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Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter #24
Dead Ice
"If you've never read this series, I highly recommend/strongly suggest having the Anita Blake experience. Vampires, zombies, and shifters, oh my! And trust me, these are not your daughter's vampires."
-LITERATI BOOK REVIEWS
Anita Blake has the highest kill count of any vampire executioner in the country. She’s a U.S. Marshal who can raise zombies with the best of them. But ever since she and master vampire Jean-Claude went public with their engagement, all she is to anyone and everyone is Jean-Claude’s fiancée.
It’s wreaking havoc with her reputation as a hard ass—to some extent. Luckily, in professional circles, she’s still the go-to expert for zombie issues. And right now, the FBI is having one hell of a zombie issue.
Someone is producing zombie porn. Anita has seen her share of freaky undead fetishes, so this shouldn’t bother her. But the women being victimized aren’t just mindless, rotting corpses. Their souls are trapped behind their eyes, signaling voodoo of the blackest kind.
It’s the sort of case that can leave a mark on a person. And Anita’s own soul may not survive unscathed . . .
-LITERATI BOOK REVIEWS
Anita Blake has the highest kill count of any vampire executioner in the country. She’s a U.S. Marshal who can raise zombies with the best of them. But ever since she and master vampire Jean-Claude went public with their engagement, all she is to anyone and everyone is Jean-Claude’s fiancée.
It’s wreaking havoc with her reputation as a hard ass—to some extent. Luckily, in professional circles, she’s still the go-to expert for zombie issues. And right now, the FBI is having one hell of a zombie issue.
Someone is producing zombie porn. Anita has seen her share of freaky undead fetishes, so this shouldn’t bother her. But the women being victimized aren’t just mindless, rotting corpses. Their souls are trapped behind their eyes, signaling voodoo of the blackest kind.
It’s the sort of case that can leave a mark on a person. And Anita’s own soul may not survive unscathed . . .
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First published June 9, 2015
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About the author
Laurell K. Hamilton
422 books25.7k followersLaurell K. Hamilton is one of the leading writers of paranormal fiction. A #1 New York Times bestselling author, Hamilton writes the popular Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter novels and the Meredith Gentry series. She is also the creator of a bestselling comic book series based on her Anita Blake novels and published by Marvel Comics. Hamilton is a full-time writer and lives in the suburbs of St. Louis with her family.
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no-thanks-or-lost-interest
June 16, 2015This series hasn't just jumped the shark...it's forced us to sit back and watch Anita F#@k the shark....
(Ha! This has become my most popular review ever :) )
(Ha! This has become my most popular review ever :) )
March 29, 2020
Dead Ice begins with one of the most disturbing developments yet in the Anita Blake series - LKH reveals that her long-time editor is retiring. This is shocking, because most of us were unaware that there was any editing involved in these books at all. My personal favorite example of the editing in this volume? Page 75 - “I don’t remember the last time you [Jean-Claude] kissed my hand.” I do; it was on page 59 - “He [J-C] laid a light kiss on each of my hands and then a firmer kiss on my mouth.” Do I get a check to help me retire early, too?
As for the actual plot of the book, LKH resurrects more already-dead past storylines than Anita does zombies. Dominga Salvador (remember her from book 2?) is back, or at least someone related to her. We stare at the genitals of Narcissus, the intersex werehyena from book 10 in the series. Rafael the Rat King gets a brief storyline (that ends up getting dropped entirely midstream). Unlike Anita’s zombies, however, the dead storylines stay pretty unconvincing and lifeless. The book is structured as follows: 10% setting up disturbing zombie porn police scenario, 80% detailed but ultimately pointless conversations with assorted lovers, friends and enemies that end up going nowhere, and then 10% resolving disturbing zombie porn police scenario.
Just to give you a taste of the drama that goes on in the 80% of the book: The media has gone gaga for Anita and Jean-Claude’s engagement, because of the amazing grand gesture JC made for the public announcement. This grand public spectacle consisted of...a ride in a horse-drawn carriage. A dopey tourist ride that hasn’t been original since several centuries before Jean-Claude became a vampire. Pretty mind-blowing, right? But maybe everyone is so entranced because of the fact that Jean-Claude is becoming measurably, metaphysically sexier, and Anita sees this as a problem, for some reason. This is a real plot point in the book.
Not to worry though...Anita has her own stuff going on. Their jeweler compares her looks to Helen of Troy, and the jeweler is apparently old enough to have known Helen in person. HELEN. OF TROY. And yet Anita still whines about how she feels like a clumsy peasant compared to Jean Claude’s king, or a “3” compared to his “twenty bazillion.” She “puts up” with the fact that people treat her AS IF she is attractive, but still can’t accept it, because her stepmother and one guy she dated one time a long time ago said she wasn’t. But she still makes time to bitch about other women who are insecure about their looks and relationships. This is still amazingly tiresome to read about. [By the way, extra editing points for specifically crediting the person who came up with a name for the jewelry store involved here in the introduction for the book, and then never actually using the name of the jewelry store in the book.]
Anita’s necromancy powers are increasing, also. No reason given for the uptick in power, or for why Anita is surprised that pouring all of her power into one zombie makes for a really powerful zombie, when she already knows that she can raise and control hundreds at once. There’s just a long, pointless section about zombies eating at Denny’s (really), and then Anita shrugging it all off to think about another time because she has to go start 86 other conversations and squabbles with people and then never resolve them.
Plus, she has this case she’s sort of working on. Once again, her contributions are stunning and impressive. For example, she notices a calendar in the background of a video, and how there are different months in different videos. Because apparently every good detective knows that you can’t fake the passage of time in a video by using a wall calendar. That’s why hostage negotiators are always asking for proof of life in the form of the victim holding a wall calendar, and not something easily faked like a dated copy of a major newspaper, or something.
However, all that is pretty much irrelevant, because eventually Anita just touches a computer screen and prays to God to let her talk to the zombie on the other side of the live chat, and God lets her, because he really didn’t have anything better to be doing at the moment. I mean...a literal deus ex machina. From there, it’s pretty much all over, aside from some digressions about workouts and weight room set up and the family background of a random Asian SWAT guy who has green eyes, in the middle of a hostage crisis in a graveyard, because Anita is never too busy to have a pointless and boring conversation. The improbable bad guy is taken out, the good guys conclude that they have no idea how he did what he did or why he did it, and no one really tries to find out, because they have to get back to discussing polyamory some more...at least until the next time someone needs Anita to talk to God through a computer screen while looking like Helen of Troy and riding in a carriage, while Jean-Claude sexies all over everyone and sixty other men trail them chanting “tight and wet! Tight and wet!” in praise of Anita’s vagina.
As for the actual plot of the book, LKH resurrects more already-dead past storylines than Anita does zombies. Dominga Salvador (remember her from book 2?) is back, or at least someone related to her. We stare at the genitals of Narcissus, the intersex werehyena from book 10 in the series. Rafael the Rat King gets a brief storyline (that ends up getting dropped entirely midstream). Unlike Anita’s zombies, however, the dead storylines stay pretty unconvincing and lifeless. The book is structured as follows: 10% setting up disturbing zombie porn police scenario, 80% detailed but ultimately pointless conversations with assorted lovers, friends and enemies that end up going nowhere, and then 10% resolving disturbing zombie porn police scenario.
Just to give you a taste of the drama that goes on in the 80% of the book: The media has gone gaga for Anita and Jean-Claude’s engagement, because of the amazing grand gesture JC made for the public announcement. This grand public spectacle consisted of...a ride in a horse-drawn carriage. A dopey tourist ride that hasn’t been original since several centuries before Jean-Claude became a vampire. Pretty mind-blowing, right? But maybe everyone is so entranced because of the fact that Jean-Claude is becoming measurably, metaphysically sexier, and Anita sees this as a problem, for some reason. This is a real plot point in the book.
Not to worry though...Anita has her own stuff going on. Their jeweler compares her looks to Helen of Troy, and the jeweler is apparently old enough to have known Helen in person. HELEN. OF TROY. And yet Anita still whines about how she feels like a clumsy peasant compared to Jean Claude’s king, or a “3” compared to his “twenty bazillion.” She “puts up” with the fact that people treat her AS IF she is attractive, but still can’t accept it, because her stepmother and one guy she dated one time a long time ago said she wasn’t. But she still makes time to bitch about other women who are insecure about their looks and relationships. This is still amazingly tiresome to read about. [By the way, extra editing points for specifically crediting the person who came up with a name for the jewelry store involved here in the introduction for the book, and then never actually using the name of the jewelry store in the book.]
Anita’s necromancy powers are increasing, also. No reason given for the uptick in power, or for why Anita is surprised that pouring all of her power into one zombie makes for a really powerful zombie, when she already knows that she can raise and control hundreds at once. There’s just a long, pointless section about zombies eating at Denny’s (really), and then Anita shrugging it all off to think about another time because she has to go start 86 other conversations and squabbles with people and then never resolve them.
Plus, she has this case she’s sort of working on. Once again, her contributions are stunning and impressive. For example, she notices a calendar in the background of a video, and how there are different months in different videos. Because apparently every good detective knows that you can’t fake the passage of time in a video by using a wall calendar. That’s why hostage negotiators are always asking for proof of life in the form of the victim holding a wall calendar, and not something easily faked like a dated copy of a major newspaper, or something.
However, all that is pretty much irrelevant, because eventually Anita just touches a computer screen and prays to God to let her talk to the zombie on the other side of the live chat, and God lets her, because he really didn’t have anything better to be doing at the moment. I mean...a literal deus ex machina. From there, it’s pretty much all over, aside from some digressions about workouts and weight room set up and the family background of a random Asian SWAT guy who has green eyes, in the middle of a hostage crisis in a graveyard, because Anita is never too busy to have a pointless and boring conversation. The improbable bad guy is taken out, the good guys conclude that they have no idea how he did what he did or why he did it, and no one really tries to find out, because they have to get back to discussing polyamory some more...at least until the next time someone needs Anita to talk to God through a computer screen while looking like Helen of Troy and riding in a carriage, while Jean-Claude sexies all over everyone and sixty other men trail them chanting “tight and wet! Tight and wet!” in praise of Anita’s vagina.
June 9, 2015
One of the worst things to ever happen to the Anita Blake series was that Laurell K. Hamilton received a coveted "no-edit" clause in her contract. Even if the books were bloated, tedious, repetitive trainwrecks.
And the best parts of "Dead Ice" are the ones that clearly show the mark of an editor's scarlet pen. But while it starts strong, the book quickly sinks into a clammy, dismal quagmire of relationship issues, few of which are actually even slightly interesting to read about. Instead, we get long stretches of Anita being the toughest, manliest, most misogynistic macho-man in the universe, broken only by a disturbing subplot that heralds future necrophilia.
The FBI enlists Anita to help them on a case that really shouldn't be new to them: someone is raising zombies so they can be molested in porn videos. This doesn't surprise Anita, since she has encountered such plots in the past -- but the Internet is bringing a new dimension to such things. That plot sounds exciting, interesting and chilling... so it is set aside for almost the entire book. Not kidding.
Instead, we follow Anita as she shops for jewelry, has sex in cars, plans who's going to be in her mass commitment ceremony, and has useless power struggles that nobody cares about to show us how she is tougher/sexier/cooler/better than everyone else. And, of course, everybody sits down to eat bland food like a "family," and talk about relationships. Hooray. Occasionally we dip back into the zombie-porn plot, only to be dragged back into Anita yelling at random new characters.
In a way, "Dead Ice" is the most disappointing book Hamilton has written in years, because the beginning is... good. It has the subtle touch of a good editor who has streamlined out all the filler and repetition, and the FBI agents are written as reasonable human beings who have legitimate issues with Anita. Add on a zombie case that is horrifyingly plausible, and a rather clever connection to one of the earlier novels... and you have the makings of an actual good Anita Blake thriller.
And then... it just sinks into the same ol' same ol'. Most of the book is a poorly-written filler, full of with ghastly dialogue ("How can any of us stand near the flame of your beauty and not want to be closer to the heat of it?") and power struggles that nobody really cares about. It feels less like a cohesive novel, and more like a string of short stories and vague ideas tacked together, with the "main" plot being forgotten for what seems like an eternity.
Of course, we have the usual Anita Blake staples: sexism (Anita has to LEARN that sometimes women don't give men a "reason" to beat them), preaching the gospel of the gym, unsexy sex scenes (Anita picking pubic hair out of her teeth), logical plot holes (Micah is now a wereleopard AND weretiger), casual insults to people of various sexualities (an asexual person is "cured" by Anita and JC) and long scenes that exist just to glorify Anita. One scene involves a character comparing Anita's looks to those of Helen of Troy... without an ounce of humor. That is the stuff of parody.
Worst of all: Anita raises a zombie for the first time in aeons, while being her usual unprofessional self. Instead of somehow tying this into the zombie porn plot... it turns into a necrophiliac romance based on Anita raising zombies who are practically alive. This means in another two or three books, Anita will raise a zombie and have sex with it. Just wait and watch. And as the final embarrassment, Hamilton wrote part of this as a rather pitiful jab at Jim Butcher's "Dresden Files" series.
