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Rafaelnek, a vérpatkányok királyának életre-halálra szóló párbajt kell vívnia, hogy megtarthassa a koronáját. Korábbi ellenfeleivel könnyűszerrel végzett, de a mostani kihívója sokkal veszélyesebbnek tűnik. Ezért a párbaj éjjelén mindenképpen maga mellett szeretné tudni egyik legrégebbi és legmegbízhatóbb szövetségesét, Anita Blake-et.
A vérpatkányok között azonban akadnak, akik túlságosan is szorosnak ítélik a vámpírokhoz fűződő köteléket. Úgy vélik, Amerikában csak egyetlen természetfeletti királynak van hely, és ha Rafael ennyire kiszolgáltatja magát és az övéit a szövetségeseinek, akkor a patkányok végül a vérszívók játékszerévé és eleségévé válnak.
Közülük lép elő az új kihívó is. Egy vérpatkány, aki fiatalabb és éhesebb a mostani uralkodónál, de sötét titkokat rejteget, amelyek nem csak a saját fajtájának, de a vámpírok vesztének ígéretét is hordozzák. Rafael azonban tántoríthatatlan: vállalja a küzdelmet, és világa megmentéséért a legvéresebb erőszaktól sem retten meg.
A vérpatkányok között azonban akadnak, akik túlságosan is szorosnak ítélik a vámpírokhoz fűződő köteléket. Úgy vélik, Amerikában csak egyetlen természetfeletti királynak van hely, és ha Rafael ennyire kiszolgáltatja magát és az övéit a szövetségeseinek, akkor a patkányok végül a vérszívók játékszerévé és eleségévé válnak.
Közülük lép elő az új kihívó is. Egy vérpatkány, aki fiatalabb és éhesebb a mostani uralkodónál, de sötét titkokat rejteget, amelyek nem csak a saját fajtájának, de a vámpírok vesztének ígéretét is hordozzák. Rafael azonban tántoríthatatlan: vállalja a küzdelmet, és világa megmentéséért a legvéresebb erőszaktól sem retten meg.
256 pages, Paperback
First published February 9, 2021
898 people are currently reading
5058 people want to read
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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Displaying 1 - 29 of 904 reviews
November 4, 2020
Let's get some of the housekeeping taken care of first.
If you're still reading Anita Blake, you know what to expect. Perhaps 3/5ths of the opening of the novel will be relationship angst with a particularly high focus on -- you guessed it -- Rafael. A quick note: every one of these novels that have a name as a title are all rather short, focused, and almost entirely relationship stuff.
That being said, this particular novel DOES pick up in both action, consequence, and a whole bunch of new metaphysical goodies that call back to the 8th book and some of the better books in the upper-mid teens. If most of all the sex-fixation stuff had been cut out, I would have been rocking to this book. Maybe add a good murder mystery to ease us into the were-rat kingdom stuff, first, and I'd have been saying this is one of the better Anita books. As it is, I give it a 3.5 rating.
Unlike the other name-title novels, it has some important stuff in it. I wouldn't skip it.
If you're still reading Anita Blake, you know what to expect. Perhaps 3/5ths of the opening of the novel will be relationship angst with a particularly high focus on -- you guessed it -- Rafael. A quick note: every one of these novels that have a name as a title are all rather short, focused, and almost entirely relationship stuff.
That being said, this particular novel DOES pick up in both action, consequence, and a whole bunch of new metaphysical goodies that call back to the 8th book and some of the better books in the upper-mid teens. If most of all the sex-fixation stuff had been cut out, I would have been rocking to this book. Maybe add a good murder mystery to ease us into the were-rat kingdom stuff, first, and I'd have been saying this is one of the better Anita books. As it is, I give it a 3.5 rating.
Unlike the other name-title novels, it has some important stuff in it. I wouldn't skip it.
December 29, 2024
Audible Series Listen October 25 - December 28, 2024
(Rating & Review from initial read thru)
I received a free copy of this title to read and review for Wicked Reads
4 Stars for the latter portion.
1-2 stars for well over the first half.
3 Stars in total
Rafael is the 28th installment in the Anita Blake series. No, it cannot be read as a standalone. However, I don't believe there to be much confusion if a longtime reader of the series jumped ahead and read the novel if they weren't up-to-date, especially if they've read at least 20 or so of the novels.
As a fan of the series, a fanatic of the author, I'm going to be brutally honest. If you're not into the tedium of wading through relationship drama that has been rehashed for books upon books, I suggest you skip to around the 60% mark in the novel and read from there.
The first 40% of the novel takes place in a hallway, Anita debating to take a shower, with whom (as to not hurt feelings) with how many (as if after working out you want to do anything but wash the sweat off yourself in privacy) who watches the shower take place (it's a freaking shower!) what will occur in the shower (other than washing herself)
Anita is so conflicted, she can't seem to make a decisive choice, use her voice, or trust her feelings, fearing she will hurt someone else's feelings over what she truly thinks or feels, to the point Anita has lost herself.
Anita is deep in there somewhere, and she needs to leave town and all of these emotional vampires behind (some of them actual vampires, namely Asher) and get some perspective, allow herself to be herself, and be around people who actual care for her happiness and mental health. Return with some perspective and break off romantic relationships with individuals who should just be family/friend/metaphysically bound/coworker- they do NOT need to be her partner. The power imbalance of being in a romantic partnership with someone who is your subordinate is creepy at the very least. Partners are equals. If Anita is their Queen, she cannot be their equal.
This would solve the marriage conundrum as well. At this point, I hope Anita never marries, as I do not like many of them in how they do not put anyone but themselves first, coercing Anita into a position they all know she doesn't wish to be in. Toxic. Abusive.
In the end, after 40% of a novel, Anita takes a shower, and after such deliberation, said shower takes half a page. I was at a loss with that, to be honest, and closed out the novel because of it.
Rafael, a strong character I've adored since he debuted in the first in the series. The Rat King, a force to be reckoned with, loyal and logical, selflessly putting himself at risk to protect his people and the people of others. Almost a male version of Anita. The voice of reason, older than Anita, acting as a mentor and advisor when she needed advice the most.
To be honest, I wish Rafael had stayed in the same category as Edward, with no sexual interaction between them. I could respect him more had it stayed that way.
Toward the latter portion of Rafael (the novel), the reader learns how the magical system for the rats differs from the other wereanimals.
What bothered me greatly, especially in the first 60% (other than dragging their relationship like a dead horse) was the hypocrisy. Anita is upset with Rafael for taking advantage during a metaphysical event, leaving her feeling as it was nonconsensual.
After the reader was subjected to over a hundred pages of various characters shaming and coercing Rafael for not sleeping with a woman they specifically picked out for him (in that shower that barely took place, his NO making the shower short) Not once had Rafael shown interest, acted as if he needed to bed anyone else. Perfectly content in his position in Anita's life (One of the easiest people in her life, but since he wasn't being demanding, clearly he was lying and needed more attention, right? Versus taking a King at his word) Anita took his NO, after demanding explanation, as if Rafael had to defend his reasoning for not wishing to have sex with a random character.
As a long-term fan, having read the initial books numerous times and the later books several, I still do not know half of the later people added to their poly group. They're just there, coming on scene to mix things up, so many that they have zero personality and take away from the character development for the initial characters, lessening their relationships with Anita. This particular woman's name starts with a P, and I've never found her particularly remarkable or memorable, only the name sparking my recollection when she randomly pops up. Why P was so necessary at all in Rafael's novel, I have no idea. Perhaps just so readers didn't forget her, because I forget her the instant her name isn't on the pages.
After Anita pushed this woman onto Rafael, where he had to give his entire history as to why he didn't want to sleep with P, "Told" instead of "Shown" in a long dialogue... Nathanial comes in, also guilting/shaming Rafael for not sleeping with the woman, because she's so beautiful and it will hurt her feelings. Nathanial just couldn't rationalize why Rafael said no.
Which of those scenarios features nonconsensual themes? Overstepping during metaphysical powers, or actual rape culture shown on the pages?
