boundaries and knows when to say things and when not to. I actually really liked Jason; he seems pretty no-nonsense, confident in his position and straight-shooting (for the most part). I also thought the initial mystery was pretty interesting (too bad it got buried in vampire posturing and overlong shootouts). I liked being away from St. Louis, being away from Anita's relationship drama (though, Jean-Claude does appear and bring it with him).When I started reading "Bloody Bones", I thought this would be my favorite of the 5 books I've read. But if I had to list only one reason why I didn't like it so much, it would be Anita. I just do not like her as a character; I don't care whether she survives; I don't care about her dating life; I don't care if she ends up as a rug at the end of the book. If I weren't trying to follow the series to the turning point in "Narcissus in Chains", I would probably abandon the series right here.If you are already a fan, I doubt you will be as annoyed by this book as I was, particularly if one of the reasons you are reading these is because you like Anita. Newcomers can probably just jump in at this book and not have too much problems catching up. If you weren't very sold on this series with the earlier books, however, I don't think this one will suddenly change your mind about Anita and the series.
Ms. Anita Blake and I have had a very rocky history in the short time she and I have made acquaintances. For the first few books, I was absolutely enthralled with her take-no-prisoners attitude, her bravado, and her insistence upon keeping the monsters in check. However, with The Lunatic Cafe, she became absolutely frustrating in her passionate distaste for Jean Claude. That is not to say that I was not already getting annoyed with her before then with the way she was treating him when he was clearly in love with her; but, something had changed in that book. She made the infamous choice so many women in supernatural fiction seem to have to make lately: bestiality over necrophilia. And, this time, bestiality won. Richard was suddenly not revered as bestial, though a werewolf. This not only enraged Jean Claude, but myself as well.I decided to take an undetermined amount of time to break away from Ms. Blake and reassess what I found appealing about her. In the meantime, I switched to dystopian literature, such as The Hunger Games Trilogy Boxset. This was perhaps the best thing I could have done to make my friendship with Anita prosper over her dumb choices. When I finally came back to the Anita Blake books, I had enough time to grieve, as it were, and accept that she and I will never see eye-to-eye, as I am male, and she is female. Our priorities and logic will always differ.This book, Bloody Bones, has easily become my favorite in the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series for a plethora of reasons:(view spoiler)[1) The love triangle is not really an issue. There are subtle hints, but for 95% of the book, she spends her time alone with Jean Claude, Jason–his werewolf to call–and Larry. Richard was barely an issue.2) We get to learn more about Jean Claude's history. As with every one of the billions of characters Laurell K. Hamilton has created, we only get glimpses every now and then. But this time, the small little peek we get of Jean Claude's path in the bubble bath was highly interesting, and for the first time, humanized him on a level that even Anita and her dumb logic could not overlook.3) This book had fae. Not in the traditional sense, or even the most recently popular versions like Darkfever and it's successors. Of course, Hamilton has always had a way with making it her own, in her carefully constructed, highly complex criminal universe. I accept the way the fae are represented here. Very interesting.4) The character Seraphina was highly evil. She is perhaps the scariest villain in the series so far. (Yes, I have heard from my friend that there are worse villains to come, but I'm going off of what I have seen with my own eyes.) She is a master of manipulation, completely corrupt, and insatiable. From the very moment I met her, I wanted her dead and was quite scared that it couldn't be done. She overpowered even the vampires that could defeat Jean Claude. The whole ordeal was very touch-and-go, and I enjoyed–fearfully–that ride. (hide spoiler)]
What do You think about Bloody Bones (2005)?
Again more like a 3.5. Good but a bit gory at times. I do feel that Hamilton is beginning to shift her 'world rules' a little here to facilitate more books. Anita feels weaker than in her last book. I liked the 'twist' in the final 'escape' but Anita's final 'position' seems a little dubious. I would have felt that her experience with Seraphina might have left her a little more hostile-especially as she understands her own power more. Larry is good - and we see a lot of him - as are the police. There is a feeling that Hamilton has to upgrade the shock element in each book which is a shame, as it is the character interplay that I find the most interesting. Elements I found less satisfying: Jean Claude - the vampire power dynamic needs a bit of explaining, Xavier was underused, we never do find out why Seraphina got the power to control Xavier and Janos and Rawhead (fae)seemed rather too easy to kill compared to the others.
—Anna
Oy. I've tried to be positive about the Anita Blake books, but this book has been the worst in the series, by far. I almost gave up on it a few times, but I stuck with it.There weren't as many issues with this one & the blatant copy-paste issue that existed in The Lunatic Cafe or other books from the series, but I would've almost traded anything to have those instead of the awkward prose that did exist. I wondered at times if maybe I got a version of the book that just had a choppy writing technique, but I have a feeling that there was no difference in the edition I had as compared to the original hardback version.The plot was not as easy to follow, and the bad guys were all way too transparent. The only character that really had any decent development was Jean-Claude. (His past was nice to learn about.) Anita's past, though, became almost too annoying to constantly go over. I understand why her past had to be covered, but I almost felt like reading about her "pain" was some kind of cruel chore that an abusive parent might force a child to do.I don't understand why Anita, as the narrator, cannot be more of sympathetic character. Sometimes, it seems like reading her thoughts is like having insight to the school bully. She's such a jaded and rude character that her snide remarks don't come off as some kind of snarky wit, but instead come off as the ideas of a character that thinks that she is truly better than anyone else in existence. That arrogance is extremely off-putting. She's also extremely fragmented in her personality when it comes to monsters. Anything or anyone who has any sort of superhuman ability seems to be labeled as a monster & all monsters must be killed, but if she has any kind of warm fuzzy feelings for you, then you're safe. This seems to be a major conflict in her mind, and (since she's the narrator) it gets brought up over and over. It makes me, and probably others, just wish that some big bad monster would off her already.And why must we keep being reminded that she hold such a moral standard with regards to sex? It's disgusting to read about her saint-like prudence, and then turn a page and see that she will kill anyone and not have the slightest bit of grief over their death. She's practically a sociopath when it comes to violence, so it makes the quasi-virginal attitude all the more intolerable to read about. I will continue to read the novels, but I hope the rest get better.
—Janet Morris
I'll admit that this book bored the heck out of me at the beginning. I found myself skipping over half the chapters. I didn't really care about her relationship with Larry. There were a few things I liked. I liked the faerie guy. I like seeing Jason again, but he was a little too bratty for me this time around, I expected a different type of behavior from him. I loved Jean-Claude. I was touched when he told Anita in a vulnerable voice "it hurts" when the sun came up. I loved his concern for Anit
—Katherine Madison