Anita is her usual self here -- a dumb, thuggish bully who loathes anyone she considers "weak" or too "PC." Hamilton tries desperately to cast her as a goddess of kindness and strength, but only makes her look like a clueless bimbo who throws tantrums all the time. Oh, and there are some halfhearted attempts to make her seem less violently misogynistic ("Girls rule; boys drool") but she's still casually misogynistic and resentful of all other women.
As for the hundreds of other characters, they mostly seem to be there to fill up space. Anita's brainwashed boytoy Nicky is there just to remind us that he's a sociopath every two pages, which is dull at best. Asher is just there to be told how much everyone hates him. Jean-Claude is barely present in the story, and Hamilton's boredom with the character is almost palpable. And Anita's rapist/true-love Micah is secretly manipulating different were groups to enhance his own power base... and fortunately for him, Anita is too stupid to be worried about this.
"Dead Ice" is a hideously frustrating book. When the editors were involved, it's a pretty decent thriller... but most of the time, it's the same old swamp of bickering and whining. Alert to the editor: give the whole book the red-pen treatment!
And the best parts of "Dead Ice" are the ones that clearly show the mark of an editor's scarlet pen. But while it starts strong, the book quickly sinks into a clammy, dismal quagmire of relationship issues, few of which are actually even slightly interesting to read about. Instead, we get long stretches of Anita being the toughest, manliest, most misogynistic macho-man in the universe, broken only by a disturbing subplot that heralds future necrophilia.
The FBI enlists Anita to help them on a case that really shouldn't be new to them: someone is raising zombies so they can be molested in porn videos. This doesn't surprise Anita, since she has encountered such plots in the past -- but the Internet is bringing a new dimension to such things. That plot sounds exciting, interesting and chilling... so it is set aside for almost the entire book. Not kidding.
Instead, we follow Anita as she shops for jewelry, has sex in cars, plans who's going to be in her mass commitment ceremony, and has useless power struggles that nobody cares about to show us how she is tougher/sexier/cooler/better than everyone else. And, of course, everybody sits down to eat bland food like a "family," and talk about relationships. Hooray. Occasionally we dip back into the zombie-porn plot, only to be dragged back into Anita yelling at random new characters.
In a way, "Dead Ice" is the most disappointing book Hamilton has written in years, because the beginning is... good. It has the subtle touch of a good editor who has streamlined out all the filler and repetition, and the FBI agents are written as reasonable human beings who have legitimate issues with Anita. Add on a zombie case that is horrifyingly plausible, and a rather clever connection to one of the earlier novels... and you have the makings of an actual good Anita Blake thriller.
And then... it just sinks into the same ol' same ol'. Most of the book is a poorly-written filler, full of with ghastly dialogue ("How can any of us stand near the flame of your beauty and not want to be closer to the heat of it?") and power struggles that nobody really cares about. It feels less like a cohesive novel, and more like a string of short stories and vague ideas tacked together, with the "main" plot being forgotten for what seems like an eternity.
Of course, we have the usual Anita Blake staples: sexism (Anita has to LEARN that sometimes women don't give men a "reason" to beat them), preaching the gospel of the gym, unsexy sex scenes (Anita picking pubic hair out of her teeth), logical plot holes (Micah is now a wereleopard AND weretiger), casual insults to people of various sexualities (an asexual person is "cured" by Anita and JC) and long scenes that exist just to glorify Anita. One scene involves a character comparing Anita's looks to those of Helen of Troy... without an ounce of humor. That is the stuff of parody.
Worst of all: Anita raises a zombie for the first time in aeons, while being her usual unprofessional self. Instead of somehow tying this into the zombie porn plot... it turns into a necrophiliac romance based on Anita raising zombies who are practically alive. This means in another two or three books, Anita will raise a zombie and have sex with it. Just wait and watch. And as the final embarrassment, Hamilton wrote part of this as a rather pitiful jab at Jim Butcher's "Dresden Files" series.
Anita is her usual self here -- a dumb, thuggish bully who loathes anyone she considers "weak" or too "PC." Hamilton tries desperately to cast her as a goddess of kindness and strength, but only makes her look like a clueless bimbo who throws tantrums all the time. Oh, and there are some halfhearted attempts to make her seem less violently misogynistic ("Girls rule; boys drool") but she's still casually misogynistic and resentful of all other women.
As for the hundreds of other characters, they mostly seem to be there to fill up space. Anita's brainwashed boytoy Nicky is there just to remind us that he's a sociopath every two pages, which is dull at best. Asher is just there to be told how much everyone hates him. Jean-Claude is barely present in the story, and Hamilton's boredom with the character is almost palpable. And Anita's rapist/true-love Micah is secretly manipulating different were groups to enhance his own power base... and fortunately for him, Anita is too stupid to be worried about this.
"Dead Ice" is a hideously frustrating book. When the editors were involved, it's a pretty decent thriller... but most of the time, it's the same old swamp of bickering and whining. Alert to the editor: give the whole book the red-pen treatment!
July 17, 2015
Why? Why? Why?
The questions keep piling up every time I read another one of her books. Why do I subject myself to this, over and over again? Maybe I'm inherently defeatist, surrendering utterly to a character I once loved deeply and truly before she became a . To be sure, I have gone through all sorts of mental gymnastics to get me this far, purchasing hardcover books for each and every one of these mammoth tomes as they came out, actually managing to summon my own zombies of enthusiasm when I realize there's a new book coming out, each and every time.
And after reading yet another, I ask myself the same damn question:
Why?
First, to be fair, this is more of a 1.5 star book. All the parts I love are there and easily definable. It wouldn't be a difficult task to cut and paste the sections together into one unified whole that may reach a hundred or a hundred and fifty pages, max. So what are these sections, you ask? The very start of the novel. A few digressions with Manny. All of the interactions with the police. And finally, the end. These parts could actually take up less than a fifth of the actual novel.
The rest is WORTHLESS. It's all just whiny relationship shit, boring sex, drama, whiny relationship shit, boring sex, more boring sex, and to be entirely fair, a tiny bit less Drama than most of the previous novels. But STILL, it's just filler. How many fucking lovers can one woman not just fuck, but maintain deep and meaningful relationships with while managing to make every single reader of LKH's books completely forget or wish they could forget all those fucking lovers?
I had to take up cutting myself to keep awake during all the damn filler.
So I ask myself, and have been asking myself as one unending rant as I read this novel, WHY AM I STILL READING THIS SERIES?
Answer: When it's good, it's really great. When there's plot and powerups and horror and action, it's really top-shelf enjoyment. I can string all those adventures together and see how she's levelled up and feel a warm glow of deep and true satisfaction. Hell, I ate the first eight novels in a few days, years ago, and swore that this was written just for me. And then we get away from her long-drawn-out celibacy and jump into a threesome. Okay. Not really interesting me, but all the action and suspense is great. Then we have a metaphysical and magical reason why she needs to feed on sex like a vampire. I go, okay, still not interesting me, but I'll stick with the series because the action is still fascinating and the big bad has my full attention. Then, later, we have whole novels full of all the side characters she has to fuck to survive. And then I'm going, "What the hell am I doing?"
Other than a few good novels spread thin in the next fifteen, most of it is filler. I swear it's like watching the original Naruto after Ero-Senin took him off to train in the ways of being a sage. Years and years and years of goddamned stupid filler. I want to cry and shake my hands at the heavens and pray for ONE GOOD EDITOR to put their foot down upon LKH's manuscript and say, "Cut it out, already! Kill your fucking darlings. No one cares. Go back to telling good stories."
Am I going to torture myself with the next one?
Possibly. I'm unreasonably loyal to those I've decided to be loyal with. Even when I've been BDSM'd to fucking hell and back without a freaking safe word.
By the way, that fifth of the novel was pretty good and tight. Perhaps we need to have a wikipage devoted to LKH to delineate all the pages where actual plot happens and instruct us which pages to skip. I'd donate to that kickstarter. Hell yes.
The questions keep piling up every time I read another one of her books. Why do I subject myself to this, over and over again? Maybe I'm inherently defeatist, surrendering utterly to a character I once loved deeply and truly before she became a . To be sure, I have gone through all sorts of mental gymnastics to get me this far, purchasing hardcover books for each and every one of these mammoth tomes as they came out, actually managing to summon my own zombies of enthusiasm when I realize there's a new book coming out, each and every time.
And after reading yet another, I ask myself the same damn question:
Why?
First, to be fair, this is more of a 1.5 star book. All the parts I love are there and easily definable. It wouldn't be a difficult task to cut and paste the sections together into one unified whole that may reach a hundred or a hundred and fifty pages, max. So what are these sections, you ask? The very start of the novel. A few digressions with Manny. All of the interactions with the police. And finally, the end. These parts could actually take up less than a fifth of the actual novel.
The rest is WORTHLESS. It's all just whiny relationship shit, boring sex, drama, whiny relationship shit, boring sex, more boring sex, and to be entirely fair, a tiny bit less Drama than most of the previous novels. But STILL, it's just filler. How many fucking lovers can one woman not just fuck, but maintain deep and meaningful relationships with while managing to make every single reader of LKH's books completely forget or wish they could forget all those fucking lovers?
I had to take up cutting myself to keep awake during all the damn filler.
So I ask myself, and have been asking myself as one unending rant as I read this novel, WHY AM I STILL READING THIS SERIES?
Answer: When it's good, it's really great. When there's plot and powerups and horror and action, it's really top-shelf enjoyment. I can string all those adventures together and see how she's levelled up and feel a warm glow of deep and true satisfaction. Hell, I ate the first eight novels in a few days, years ago, and swore that this was written just for me. And then we get away from her long-drawn-out celibacy and jump into a threesome. Okay. Not really interesting me, but all the action and suspense is great. Then we have a metaphysical and magical reason why she needs to feed on sex like a vampire. I go, okay, still not interesting me, but I'll stick with the series because the action is still fascinating and the big bad has my full attention. Then, later, we have whole novels full of all the side characters she has to fuck to survive. And then I'm going, "What the hell am I doing?"
Other than a few good novels spread thin in the next fifteen, most of it is filler. I swear it's like watching the original Naruto after Ero-Senin took him off to train in the ways of being a sage. Years and years and years of goddamned stupid filler. I want to cry and shake my hands at the heavens and pray for ONE GOOD EDITOR to put their foot down upon LKH's manuscript and say, "Cut it out, already! Kill your fucking darlings. No one cares. Go back to telling good stories."
Am I going to torture myself with the next one?
Possibly. I'm unreasonably loyal to those I've decided to be loyal with. Even when I've been BDSM'd to fucking hell and back without a freaking safe word.
By the way, that fifth of the novel was pretty good and tight. Perhaps we need to have a wikipage devoted to LKH to delineate all the pages where actual plot happens and instruct us which pages to skip. I'd donate to that kickstarter. Hell yes.
June 11, 2015
Anita Blake books. A summary.
1. Anita is soooooo pretty according to everyone else but she think she's stubby troll ugly because vampires all look like super models.
2. Anita needs therapy because she can't even with anything emotional and has a breakdown.
3. Asher is the snotty jerky child that Richard used to be. Richard looms quietly in the background because we can't have two snotty jerk children and he went to therapy.
4. Long explanation about how talking makes polyamory work.
5. Mention characters no one has seen/heard from in 10+ books.
6. Everyone poly is okay with everything! Because acceptance!
7. Other cops have prejudice against Anita because she's pretty and famous.
8. Five pages of cop work rushed at the end after all the emotional drama of a junior high school.
The cop stuff is good when it's there. But I'm pretty much only still reading for Edward and Zebrowski.
(Side note - I'm pro polyamory. But come on, get off your soapbox already!)
1. Anita is soooooo pretty according to everyone else but she think she's stubby troll ugly because vampires all look like super models.
2. Anita needs therapy because she can't even with anything emotional and has a breakdown.
3. Asher is the snotty jerky child that Richard used to be. Richard looms quietly in the background because we can't have two snotty jerk children and he went to therapy.
4. Long explanation about how talking makes polyamory work.
5. Mention characters no one has seen/heard from in 10+ books.
6. Everyone poly is okay with everything! Because acceptance!
7. Other cops have prejudice against Anita because she's pretty and famous.
8. Five pages of cop work rushed at the end after all the emotional drama of a junior high school.
The cop stuff is good when it's there. But I'm pretty much only still reading for Edward and Zebrowski.
(Side note - I'm pro polyamory. But come on, get off your soapbox already!)
May 27, 2025
Yes, I'm going to read it, even though I know it's going to piss me off. LKH has gotten to be a car wreck that you can't help but gawk at as you drive by.
update:
Well, I was correct. Laurell, you and I are breaking up. I'd say we should see other people but I think you've got that covered. It's not you, it's me. Who the heck am I kidding? It's totally you.