I wish LKH would worry more about these characters professions, friends, hobbies, and getting lives of their own, instead of focusing on who is going to sleep with whom. There is so much emotional baggage Anita is dragging, adding more people to occupy the people before, but then she takes on these new people's problems as if they're hers, and so on... that I'm starting to loathe every single one of these needy, clingy, emotionally stunted individuals, many hundreds of years old acting as children. These are not her problems. I have problems in my own life, and it just stresses me out, the tedium and mental/emotional abuse from having these individuals in Anita's life. It's beyond toxic and not a good representation of a poly relationship.
My suggestion, skip to the end, where the action starts, where information of how the rats function both mystically and as a society, as that was interesting, but buried beneath so much filler that has been regurgitated over and over so many times.
Recommended to long-time Anita Blake readers and LKH fans. If you're in the relationship angst camp, read the entire novel. If you find it tedious, skip to the part where that ends. Most of the novels are on my reread list, Rafael is on par with Jason, where I wished I hadn't read it the first time.
Click "Spoiler" to reveal commentary as I read Rafael, my personal thoughts that aren't appropriate for a professional review. Thank you.
(Rating & Review from initial read thru)
I received a free copy of this title to read and review for Wicked Reads
4 Stars for the latter portion.
1-2 stars for well over the first half.
3 Stars in total
Rafael is the 28th installment in the Anita Blake series. No, it cannot be read as a standalone. However, I don't believe there to be much confusion if a longtime reader of the series jumped ahead and read the novel if they weren't up-to-date, especially if they've read at least 20 or so of the novels.
As a fan of the series, a fanatic of the author, I'm going to be brutally honest. If you're not into the tedium of wading through relationship drama that has been rehashed for books upon books, I suggest you skip to around the 60% mark in the novel and read from there.
The first 40% of the novel takes place in a hallway, Anita debating to take a shower, with whom (as to not hurt feelings) with how many (as if after working out you want to do anything but wash the sweat off yourself in privacy) who watches the shower take place (it's a freaking shower!) what will occur in the shower (other than washing herself)
Anita is so conflicted, she can't seem to make a decisive choice, use her voice, or trust her feelings, fearing she will hurt someone else's feelings over what she truly thinks or feels, to the point Anita has lost herself.
Anita is deep in there somewhere, and she needs to leave town and all of these emotional vampires behind (some of them actual vampires, namely Asher) and get some perspective, allow herself to be herself, and be around people who actual care for her happiness and mental health. Return with some perspective and break off romantic relationships with individuals who should just be family/friend/metaphysically bound/coworker- they do NOT need to be her partner. The power imbalance of being in a romantic partnership with someone who is your subordinate is creepy at the very least. Partners are equals. If Anita is their Queen, she cannot be their equal.
This would solve the marriage conundrum as well. At this point, I hope Anita never marries, as I do not like many of them in how they do not put anyone but themselves first, coercing Anita into a position they all know she doesn't wish to be in. Toxic. Abusive.
In the end, after 40% of a novel, Anita takes a shower, and after such deliberation, said shower takes half a page. I was at a loss with that, to be honest, and closed out the novel because of it.
Rafael, a strong character I've adored since he debuted in the first in the series. The Rat King, a force to be reckoned with, loyal and logical, selflessly putting himself at risk to protect his people and the people of others. Almost a male version of Anita. The voice of reason, older than Anita, acting as a mentor and advisor when she needed advice the most.
To be honest, I wish Rafael had stayed in the same category as Edward, with no sexual interaction between them. I could respect him more had it stayed that way.
Toward the latter portion of Rafael (the novel), the reader learns how the magical system for the rats differs from the other wereanimals.
What bothered me greatly, especially in the first 60% (other than dragging their relationship like a dead horse) was the hypocrisy. Anita is upset with Rafael for taking advantage during a metaphysical event, leaving her feeling as it was nonconsensual.
After the reader was subjected to over a hundred pages of various characters shaming and coercing Rafael for not sleeping with a woman they specifically picked out for him (in that shower that barely took place, his NO making the shower short) Not once had Rafael shown interest, acted as if he needed to bed anyone else. Perfectly content in his position in Anita's life (One of the easiest people in her life, but since he wasn't being demanding, clearly he was lying and needed more attention, right? Versus taking a King at his word) Anita took his NO, after demanding explanation, as if Rafael had to defend his reasoning for not wishing to have sex with a random character.
As a long-term fan, having read the initial books numerous times and the later books several, I still do not know half of the later people added to their poly group. They're just there, coming on scene to mix things up, so many that they have zero personality and take away from the character development for the initial characters, lessening their relationships with Anita. This particular woman's name starts with a P, and I've never found her particularly remarkable or memorable, only the name sparking my recollection when she randomly pops up. Why P was so necessary at all in Rafael's novel, I have no idea. Perhaps just so readers didn't forget her, because I forget her the instant her name isn't on the pages.
After Anita pushed this woman onto Rafael, where he had to give his entire history as to why he didn't want to sleep with P, "Told" instead of "Shown" in a long dialogue... Nathanial comes in, also guilting/shaming Rafael for not sleeping with the woman, because she's so beautiful and it will hurt her feelings. Nathanial just couldn't rationalize why Rafael said no.
Which of those scenarios features nonconsensual themes? Overstepping during metaphysical powers, or actual rape culture shown on the pages?
I wish LKH would worry more about these characters professions, friends, hobbies, and getting lives of their own, instead of focusing on who is going to sleep with whom. There is so much emotional baggage Anita is dragging, adding more people to occupy the people before, but then she takes on these new people's problems as if they're hers, and so on... that I'm starting to loathe every single one of these needy, clingy, emotionally stunted individuals, many hundreds of years old acting as children. These are not her problems. I have problems in my own life, and it just stresses me out, the tedium and mental/emotional abuse from having these individuals in Anita's life. It's beyond toxic and not a good representation of a poly relationship.
My suggestion, skip to the end, where the action starts, where information of how the rats function both mystically and as a society, as that was interesting, but buried beneath so much filler that has been regurgitated over and over so many times.
Recommended to long-time Anita Blake readers and LKH fans. If you're in the relationship angst camp, read the entire novel. If you find it tedious, skip to the part where that ends. Most of the novels are on my reread list, Rafael is on par with Jason, where I wished I hadn't read it the first time.
Click "Spoiler" to reveal commentary as I read Rafael, my personal thoughts that aren't appropriate for a professional review. Thank you.
February 10, 2021
A brutal slice of life into the world of Rafael's rodere—I really enjoyed this entry into the series. Given the usual length of Anita Blake books, this was basically a novella! But a very important one with the seeds of bigger plots to come...
Plot/Pacing: ★★★★ 1/2
Character development: ★★★★
New ideas: ★★★★
Enjoyment: ★★★★
Let's get a housekeeping note out of the way. Yes, I love this series. Yes, I know that they are not everyone's cup of tea. I'm also aware that they tend to be a bit long-winded, overly invested in the relationship drama, and sometimes get tediously caught up in dialogue. That's just part of what this series is about - and I, for one, have loved them for years. So please note my deep affection for this series and take that into account for my reviews.
Rafael is latest entry into the world of Anita Blake, a version of the U.S. where vampires, were-animals, and the undead all exist in our modern society with interesting—and often bloody—results. This is not an entry point novel for the series.
In this latest installment, we finally(!) get a window in the world of the rat king, Rafael. The wererats have been a powerful were-animal faction in St. Louis for some time in the Anita Blake novels and are known for their fighting ability, their pack's strength, and the fact that their national king, Rafael, has been an ally to Anita Blake for years.
It's time to peel back the curtain on what goes on in the kingdom...
Rafael is in trouble. His ties to Anita—and therefore his perceived ties to Jean Claude and the other weres in Anita's sphere—have made him appear weak to the rest of the wererats across the country. They think it's time for a new king. And the way the rats determine their ruler is by blood. Specifically, a fight to the death. So Rafael's been fighting in the pits now, defending his crown and title, for some time.
The only way to become the new rat king is to kill the old one...
