So, I liked it! I have to admit readers Laurel K. Hamilton genuinely (And happily) Surprised me with her latest Anita Blake Vampire Hunter Novel. This was another case of two novels in one which is the standard for Laurell these days. But, unlike the last few novels which felt like two books that were fighting one another this latest novel appeared to actually bleed together and compliment itself between the supernatural aspect that is Anita’s life and the human side that Anita is (is she though?) still a part of. There were a lot of plot holes too readers A LOT… The story begins with a curve ball that has Anita, Micah, Nathaniel, Nicky, Ares, Dev, etc… going off to see Micah’s father who has been seriously injured by something that is quite rare…this is where the real curve ball comes into play as Micah tries to deal with seeing his estranged family and deal with all that there’s also the matter of what is happening to his father…. The doctors are whispering “Zombie Sickness.” Anita knows zombies she’s the first real necromancer of her kind in over a thousand years and so she knows everything about the dead…that is until this recent case. These zombies attack people in the daylight, they’re fast, have higher brain functions it seems, and their bite will contaminate their victim and in turn rot them and turn them into zombies… the Rule ladies and gentlemen have essentially changed and upped the danger quite a bit for this little family reunion. With all the scary zombie tales out there I always felt Laurell’s zombies felt the safest as they couldn’t infect people and rarely ever went rogue…they were animated corpses by magic nothing more…so to have this happen almost gave me a heart attack and just wait…there’s another big curve ball concerning this very deadly grotesque new zombie. Still, there’s so much action in this book and a lot of gunfire and combat that I felt like screaming ALRIGHT NOW THIS IS THE ANITA I REMEMBER! Only one problem…I was also going…why the need for guns..they’re zombies…you’re the most bad ass Necromancer in the states…so why the guns Anita? Okay, no spoilers, but c’mon she’s a Necromancer! Zombies are kinda her bread and butter no? Now, also my other issues with this book were the descriptions of each character…I know, I know it lets us know whose who, but c’mon! Must we know the height, weight, build, eye color, hair color/style, smile, etc… of every character? And, Laurell doesn’t just tell us this information once no, she tells us every time about old characters and quite a bit of the new ones..it’s enough to make a girl want to (Le GASP) Skip words while reading! Edward is also in this book (as he usually is) and he’s changed quite a bit I’m not sure if he’s scarier now as he can switch between Edward and Ted in the blink of an eye…but again we get it he’s Death. Him and Anita’s dialogue is very fun and adds a touch of comedy to the story, they’re old warrior friends who’ve seen it all together it seems. Also, am I spoiled not working in the field of cops, swat, special forces, etc… as I have never had so many men treat me like I were lesser because I’m 5’3 and a woman? Yes, I’m excellent at my job, and heck I’ve even worked security (I use security loosely) at a few conventions and have never gotten flak for being a woman and short (maybe a few jokes, but never hostility) It seems like every other character both male and female are just itching to pounce on Anita and pick fights with her. In the past I understood because Anita was such a wise ass, but to openly be so unprofessional towards a fellow officer not once but multiple times? Well…. Seems like I could understand one bad egg in that group of people but several? Maybe we need new training and police in Laurell’s World…okay of course there’s also the fact Anita is sleeping with the supernatural’s, but again you’d think that’d be old news by now? I don’t like bullies and I loathe people who judge others by what they do in the privacy of their bedrooms and the love they share who cares in this day and age? The boundaries Laurell writes about concerning relationships and love are very interesting and not at all for the conservative but I say “Hey you love them, they love you? You’re all happy? Why not?” Apparently though that must make me rare because in Anita’s world humans mostly think that’s a big no no..whatever. Also, I really used to love the Anita character since she’s such a kick butt woman who takes no flack, but why must she put down her own gender when she’s angry that the men won’t treat her equal and then she goes off and says “I’m being girly, is it because I’m a girl, girly, girly, girly,” For a character that thinks women can be just as good as men she sure speaks about other women in the negative A lot… it’s pretty infuriating especially since not all men can do what Anita and the other supes and officers can do…just a little less girly bashing please Anita after all you do have that XX Chromosome so a little more respect please? Also, I get that Nicky is a sociopath did we have to bring it up every friggen time Nicky was in a scene? I mean we get it! Nicky is your bride, he technically doesn’t have free will, he’s a lion a big bad Sociopathic lion…yeah we got it the first three times. There was some fun banter in this book, but a few times I felt like the Anita character wasn’t dealing with her issues at all like all this filing away will lead to a very rainy day in the future and it’s not just one person who might be hurt by this but a lot of people. Still, that’s what Anita does and she’s still growing as a person twenty years writing only about half of that in the Anita Verse so characters got some growing up to do. Now onto the erotic side of the Anita books the scenes in this book oh my were they way better than the last book and quite steamy… so wait to go sex scenes! Overall I did enjoy this book it could have been shorter because of all of the descriptions and constant hate speech, but it also could have been longer in the ending as the story had this wonderful build up to the end and the big baddy is as usual confronted in a few short pages…. All that ground work and then well..I’ll let you read I wasn’t unhappy it was actually pretty spiffy but still the wrap up always seems so brisk in these books. There’s also a lot of special treats for you romantics out there who cannot get enough of (sigh dreamily) Jean Claude, Nathaniel, Micah, Nicky, etc…a very special treat indeed that hopefully won’t come back and bite everyone in the ass. So, will I keep reading this series? Yes, Laurell has addicted me from Guilty Pleasures and though she’s upset me quite a bit over the years this book made me feel as a reader more engrossed in the tale (and actually scared!) and ready to see just where she is going after all when you have slewn the Mother of all Darkness and the Father of Day and faced countless other nightmares what could top that? We shall see Readers we shall see…
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