I thought for a minute this book might be decent, but nope! The intro gets you excited for the old Anita, and then, nothing, NOTHING, until the last few pages where it gets neatly wrapped up into a bow. Not to mention all the random character drive-bys. (Hmm, did I put Sin, Richard, Asher, etc. in this book yet? nope. Ok, now he is.) Anita is still in her self-psycho (spelling intended) therapy. Poor me. It's so hard that everyone tells me I'm beautiful and I have all these beautiful men in my life.
Sorry, short, dark and partly hispanic on your mother's side. Anita, it's over.
update:
Well, I was correct. Laurell, you and I are breaking up. I'd say we should see other people but I think you've got that covered. It's not you, it's me. Who the heck am I kidding? It's totally you.
I thought for a minute this book might be decent, but nope! The intro gets you excited for the old Anita, and then, nothing, NOTHING, until the last few pages where it gets neatly wrapped up into a bow. Not to mention all the random character drive-bys. (Hmm, did I put Sin, Richard, Asher, etc. in this book yet? nope. Ok, now he is.) Anita is still in her self-psycho (spelling intended) therapy. Poor me. It's so hard that everyone tells me I'm beautiful and I have all these beautiful men in my life.
Sorry, short, dark and partly hispanic on your mother's side. Anita, it's over.
June 15, 2015
This is where this series and I part ways.
November 14, 2016
When this series started, we had Anita as a sanctimonious, bitchy, fanny-pack wearing "badass" who was obsessed with guns, hated vampires, and only believed in committed, monogamous sex. Twenty four books later, Anita is a sanctimonious, bitchy, dress-wearing "badass" who is obsessed with guns, is marrying a vampire, and believes in polyamory so much that she puts the "poly" in polyamory. So, a few changes.
The problem with the polyamory in this book is that she has so many lovers now that just listing their names takes up too many pages. It's like the book of Numbers in the bible where there is just lists of who begat who. Just substitute the word "begat" with "humped".and so Nathaniel humped Michah..and Michal humped Jean-Claude...and Jean-Claude humped Asher...and Asher humped Dev...and Dev humped Anita who humped Nathaniel, and Micha, and Jean-Claude, and Asher, and some underaged kid, and a couple of women, along with a pack of were-animals or two, and more vampires....
you have to be REALLY old to get this reference. Sorry, kids!
The other thing that is a problem in this book, and would be a major problem if you had a coffee date with Anita, is that it takes FOREVER for her to do anything. She is walking down a hallway to go to work, but then she has a 20-minute confrontation with a sassy guard, and then she has to shower off all the blood, and then she gets in her daily shower fight, and then she stops to have sex with someone on the floor, and then needs another shower, and then has a relationship crisis with one of her lovers, and then she takes another 40 minutes admiring her sweet sweet guns as she straps them onto every part of her body, and don't forget the picking out of the wardrobe - that takes time. Oh shit, the day is now over. Who will she sleep with tonight? Let the negotiations begin!
Yeah, so the actual "mystery" of the book gets completely lost in all of this monotony. She gets a creepy-ass weird case to solve in the first few pages, for the next 400 pages she goes through all the BS of above, then there are a couple pages at the end where the case is all wrapped-up.
This book was in desperate need of someone with a giant red Sharpie. But, just like Anita's love-life, it seems that the author has not heard the philosophy of "less is more" or the word "succinct". And, because of it, much like Anita's love-life, this book is a clusterfuck.
The problem with the polyamory in this book is that she has so many lovers now that just listing their names takes up too many pages. It's like the book of Numbers in the bible where there is just lists of who begat who. Just substitute the word "begat" with "humped".and so Nathaniel humped Michah..and Michal humped Jean-Claude...and Jean-Claude humped Asher...and Asher humped Dev...and Dev humped Anita who humped Nathaniel, and Micha, and Jean-Claude, and Asher, and some underaged kid, and a couple of women, along with a pack of were-animals or two, and more vampires....
you have to be REALLY old to get this reference. Sorry, kids!
The other thing that is a problem in this book, and would be a major problem if you had a coffee date with Anita, is that it takes FOREVER for her to do anything. She is walking down a hallway to go to work, but then she has a 20-minute confrontation with a sassy guard, and then she has to shower off all the blood, and then she gets in her daily shower fight, and then she stops to have sex with someone on the floor, and then needs another shower, and then has a relationship crisis with one of her lovers, and then she takes another 40 minutes admiring her sweet sweet guns as she straps them onto every part of her body, and don't forget the picking out of the wardrobe - that takes time. Oh shit, the day is now over. Who will she sleep with tonight? Let the negotiations begin!
Yeah, so the actual "mystery" of the book gets completely lost in all of this monotony. She gets a creepy-ass weird case to solve in the first few pages, for the next 400 pages she goes through all the BS of above, then there are a couple pages at the end where the case is all wrapped-up.
This book was in desperate need of someone with a giant red Sharpie. But, just like Anita's love-life, it seems that the author has not heard the philosophy of "less is more" or the word "succinct". And, because of it, much like Anita's love-life, this book is a clusterfuck.
August 31, 2021
Jan 20, 2017
Re-Reading
----------------------------
Read June 7-10/2015
This is a long running series. After 20 odd books I'm going to assume anyone reading reviews for the 24th book Dead Ice is familiar with the world building, the protagonist, the supporting cast & the author's writing style. I'm going to address some common "issues" fans have with LKH's Anita Blake series & how book 24 stacks up.
Common issue #1: "Anita is not the same person she was when i started this series." "I miss the old Anita." etc
This series takes place (from book 1-24) within a 6 year timeframe, Anita started the series (Guilty Pleasures book 1) in her mid-twenties (24?) & is now in her early 30’s. As is the case with most of us Anita has changed. Life experiences aren’t always positive & let’s be honest they impact us all, either we adapt (change/grow)or we become stagnant (closed minded, rigid, set in our ways). Anita’s life has been eventful (aka complicated), she’s adapted often, grown as an individual, worked on her “issues” & I’ve enjoyed reading about all these changes for YEARS (Guilty Pleasures book 1 was org published in the late 90’s). So clearly I am a fan.
Dead Ice gives us an update on how Anita has changed. She's solved some old issues. She's come a long way with her familial issues (her step mother, her father, the death of her mother seems to be an issue she's coped with)has also made massive leaps in her self-esteem issues (no negative appearance or self-worth comments). Her other woman issue (she doesn't judge woman so harshly seems to be getting along with the female sex), she's also noticed she's the only heterosexual/bisexual woman in her poly & is working on that issue. As is the case with most people going to therapy she's also discovered new issues, yeah surprise surprise LOL She's not perfect. Perfect makes for boring fiction.
Common issue #2: "The Anita Blake series is nothing but a massive sex-fest." "The adure sucks." etc.
I enjoy sex scenes & LKH can for the most part write some HOT sex scene *wink* but the sex can be overly used in this series. I dislike when the majority of my book is sex unless it's shelved under erotica. Luckily in Dead Ice we explore a new way to “feed”, instead of the traditional way the adure is fed. We’ve known Anita can feed on lust & anger. In this book we learn how Anita feeds on the latter. That's not to say LKH did away with sex all together. If that's your (unrealistic) hope or expectation you'll be disappointed. Sex is an integral part of Anita's life. It's always been a topic of discussion, it's used as political device, a plot device, a way for Anita to grow emotionally etc etc. From the 2 years without sex, sleeps with stuffed animals Anita of Guilty Pleasures to Dead Ice’s in a poly relationship Anita. The sex is not going anywhere, get over it. It was just not overly done. Ex Anita can feed on lust or anger. When the adure first popped into Anita’s life, it led to some regret filled circumstances. We know Anita’s mastered feeding from lust but what about her feeding with anger? In Dead Ice we get an update on Anita’s progress when feeding on anger. That was a pleasant change. Speaking of her adure mistakes in Dead Ice we see how poor Anita is living with the consequences of her previous actions. Let’s just say there is such a thing as too many good looking men in a lady's life. Reading Dead Ice it’s clear Anita’s over it & some covert downsizing is in the works. LOL
Common issue #3: "Doesn't Anita work?" "What happened to her raising the dead?" "Doesn't she kill vamps anymore?" etc
Anita MUST raise the dead, she is a necromancer. If she doesn't use her gift it will manifest itself other ways. Ex zombie pet dogs However, her primary job is as a US Marshall. She consults on paranormal cases, raises the dead, & serves death executions. We see her do all these in Dead Ice. We also get some insight on how her necromancer gift has been impacted. Bc come on she went from raising 5 dead a night to only doing "big" centuries old jobs. She's also a "bridge" to many paranormal powers(Vampire & Lycrothrop). This IMO should impact her natural gift as well.
Common issue #4: “What happened to JC?” “We need more JC”
No worries Dead Ice has a lot of JC. *happily sighs*
So I hope by addressing the more common complaints & if Dead Ice addresses them helps people decide if they want to buy now or wait for the book to come out in the library.
I rate this book a 3.5/4.5.
Rants & Conjuncture:
Asher & Kane: Asher & Kane are emotionally draining. I was so upset by JC’s tolerance of him & his actions. Get rid of them, they add nothing to the group or plot.
I suspect I know why Richard was included in this book. Mainly it’s LKH attempt to show his progress/growth. I realize Richard is never going to exit Anita’s life. I dislike Richard & if the limited number of scenes he was included in on Dead Ice is any indication of what the future holds for him *grin* I’m fine with it.
New ladies: I’m so happy it looks like Anita hit it off with the two female wares & vampire. It be awesome if the newest Lion addition takes Asher’s place as TOP *Evil smile* although I suspect that wouldn’t work for Richard unless she can double as his bottom. OOOOOOHHHHHH maybe she & Richard can become an item?? That would solve Richards “sex life/relationship issues & get rid of Asher. It would also be a cohesive fit. Right now I think of Richard as the odd man out.
The Rat King: it was interesting to see how the political atmosphere has changed with the rats. *sniffs* Subterfuge is in the air.
Larry: I’m ok if I never see Larry again. *snooze* Although I suspect we will due to the type of association he works for.
The wedding OMG JC how are you going to top the engagement!? The queen better get used to being on display.
The mystery: The identity of the “bad guy” wasn’t that mysterious. The plot itself was interesting. Especially the portions with Manny. Love him.
Re-Reading
----------------------------
Read June 7-10/2015
This is a long running series. After 20 odd books I'm going to assume anyone reading reviews for the 24th book Dead Ice is familiar with the world building, the protagonist, the supporting cast & the author's writing style. I'm going to address some common "issues" fans have with LKH's Anita Blake series & how book 24 stacks up.
Common issue #1: "Anita is not the same person she was when i started this series." "I miss the old Anita." etc
This series takes place (from book 1-24) within a 6 year timeframe, Anita started the series (Guilty Pleasures book 1) in her mid-twenties (24?) & is now in her early 30’s. As is the case with most of us Anita has changed. Life experiences aren’t always positive & let’s be honest they impact us all, either we adapt (change/grow)or we become stagnant (closed minded, rigid, set in our ways). Anita’s life has been eventful (aka complicated), she’s adapted often, grown as an individual, worked on her “issues” & I’ve enjoyed reading about all these changes for YEARS (Guilty Pleasures book 1 was org published in the late 90’s). So clearly I am a fan.
Dead Ice gives us an update on how Anita has changed. She's solved some old issues. She's come a long way with her familial issues (her step mother, her father, the death of her mother seems to be an issue she's coped with)has also made massive leaps in her self-esteem issues (no negative appearance or self-worth comments). Her other woman issue (she doesn't judge woman so harshly seems to be getting along with the female sex), she's also noticed she's the only heterosexual/bisexual woman in her poly & is working on that issue. As is the case with most people going to therapy she's also discovered new issues, yeah surprise surprise LOL She's not perfect. Perfect makes for boring fiction.
Common issue #2: "The Anita Blake series is nothing but a massive sex-fest." "The adure sucks." etc.
I enjoy sex scenes & LKH can for the most part write some HOT sex scene *wink* but the sex can be overly used in this series. I dislike when the majority of my book is sex unless it's shelved under erotica. Luckily in Dead Ice we explore a new way to “feed”, instead of the traditional way the adure is fed. We’ve known Anita can feed on lust & anger. In this book we learn how Anita feeds on the latter. That's not to say LKH did away with sex all together. If that's your (unrealistic) hope or expectation you'll be disappointed. Sex is an integral part of Anita's life. It's always been a topic of discussion, it's used as political device, a plot device, a way for Anita to grow emotionally etc etc. From the 2 years without sex, sleeps with stuffed animals Anita of Guilty Pleasures to Dead Ice’s in a poly relationship Anita. The sex is not going anywhere, get over it. It was just not overly done. Ex Anita can feed on lust or anger. When the adure first popped into Anita’s life, it led to some regret filled circumstances. We know Anita’s mastered feeding from lust but what about her feeding with anger? In Dead Ice we get an update on Anita’s progress when feeding on anger. That was a pleasant change. Speaking of her adure mistakes in Dead Ice we see how poor Anita is living with the consequences of her previous actions. Let’s just say there is such a thing as too many good looking men in a lady's life. Reading Dead Ice it’s clear Anita’s over it & some covert downsizing is in the works. LOL
Common issue #3: "Doesn't Anita work?" "What happened to her raising the dead?" "Doesn't she kill vamps anymore?" etc
Anita MUST raise the dead, she is a necromancer. If she doesn't use her gift it will manifest itself other ways. Ex zombie pet dogs However, her primary job is as a US Marshall. She consults on paranormal cases, raises the dead, & serves death executions. We see her do all these in Dead Ice. We also get some insight on how her necromancer gift has been impacted. Bc come on she went from raising 5 dead a night to only doing "big" centuries old jobs. She's also a "bridge" to many paranormal powers(Vampire & Lycrothrop). This IMO should impact her natural gift as well.