Anita Blake wasn't aware of just how bad Rafael's standing has gotten. When he asks her to attend this latest pit fight against the best challenger yet, Anita knows something must be different about this fight. For the first time, Rafael doesn't know if he's going to win. When Anita shows up, to her horror she realizes that a) there's someone familiar pulling the challenger's strings and b) her relationship to Rafael is about to get tested, and brutally. Can she fight her way to the top of the rat pile and assert her place while protecting Rafael from this latest deadly threat?
We know she can, she's Anita Blake, but what exactly will she learn along the way? There's a different kind of magic amongst the rodere that they've kept hidden for some time...
I thought this was one of the strongest entries into the Anita Blake series that we've seen in quite some time. Part of that was due to its subject—Rafael's world has never been fully described, so the newness was appealing to me—and the other part was its sheer short length. We didn't have time to get overly drawn into the relationship dramas (even though the characters did their best to do so anyway!) and therefore a lot of the usual "not this again!" feelings weren't present.
I am also extremely intrigued at what the author alluded to with the addition of the wererats' magic systems... it bodes well for Anita Blake's character arc and opens the door for more books to come featuring this new thing.
Don't skip this one in the series, folks! It's a good one and not the usual spin-off fare.
Thank you to Berkley for my copy in exchange for an honest review.
Blog | Instagram
Plot/Pacing: ★★★★ 1/2
Character development: ★★★★
New ideas: ★★★★
Enjoyment: ★★★★
Let's get a housekeeping note out of the way. Yes, I love this series. Yes, I know that they are not everyone's cup of tea. I'm also aware that they tend to be a bit long-winded, overly invested in the relationship drama, and sometimes get tediously caught up in dialogue. That's just part of what this series is about - and I, for one, have loved them for years. So please note my deep affection for this series and take that into account for my reviews.
Rafael is latest entry into the world of Anita Blake, a version of the U.S. where vampires, were-animals, and the undead all exist in our modern society with interesting—and often bloody—results. This is not an entry point novel for the series.
In this latest installment, we finally(!) get a window in the world of the rat king, Rafael. The wererats have been a powerful were-animal faction in St. Louis for some time in the Anita Blake novels and are known for their fighting ability, their pack's strength, and the fact that their national king, Rafael, has been an ally to Anita Blake for years.
It's time to peel back the curtain on what goes on in the kingdom...
Rafael is in trouble. His ties to Anita—and therefore his perceived ties to Jean Claude and the other weres in Anita's sphere—have made him appear weak to the rest of the wererats across the country. They think it's time for a new king. And the way the rats determine their ruler is by blood. Specifically, a fight to the death. So Rafael's been fighting in the pits now, defending his crown and title, for some time.
The only way to become the new rat king is to kill the old one...
Anita Blake wasn't aware of just how bad Rafael's standing has gotten. When he asks her to attend this latest pit fight against the best challenger yet, Anita knows something must be different about this fight. For the first time, Rafael doesn't know if he's going to win. When Anita shows up, to her horror she realizes that a) there's someone familiar pulling the challenger's strings and b) her relationship to Rafael is about to get tested, and brutally. Can she fight her way to the top of the rat pile and assert her place while protecting Rafael from this latest deadly threat?
We know she can, she's Anita Blake, but what exactly will she learn along the way? There's a different kind of magic amongst the rodere that they've kept hidden for some time...
I thought this was one of the strongest entries into the Anita Blake series that we've seen in quite some time. Part of that was due to its subject—Rafael's world has never been fully described, so the newness was appealing to me—and the other part was its sheer short length. We didn't have time to get overly drawn into the relationship dramas (even though the characters did their best to do so anyway!) and therefore a lot of the usual "not this again!" feelings weren't present.
I am also extremely intrigued at what the author alluded to with the addition of the wererats' magic systems... it bodes well for Anita Blake's character arc and opens the door for more books to come featuring this new thing.
Don't skip this one in the series, folks! It's a good one and not the usual spin-off fare.
Thank you to Berkley for my copy in exchange for an honest review.
Blog | Instagram
April 7, 2022
Deep calming breaths. So far this sucks. I never enjoy an author mansplaining feminism and equality within a relationship using the avatar of her main character who has become an obnoxious serial rapist. I realize some may argue the word mansplain since she’s a woman but she also gets off on this idea of getting along better with men as if that isn’t a toxic trait of the narcissistic and misogynistic. Face palm at every turn so far. I don’t have high hopes for a plot since five chapters have passed and we spent pages on why women who offer a threesome are trapping men and they are bad bad bad. And Rafael saying he’s only into crazy unstable women... I just can’t. He puts all the onus on others and says he can’t tell because they hide it... highly unlikely. Then Anita tells him he’s the victim when his girlfriend stabbed him. Duh. But she’s magically precocious because she thinks this way?! Um no. Survey says anyone with a brain would say the same. Make it make sense please. Who is your audience!?? It can’t be children so why are you talking down to everyone and overexplaining basic ideas????? Why??????!!!?? Get a damn editor. Also she really just explained how to take a shower without getting water in her mouth...I mean...is this a struggle for people over the age of 3??
Also the phrase "girl trick" - I honestly don't know why Anita hates women so much and acts so above them. You want to call it a "girl" trick and act so above it all, but I would be hard pressed to find a situation that this occurred that wasn't squarely to be blamed on both parties.
Overall little new information - we never do find out if Hector was Rafael's son and his rule may or may not be called into question. Short and lame.
Also the phrase "girl trick" - I honestly don't know why Anita hates women so much and acts so above them. You want to call it a "girl" trick and act so above it all, but I would be hard pressed to find a situation that this occurred that wasn't squarely to be blamed on both parties.
Overall little new information - we never do find out if Hector was Rafael's son and his rule may or may not be called into question. Short and lame.
April 13, 2021
I waffled on the rating for this one, I really did. It's maybe 1.5 stars? The 2 stars is because (a) it's not 700 pages long, (b) this means there is one relatively focused plot and not so much endless dithering about random relationship stuff that ends up going nowhere (although...come on. You know there's SOME of that), and (c) we introduce a new avenue of exploration for future books (missing pack magic?) and a new pet (BUT DON'T CALL HIM THAT) rat. The 1 star part is (a) the aforementioned pointless dithering about relationships, gym routines, and sexual jealousy of Anita, (b) the picking up with Rafael after we last saw him abandoned on death's door back in book 24 with no real explanation of what happened there and since, and (c) some really WTF racist and sexist passages. I'm just going to quote a few of the latter for you here:
1. “I hate the new politically correct vocabulary,” Rafael said. “The idea was that lycanthropy meant just werewolves, but Therianthropy means all forms,” I said. “I know what the words mean, but we all understood that lycanthrope had become the generic for all of us.” “Therianthropy is pretty straightforward, too,” I said. “Yes, but they didn’t stop there, the social justice warriors, they had to create new names for all of us. Arouraiothropy is impossible to spell, and most of us can’t even agree on a pronunciation.” “I agree that the new vocabulary is ridiculous, but as a marshal I have to use it, or I get written up.” (And then Anita goes on to say that another marshal snitched on her for using "lycanthropy," and basically this all gets back to a pretty shitty mentality on everyone's part about using preferred nomenclature for marginalized groups, and it's gross.)
2. “Jean-Claude isn’t into rape,” I said, and in my head I thought he’d suffered too much and too often at the hands of more powerful vampires over the centuries; it had left him with no taste for forcing himself where he wasn’t wanted, though admittedly he was around six hundred years old, so his idea of seduction was a little less than politically correct, but he did not do rape. Somewhere before the last deed was done the person had to say yes. (So...still gross. Still not really "consent" as we would understand it now. What with the mind powers and the supernatural sexiness that oozes out that he can't control. Sounds pretty rapey to me.)
3. A bunch of crap from Rafael about how he loves "crazy bitches" that aren't good for him but he just can't help it because Reasons and he is seeking therapy and that's cool and all, but also there is a LOT of talk about the "crazy bitches" and how hot they are, and it's gross and misogynistic (and of course Anita is his exception, because she SCREWS like a crazy bitch but is logical, so once again, Anita is our special sexual snowflake who is better than all other women at every possible thing).
