I am a huge Laurell K Hamilton fan. I have read all of her books-- Anita, Merry Gentry, even the short stories and compilations. As always, some fans love the new book, and others are disappointed. Many fans think that there is not enough action and serious plot. This is another book where Anita is out of her home turf, St. Louis, investigating crimes as a US Marshal. The Harlequin and Mother of All Darkness are the brought back in as the antagonists. The other major players in this book are Edward and the other old school monster-hunter Marshals, Olaf and Bernardo.
While many people have been waiting for a book that features and develops the character of Edward, I was okay with his rather undisclosed nature. It worked to make him more scary and chaotic for me. Now, it seems that Edward is just being set up as another possible partner for Anita and the ardeur. And what is there to say about Olaf other than he is obviously coming into play as a future antagonist, nothing new there. Here's my big beef: I miss Jean-Claude. It seems like forever since he had a central role in any of the books. Poor Jean-Claude left at home, ignored, while Anita is totally playing the field. I would love to see another book featuring him, maybe even being a little scary and conniving again. Oh, for the good old days. That being said, it seems that Laurell may be at work on another Anita novel. Her last blog post seems to definitely hint that she is deep in writing and working in Anita's world right now. So, more Jean-Claude, please!
Sookie has grown up a lot over the course of this series. She is no longer the bubbly telepathic waitress that she once was. Now she seems weary, tired of all the drama. Victor comes back as her antagonist to meet his doom as all her foes eventually do. But we all knew he had to go, right? Her relationship with Eric seems to be winding down at this point, which saddens me a bit.
A lot of fans were disappointed in this new release-- they criticize the plot lines as flat and predictable but mainly the introduction of discrepancies in continuity. It seems that Ms Harris is attempting to take the series in a new direction, which is requiring some reworking of the back story. The word is that she wants to end this series and is working toward an HEA for Sookie. Whether or not her publishers allow her to put to rest such a successful series remains to be seen. But can Sookie really have a traditional HEA at this point? It appears that the direction she is heading is to end up with Sam, but really? I mean, can Sookie just lie low in Bon Temps, get married to Sam and have babies, the end? What about her past, all the Vamp and Were politics? It doesn't seem seem to coalesce to me, like having the end of a story just say that was all a dream, the end. Pretty unsatisfying ultimately. Here's hoping that's not where we are going, but there seems to be a lot of speculation. . . At any rate, I am looking forward to checking out the new abso of the minute release The Sookie Stackhouse Companion! And I am definitely following this series to its conclusion.
The vampire world in BDB is not traditional. The vamps feed from each other not humans, and they battle their nemeses the Lessers in skirmishes hidden from the human consciousness of reality. In each book, the main plot line follows the development of a relationship while continuing the overarch of the story and other past main characters' lives. Usually, at the end there is some hint at the direction the next novel will take. That is, whom it will follow. In this way, these are not stand alone novels. And for sure that is true of this one, since this story is as much about Vishous as it is about his sister Payne finding love with her doctor Manny.
The BDB fans seem split in their reception of this work. The lamest critiques say the romance is weak, huh? I miss the overarch, myself. What about the war with the Lessers? Where do the Sympaths fit into the survival of the species? Wrath, hello, where are you? And the relationships, and teasing between all of the brothers is a bit out, too. But I loved all of the focus on Vishous. He's my favorite Brother, and he really need some closure. I found the end of his story to be somewhat dissatisfying, what with his mate dying and all. And the whole series could evolve to center more around Vishous than Blind King Wrath, what with Butch needed him for after eating pieces of the Omega, not to mention the whole Vishous/Payne/Children of the Deity angle, true?
So this was obviously my favorite of the three new Vamp Books. There is still so many directions this series can go-- I think that it has a lot of life left. The overarch of the story is no where near conclusion, and so many fans are ready for the Blay & Qhuinn story. But maybe Ms Ward is a bit nervous about a whole novel centered on a gay romance in a predominantly straight market/series? Other fans are wanting Tohr's book, but would that be back story or a new girl? And here we go with a new Fallen Angels release on Sept 6-- book 3, Envy. I'm looking forward to that one, too.
And now for something completely different. . .
not really. I've started following the new trend in paranormal fiction and have been reading a few of the books on Fairies. I think that they are popular because they are otherworldly and anything can happen, including more magic situations. Fae are intriguing because the are both beautiful and gruesome, lovely and vicious, and have roots in our historical folkloric past.
Right now, I'm reading The Iron Fey series by Julie Kagawa. It is a YA Harlequin series with 3 books and 2 short stories, and a new book, The Iron Knight, will be released Oct 25. They are definitely worth checking out.
And. . .
I'm following the making of The Hunger Games, too. There is a lot of info on the Web at this point. It was a great series and looks like a good movie is on the way.
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