Common issue #4: “What happened to JC?” “We need more JC”
No worries Dead Ice has a lot of JC. *happily sighs*
So I hope by addressing the more common complaints & if Dead Ice addresses them helps people decide if they want to buy now or wait for the book to come out in the library.
I rate this book a 3.5/4.5.
Rants & Conjuncture:
Asher & Kane: Asher & Kane are emotionally draining. I was so upset by JC’s tolerance of him & his actions. Get rid of them, they add nothing to the group or plot.
I suspect I know why Richard was included in this book. Mainly it’s LKH attempt to show his progress/growth. I realize Richard is never going to exit Anita’s life. I dislike Richard & if the limited number of scenes he was included in on Dead Ice is any indication of what the future holds for him *grin* I’m fine with it.
New ladies: I’m so happy it looks like Anita hit it off with the two female wares & vampire. It be awesome if the newest Lion addition takes Asher’s place as TOP *Evil smile* although I suspect that wouldn’t work for Richard unless she can double as his bottom. OOOOOOHHHHHH maybe she & Richard can become an item?? That would solve Richards “sex life/relationship issues & get rid of Asher. It would also be a cohesive fit. Right now I think of Richard as the odd man out.
The Rat King: it was interesting to see how the political atmosphere has changed with the rats. *sniffs* Subterfuge is in the air.
Larry: I’m ok if I never see Larry again. *snooze* Although I suspect we will due to the type of association he works for.
The wedding OMG JC how are you going to top the engagement!? The queen better get used to being on display.
The mystery: The identity of the “bad guy” wasn’t that mysterious. The plot itself was interesting. Especially the portions with Manny. Love him.
June 14, 2015
Have you ever read a beloved series that ended up growing and changing so much that it’s unrecognizable from what made you fall in love with it in the first place? Or how about one that changed so much but you accepted it in its new form, only to get stuck in its own redundancy? Yeah, I have and sadly, it seems to be my beloved PNR Anita Blake series.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, if you’re a fan of the series, you’ve heard all the bad mojo surrounding the series over the years. Our favorite Vampire Hunter turns into a sex craved, issue filled Diva as the series progressed over the years and sadly Dead Ice is just another addition to this dying series.
Anita is back with her unique crime fighting in the supernatural world and with her menagerie of lovers. In this installment of the Anita Blake series, Anita is dealing with the FBI and has been brought on to a case involving Zombie Porn. Yep you heard me, Zombie Porn, which involves real life rotting Zombies, brought back to life for nefarious snuff porn films of sorts. Usually Zombies in Anita’s world are soul-less animated corpses but someone has found a way to trap the soul back into the Zombie to keep the thing from rotting too quickly, thereby committing not only the act of forced porn but also making the person suffer through the process of rotting and being raped. Yeah it’s very gross!
Anita is also dealing with her very confusing love life and impending marriage to multiple people. Yep, she’s all about the polyamourous relationships (if you didn’t already know). All the while dealing with the demanding animal groups who want to be represented in the marriage and all the normal politics she normally deals with.
If you didn’t know, this series is told from Anita’s POV. I think this is what is really starting to grate on my nerves. Normally when I read books from one POV, there’s a good reason for it. It’s the heroine or hero’s story. Usually being in their head is part of the story. It moves the story along and is sometimes really annoying or can be brilliant. Unfortunately, twenty years in Anita’s head is getting a bit old. In Anita’s world, it hasn’t been that long but the books have been around that long. Anita is a very neurotic diva-esque personality that tends to reiterate everything, explain everything, nitpick on everything, perseverate on everything, obsess about everything, hate on everything and spew how great she is all the while being self destructive to everyone and everything around her and yep, you get to be in her head, yet again. I never thought there was a character that I would grow to hate hearing a story from their POV but Anita has done it. I’ve grown tired of her narocies. She runs hot and cold and she’s just tiring. Having someone explain everything she does to the reader like you’re a five year old toddler became eye roll inducing. The first half of the book had more explanations of story elements than story itself but it does finally pick up steam in the second half.
In a nutshell, I felt the story had an echo of the old Anita/Police days but as a whole this story does not push the series forward, it just adds to the already present stagnant waters.
After being a patient and hopeful fan of the series for many years, I was hopeful that one day, the style of the original books would come back after all Anita’s whoring was over but sadly I think those days are far, far behind us and I don’t think even the author knows how to dig her out. Maybe, just maybe, it’s time to hang up the series and more onto other worlds.
It's more like 2 1/2 stars
Yeah, yeah, yeah, if you’re a fan of the series, you’ve heard all the bad mojo surrounding the series over the years. Our favorite Vampire Hunter turns into a sex craved, issue filled Diva as the series progressed over the years and sadly Dead Ice is just another addition to this dying series.
Anita is back with her unique crime fighting in the supernatural world and with her menagerie of lovers. In this installment of the Anita Blake series, Anita is dealing with the FBI and has been brought on to a case involving Zombie Porn. Yep you heard me, Zombie Porn, which involves real life rotting Zombies, brought back to life for nefarious snuff porn films of sorts. Usually Zombies in Anita’s world are soul-less animated corpses but someone has found a way to trap the soul back into the Zombie to keep the thing from rotting too quickly, thereby committing not only the act of forced porn but also making the person suffer through the process of rotting and being raped. Yeah it’s very gross!
Anita is also dealing with her very confusing love life and impending marriage to multiple people. Yep, she’s all about the polyamourous relationships (if you didn’t already know). All the while dealing with the demanding animal groups who want to be represented in the marriage and all the normal politics she normally deals with.
If you didn’t know, this series is told from Anita’s POV. I think this is what is really starting to grate on my nerves. Normally when I read books from one POV, there’s a good reason for it. It’s the heroine or hero’s story. Usually being in their head is part of the story. It moves the story along and is sometimes really annoying or can be brilliant. Unfortunately, twenty years in Anita’s head is getting a bit old. In Anita’s world, it hasn’t been that long but the books have been around that long. Anita is a very neurotic diva-esque personality that tends to reiterate everything, explain everything, nitpick on everything, perseverate on everything, obsess about everything, hate on everything and spew how great she is all the while being self destructive to everyone and everything around her and yep, you get to be in her head, yet again. I never thought there was a character that I would grow to hate hearing a story from their POV but Anita has done it. I’ve grown tired of her narocies. She runs hot and cold and she’s just tiring. Having someone explain everything she does to the reader like you’re a five year old toddler became eye roll inducing. The first half of the book had more explanations of story elements than story itself but it does finally pick up steam in the second half.
In a nutshell, I felt the story had an echo of the old Anita/Police days but as a whole this story does not push the series forward, it just adds to the already present stagnant waters.
After being a patient and hopeful fan of the series for many years, I was hopeful that one day, the style of the original books would come back after all Anita’s whoring was over but sadly I think those days are far, far behind us and I don’t think even the author knows how to dig her out. Maybe, just maybe, it’s time to hang up the series and more onto other worlds.
It's more like 2 1/2 stars
March 7, 2025
I seem to like each of her new books less and less. At the beginning of the series, it was a lot of action with some sex and romance to spice up the story. Now it's a lot of sex and talking and emotional drama and "Oh my God. Did I forget to actually include a plot line? Maybe I should throw in a zombie crime case then too". Does absolutely every problem have to be solved with sex? And where is Edward!? She makes an amazing guest character and doesn't hardly bring him around anymore.
The first 40 pages or so of the book was crime stuff followed by a TON of talking and some sex and a bunch of drama crap with us finally getting back to solving the crime in the last 50 pages. So a 550+ page book could potentially be reduced to 150 pages of crime fighting and zombies with some essential paragraphs explaining the Asher issue and flesh-eating zombie. I don't even know why she made the tigers an issue, since there was absolutely no progress really made on that front.
Aside from the extensive dialogue and copious amounts of emotional drama, I also wasn't too fond of all the explanations of past events. Multiple times throughout the book, Hamilton referenced a major event from a previous book and then went on to explain in detail about what had happened. If the readers have stuck it out and read up to this point (especially with the recent quality), why are you extensively explaining major points from previous books? The reader already knows about it. I sat down to read this book not various parts of previous books.
The first 40 pages or so of the book was crime stuff followed by a TON of talking and some sex and a bunch of drama crap with us finally getting back to solving the crime in the last 50 pages. So a 550+ page book could potentially be reduced to 150 pages of crime fighting and zombies with some essential paragraphs explaining the Asher issue and flesh-eating zombie. I don't even know why she made the tigers an issue, since there was absolutely no progress really made on that front.
Aside from the extensive dialogue and copious amounts of emotional drama, I also wasn't too fond of all the explanations of past events. Multiple times throughout the book, Hamilton referenced a major event from a previous book and then went on to explain in detail about what had happened. If the readers have stuck it out and read up to this point (especially with the recent quality), why are you extensively explaining major points from previous books? The reader already knows about it. I sat down to read this book not various parts of previous books.
January 2, 2016
I partially read the book and partially listened to the audio. I didn’t feel either was helped or harmed by the back and forth.
I was so excited for this book and the beginning of the book was good. Good enough that it prompted me to buy the audio as well so I could listen at work and not have to wait ten hours before I could get back to it.
Unfortunately, that only makes my disappointment in it that much more palpable. Dead Ice is so dissatisfying mainly because the potential was there to actually be great.
The problem was the story went off on too many tangents. Too many storylines left the book too bloated and scattered and, for a book this long, it should have had closure to the sub plots. Instead I was left with a bunch of questions that were never answered. And you could see the ending coming a mile away. It was glaringly obvious, which is super annoying.
What’s even more annoying is the repetition Hamilton uses to describe characters or past events. Look, this is Book 24 – if you haven’t kept up with a serial series and you are just popping in now – you’re a fucking moron. Go to the back log and start somewhere before the series got to double digits.
Anyway. For the first time in ages the story wasn’t completely bogged down with sex. Unfortunately the sex scenes that actually were in the story were pretty boring or eye roll inducing. A first for me.
There were more stupid and unnecessary power struggles. Between Anita and her men, Anita and her woman, Jean-Claude and Asher, Narcissus and the werehyenas, the other characters who are jealous/resentful of Anita…blah, blah, blah.
Also - What the fuck? Jean-Claude is now the vampire king in the United States, but he is still acting like he’s just a Master of the City, and a shitty one at that. And why is he still allowing Asher to manipulate him? I wish someone would just kill Asher and get it over with already.
You know what pissed me off royally though? Rafael, the wererat king, was almost killed and his sub-plot was just dropped. I have absolutely no idea what happened to him.
There are way too many characters, and too many new characters being introduced for no good reason, to the detriment of the ones already there (where's Wicked, Truth, Damien??)…and I just can’t find it in me to care anymore.
I am so tired of the polyamory. Not because of any moral opposition or anything…I just do not believe anyone can have legitimate relationships with more than eight people and have the whole group be satisfied. Sorry, I don’t buy it. I can see three, or even four or five people, but after that it just leaves me shaking my head because who has the time or energy? Maybe if all you did was fuck, but everyone has multiple jobs. Hell, Anita is a vampire executioner, animator, US Marshal, queen to Jean-Claude’s vampire queen, leopard queen, master of tigers…it’s exhausting. Who has time for all that and carry on loving relationships with a half-dozen (or more) people? Not. Buying. It.
Still, the story wasn’t as bad as the last few have been. Though it’s still a far, far cry from the wonder and joy these stories used to bring me.
The more I think about this story, it's potential, the plot holes, the dropped storylines, and all the bullshit...the more ragey I'm getting.
I will give Hamilton one more shot on this series. One more time to get this train back on the tracks. If the next Anita Blake story doesn’t get better, I’m dropping it.
I was so excited for this book and the beginning of the book was good. Good enough that it prompted me to buy the audio as well so I could listen at work and not have to wait ten hours before I could get back to it.
Unfortunately, that only makes my disappointment in it that much more palpable. Dead Ice is so dissatisfying mainly because the potential was there to actually be great.