4. "He frowned again, as if I was making him think too hard. I wondered if he was like some of the inner-city athletes who were great on the court or field, but all the rest of their lives had been skipped over so that they were undersocialized and couldn’t read well." (And then there's this fun little piece of casually tossed-off racism.)
So, you can see the dilemma here. I should probably bump it back down to my usual 1 just for the gross writing, and maybe I will later. WHY DO I BOTHER? I don't know.
1. “I hate the new politically correct vocabulary,” Rafael said. “The idea was that lycanthropy meant just werewolves, but Therianthropy means all forms,” I said. “I know what the words mean, but we all understood that lycanthrope had become the generic for all of us.” “Therianthropy is pretty straightforward, too,” I said. “Yes, but they didn’t stop there, the social justice warriors, they had to create new names for all of us. Arouraiothropy is impossible to spell, and most of us can’t even agree on a pronunciation.” “I agree that the new vocabulary is ridiculous, but as a marshal I have to use it, or I get written up.” (And then Anita goes on to say that another marshal snitched on her for using "lycanthropy," and basically this all gets back to a pretty shitty mentality on everyone's part about using preferred nomenclature for marginalized groups, and it's gross.)
2. “Jean-Claude isn’t into rape,” I said, and in my head I thought he’d suffered too much and too often at the hands of more powerful vampires over the centuries; it had left him with no taste for forcing himself where he wasn’t wanted, though admittedly he was around six hundred years old, so his idea of seduction was a little less than politically correct, but he did not do rape. Somewhere before the last deed was done the person had to say yes. (So...still gross. Still not really "consent" as we would understand it now. What with the mind powers and the supernatural sexiness that oozes out that he can't control. Sounds pretty rapey to me.)
3. A bunch of crap from Rafael about how he loves "crazy bitches" that aren't good for him but he just can't help it because Reasons and he is seeking therapy and that's cool and all, but also there is a LOT of talk about the "crazy bitches" and how hot they are, and it's gross and misogynistic (and of course Anita is his exception, because she SCREWS like a crazy bitch but is logical, so once again, Anita is our special sexual snowflake who is better than all other women at every possible thing).
4. "He frowned again, as if I was making him think too hard. I wondered if he was like some of the inner-city athletes who were great on the court or field, but all the rest of their lives had been skipped over so that they were undersocialized and couldn’t read well." (And then there's this fun little piece of casually tossed-off racism.)
So, you can see the dilemma here. I should probably bump it back down to my usual 1 just for the gross writing, and maybe I will later. WHY DO I BOTHER? I don't know.
February 12, 2021
Oh, Laurell... One step forward, two steps back! I expected more after Sucker Punch, really I did! The 27th book in the Anita Blake series brought me back to the first installments of the series: it was plot-driven, had a couple of hot scenes, terrific badass characters and it developed the overall arch a bit further.
Now, here comes a "book" that is in truth more of a long scene that takes place during one extremely long night. Maybe it was cut from a book in progress because it made it super long and we all know how much Laurell delights in selling even the shortest of smut scenes to her readers.
SPOILERS AHEAD / COMPLETE TELL ALL: The beginning is awful. The whole scene in the gym with Anita mansplaining how weight lifting works and how she can benchpress a whole lot of weight that is not humanly possible, so her minds refuses to do it unless she doesn't think about it, and then thinking about how amazing Claudia is because she is such a pro guard... Cringey! Don't even get me started on the beyond awkward interaction with Kane being a crybaby and spitting nonsense at Anita. It is really hard to believe that people that are worried about their safety would have this time bomb of a guy roaming around and in charge of protecting their backs. Un-fucking-believable!
As usual, in between the weird dialogue there is a lot of polyamory tenets, don't forget to look after your psychological health, go to therapy, and yadda yadda. We get it, Laurell/Anita is a huge fan of going to therapy and working through her issues. We know, we have heard it several times over the 28th books in the series. Believe us, it is branded in our brains right next to the very cerulean blue eyes of Jean-Claude.
After she leaves the gym, she encounters Rafael, who propositions to her in a most unromantic way because he fears he is going to fight a battle in which he will die in a few hours. This leads to a terribly long conversation in which they are standing on a corridor discussing the deep truths of life and how to get in the mood, by discussing exes, threesomes (how his exes were bitches that didn't do threesomes unless it was a trap), heirs, wereanimals, psychic powers and whatnot. I cannot fathom why they would have these long-ass conversations in between actually doing stuff. Does Laurell herself do this? It is beyond awkward. I imagined them doing the flamingo dance standing first on one foot then the other...
After this they make everyone else leave the communal showers to get some (un)romantic time under the water before hitting a guest room for some horizontal time and to feed the ardeur. But since getting there was another (not)great option to have them discuss other stuff, they find Micah and Nathaniel on the way which leads to more magic and interpersonal relationship discussions.
Rafael wants to gain power by making himself Anita's rat to call and they agree to having sex and then discussing this option with the rest of the gang. Of course, when they visit Jean-Claude he is doing the nasty with Asher, and Anita is angry at Asher, but since she is distressed she joins them in bed and mellows out her deep anger in a matter of minutes. One thing leads to another and Rafael is made her rat to call, but fails to behave nicely drunk with the new power which makes her angry at him.
Truthfully, everything that went on before Anita goes to the rat coliseum could have been summarized and compacted to avoid pages and pages of filler and repetitive information about Anita's thought process. I only have one thing to say: SHOW, DON'T TELL. But, as things go, this is about the middle of the book and in real life, only a couple of hours have passed (although they felt like way more!).
Because the rats have a huge culture and a big ass magic lore, they demand Anita go alone. This is fine, Laurell, I understand that you have so many people in Anita's life that it is hard to come by reasons why she needs to confront these dangerous situations and put her life in danger all by her lonesome. It would have been fine if she had complicated the scene a bit but allowed Anita one or two guards, really, it would have been logical. However, this is not the case. Anita goes with Pierette, to have a leopard to call that will help her not be overpowered by the rats and encounters a couple of rat-were-witches that have magic that is very similar to that of Obsidian Butterfly, which makes her kind of popular with these brujas.
From the get going, Anita is attacked, she defends herself and butchers her attacker gaining the admiration and fear of all who witnessed her rip a guy's arm with her bare hands. Then she is sewn because she got a big cut and during her brief stay at the doctor's is confronted by the wererat that will fight Rafael. Turns out, Hector is another vampire's animal to call. None other than Padma, the Master of Beats, making the whole duel doubly dangerous.
The fight is pretty entertaining, Rafael and Hector make good gladiators, but then when Hector begins to lose, Padma helps him by healing him and using his powers to tip the scales in Hector's favor. When it all seems lost, Anita and company run to the rescue. Oh! It is now established that Anita has preternatural speed and strength, going one step further in her transformation as a were. Together with the witches, Pierrete, Benito and Claudia, they gang up on Hector and Anita does the nasty on him backed up by the rat's magic and manages to overpower and kill Padma. She also gains a mythical pet rat in the process.
Overall, I liked it as a scene. However, this was by no means a book. And certainly not worth the full price of a just-released book. The mansplaining done at the beginning of the book really ruined it for me, together with the repetitive copy-pasted paragraphs from previous books that explain existing relationships and magical things in Anita Blake's world. Again, show don't tell. Also, get a grip, hire an editor that can really cut the excess info out of these books!
Now, here comes a "book" that is in truth more of a long scene that takes place during one extremely long night. Maybe it was cut from a book in progress because it made it super long and we all know how much Laurell delights in selling even the shortest of smut scenes to her readers.
SPOILERS AHEAD / COMPLETE TELL ALL: The beginning is awful. The whole scene in the gym with Anita mansplaining how weight lifting works and how she can benchpress a whole lot of weight that is not humanly possible, so her minds refuses to do it unless she doesn't think about it, and then thinking about how amazing Claudia is because she is such a pro guard... Cringey! Don't even get me started on the beyond awkward interaction with Kane being a crybaby and spitting nonsense at Anita. It is really hard to believe that people that are worried about their safety would have this time bomb of a guy roaming around and in charge of protecting their backs. Un-fucking-believable!
