Jun. 28th, 2009

desertvixen: (initial D)

Hi, my name is Danielle and I’m a recovering Anita Blake addict.

Like many, I really enjoyed the adventures of Anita Blake, Vampire Executioner.  I liked the petite, feminist, ass-kicking, vampire-staking heroine who spoke to us in the first person, so you could more completely grasp how screwed up some of the situations and people were.  I liked dark, seductive, intense Jean-Claude.  I liked the police procedural aspect, the others on the squad, the setup of a society in which vampires, werewolves (and wererats, weretigers, wereleopards, etc), walked among us, the little hints she dropped of the wider world she imagined.

Up until about The Killing Dance (book 6), things went pretty well – tension was brought up, problems and relationships were introduced, and the Jean-Claude – Anita – Richard tug-of-war was keeping things good and dramatic.  Things came to a head, somewhat, in book 6 – Anita couldn’t choose Richard, so she chose Jean-Claude (and the sex was HOT).  Then, the sex-and-violence level started going up a bit too much, and at Obsidian Butterfly (book 9), a lot of people called it quits.

Since then, many of us have had ups and downs with the books.  Narcissus in Chains and Incubus Dreams were pretty low points, but the books in general suffered from too much sex, and not enough plot.  Aside from having too much sex, it wasn’t even well-written sex, and had a touch of “author working out her issues” to it.

However, I’m here in Iraq and the PX bookstore doesn’t have a whole lot to choose from.  I can always hit Amazon and B&N.com (and I do, believe me) but I miss the whole part where you browse through books, and find what you want.

The last couple have been iffy, and I’ve heard conflicting reviews about Blood Noir.  I decided to give it a chance.

My overall verdict: The book reminded me of when I used to enjoy reading Anita Blake.  Not completely back to the beginning, but I did not feel like it was a waste of time or money.

Specifics:

-- Jason says what I think a lot of Anita Blake readers have thought – “The ardeur is the perfect excuse to never have to say you’re sorry.”  LKH has used the ardeur exactly like this, to give her the deus ex machina to write Anita into the sex scenes while ignoring the way she had built Anita up in the beginning.  Characters can change, but rather than do so in a fashion that would have allowed plot development, LKH slapped the ardeur into the story. 

-- I liked the parts where Anita was bitching about always being seen as a girlfriend, or about her sex life always taking center stage – but at the same time, I wanted to tell LKH that it’s all HER fault.  She’s the one who’s made it all about the sex.  It was like seeing the old Anita peek through, and I think a lot of us would like her back.

-- Am I the only one who misses Edward?

-- I did guess that there was a reason Jason was such a lookalike for the twins before we found out at the end of the book.  I was also waiting for there to be something more for the Summerland connection, because it seemed like she was building up to something, and it really didn’t go anywhere.  It felt like she was trying to imply that there was more than just a little inbreeding in the Promise gene pool.

-- The drunk fiancée at the door – priceless.

-- The sex in this one was actually hot. No weird multi-partner sex scenes (on screen, at least), and as a bonus in my book, no really descriptive more-detail-than-I-wanted-about-LKH-and-her-sexual-tastes fellatio scenes.  I admit, I’ve always been a fan of Jason – the flirt who can be counted on when things get crazy.  He actually reminds me a little of Joe Hardy.

-- Could we please stop describing Anita’s fashion sense – or lack thereof?  And how she needs the men in her life to dress her properly?

-- Why am I not surprised that there is a vampire strip club in Las Vegas?

-- As a native of Las Vegas, I about died laughing over the fact that there is a white were-tiger clan in Las Vegas.  Were-tigers would certainly have been an addition to Siegfried and Roy’s act.

-- White were-tiger strippers in Las Vegas.  Cue more laughter.  I’m sort of curious to read the next one, which takes place in Vegas, and sort of horrified wondering what she has done to my hometown.