The problem was the story went off on too many tangents. Too many storylines left the book too bloated and scattered and, for a book this long, it should have had closure to the sub plots. Instead I was left with a bunch of questions that were never answered. And you could see the ending coming a mile away. It was glaringly obvious, which is super annoying.
What’s even more annoying is the repetition Hamilton uses to describe characters or past events. Look, this is Book 24 – if you haven’t kept up with a serial series and you are just popping in now – you’re a fucking moron. Go to the back log and start somewhere before the series got to double digits.
Anyway. For the first time in ages the story wasn’t completely bogged down with sex. Unfortunately the sex scenes that actually were in the story were pretty boring or eye roll inducing. A first for me.
There were more stupid and unnecessary power struggles. Between Anita and her men, Anita and her woman, Jean-Claude and Asher, Narcissus and the werehyenas, the other characters who are jealous/resentful of Anita…blah, blah, blah.
Also - What the fuck? Jean-Claude is now the vampire king in the United States, but he is still acting like he’s just a Master of the City, and a shitty one at that. And why is he still allowing Asher to manipulate him? I wish someone would just kill Asher and get it over with already.
You know what pissed me off royally though? Rafael, the wererat king, was almost killed and his sub-plot was just dropped. I have absolutely no idea what happened to him.
There are way too many characters, and too many new characters being introduced for no good reason, to the detriment of the ones already there (where's Wicked, Truth, Damien??)…and I just can’t find it in me to care anymore.
I am so tired of the polyamory. Not because of any moral opposition or anything…I just do not believe anyone can have legitimate relationships with more than eight people and have the whole group be satisfied. Sorry, I don’t buy it. I can see three, or even four or five people, but after that it just leaves me shaking my head because who has the time or energy? Maybe if all you did was fuck, but everyone has multiple jobs. Hell, Anita is a vampire executioner, animator, US Marshal, queen to Jean-Claude’s vampire queen, leopard queen, master of tigers…it’s exhausting. Who has time for all that and carry on loving relationships with a half-dozen (or more) people? Not. Buying. It.
Still, the story wasn’t as bad as the last few have been. Though it’s still a far, far cry from the wonder and joy these stories used to bring me.
The more I think about this story, it's potential, the plot holes, the dropped storylines, and all the bullshit...the more ragey I'm getting.
I will give Hamilton one more shot on this series. One more time to get this train back on the tracks. If the next Anita Blake story doesn’t get better, I’m dropping it.
June 8, 2015
In a series that can be its own worst enemy, DEAD ICE is the best Anita Blake book in a long time. Though there are instances where Hamilton's own voice overwhelms the story, DEAD ICE also offers the necromancy, mystery, and romance of classic Anita Blake.
Everything in Anita's world is a procedural, from choosing clothing to managing poly relationships to interacting with law enforcement agencies. This can be both a strength and a weakness. When the subject at hand flows with the storyline, the details can be mesmerizing. In some cases, however, Hamilton focuses on character vignettes and scenes that slow the story down to a crawl. At book 24 of a best selling series, it is no surprise that the editors are willing to leave in some "outtake" material, but DEAD ICE could have gone from good to great with a firmer hand on the red pen.
Hamilton knows her characters intimately, and this leads to some of the best and worst parts of DEAD ICE. Though I could have skipped a few repetitive confrontations and dead end discussions, it was fantastic to see Anita back with the RPIT and living the (mostly) good life with her lovers.
Sexual Content: Sex scenes, rape scenes.
Everything in Anita's world is a procedural, from choosing clothing to managing poly relationships to interacting with law enforcement agencies. This can be both a strength and a weakness. When the subject at hand flows with the storyline, the details can be mesmerizing. In some cases, however, Hamilton focuses on character vignettes and scenes that slow the story down to a crawl. At book 24 of a best selling series, it is no surprise that the editors are willing to leave in some "outtake" material, but DEAD ICE could have gone from good to great with a firmer hand on the red pen.
Hamilton knows her characters intimately, and this leads to some of the best and worst parts of DEAD ICE. Though I could have skipped a few repetitive confrontations and dead end discussions, it was fantastic to see Anita back with the RPIT and living the (mostly) good life with her lovers.
Sexual Content: Sex scenes, rape scenes.
Read
April 20, 2015********************************************
Reviewed for Science Fiction Book Club.
Reprinted with permission of Bookspan LLC.
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I am probably not the right person to review this as I have never had any interest in reading any of the previous twenty-three book in this series, so take this review with that proviso.
This is just as cheesy as it sounds but will have great appeal to the legions of Laurel K. Hamilton who have eagerly awaited this book, number twenty-four in the Anita Blake series.
Anita Blake is asked to assist with an investigation into a zombie pornography ring. The FBI has tried their best to find out who is raising the zombies that are being used on the videos but they have had no luck and turn to Anita Blake, who's own personal gift is the ability to raise the dead. She is also a vampire hunter, who is now engaged to the King of Vampires, Jean-Claude. Add to this the fact that she is also gifted with the blood of the were-tiger (or panthers), is currently the leader of the local werewolf pack, and is also the headhunter for said pack. In fact, Anita is so firmly embedded in all of the preternatural community, I find it hard to imagine how she gets anything else done. It seems like her job at the US Marshals office is just a farce; how could she investigate anything and not have some sort of bias. She's been at this for so long, she is personally involved with most of the communities she is supposed to investigate.
I tried to give this a shot, I really did. But I haven't read any of the other books, I have nothing invested in Anita Blake and so much of what has happened to her in the past forms how she behaves in this book. She makes choices based on her victimization in the past and also how she victimized others. Her guilt doesn't make much sense to me because I don't "know" her. And the cast of characters, so many characters, honestly, the only folks who will want to read this are ones who already know these characters.
I will say that plot is very interesting and though I don't know how the magic in this world works, it was interesting to see how the bad guys did what they did and how the good guys tracked them down. I really hated all the personal relationships though, the sex scenes were "meh", and this wasn't at all my cup of tea.
Reviewed for Science Fiction Book Club.
Reprinted with permission of Bookspan LLC.
********************************************
I am probably not the right person to review this as I have never had any interest in reading any of the previous twenty-three book in this series, so take this review with that proviso.
This is just as cheesy as it sounds but will have great appeal to the legions of Laurel K. Hamilton who have eagerly awaited this book, number twenty-four in the Anita Blake series.
Anita Blake is asked to assist with an investigation into a zombie pornography ring. The FBI has tried their best to find out who is raising the zombies that are being used on the videos but they have had no luck and turn to Anita Blake, who's own personal gift is the ability to raise the dead. She is also a vampire hunter, who is now engaged to the King of Vampires, Jean-Claude. Add to this the fact that she is also gifted with the blood of the were-tiger (or panthers), is currently the leader of the local werewolf pack, and is also the headhunter for said pack. In fact, Anita is so firmly embedded in all of the preternatural community, I find it hard to imagine how she gets anything else done. It seems like her job at the US Marshals office is just a farce; how could she investigate anything and not have some sort of bias. She's been at this for so long, she is personally involved with most of the communities she is supposed to investigate.
I tried to give this a shot, I really did. But I haven't read any of the other books, I have nothing invested in Anita Blake and so much of what has happened to her in the past forms how she behaves in this book. She makes choices based on her victimization in the past and also how she victimized others. Her guilt doesn't make much sense to me because I don't "know" her. And the cast of characters, so many characters, honestly, the only folks who will want to read this are ones who already know these characters.
I will say that plot is very interesting and though I don't know how the magic in this world works, it was interesting to see how the bad guys did what they did and how the good guys tracked them down. I really hated all the personal relationships though, the sex scenes were "meh", and this wasn't at all my cup of tea.
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July 6, 2018
Ahh, what?
It seems a ridiculous thing to say about mythical creatures and paranormal activities, but I was not convinced by this world even remotely. It felt too claustrophobic, too much. Like stuffing too many clothes in your mammoth suitcase when you're going away for one night. There were vampires and werewolves/lycans, but werehyenas and weremermaids (probably) and all sorts that just felt crammed in. The characters, though I only met them briefly, were just so flat and hideous and, again, unconvincing.
I got to page 75. I always try to get to page 75, or 150 if I really try hard. But this...
Maybe starting at the 24th novel isn't the best of ideas. Looking at other reviewers, it looks like this is the worst of the lot and Ms. Blake should possibly be killed off for the sanity of everyone.
The writing was almost fine. There was far too much dialogue, but that almost felt justified. The sex scene was appalling, and I still don't know how vampires get erections. Please, someone, explain this to me.
Otherwise... Nah. Can't do it. Can't read any more of this tripe. All filler, no killer.
But still 100% better than Twilight.
It seems a ridiculous thing to say about mythical creatures and paranormal activities, but I was not convinced by this world even remotely. It felt too claustrophobic, too much. Like stuffing too many clothes in your mammoth suitcase when you're going away for one night. There were vampires and werewolves/lycans, but werehyenas and weremermaids (probably) and all sorts that just felt crammed in. The characters, though I only met them briefly, were just so flat and hideous and, again, unconvincing.
I got to page 75. I always try to get to page 75, or 150 if I really try hard. But this...
Maybe starting at the 24th novel isn't the best of ideas. Looking at other reviewers, it looks like this is the worst of the lot and Ms. Blake should possibly be killed off for the sanity of everyone.
The writing was almost fine. There was far too much dialogue, but that almost felt justified. The sex scene was appalling, and I still don't know how vampires get erections. Please, someone, explain this to me.
Otherwise... Nah. Can't do it. Can't read any more of this tripe. All filler, no killer.
But still 100% better than Twilight.
November 4, 2018
2.5 stars
It was OK, it started great actually : Anita is finding her way back: dropping unnecessary sex partners, more necromancy and achieving new levels of power,but we were dragged in the usual BS, i hope in the next books for less sex scenes (i can't imagine i just said that)....
and less "chatter" about clothes, internal issues and whining ...
We hope for more guns, magic and action , we miss "death" and Olaf something fierce
Still wishing to meet Anita's family : her father's reaction to her "slutty" ways ,the evil stepmother and of course her step brother and sister ....
It was OK, it started great actually : Anita is finding her way back: dropping unnecessary sex partners, more necromancy and achieving new levels of power,but we were dragged in the usual BS, i hope in the next books for less sex scenes (i can't imagine i just said that)....
and less "chatter" about clothes, internal issues and whining ...
We hope for more guns, magic and action , we miss "death" and Olaf something fierce
Still wishing to meet Anita's family : her father's reaction to her "slutty" ways ,the evil stepmother and of course her step brother and sister ....
May 28, 2015
Kirstin's Review:
Dead Ice by Lauren K. Hamilton 5 out of 5 stars
After 23 Anita Blake books, reading a new one is like catching up with beloved old friends that you have really missed having in your life.
So, since this is book 24, you wouldn't even be interested in it if you hadn't read the first 23. And, if you read the first 23, then you are a die hard fan and would want to read this new book no matter what anyone says!
Therefore, as a fellow die hard let me assure you that you will get a lot more of Jean-Claude, Micah and Nathaniel. There will be some shapeshifter action and politics. And Anita will be involved in solving the mystery of a zombie porn ring as well as bringing the bad guy to justice.
So, enjoy!
Dead Ice by Lauren K. Hamilton 5 out of 5 stars
After 23 Anita Blake books, reading a new one is like catching up with beloved old friends that you have really missed having in your life.
So, since this is book 24, you wouldn't even be interested in it if you hadn't read the first 23. And, if you read the first 23, then you are a die hard fan and would want to read this new book no matter what anyone says!
Therefore, as a fellow die hard let me assure you that you will get a lot more of Jean-Claude, Micah and Nathaniel. There will be some shapeshifter action and politics. And Anita will be involved in solving the mystery of a zombie porn ring as well as bringing the bad guy to justice.
So, enjoy!
June 13, 2015
Four hundred pages of crap, about seventy five pages of story and a few more of WTF.
It seemed more of an advertisement for therapy and poly-amorous life style, than a novel.
It seemed more of an advertisement for therapy and poly-amorous life style, than a novel.
November 28, 2015
This series. You love it. You hate it. You love to hate it. People are all over the place with it. And I can be too. It's one I love overall but some books are hit or miss. This one...definitely a hit. I really did not care for the prior book and was nervous about starting Dead Ice but within a few pages that nervousness started turning to excitement because I could see that old Anita from earlier in the series peeking out and that...was freaking awesome. I've missed her!
There's a lot happening in Dead Ice but I think overall there was a great balance between the heat and the paranormal. Way more balance than recent books have had. There's romance and lust. There's a little skin time (but not overly much--only 2-3 scenes in a near 600 page book). There's some zombie raising and some police consultation work as well. Relationship woes and advances as well and some metaphysical woo-woo to top it all off. It's pretty much 600 pages of non stop action in one form or another and while that can be exhausting it can also be exhilarating. It edged towards the latter for me and I really could not put this book down.