As usual, in between the weird dialogue there is a lot of polyamory tenets, don't forget to look after your psychological health, go to therapy, and yadda yadda. We get it, Laurell/Anita is a huge fan of going to therapy and working through her issues. We know, we have heard it several times over the 28th books in the series. Believe us, it is branded in our brains right next to the very cerulean blue eyes of Jean-Claude.
After she leaves the gym, she encounters Rafael, who propositions to her in a most unromantic way because he fears he is going to fight a battle in which he will die in a few hours. This leads to a terribly long conversation in which they are standing on a corridor discussing the deep truths of life and how to get in the mood, by discussing exes, threesomes (how his exes were bitches that didn't do threesomes unless it was a trap), heirs, wereanimals, psychic powers and whatnot. I cannot fathom why they would have these long-ass conversations in between actually doing stuff. Does Laurell herself do this? It is beyond awkward. I imagined them doing the flamingo dance standing first on one foot then the other...
After this they make everyone else leave the communal showers to get some (un)romantic time under the water before hitting a guest room for some horizontal time and to feed the ardeur. But since getting there was another (not)great option to have them discuss other stuff, they find Micah and Nathaniel on the way which leads to more magic and interpersonal relationship discussions.
Rafael wants to gain power by making himself Anita's rat to call and they agree to having sex and then discussing this option with the rest of the gang. Of course, when they visit Jean-Claude he is doing the nasty with Asher, and Anita is angry at Asher, but since she is distressed she joins them in bed and mellows out her deep anger in a matter of minutes. One thing leads to another and Rafael is made her rat to call, but fails to behave nicely drunk with the new power which makes her angry at him.
Truthfully, everything that went on before Anita goes to the rat coliseum could have been summarized and compacted to avoid pages and pages of filler and repetitive information about Anita's thought process. I only have one thing to say: SHOW, DON'T TELL. But, as things go, this is about the middle of the book and in real life, only a couple of hours have passed (although they felt like way more!).
Because the rats have a huge culture and a big ass magic lore, they demand Anita go alone. This is fine, Laurell, I understand that you have so many people in Anita's life that it is hard to come by reasons why she needs to confront these dangerous situations and put her life in danger all by her lonesome. It would have been fine if she had complicated the scene a bit but allowed Anita one or two guards, really, it would have been logical. However, this is not the case. Anita goes with Pierette, to have a leopard to call that will help her not be overpowered by the rats and encounters a couple of rat-were-witches that have magic that is very similar to that of Obsidian Butterfly, which makes her kind of popular with these brujas.
From the get going, Anita is attacked, she defends herself and butchers her attacker gaining the admiration and fear of all who witnessed her rip a guy's arm with her bare hands. Then she is sewn because she got a big cut and during her brief stay at the doctor's is confronted by the wererat that will fight Rafael. Turns out, Hector is another vampire's animal to call. None other than Padma, the Master of Beats, making the whole duel doubly dangerous.
The fight is pretty entertaining, Rafael and Hector make good gladiators, but then when Hector begins to lose, Padma helps him by healing him and using his powers to tip the scales in Hector's favor. When it all seems lost, Anita and company run to the rescue. Oh! It is now established that Anita has preternatural speed and strength, going one step further in her transformation as a were. Together with the witches, Pierrete, Benito and Claudia, they gang up on Hector and Anita does the nasty on him backed up by the rat's magic and manages to overpower and kill Padma. She also gains a mythical pet rat in the process.
Overall, I liked it as a scene. However, this was by no means a book. And certainly not worth the full price of a just-released book. The mansplaining done at the beginning of the book really ruined it for me, together with the repetitive copy-pasted paragraphs from previous books that explain existing relationships and magical things in Anita Blake's world. Again, show don't tell. Also, get a grip, hire an editor that can really cut the excess info out of these books!
August 2, 2021
This review can also be found at https://carolesrandomlife.com/
My feelings are a little mixed with this book. There were some things that I really liked about the book but there were also things that I didn’t care for at all. This is the 28th installment in the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series and I have read most of the books in the series. I am the first to admit that I haven’t loved them all but I haven’t quite given up on the series just yet.
I was actually pretty excited when I found out about this book. As a long-time reader of the series, I consider myself a fan of the title character in this book and couldn’t wait to see Rafael as the main focus of the book. I really liked learning about the wererats and seeing how things worked in their community. Rafael is facing a serious challenge and I really wanted to see things work out in his favor.
There were some things that I didn’t enjoy quite so much. I love action in books and this book had some of that and I really enjoyed those sections. Unfortunately, it sometimes seemed like the characters would have to talk everything over at great length before anything could be done. At the start of the book, Anita and Rafael decide that they want to have sex. Okay, great. They spend so much time talking about where they will have sex and how they will do it that by the time they actually got around to it, I didn’t care anymore. It seemed like 2/3 of the book was the characters talking about what they would do and the other 1/3 was them actually doing those things. I really would have loved less talking and more doing.
Kimberly Alexis did a great job with the narration. I think that she does a great job with the entire cast of characters and I like the fact that she had a very distinctive voice for each individual. I thought that she had a very pleasant voice that was easy to listen to for hours at a time. I do believe that the narration added to my overall enjoyment of the story.
I would recommend this book to fans of this series. I don’t think that this would be a good place for new readers to jump into the series but fans of the series shouldn’t miss this one.
I received a digital review copy of this book from Berkley Publishing Group via NetGalley and purchased a copy of the audiobook.
Initial Thoughts
Okay, I liked this book more than Sucker Punch. Quite a bit more. I had a few issues with it but I found it to be entertaining for the most part. I have always liked Rafael so I was eager to give this book a try. I really liked learning more about the wererats and seeing how things worked within their culture. I don't even mind the sex in the books and the sex is really quite tame in the one. I did get annoyed by how much time is spent talking about things at length before anyone can actually do anything. It felt like 2/3 of the book was talking about what they would do and the other 1/3 was the part that things were being done. I mean it felt like it took hours of discussion to decide where and how Anita and Rafael would have sex and I couldn't help but wonder how they had any energy left for the actual act. I thought that the narrator did a good job with the story and I haven't given up on the series just yet.
My feelings are a little mixed with this book. There were some things that I really liked about the book but there were also things that I didn’t care for at all. This is the 28th installment in the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series and I have read most of the books in the series. I am the first to admit that I haven’t loved them all but I haven’t quite given up on the series just yet.
I was actually pretty excited when I found out about this book. As a long-time reader of the series, I consider myself a fan of the title character in this book and couldn’t wait to see Rafael as the main focus of the book. I really liked learning about the wererats and seeing how things worked in their community. Rafael is facing a serious challenge and I really wanted to see things work out in his favor.
There were some things that I didn’t enjoy quite so much. I love action in books and this book had some of that and I really enjoyed those sections. Unfortunately, it sometimes seemed like the characters would have to talk everything over at great length before anything could be done. At the start of the book, Anita and Rafael decide that they want to have sex. Okay, great. They spend so much time talking about where they will have sex and how they will do it that by the time they actually got around to it, I didn’t care anymore. It seemed like 2/3 of the book was the characters talking about what they would do and the other 1/3 was them actually doing those things. I really would have loved less talking and more doing.
Kimberly Alexis did a great job with the narration. I think that she does a great job with the entire cast of characters and I like the fact that she had a very distinctive voice for each individual. I thought that she had a very pleasant voice that was easy to listen to for hours at a time. I do believe that the narration added to my overall enjoyment of the story.
I would recommend this book to fans of this series. I don’t think that this would be a good place for new readers to jump into the series but fans of the series shouldn’t miss this one.
I received a digital review copy of this book from Berkley Publishing Group via NetGalley and purchased a copy of the audiobook.