-- Am I the only one who feels like Richard is a self-pitying selfish jerk?  He has issues, but they ALL have issues, and he’s the one most likely to get others in the group killed.  The whole thing about Anita’s anger being passed to Richard and that’s why he’s been such a jerk didn’t really ring for me.  And now he has to get used to the ardeur?  Just great. 

-- More on Richard.  I can’t feel sorry for him anymore.  He wants to be miserable – or at least, he doesn’t want to NOT be miserable enough to work at it.  He wants to blame Anita for being practical, for not depending on him because she knows there’s a lot of times she can’t.  Richard’s not good at making a decision when there isn’t a good choice to pick from, while Anita does well when the situation has just gone to hell.  It’s not that things don’t bother her, but she does what has to be done, and then tries to clean things up.  Richard wants to call her a coldhearted bitch (and does) because it makes him feel righteous.  I thought we would get lucky and she’d shoot him, but no. 

-- The Summerland twin marrying the vampire’s wife, I did not see.  That Anita was getting used, I did see.  I hope something nasty happens to Chuck.

-- Richard does love her, I get that – but it’s an unhealthy love.  She can’t be what he wants, can’t fit within the constraints he wants his wife/lover to fit.  He wants to take care of her, but she doesn’t need him to do it the way he does it.  The bit with Richard and the ardeur – I just don’t know how much of that was Richard, and how much was the ardeur.  He wants her to be happy the way he wants her to be happy, not the way Anita wants to be happy.  Jean-Claude, on the other hand, accepts Anita the way she is, even when she causes a problem.  Hmm, which one should she pick?

-- I do think LKH sums up things pretty well here for Anita: Sometimes it’s not the light in a person that you fall in love with, but the dark.  Sometimes it’s not the optimist you need, but another pessimist to walk beside you and know, absolutely know, that the sound in the dark is a monster and it really is as bad as you think.  Did that sound hopeless?  It didn’t feel hopeless.  It felt – real.

So, Anita Blake is back on the reading list, but not on the buying in hardcover list.  Maybe the checking out from the library list.

 DV (who needs to get a reading icon for DW)
 

Blood Noir

Jun. 28th, 2009 03:38 pm
desertvixen: (Initial D)

 I picked this up at the PX here in the IZ (our selection is pretty small), and decided to give it a try.  After all, If I didn't like it, I could always leave it in the MWR where someone will give it a good home.

 My verdict: LKH has earned her way back on my bookshelf, but only in paperback.  Unless the Science Fiction Book Club has a good deal...

 Full review on Dreamwidth (I'm trying to keep the reading and creative stuff there, sorry if it causes a headache) here.

 Towards the end of the book, the Jean-Claude -- Anita -- Richard thing starts rearing its head again, and I did have some thoughts on that.  For a long time, I haven't been a Richard fan.  I get that he's not happy with what he is, or what it does to him, but seriously: he needs to get help.  He needs to move on, and he needs to stop being a Nice Guy.  (Yes, using it in the non-complimentary sense, hence the caps).

Life has to be faced, and we all have to deal with our monsters in the closet, and with what is real, not what we wish was real.  Adults don’t get to hide under the covers and pretend they don’t hear the monster – we have to get out the flashlight and check under the bed.  I find that with my divorce, I really have no time for Richard’s issues.  Anita being a coldhearted bitch is one of the things that’s kept him alive, and maybe his dislike of that is one of the problems.  Jean-Claude accepts her, even when it’s painful – because he loves Anita and doesn’t want to force her to fit in a frame she can’t fit.  I know which man I’d take. 

Even after going through a painful (not wanted by me) divorce, I still know I'd take Jean-Claude.  You can't cling to the past, and you can't just hope that one morning you'll open your eyes and it will all have been a dream.  You have to open your eyes, and somehow get out of the bed, face the day, and live the life you have.  Do what it takes to try to make yourself happy, but you can't force someone to make you happy. 

 DV

 

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