While it wasn't perfect--there was a little bit of repetition happening--it was a great read and a lot of fun watching Anita spending time in all of the different aspects of her world. Dealing with a difficult police case involving zombie porn/slaves that really glecked me out while she encountered with difficult detectives, old acquaintances and just not knowing what was happening with the logistics of the case. Dealing with her actual job of raising zombies and her powers escalating--there were some crazy moments and again with the glecking me out. There was a bit of gore and ick in this one. Not complaining about that though. lol And finally dealing with the many varied men and women in her life and making permanent commitments to some, cutting others lose, struggling with power plays, unexpected metaphysical hotspots and adding in new members to keep everyone happy and content. It was a lot to keep both Anita and me on our toes watching the three parts of her life weave in and out of each other.
The heat...was interesting. Compared to previous books this one was incredibly tame. There were a couple sex scenes but they were very tame and for the most part only one on one action. While there was some sexual tension and lots of relationship changes throughout the book the actual heat and sex too a backseat instead of being front and center. What was there was hot though.
Overall, I was really pleased with Dead Ice. It was nice seeing the series not get back to it's roots entirely but start to show some of it's old flare and what made it so special. I'm very much interested to see how a few of the somewhat open threads of the storyline will progress in the next one. Here's hoping Hamilton keeps it up and the next has that same taste of the original Anita who was so badass.
There's a lot happening in Dead Ice but I think overall there was a great balance between the heat and the paranormal. Way more balance than recent books have had. There's romance and lust. There's a little skin time (but not overly much--only 2-3 scenes in a near 600 page book). There's some zombie raising and some police consultation work as well. Relationship woes and advances as well and some metaphysical woo-woo to top it all off. It's pretty much 600 pages of non stop action in one form or another and while that can be exhausting it can also be exhilarating. It edged towards the latter for me and I really could not put this book down.
While it wasn't perfect--there was a little bit of repetition happening--it was a great read and a lot of fun watching Anita spending time in all of the different aspects of her world. Dealing with a difficult police case involving zombie porn/slaves that really glecked me out while she encountered with difficult detectives, old acquaintances and just not knowing what was happening with the logistics of the case. Dealing with her actual job of raising zombies and her powers escalating--there were some crazy moments and again with the glecking me out. There was a bit of gore and ick in this one. Not complaining about that though. lol And finally dealing with the many varied men and women in her life and making permanent commitments to some, cutting others lose, struggling with power plays, unexpected metaphysical hotspots and adding in new members to keep everyone happy and content. It was a lot to keep both Anita and me on our toes watching the three parts of her life weave in and out of each other.
The heat...was interesting. Compared to previous books this one was incredibly tame. There were a couple sex scenes but they were very tame and for the most part only one on one action. While there was some sexual tension and lots of relationship changes throughout the book the actual heat and sex too a backseat instead of being front and center. What was there was hot though.
Overall, I was really pleased with Dead Ice. It was nice seeing the series not get back to it's roots entirely but start to show some of it's old flare and what made it so special. I'm very much interested to see how a few of the somewhat open threads of the storyline will progress in the next one. Here's hoping Hamilton keeps it up and the next has that same taste of the original Anita who was so badass.
June 29, 2015
Anita is called out on a case for the FBI. Someone is using zombies with souls for sex videos, (Yes, UCK!). Meanwhile, Anita raises a zombie for a historical society to question and he comes out appearing way too perfectly human.
Jean-Claude and Anita are engaged to be married including a commitment ceremony to include Micah and Nate but a prophecy is pushing Anita and the guys to include a tiger to keep the mother of all darkness dead... Since someone can shift to a tiger now, and or Anita having all the tigers inside I don't see that as a real point but ok then. They interview the male and female tigers to join their merry group.
Asher is being an asshat. Can't someone just put them all out of their misery.
What I still love about this series:
Anita is finally showing the strength she has alluded to all a long. She stands up and uses her abilities to kick ass without backing down.
Anita sees her flaws and is working on them.
The core group is actually seeming like a “functioning” family (so why are they trying to muck it up with more?) oh, sorry this is the positive side.
Anita is doing police work and raising zombies.
What I'm not thrilled about the direction of this book and series:
The lack of intense police and/or FBI work and the real suspense filled plots this series started with.
Repetition, Repetition, REPEDTITION, I understand the need to give some back ground to the series but seriously you could of cut this book in half. And its not just all the background to the series but also with the preachy poly stuff. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against the relationship these characters have I just don't need to hear about the type of label you put on their relationship...in detail...a lot... The details seem to bog down your chance to build any character connections and taking the story to a crawl.
There is also the same crap different day the plot is lean towards.
Let me start by saying, I was a big fan of the Anita Blake series. It was always pre-order for me. It took me a long time to start this series because I'm not a zombie fan so necromancy turned me off but once I started I was hooked...But now it feels like a train wreck, you really want it all to turn out ok but you really don't see it happening.
All I can't think is please don't go any further towards more zombie sex direction...please!
Bottom line, I loved this series but now I find myself skimming. I am still hopeful, I want to see Anita, Jean-Claude, Micah, Nathaniel, and her bride get their happily ever after.
In the end, I'm going to have to go with 2.5 stars.
Jean-Claude and Anita are engaged to be married including a commitment ceremony to include Micah and Nate but a prophecy is pushing Anita and the guys to include a tiger to keep the mother of all darkness dead... Since someone can shift to a tiger now, and or Anita having all the tigers inside I don't see that as a real point but ok then. They interview the male and female tigers to join their merry group.
Asher is being an asshat. Can't someone just put them all out of their misery.
What I still love about this series:
Anita is finally showing the strength she has alluded to all a long. She stands up and uses her abilities to kick ass without backing down.
Anita sees her flaws and is working on them.
The core group is actually seeming like a “functioning” family (so why are they trying to muck it up with more?) oh, sorry this is the positive side.
Anita is doing police work and raising zombies.
What I'm not thrilled about the direction of this book and series:
The lack of intense police and/or FBI work and the real suspense filled plots this series started with.
Repetition, Repetition, REPEDTITION, I understand the need to give some back ground to the series but seriously you could of cut this book in half. And its not just all the background to the series but also with the preachy poly stuff. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against the relationship these characters have I just don't need to hear about the type of label you put on their relationship...in detail...a lot... The details seem to bog down your chance to build any character connections and taking the story to a crawl.
There is also the same crap different day the plot is lean towards.
Let me start by saying, I was a big fan of the Anita Blake series. It was always pre-order for me. It took me a long time to start this series because I'm not a zombie fan so necromancy turned me off but once I started I was hooked...But now it feels like a train wreck, you really want it all to turn out ok but you really don't see it happening.
All I can't think is please don't go any further towards more zombie sex direction...please!
Bottom line, I loved this series but now I find myself skimming. I am still hopeful, I want to see Anita, Jean-Claude, Micah, Nathaniel, and her bride get their happily ever after.
In the end, I'm going to have to go with 2.5 stars.
February 23, 2016
I could not finish this book. I usually don't rate books I couldn't finish, but I will with this one because I'm so frustrated. Below is my meanish/I'm sick of this series review.
First off, my library mystery book club was thinking about reading the first book as a BOM. I'll mention at 53 I'm one of the youngest women in this club. I asked if anyone had read her before and they hadn't. I told them that since most of the women will read the series from beginning to end that it might be a shocker stating that Anita starts out as a virgin and then the last book she has like 20 (am I exaggerating?) lovers with lots and lots of sex scenes. I think they thought I was lying.
Secondly, I feel so sorry for the author's husband. For the last 10 years or so she dedicates the books to him because he can handle her darkness, blah, blah, blah. This last dedication makes me think she is a raging bitch and she needs to apologize (or justify herself).
Thirdly, I think the author uses recaps and constant needy dialogue to make the book the number of pages the publisher wants. These recaps are endless but nothing compared to the needy dialogue. It's like a little kid that keeps asking why every time you finish a sentence.
Fourth, when Anita is trying to pick the tiger lover to add to the wedding ceremony noting that this girl was a nightmare (POT!!!), I knew a several page sex scene was in the works. I'm not a prude but they're so formulaic to me that I think I could write it out myself. I'll just leave Anita's partner's name blank and let you fill in your choice.
I'm done with this series. I think it has devolved to the point where it is - uh pointless. Why torment myself. So, next stop Ebay!!!!
First off, my library mystery book club was thinking about reading the first book as a BOM. I'll mention at 53 I'm one of the youngest women in this club. I asked if anyone had read her before and they hadn't. I told them that since most of the women will read the series from beginning to end that it might be a shocker stating that Anita starts out as a virgin and then the last book she has like 20 (am I exaggerating?) lovers with lots and lots of sex scenes. I think they thought I was lying.
Secondly, I feel so sorry for the author's husband. For the last 10 years or so she dedicates the books to him because he can handle her darkness, blah, blah, blah. This last dedication makes me think she is a raging bitch and she needs to apologize (or justify herself).
Thirdly, I think the author uses recaps and constant needy dialogue to make the book the number of pages the publisher wants. These recaps are endless but nothing compared to the needy dialogue. It's like a little kid that keeps asking why every time you finish a sentence.
Fourth, when Anita is trying to pick the tiger lover to add to the wedding ceremony noting that this girl was a nightmare (POT!!!), I knew a several page sex scene was in the works. I'm not a prude but they're so formulaic to me that I think I could write it out myself. I'll just leave Anita's partner's name blank and let you fill in your choice.
I'm done with this series. I think it has devolved to the point where it is - uh pointless. Why torment myself. So, next stop Ebay!!!!
June 15, 2015
I honestly feel like I'm starting to distance myself from these books. I honestly don't really care who Anita is sleeping with, but the entire mess of relationships is getting confusing, and I can't remember who does what with who. I'll try and write it down.
So Anita and Jean-Claude do one on one, but then Jean-Claude does someone called Envy whom I can't remember at all. He also does Asher, and Anita and Nathaniel are submissive for Asher as well. Asher meantime had something with Dev, but much preferred to be with Kane, so ended things there. Asher was also with Narcissus, and does things with Richard too. Anita, Nathaniel and Micah have the domestic bliss thing happening, but they've added Sin to the mix as well, and want another female hole basically. Anita has Jade and Domino as well, sometimes. Then there's Nicky, he's her bride. One rare occasions she will go with Jason and JJ as well, but I missed that book so I'm not sure who JJ is. She appears to be having a sex only relationship with Raphael, and the Swan King. I'm certain I'm missing some tiger relationships somewhere too. There are three females auditioning for the role of female tiger in the domestic agreement, and none are out of contention yet. Damian is absent, but he flies under the radar. I have no idea what Richard is doing, except for when he gets tied up by Asher.
So that is my limited understanding of the relationships in this book. Most of the almost 600 pages are discussions of who is comfortable with what, who wants who, and everyone wanting Anita. All of this occurs while Anita has a pissing contest with every minor character, rehashes painful memories, listens to stories that are somehow perfect for the situation, and talks about how guns sit under clothing. That's it, really. There's a zombie porn plot line that gets forgotten and wrapped up in the end, but it's last minute and Anita does so more talking about how she is always right and perfect and she rides in to save the day all on her lonesome.
It's not the Poly that bothers me, it honestly isn't. I just can't stand the dialogue that goes with it, the discussions that go nowhere. The rehashing of conversations, the round about of the same problems. The extreme judgement of any other female; if they aren't there to add to the sexual conquests of Anita, then every item of their clothing and personality has to be judged and commented on. I'm tired of Anita picking new targets to show she is all that and then some. We get it, she's bad ass. I'm tired of one scene that is meant to be say, Zombie raising, turning into a reminder about Anita's beasts, or a pissing contest between two of her guards and lovers.
There was a time when a new Anita Blake book would have me on the edge of my seat, and I wondered if there was a limit to her powers and magic. Then I wondered if she'd ever stop taking new lovers, because every time she walked around a corner there was a new one. Now I just wonder how it can end, but it won't. Laurell K will harass these characters into the grave and beyond. There is no happily ever after for this cast, there is just the sameness, forever and forever. Anita won't age, and she'll pass on the immortality to all the lycanthropes, and we'll be stuck in a forever battle of supremacy, sex and ever growing unknown magic. We'll have to believe Anita has two hours of sleep every day, because she works with the FBI, RIPIT, Animators Inc, The Furry Coalition and even The Circus now. I'm starting to think that it's too much, that I'm only reading out of morbid curiosity. That being given exactly what you wanted originally out of a book series isn't necessarily a good thing. Come one, we've all thought 'I wish these books would come out every year, that this story will never end!' But this series feels like it's cracking. When will it end? 24 books in so far, with no sign of stopping. I need to cut myself off, or I'll be 80 making the same reviews -sigh- I should go back and read the early books, and rediscover what I loved originally.