Initial Thoughts
Okay, I liked this book more than Sucker Punch. Quite a bit more. I had a few issues with it but I found it to be entertaining for the most part. I have always liked Rafael so I was eager to give this book a try. I really liked learning more about the wererats and seeing how things worked within their culture. I don't even mind the sex in the books and the sex is really quite tame in the one. I did get annoyed by how much time is spent talking about things at length before anyone can actually do anything. It felt like 2/3 of the book was talking about what they would do and the other 1/3 was the part that things were being done. I mean it felt like it took hours of discussion to decide where and how Anita and Rafael would have sex and I couldn't help but wonder how they had any energy left for the actual act. I thought that the narrator did a good job with the story and I haven't given up on the series just yet.
January 16, 2022
I have loved Anita Blake…and I have been disappointed by her in more recent books. I almost didn’t pick this one but I have also always loved Rafael’s character. It wasn’t what I was hoping for but it went from 2 to 3 stars because the second half of the book had the feel of earlier books for me. The first half was a lot of relationship drama with Rafael which surprised me because shouldn’t friends with benefits without the drama of worrying about “cheating” on your partner? I thought this book didn’t flesh out Rafael’s character the way I wanted and instead he was kind of a jerk through most of this. I hope that the turn in the end of the book is a sign that the focus can shift back a little to fighting and a little less about relationship drama.
November 18, 2020
I like these quick books focused mainly on a single character and their relationship with Anita.
This was a much-needed break after Sucker Punch (which was the first Anita Blake book I hated). Sucker Punch was a repetitive mess with a horrible ending.
Rafael was a look at a character we've only caught glimpses of before. This book really showcases the King of Rats and the world of the rats including their rules and their magic. It opens the doors to a whole new world of possibilities for the other weres and for Anita who learns how to tap into, yet another set of powers.
This book alludes to events and characters from Obsidian Butterfly and Narcissus in Chains, so you might want a refresher on those two books before diving into this one.
I need an ongoing character list with quick descriptions to keep track of all the people in Anita's life. This has got to be the most character-filled series to ever exist and it gets hard to keep track of whose who.
This was a much-needed break after Sucker Punch (which was the first Anita Blake book I hated). Sucker Punch was a repetitive mess with a horrible ending.
Rafael was a look at a character we've only caught glimpses of before. This book really showcases the King of Rats and the world of the rats including their rules and their magic. It opens the doors to a whole new world of possibilities for the other weres and for Anita who learns how to tap into, yet another set of powers.
This book alludes to events and characters from Obsidian Butterfly and Narcissus in Chains, so you might want a refresher on those two books before diving into this one.
I need an ongoing character list with quick descriptions to keep track of all the people in Anita's life. This has got to be the most character-filled series to ever exist and it gets hard to keep track of whose who.
November 18, 2020
Twenty-eighth in the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter paranormal fantasy, horror series and revolving around an incredibly conflicted tiny woman many fear to take on. The focus is on Anita proving herself to a mischief of rats! If you're interested, there is a chronological listing of the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter books on my website.
This eARC was sent to me by NetGalley and Berkley Books for an honest review.
My Take
Whoaaa, get out the bandages! I've always liked the rats. It appears that's because I've never met them on their own ground! Eek! These rats are scary and scared!! It definitely leads to a mish-mash of misunderstanding and surprises, for all the major characters. Nobody seems to know what they're doing, and it reads that way.
Rafael was tedious in that they kept going on and on and on about the rats' rules, but didn't want to tell Anita what they were. They just kept dancing around.
Dang, these rats are insecure. They don't want that energy surge when Anita feeds on Rafael. They want Rafael to be the head of the Furry Coalition. They do like the surge, but…oy… With all the palavering back and forth, it's too funny what everyone is really worried about! And it does make sense that Anita is the real problem, lol.
It's through that first person protagonist point-of-view from Anita's perspective that we know how frightened she is and also how very resolute she is, as she confronts a group of conflicted shapeshifters. I do like how Hamilton pulled in the tricks and knowledge Anita has acquired in the past twenty-seven books!
Oh, well, Asher is back to being one of Jean-Claude's lovers. Sigh. Although it does sound promising that Asher is taking medications for his issues. Still, Jean-Claude is the only one who has forgiven Asher for all his bad choices. And it's Anita and Jean-Claude's experiences with Asher that lead them to underestimate Narcissus! Life can be such a pain. It can also be good when working with someone who remembers aid they've received in the past.
It's a darned good thing that Anita has made her own family, as her own is so judgmental. Omigod, omigod, Anita is thawing, the chip on her shoulder is splintering!!! She's actually willing to break some of her own strict rules! Omigoooooddddd…the sky must be falling, lol.
Ooh, Micah and Nathaniel are going on a them-only date. Working through Micah's issues. Speaking of issues, there's the huge one of managing Anita's poly group. All those emotions and needs that come up so awkwardly in Rafael.
Then we find out about Rafael's needs! Wow, seems the rat king is attracted to sexy, crazy, truly unstable women. Although one of his crazy women taught him not to marry in haste! It's been so bad that Rafael had to make a no-fighting rule. I do appreciate Hamilton including the therapy information that Rafael shares about his attraction-issues. It was so real! And so sad.
The sex issues are not Rafael's only problems. He's built his rodere into something strong, and he insists that the shifter who rules them, after him, is also a good king. A hope that seems hopeless.
Hoo-boy, Nathaniel points out that their triumvirate — Anita, Nathaniel, and Damian — don't have any conflicts about it and therefore their power is stronger than that of the Jean-Claude-Anita-Richard triumvirate...because Richard has too many conflicts.
It's also a lesson in how a shapeshifter pack that has never been conquered retains their power unlike other groups. It does help that they have their brujas. Hmm, sounds like some foreshadowing for future stories.
There are so many problems in this, not the least of which is Rafael losing his touch with his people. What's weird is that while so much of it was tedious with all the confusion, it got so interesting towards the end that I was very disappointed that it ended already!
The Story
The wererats, as a whole, are terrified that once Anita makes Rafael her rat-to-call, that all the wererats will become slaves to the vampires. Hence the many challenges against him. With stronger and stronger rats coming against him.
Rafael is only one man. There are concerns that he's getting weaker, that he needs the additional strength he would receive if he were Anita's rat-to-call. But doing this could lead to war.
And yet, everything in the rodere is a fight!
The Characters
Anita Blake is first and foremost a necromancer who became a vampire hunter, whose adventures now find her a vessel for a number of animal shapes and becoming the future vampire queen of America. She's been with Micah Callahan and Nathaniel Graison for five years now. Micah, a wereleopard and Nimir-Raj of the local pard as well as one of Anita's live-in lovers, is the head of the Furry Coalition. Nathaniel, a wereleopard who works as a stripper, has come such a long way from his weak self at the beginning of the series. Damian is another Viking vampire and makes up the third of Anita's own triumvirate ( Narcissus in Chains , 10). Nicky is a werelion and Anita's Bride ( Flirt , 18). Her mother died in a car accident when Anita was 8.
The Rats
While Rafael lives with The Dark Crown Clan in St Louis, he is the king of all wererats throughout the country and one of Anita's lovers. Benito is his main bodyguard.
Claudia is a well-muscled female rat shapeshifter and the head of the security force protecting Jean-Claude and his people. She's also got a lovely throaty tenor. Bobby Lee is another rat and also on vampire security. Fredo is a rat with an amazing skill with knives and teaches kali to Anita. He's also the lore keeper for the rodere. Dr Lillian is a healer for the shapeshifters.
Some of the challenging wererats included Luca, the better thinker; Nestor is the best fighter but arrogant and homophobic; and, Hector, who is another good fighter but impatient, put up to it by his leader, Victor — Hector may also be Rafael's son with Suelita his mother.
Rats who interact with Anita — for good, or for bad — include Danny, Marisol, Franco, Tony, Diego is a nurse rat who gets cut by the bullying Pedro, Rosa tries to overwhelm Anita, Carlos, and Abuela Flora. Neva is one of the rats' three brujas. She recalls a long ago visit from a vampire she calls Madre de la Oscuridad.
The Vampires in...
