Certainly, events are unfolding and changing for Anita Blake and her troop of weres, vamps and other assorteds but not nearly as quickly as I kind of expected. The book deals mostly with the aftermath of the explosive death of Marmee Noir and, as usual, with the ever expanding and evolving powers of Anita herself. As usual, things don't go according to plan and there doesn't appear to be a nice sparkly happy ending looming any time soon for the tiny brunette and her many lovers but some good things do happen. For one thing, there is another emergence of the ever moody Richard Zeeman but this time some good seems to come of it. Of course, no Anita Blake novel would be complete without her jumping in the sack with a wide variety of people, both intended and not.
Having read these books from the very beginning, I remember when this girl was all about the Catholic upbringing and the 'not before marriage' declarations. While many of the books have de-evolved down to, essentially, slightly plotty smut, I am one of the readers that don't mind it too much. Ms. Hamilton does usually take time to give the story some plot and evolution and attempts to tie the sex in with what is actually happening. There are reasons for most of it, anyway. And had we spent the last dozen or so books still dealing with Anita's original moralistic hang ups, I probably would have stopped reading by now because there is only so much pent up sexual tension a person can read before going nuts. *coughtwilightcough* I know there were quite a few readers who were turned off the books over the years because of the sex but I find that easier to handle than the excessively puritan ideals would have been. If Anita had been surrounded by all these gorgeous and available men all this time and had NOT gotten laid, I wouldn't have found her very realistic and would have wanted to strangle her. Really. :)
Anyway, as far as books go, it was an enjoyable read for someone who has been a constant fan of the series. It doesn't give quite as much story as I might have liked and things are starting to seem a bit slow in coming to fruition, but if things pick up really well in the next book then everything should be fine. This could just be the small lull before the shit storm. I'm kind of hoping it is because, as much as I enjoy her writing, there is only so long Ms. Hamilton can milk this cash cow before even her most devoted readers jump ship.
Oh, and if you're someone completely new to the series, DO NOT start here! *laugh* Not only might you be turned off by the story but you'll probably be a bit confused. I do very much recommend going back to read the first books where Anita's life is all about raising zombies, helping out the police and ganking the occasional psychotic evil vampire. You just may want to stop reading by about book 8 or 9 because that's when things really start to go a little Harlequin fantasy romance...in full detail.
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