So Anita and Jean-Claude do one on one, but then Jean-Claude does someone called Envy whom I can't remember at all. He also does Asher, and Anita and Nathaniel are submissive for Asher as well. Asher meantime had something with Dev, but much preferred to be with Kane, so ended things there. Asher was also with Narcissus, and does things with Richard too. Anita, Nathaniel and Micah have the domestic bliss thing happening, but they've added Sin to the mix as well, and want another female hole basically. Anita has Jade and Domino as well, sometimes. Then there's Nicky, he's her bride. One rare occasions she will go with Jason and JJ as well, but I missed that book so I'm not sure who JJ is. She appears to be having a sex only relationship with Raphael, and the Swan King. I'm certain I'm missing some tiger relationships somewhere too. There are three females auditioning for the role of female tiger in the domestic agreement, and none are out of contention yet. Damian is absent, but he flies under the radar. I have no idea what Richard is doing, except for when he gets tied up by Asher.
So that is my limited understanding of the relationships in this book. Most of the almost 600 pages are discussions of who is comfortable with what, who wants who, and everyone wanting Anita. All of this occurs while Anita has a pissing contest with every minor character, rehashes painful memories, listens to stories that are somehow perfect for the situation, and talks about how guns sit under clothing. That's it, really. There's a zombie porn plot line that gets forgotten and wrapped up in the end, but it's last minute and Anita does so more talking about how she is always right and perfect and she rides in to save the day all on her lonesome.
It's not the Poly that bothers me, it honestly isn't. I just can't stand the dialogue that goes with it, the discussions that go nowhere. The rehashing of conversations, the round about of the same problems. The extreme judgement of any other female; if they aren't there to add to the sexual conquests of Anita, then every item of their clothing and personality has to be judged and commented on. I'm tired of Anita picking new targets to show she is all that and then some. We get it, she's bad ass. I'm tired of one scene that is meant to be say, Zombie raising, turning into a reminder about Anita's beasts, or a pissing contest between two of her guards and lovers.
There was a time when a new Anita Blake book would have me on the edge of my seat, and I wondered if there was a limit to her powers and magic. Then I wondered if she'd ever stop taking new lovers, because every time she walked around a corner there was a new one. Now I just wonder how it can end, but it won't. Laurell K will harass these characters into the grave and beyond. There is no happily ever after for this cast, there is just the sameness, forever and forever. Anita won't age, and she'll pass on the immortality to all the lycanthropes, and we'll be stuck in a forever battle of supremacy, sex and ever growing unknown magic. We'll have to believe Anita has two hours of sleep every day, because she works with the FBI, RIPIT, Animators Inc, The Furry Coalition and even The Circus now. I'm starting to think that it's too much, that I'm only reading out of morbid curiosity. That being given exactly what you wanted originally out of a book series isn't necessarily a good thing. Come one, we've all thought 'I wish these books would come out every year, that this story will never end!' But this series feels like it's cracking. When will it end? 24 books in so far, with no sign of stopping. I need to cut myself off, or I'll be 80 making the same reviews -sigh- I should go back and read the early books, and rediscover what I loved originally.
Read
May 31, 2015DNF 102 pages in.
When I read the blurb for this book and saw that Anita and Jean-Claude were getting married, it peaked my interest. I had walked away from this series several books ago because I just couldn't take it anymore. But as I got into DEAD ICE, I realized this was still the same Anita Blake. She still had a boat load of emotional issues that she didn't deal with and a bedroom full of men and enough drama to make a junior high jealous. I skipped through the book several times to see if anything would grab my attention and make me want to continue reading. Instead, all it did was fuel the fire to put the book down and DNF it.
When I read the blurb for this book and saw that Anita and Jean-Claude were getting married, it peaked my interest. I had walked away from this series several books ago because I just couldn't take it anymore. But as I got into DEAD ICE, I realized this was still the same Anita Blake. She still had a boat load of emotional issues that she didn't deal with and a bedroom full of men and enough drama to make a junior high jealous. I skipped through the book several times to see if anything would grab my attention and make me want to continue reading. Instead, all it did was fuel the fire to put the book down and DNF it.
April 14, 2020
Way, way too much conversation about polyamorous relationship dynamics, and not nearly enough plot about zombies as promised by the synopsis. Disappointing, and this might be my last Hamilton novel.
June 15, 2015
3.5 stars
Better than the last several. If I had to mention a frustration it would be with the amount of rehash of earlier books that takes place to bring the reader up to date on the myriad cast of characters. I understand the reason for it, but at the 24th book it's fair to say it's not necessary to try to bring a new reader up to date on every single character and how they entered the story.
This one had a bit of everything from the Anita verse. There was a bit more sex than the last couple full length novels, and a bit of relationship angst here and there. But there was also a lot of supernatural politics and I actually prefer that to the police procedural plots. Speaking of which, this book did have the police procedural plot line as well as an unusual zombie raising crisis. So it has a bit of everything from the usual Anita menu.
The polyamory isn't getting smaller, so those of you who are put off by Anita loving a village should probably pass. I think it's a pretty realistic perspective of what happens when you try to add people to a relationship.
Better than the last several. If I had to mention a frustration it would be with the amount of rehash of earlier books that takes place to bring the reader up to date on the myriad cast of characters. I understand the reason for it, but at the 24th book it's fair to say it's not necessary to try to bring a new reader up to date on every single character and how they entered the story.
This one had a bit of everything from the Anita verse. There was a bit more sex than the last couple full length novels, and a bit of relationship angst here and there. But there was also a lot of supernatural politics and I actually prefer that to the police procedural plots. Speaking of which, this book did have the police procedural plot line as well as an unusual zombie raising crisis. So it has a bit of everything from the usual Anita menu.
The polyamory isn't getting smaller, so those of you who are put off by Anita loving a village should probably pass. I think it's a pretty realistic perspective of what happens when you try to add people to a relationship.
June 26, 2015
Quick review:
Cover: Fitting
Rating: NC-17
Steaminess: Off the Charts
Thumbs Up: 4
Overall: Good
Characters: Well Written
Plot: Analyzing relationships to death
Page Turner: Yes
Series Cont.? Yes
Recommend: Yes
Book Boyfriend: Nicky
SUMMARY (50 words or less)
I was looking forward to this one. I was disappointed in some things and excited for others.
For a full review and yummy pic, see my blog post at:
http://www.mybookboyfriend.net/2015/0...
Audio Review
Kimberly Alexis does a stupendous job with this series. I can’t imagine listening to anyone else do it. And I have and thank god she’s back.
Cover: Fitting
Rating: NC-17
Steaminess: Off the Charts
Thumbs Up: 4
Overall: Good
Characters: Well Written
Plot: Analyzing relationships to death
Page Turner: Yes
Series Cont.? Yes
Recommend: Yes
Book Boyfriend: Nicky
SUMMARY (50 words or less)
I was looking forward to this one. I was disappointed in some things and excited for others.
For a full review and yummy pic, see my blog post at:
http://www.mybookboyfriend.net/2015/0...
Audio Review
Kimberly Alexis does a stupendous job with this series. I can’t imagine listening to anyone else do it. And I have and thank god she’s back.
January 1, 2015
I just read a synopses on Amazon of this book, and I have to say " much better". I am lookingforward to this book. I seems like LKH is heading back in the right direction of monster hunter. Thank goodness. Although I noticed she couldn't help but make it zombie porn. At least it is a start.
June 15, 2015
Dead Ice (Anita Blake #24) had a lot of potential, but it just didn't deliver. It was repetitive, predictable, and in serious need of an editor. I know that Ms. Hamilton feels that she's now above those things, but with editing, Dead Ice would have been a much better read. The zombie porn case Anita was working was gross but different and her newest necromancy issue was interesting. Like I said, it had potential.
Instead I got 20+ hours (I'm an audiobook listener) of unresolved or explained metaphysical issues, a big bad I saw coming a mile away, and more of Asher's inane bullshit. I was once an Asher fan; now I want him staked. After Jean Claude's offer to the creeptastic Narcissus, I can't believe Anita wasn't irate with him. Considering her anger issues, this would have actually been a reasonable time for her to get seriously pissed. Instead it was kinda blown off which just doesn't fly for me.
I've been an Anita Blake lover for years and have even felt defensive when people bash the series because of the sexual content. Anita is a succubus and it comes with the territory (no pun intended). Those people will be happy to know there wasn't a lot of sex in Dead Ice.
There was, however, loads of Anita showing everyone just how big and bad she is; just like every other book in the series. There was also tons of unnecessary drama between her and her ever expanding harem, as well as her not playing well with others on the case she was working. No one trusts her and few in the police/FBI field like her, so I wonder how the frak does she still have a job? A staggeringly high kill count will only get you so far.
I can't see Anita doing much police work in the future with that kind of reputation. It was once cute. Now, 24 books into what was once a brilliant urban fantasy world? That shit is sinceriously getting old.
In closing, I can't stress enough how badly Dead Ice needed an editor. Shaving down scenes to cut out repetitive comments and making things flow better would have helped this book immensely. Even with the predictability. While not awful, Dead Ice was far from great. I hope the next book in the Anita Blake series is better. If not, I'm done with a series I've been invested in for years.
Instead I got 20+ hours (I'm an audiobook listener) of unresolved or explained metaphysical issues, a big bad I saw coming a mile away, and more of Asher's inane bullshit. I was once an Asher fan; now I want him staked. After Jean Claude's offer to the creeptastic Narcissus, I can't believe Anita wasn't irate with him. Considering her anger issues, this would have actually been a reasonable time for her to get seriously pissed. Instead it was kinda blown off which just doesn't fly for me.
I've been an Anita Blake lover for years and have even felt defensive when people bash the series because of the sexual content. Anita is a succubus and it comes with the territory (no pun intended). Those people will be happy to know there wasn't a lot of sex in Dead Ice.
There was, however, loads of Anita showing everyone just how big and bad she is; just like every other book in the series. There was also tons of unnecessary drama between her and her ever expanding harem, as well as her not playing well with others on the case she was working. No one trusts her and few in the police/FBI field like her, so I wonder how the frak does she still have a job? A staggeringly high kill count will only get you so far.
I can't see Anita doing much police work in the future with that kind of reputation. It was once cute. Now, 24 books into what was once a brilliant urban fantasy world? That shit is sinceriously getting old.
In closing, I can't stress enough how badly Dead Ice needed an editor. Shaving down scenes to cut out repetitive comments and making things flow better would have helped this book immensely. Even with the predictability. While not awful, Dead Ice was far from great. I hope the next book in the Anita Blake series is better. If not, I'm done with a series I've been invested in for years.
August 23, 2015
As a reader of the Anita Blake series I have baggage so let's get that out of the way first.
I think I've read all her books except Micah and Jason. I found out about the series after it had already started so quickly caught up. I used to wait enthusiastically for the next book and get it as soon as I could. Sometimes I'd even buy the paperback at full price (as opposed to getting it a used book store, library book sale, or garage sale, etc.).
Don't misunderstand, I had some problems with the books since the beginning. It was a love/dislike relationship.
I loved the world Hamilton created, I loved how cohesive and interesting it was. It blew all supernatural romance books out of the water. BUT I disliked Anita Blake, I thought she was annoying, someone I couldn't relate to and didn't want to read about during my down time. Life is too short and all that. I also wasn't much into the other character. Jean-Claude came across not all that sexy and just wasn't interesting. And is it just me or does anyone else have a problem wanting to add Van Damme onto Jean-Claude's name? I can't help it.
I kind of liked Richard Zeeman because I could relate better, but he was often, made out to be almost a very minor villain of sorts, or at the very least a strong and frequent object of Anita's scorn, annoyance, etc.
This is the only series that I can recall offhand that I read not for the main character, not for the other characters but for the world in general and what I learn about it in the books from the kind of people in it (Vampires, Werewolves, zombies, ghouls, etc.) to how they function in that world. Just fantastic.
So... to recap... Anita bad; Jean-Claude blah; world very, very good. Hence, the love/dislike.
The hate came around Narcissus in Chains when the detail in writing about sex was like the super close ups of crotches and sex found in porn movies. None of it especially interesting, but very graphic, eventually repetitive and very abundant. Lots of pages skipped or skimmed over and though the sex all made sense in the story, it was so borring. And aggravating, and annoying, and tedious and did I say aggravating? It was. If all the graphic sex were solid, it would be manure and you'd need more than a shovel to get rid of it all. Oh, and you'd need one dumptruck at least.
Also, the focus shifted more to Anita, her relationships and therelated drama and away from her job (a shame, I always felt her job as an animator was cool/interesting) and why I started reading her books in the first place.
So... to recap some more... middle books increased in sexual content hugely, Anita's job and anything outside her relationships becoming secondary and eventually not much more than an afterthought.
I stopped not only buying new copies of her books but stopped awaiting every new book with eagerness. In fact, I stopped following the series. Eventually I'd come across a new book in the library and borrow it if I had nothing else to read.
And that's where Dead Ice comes in. Yep, found it at the library. I debated getting it but the lure of that fascinating world and how Anita fit in it was too strong. With a rolling of my eyes and a hard sigh, I picked the book up and took it home with misgivings.