...St Louis answer to Jean-Claude, Anita's master vampire sweetie and the vampire king in North America, to whom she's engaged. Asher is the vampire with whom Jean-Claude has long had a rocky relationship. Truth and Wicked, vampire brothers, are teaching an axe class.
The Harlequin, the ex-Harlequin, now work for Jean-Claude, calling Anita their dark queen. Pierette, a wereanimal, (Pierrot is her vampire master) is one of Anita's lovers and her bowing and scraping is driving Anita nuts. Angel, Mephistopheles' twin sister, Fortune, and Echo are tiger shifters who are interested in Rafael.
The Hyenas
In St Louis, Narcissus is the Oba, the alpha for the werehyenas and a hermaphrodite with female werehyena magic, is almost as crazy for Asher as Kane is. Helios, a werehyena, is ordered to be Kane's battle buddy.
Kane is a hyena shifter in love with Asher and a prickly, snarly little jerk with major issues who really isn't good enough to be a guard. Unfortunately, he's also Asher's animal-to-call ( Affliction , 22).
The Werewolves
Ricky was such a pain that he was fired. Richard Zeeman is the alpha, the Ulfric, for the Thronnos Rokke clan in St Louis and a reluctant part of Jean-Claude and Anita's triumvirate of power.
The Furry Coalition is...
...a nickname for the Coalition for Better Understanding Between Human and Lycanthrope Communities. Micah is in charge with many calling Rafael his second-in-command. Micah has started to forge the many different animal groups under one leadership, into one voice for human politics.
Padma, Master of Beasts, had been a member of the Vampire Council who almost took over the rats in Burnt Offerings , 7. Gideon and Thomas had been his tiger-to-call and his human servant.
Even shapeshifters have to deal with political correctness, sigh. Yeah, so lycanthropy has been the generic term all shapeshifters used, but now the PC want it to apply only to werewolves with therianthropy applying to all forms. Kali is a combat-style martial art.
The Cover and Title
The background of the cover is white and gray, cracked and discolored as a concrete floor would be, it's only enhancement a replica of the black crown tattoo from Rafael's arm, bleeding. At the very top is an info blurb in black. Below that is the author's name in red above the crown. The title is in a much thicker, Asian-style font, also red, and below the crown. Beneath the title is the series info in black with a testimonial below that.
The title is the focus of the story, Rafael, the Rat King.
This eARC was sent to me by NetGalley and Berkley Books for an honest review.
My Take
Whoaaa, get out the bandages! I've always liked the rats. It appears that's because I've never met them on their own ground! Eek! These rats are scary and scared!! It definitely leads to a mish-mash of misunderstanding and surprises, for all the major characters. Nobody seems to know what they're doing, and it reads that way.
Rafael was tedious in that they kept going on and on and on about the rats' rules, but didn't want to tell Anita what they were. They just kept dancing around.
Dang, these rats are insecure. They don't want that energy surge when Anita feeds on Rafael. They want Rafael to be the head of the Furry Coalition. They do like the surge, but…oy… With all the palavering back and forth, it's too funny what everyone is really worried about! And it does make sense that Anita is the real problem, lol.
It's through that first person protagonist point-of-view from Anita's perspective that we know how frightened she is and also how very resolute she is, as she confronts a group of conflicted shapeshifters. I do like how Hamilton pulled in the tricks and knowledge Anita has acquired in the past twenty-seven books!
Oh, well, Asher is back to being one of Jean-Claude's lovers. Sigh. Although it does sound promising that Asher is taking medications for his issues. Still, Jean-Claude is the only one who has forgiven Asher for all his bad choices. And it's Anita and Jean-Claude's experiences with Asher that lead them to underestimate Narcissus! Life can be such a pain. It can also be good when working with someone who remembers aid they've received in the past.
It's a darned good thing that Anita has made her own family, as her own is so judgmental. Omigod, omigod, Anita is thawing, the chip on her shoulder is splintering!!! She's actually willing to break some of her own strict rules! Omigoooooddddd…the sky must be falling, lol.
Ooh, Micah and Nathaniel are going on a them-only date. Working through Micah's issues. Speaking of issues, there's the huge one of managing Anita's poly group. All those emotions and needs that come up so awkwardly in Rafael.
Then we find out about Rafael's needs! Wow, seems the rat king is attracted to sexy, crazy, truly unstable women. Although one of his crazy women taught him not to marry in haste! It's been so bad that Rafael had to make a no-fighting rule. I do appreciate Hamilton including the therapy information that Rafael shares about his attraction-issues. It was so real! And so sad.
The sex issues are not Rafael's only problems. He's built his rodere into something strong, and he insists that the shifter who rules them, after him, is also a good king. A hope that seems hopeless.
Hoo-boy, Nathaniel points out that their triumvirate — Anita, Nathaniel, and Damian — don't have any conflicts about it and therefore their power is stronger than that of the Jean-Claude-Anita-Richard triumvirate...because Richard has too many conflicts.
It's also a lesson in how a shapeshifter pack that has never been conquered retains their power unlike other groups. It does help that they have their brujas. Hmm, sounds like some foreshadowing for future stories.
There are so many problems in this, not the least of which is Rafael losing his touch with his people. What's weird is that while so much of it was tedious with all the confusion, it got so interesting towards the end that I was very disappointed that it ended already!
The Story
The wererats, as a whole, are terrified that once Anita makes Rafael her rat-to-call, that all the wererats will become slaves to the vampires. Hence the many challenges against him. With stronger and stronger rats coming against him.
Rafael is only one man. There are concerns that he's getting weaker, that he needs the additional strength he would receive if he were Anita's rat-to-call. But doing this could lead to war.
And yet, everything in the rodere is a fight!
The Characters
Anita Blake is first and foremost a necromancer who became a vampire hunter, whose adventures now find her a vessel for a number of animal shapes and becoming the future vampire queen of America. She's been with Micah Callahan and Nathaniel Graison for five years now. Micah, a wereleopard and Nimir-Raj of the local pard as well as one of Anita's live-in lovers, is the head of the Furry Coalition. Nathaniel, a wereleopard who works as a stripper, has come such a long way from his weak self at the beginning of the series. Damian is another Viking vampire and makes up the third of Anita's own triumvirate ( Narcissus in Chains , 10). Nicky is a werelion and Anita's Bride ( Flirt , 18). Her mother died in a car accident when Anita was 8.
The Rats
While Rafael lives with The Dark Crown Clan in St Louis, he is the king of all wererats throughout the country and one of Anita's lovers. Benito is his main bodyguard.
Claudia is a well-muscled female rat shapeshifter and the head of the security force protecting Jean-Claude and his people. She's also got a lovely throaty tenor. Bobby Lee is another rat and also on vampire security. Fredo is a rat with an amazing skill with knives and teaches kali to Anita. He's also the lore keeper for the rodere. Dr Lillian is a healer for the shapeshifters.
Some of the challenging wererats included Luca, the better thinker; Nestor is the best fighter but arrogant and homophobic; and, Hector, who is another good fighter but impatient, put up to it by his leader, Victor — Hector may also be Rafael's son with Suelita his mother.
Rats who interact with Anita — for good, or for bad — include Danny, Marisol, Franco, Tony, Diego is a nurse rat who gets cut by the bullying Pedro, Rosa tries to overwhelm Anita, Carlos, and Abuela Flora. Neva is one of the rats' three brujas. She recalls a long ago visit from a vampire she calls Madre de la Oscuridad.
The Vampires in...
...St Louis answer to Jean-Claude, Anita's master vampire sweetie and the vampire king in North America, to whom she's engaged. Asher is the vampire with whom Jean-Claude has long had a rocky relationship. Truth and Wicked, vampire brothers, are teaching an axe class.
The Harlequin, the ex-Harlequin, now work for Jean-Claude, calling Anita their dark queen. Pierette, a wereanimal, (Pierrot is her vampire master) is one of Anita's lovers and her bowing and scraping is driving Anita nuts. Angel, Mephistopheles' twin sister, Fortune, and Echo are tiger shifters who are interested in Rafael.