The good news... yes, there is some. I've become jaded about this series and I have a short memory but this book is the best one in years. It actually involves Anita's job as an animator. Yay! Finally. I enjoyed that part. I'm not telling you more about the story because I suck at book summaries.
Also, there is much less sex in this book and I wonder if fans have been complaining and Hamilton has listened.
Okay, now for the bad news...
- Asher is in it and up to his old tricks. Again. Still. He should have been killed, permanently banished, something, long ago. Anita is this super practical, direct, take action chick but she's not handling this because of what it would do to Jean-Claude. Why? She's never let stuff like this stop her before. After all, she's The Executioner, she does what no one else has the guts to do.
- There is not nearly as much sex in this book as there have been in previous ones, but there is wallowing; wallowing in relationship drama about who is getting along with whom; wallowing in emotional drama i.e. Anita's hang-ups (boy does she come across as whiny and tiresome).
- Wallowing in being crude and graphic. This deserves it's own bullet point because it was the worst thing about this book, the thing that made me put the book down (or throw it across the room) and walk away, the one thing I found most difficult to take. This book really takes the cake... and the pie and the donuts and the cookies and the... you get the picture.
Let's see... there's beastiality, necrophilia and a bit with a hermaphrodite that is so graphic and crude I had to skip over it. A "freak" (Anita uses word to apply to the people around her) with dignity is not going to be found in these books I guess. Not salicious, sensational enough maybe. I get the feel that Hamilton wants to keep pushing the envelope as much as she can. To shock the reader, to produce a strong reaction. If you don't like it you're a prude, if you do then you're a comrade. If you're not with her you're against her?
Y'know what I think Hamilton should do next? How about including some asexual characters. Not just one but several. And write them in a positve light. They would be the opposite of all the sex in the books and it is a kind of alternate lifestyle but I doubt that not only would she have such characters but that she would paint them in a positve light. I would expect passive aggresive derision and scorn. Also, if she included them, then she'd probably not have much to say as they might have fewer relationships and issues and no sex to write about in graphic detail.
- Oversharing. Laurell Hamilton herself is polyamorous (pertaining to partipation in multiple and simultaneous loving or sexual relationships, according to dictionary.com). She is married to her husband and lives with another couple. I didn't know this before reading this book. Just the idea makes me shrug and say okay, whatever, and move on but this book pushes it big time. How great it is and shows a bit of defensiveness and hostility to those that aren't peachy with it. I am peachy with it, whatever she wants to do, she's a grown woman. I don't want to be preached too though and I feel that happened in the book. Just very annoying and tiresome. I also get the impression Hamilton herself is into bondage and S&M and I've learned more than I ever wanted to know about that topic. That's something else that's really preached in the books. I don't care who tops who and who prefers to give rather than recieve with one person but not that one or this one. I don't care! *SIGH*
This leads to the possibility that the character of Anita Blake is a Mary Sue; an idealized character, often but not necessarily an author insert and/or wish-fulfillment. Then again, maybe it's not Mary Sue it's Jerk Sue (a short-tempered character who lashes out), or Sympathetic Sue (an angsty character who wants the reader's sympathy). Check Wiki if you want more info.
- "I love you."
"I love you more"
"I love you most."
"I love you mostest."
This was stupid and annoying when she used it at least once in a previous book but she uses this at least two or three times in Dead Ice. This is one of the times where I at least imagine throwing the book across the room and put it down.
- So. I'm so over this because Hamilton so overuses it. So not cool. "So" is used like this too many times for me to keep track (a dozen times? probably more).
Interestly Anita says, "Almost all my power is either sex and death." If you'd read any of Hamilton's Merry Gentry books this would sound very familar as this seems to describe Merry as well. The difference in the the books of each series is that the Anita Blake books started off as one thing and become so much about sex and relationships that it's hard to keep reading them and the Merry Gentry books started off as being about sex as Merry is a minor fertility deity (or something like that) and remains pretty steadily about the same kind of thng. The Merry Gentry books just seem more honest and the Anita books seem like bait and switch. Oh, and don't be put off the Merry Gentry books. They have a greatly interesting world too and I think they're not quite as crude or graphic though it does delve into much relationship stuff and has sexual content.
I wanted to love and embrace Dead Ice, I really did. And some elements I did. My fascination with this created world, by Anita's growing animation abilities, by the different were animals groups and their abilities and power structures, etc. are still as strong as ever, more so in fact. That's why I gave it three stars though the more accurate rating would probably be 2 1/2.
But the crap that remains is still getting stronger. That's why it didn't get more stars.
I'm more conflicted than ever about the series and the next book. Will I read it. Eventually. Borrowing it from the library or maybe getting it at a book sale for .50 or a dollar. I now give myself permission to skip more of the content even if it means missing plot points and if I can't figure out what's going on that way, then maybe I'll just finally kick the habit.
Oh, and it took took me about five days to let my thoughts about the book marinate and it took over an hour to write this review. I hope you read the review and liked it. If you made it to the end you deserve a cookie, or maybe a piece of cake. Bon appetit!
I think I've read all her books except Micah and Jason. I found out about the series after it had already started so quickly caught up. I used to wait enthusiastically for the next book and get it as soon as I could. Sometimes I'd even buy the paperback at full price (as opposed to getting it a used book store, library book sale, or garage sale, etc.).
Don't misunderstand, I had some problems with the books since the beginning. It was a love/dislike relationship.
I loved the world Hamilton created, I loved how cohesive and interesting it was. It blew all supernatural romance books out of the water. BUT I disliked Anita Blake, I thought she was annoying, someone I couldn't relate to and didn't want to read about during my down time. Life is too short and all that. I also wasn't much into the other character. Jean-Claude came across not all that sexy and just wasn't interesting. And is it just me or does anyone else have a problem wanting to add Van Damme onto Jean-Claude's name? I can't help it.
I kind of liked Richard Zeeman because I could relate better, but he was often, made out to be almost a very minor villain of sorts, or at the very least a strong and frequent object of Anita's scorn, annoyance, etc.
This is the only series that I can recall offhand that I read not for the main character, not for the other characters but for the world in general and what I learn about it in the books from the kind of people in it (Vampires, Werewolves, zombies, ghouls, etc.) to how they function in that world. Just fantastic.
So... to recap... Anita bad; Jean-Claude blah; world very, very good. Hence, the love/dislike.
The hate came around Narcissus in Chains when the detail in writing about sex was like the super close ups of crotches and sex found in porn movies. None of it especially interesting, but very graphic, eventually repetitive and very abundant. Lots of pages skipped or skimmed over and though the sex all made sense in the story, it was so borring. And aggravating, and annoying, and tedious and did I say aggravating? It was. If all the graphic sex were solid, it would be manure and you'd need more than a shovel to get rid of it all. Oh, and you'd need one dumptruck at least.
Also, the focus shifted more to Anita, her relationships and therelated drama and away from her job (a shame, I always felt her job as an animator was cool/interesting) and why I started reading her books in the first place.
So... to recap some more... middle books increased in sexual content hugely, Anita's job and anything outside her relationships becoming secondary and eventually not much more than an afterthought.
I stopped not only buying new copies of her books but stopped awaiting every new book with eagerness. In fact, I stopped following the series. Eventually I'd come across a new book in the library and borrow it if I had nothing else to read.
And that's where Dead Ice comes in. Yep, found it at the library. I debated getting it but the lure of that fascinating world and how Anita fit in it was too strong. With a rolling of my eyes and a hard sigh, I picked the book up and took it home with misgivings.
The good news... yes, there is some. I've become jaded about this series and I have a short memory but this book is the best one in years. It actually involves Anita's job as an animator. Yay! Finally. I enjoyed that part. I'm not telling you more about the story because I suck at book summaries.
Also, there is much less sex in this book and I wonder if fans have been complaining and Hamilton has listened.
Okay, now for the bad news...
- Asher is in it and up to his old tricks. Again. Still. He should have been killed, permanently banished, something, long ago. Anita is this super practical, direct, take action chick but she's not handling this because of what it would do to Jean-Claude. Why? She's never let stuff like this stop her before. After all, she's The Executioner, she does what no one else has the guts to do.
- There is not nearly as much sex in this book as there have been in previous ones, but there is wallowing; wallowing in relationship drama about who is getting along with whom; wallowing in emotional drama i.e. Anita's hang-ups (boy does she come across as whiny and tiresome).
- Wallowing in being crude and graphic. This deserves it's own bullet point because it was the worst thing about this book, the thing that made me put the book down (or throw it across the room) and walk away, the one thing I found most difficult to take. This book really takes the cake... and the pie and the donuts and the cookies and the... you get the picture.
Let's see... there's beastiality, necrophilia and a bit with a hermaphrodite that is so graphic and crude I had to skip over it. A "freak" (Anita uses word to apply to the people around her) with dignity is not going to be found in these books I guess. Not salicious, sensational enough maybe. I get the feel that Hamilton wants to keep pushing the envelope as much as she can. To shock the reader, to produce a strong reaction. If you don't like it you're a prude, if you do then you're a comrade. If you're not with her you're against her?
Y'know what I think Hamilton should do next? How about including some asexual characters. Not just one but several. And write them in a positve light. They would be the opposite of all the sex in the books and it is a kind of alternate lifestyle but I doubt that not only would she have such characters but that she would paint them in a positve light. I would expect passive aggresive derision and scorn. Also, if she included them, then she'd probably not have much to say as they might have fewer relationships and issues and no sex to write about in graphic detail.
- Oversharing. Laurell Hamilton herself is polyamorous (pertaining to partipation in multiple and simultaneous loving or sexual relationships, according to dictionary.com). She is married to her husband and lives with another couple. I didn't know this before reading this book. Just the idea makes me shrug and say okay, whatever, and move on but this book pushes it big time. How great it is and shows a bit of defensiveness and hostility to those that aren't peachy with it. I am peachy with it, whatever she wants to do, she's a grown woman. I don't want to be preached too though and I feel that happened in the book. Just very annoying and tiresome. I also get the impression Hamilton herself is into bondage and S&M and I've learned more than I ever wanted to know about that topic. That's something else that's really preached in the books. I don't care who tops who and who prefers to give rather than recieve with one person but not that one or this one. I don't care! *SIGH*
This leads to the possibility that the character of Anita Blake is a Mary Sue; an idealized character, often but not necessarily an author insert and/or wish-fulfillment. Then again, maybe it's not Mary Sue it's Jerk Sue (a short-tempered character who lashes out), or Sympathetic Sue (an angsty character who wants the reader's sympathy). Check Wiki if you want more info.
- "I love you."
"I love you more"
"I love you most."
"I love you mostest."
This was stupid and annoying when she used it at least once in a previous book but she uses this at least two or three times in Dead Ice. This is one of the times where I at least imagine throwing the book across the room and put it down.
- So. I'm so over this because Hamilton so overuses it. So not cool. "So" is used like this too many times for me to keep track (a dozen times? probably more).
Interestly Anita says, "Almost all my power is either sex and death." If you'd read any of Hamilton's Merry Gentry books this would sound very familar as this seems to describe Merry as well. The difference in the the books of each series is that the Anita Blake books started off as one thing and become so much about sex and relationships that it's hard to keep reading them and the Merry Gentry books started off as being about sex as Merry is a minor fertility deity (or something like that) and remains pretty steadily about the same kind of thng. The Merry Gentry books just seem more honest and the Anita books seem like bait and switch. Oh, and don't be put off the Merry Gentry books. They have a greatly interesting world too and I think they're not quite as crude or graphic though it does delve into much relationship stuff and has sexual content.
I wanted to love and embrace Dead Ice, I really did. And some elements I did. My fascination with this created world, by Anita's growing animation abilities, by the different were animals groups and their abilities and power structures, etc. are still as strong as ever, more so in fact. That's why I gave it three stars though the more accurate rating would probably be 2 1/2.
But the crap that remains is still getting stronger. That's why it didn't get more stars.
I'm more conflicted than ever about the series and the next book. Will I read it. Eventually. Borrowing it from the library or maybe getting it at a book sale for .50 or a dollar. I now give myself permission to skip more of the content even if it means missing plot points and if I can't figure out what's going on that way, then maybe I'll just finally kick the habit.
Oh, and it took took me about five days to let my thoughts about the book marinate and it took over an hour to write this review. I hope you read the review and liked it. If you made it to the end you deserve a cookie, or maybe a piece of cake. Bon appetit!
June 12, 2015
Looking forward to this book
update 13 june 2015
nooo i want more. i cant believe ive finisshed the book and now i have to wait a year for more. need more now.
For the haters out there. get lost, there was no sex to speak of on this book, just emotional character growth and good old fashionec necromancy. personally i missed the sexy parts. but i loved this book as i have all the previous ones
update 13 june 2015
nooo i want more. i cant believe ive finisshed the book and now i have to wait a year for more. need more now.
For the haters out there. get lost, there was no sex to speak of on this book, just emotional character growth and good old fashionec necromancy. personally i missed the sexy parts. but i loved this book as i have all the previous ones
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