The Hyenas
In St Louis, Narcissus is the Oba, the alpha for the werehyenas and a hermaphrodite with female werehyena magic, is almost as crazy for Asher as Kane is. Helios, a werehyena, is ordered to be Kane's battle buddy.
Kane is a hyena shifter in love with Asher and a prickly, snarly little jerk with major issues who really isn't good enough to be a guard. Unfortunately, he's also Asher's animal-to-call ( Affliction , 22).
The Werewolves
Ricky was such a pain that he was fired. Richard Zeeman is the alpha, the Ulfric, for the Thronnos Rokke clan in St Louis and a reluctant part of Jean-Claude and Anita's triumvirate of power.
The Furry Coalition is...
...a nickname for the Coalition for Better Understanding Between Human and Lycanthrope Communities. Micah is in charge with many calling Rafael his second-in-command. Micah has started to forge the many different animal groups under one leadership, into one voice for human politics.
Padma, Master of Beasts, had been a member of the Vampire Council who almost took over the rats in Burnt Offerings , 7. Gideon and Thomas had been his tiger-to-call and his human servant.
Even shapeshifters have to deal with political correctness, sigh. Yeah, so lycanthropy has been the generic term all shapeshifters used, but now the PC want it to apply only to werewolves with therianthropy applying to all forms. Kali is a combat-style martial art.
The Cover and Title
The background of the cover is white and gray, cracked and discolored as a concrete floor would be, it's only enhancement a replica of the black crown tattoo from Rafael's arm, bleeding. At the very top is an info blurb in black. Below that is the author's name in red above the crown. The title is in a much thicker, Asian-style font, also red, and below the crown. Beneath the title is the series info in black with a testimonial below that.
The title is the focus of the story, Rafael, the Rat King.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 10, 2021
I think this is the lowest I've rated one of Hamilton's books. Seriously, only Jason was worse.
SPOILERS AHEAD
Overall, it was disappointing. I was expecting more. This wasn't it.
SPOILERS AHEAD
1) Let's start with the fact that after all this time that Rafael has been in Anita's life, as a friend, an ally, a lover, you'd expect his book to be bigger in volume. This was barely 30something chapters..
2) When the book title was first announced, I was ecstatic. I thought "Finally, we get to see Rafael in action, being the tall, dark, handsome badass we KNOW him to be", considering how he has been written so far. I thought we'd get to see the relationship between him and Anita come to fruition, see them come closer. No, to both accounts. Rafael did put up a fight (I guess) at the fighting pits, but it was more "meh" than Richard raising an eyebrow. As for his relationship with Anita? They have lukewarm sex, they talk about bonding him as her moitié-bête, but...it happens OFF fucking screen?? As if we haven't been expecting to witness it for ages? As if we haven't already seen Anita binding other random people to her, so we expect the ones who actually matter to be shown on page??
3) Once again, the repetitiveness of some information and some reactions by certain people was tiring. I mean, seriously, the way the keep coming off, there's a lot of stupid in that crowd. They've known Anita for some time, most of them, so how can they keep repeating the same annoying old stuff? *shakes head*
4) Asher. I don't care how handsome he is or how he's suddenly working on his therapy more religiously than the Pope receiving communion, he's still an asshole and an overgrown baby, and for Jean-Claude to push Anita to go softer on him and manipulate her into forgiving him, just because Jean-Claude's balls are still in Asher's selfish little hands, that's STILL A NO for me. Personally, I wouldn't have allowed or forgiven Jean-Claude that. And I certainly wouldn't have forgiven Asher, since not only he fucked them over many times, but his fuckups STILL have consequences on their lives and feelings and, most of all, their power-base.
5) The plot about the rodere and their magic and their power and the nameless being under their grounds. Interesting new direction, especially learning that other animal groups have more stuff like that and traditions that Anita doesn't know, but some of the new trouble/conundrums were solved way too fast and some of it weren't solved at all.
Overall, it was disappointing. I was expecting more. This wasn't it.
April 25, 2021
After Sucker Punched a let down. But in itself it’s not bad, it simply uneven. It should be shorter in the first half, where there wasn’t much of a story, and way way “meatier” in the second half where we really needed a lot more.
March 22, 2023
Another true return to.form sees Anita help Rafael face a challenge to his rule as King of the wererats in America. Turns out there are those long the streets who see Rafaels close ties to Anita and Jean Claude as a bad thing , the Rodere (werecat society) are not prey to be used nd red upon.........especially not their King. So Rafael must fight for his life against a challenger that he had been considering as.a replacement somedy . Which means his best isn't fully in the fight and the will get him killed no matter the.skill set.of the.other fighter and there's also the problem that if he does in the fight there WILL be another nd and another until finally Rafael is so worn down he is defeted. What's to be done......thats the dilemma facing the goup but whtever they decide if he to be quick .........the rights tonight......
September 13, 2025
My favorite thing about this book is that it is under 300 pages, which for an Anita Blake book is a rarity.
In all honesty, for this series, it's not the worst book Ive read. It's probably a 3-star book compared to the rest of the series but a 1 star book compared to all other books, so I compromised with a 2 star rating.
It did its typical overexplaining, blah blah blah for half the book, but at least the last quarter of the book had some excitement. Just ignore the fact that all the scary were rats are scared of Anita if her eyes go funky....she's the scariest person there because she can make her eyes change. ridiculous but still better than most of the past 15ish books. Thankfully, I can see the light and am almost free of this god-awful series.
In all honesty, for this series, it's not the worst book Ive read. It's probably a 3-star book compared to the rest of the series but a 1 star book compared to all other books, so I compromised with a 2 star rating.
It did its typical overexplaining, blah blah blah for half the book, but at least the last quarter of the book had some excitement. Just ignore the fact that all the scary were rats are scared of Anita if her eyes go funky....she's the scariest person there because she can make her eyes change. ridiculous but still better than most of the past 15ish books. Thankfully, I can see the light and am almost free of this god-awful series.
February 12, 2021
I have to admit that I enjoyed this one more than I have the last several in this series (barring Sucker Punch, which I haven't read yet). I have made no secret that my preference runs to the supernatural politics over the police procedural and this is all supernatural politics.
Also, there wasn't as much repetitive descriptions of the characters, some but not a lot, which was very nice. And the end wasn't an info dump epilogue, which is a real departure for Hamilton in this series. I suspect these are the reasons this book was so much smaller in terms of page count than usual. I found it improved the experience over all and left me reminiscing about how much I enjoyed the earlier books. Yes, this one did feel a lot like a Narcissus in Chains, rebooted and slimmed down, but that book remains my favorite in the series so I don't think that's a bad thing.
Finally, kill Asher or redeem him, but stop fucking around with his dysfunctional bullshit (and Kane's). Same with Richard. Make him a real part of the triumvirate or figure out a way to transfer his bond and introduce someone good for the group. That said, I was kinda proud of Narcissus in this one.
For those of you who can't stop reading ABOUT this series but have stopped actually reading it because "*GASP!* SEX!!!!" this one has some but it's not as much as a paranormal romance. Yes, there are multiple partners and interests. It's poly, that should be expected.
Yeah, I enjoyed this one.
Also, there wasn't as much repetitive descriptions of the characters, some but not a lot, which was very nice. And the end wasn't an info dump epilogue, which is a real departure for Hamilton in this series. I suspect these are the reasons this book was so much smaller in terms of page count than usual. I found it improved the experience over all and left me reminiscing about how much I enjoyed the earlier books. Yes, this one did feel a lot like a Narcissus in Chains, rebooted and slimmed down, but that book remains my favorite in the series so I don't think that's a bad thing.
Finally, kill Asher or redeem him, but stop fucking around with his dysfunctional bullshit (and Kane's). Same with Richard. Make him a real part of the triumvirate or figure out a way to transfer his bond and introduce someone good for the group. That said, I was kinda proud of Narcissus in this one.
For those of you who can't stop reading ABOUT this series but have stopped actually reading it because "*GASP!* SEX!!!!" this one has some but it's not as much as a paranormal romance. Yes, there are multiple partners and interests. It's poly, that should be expected.
Yeah, I enjoyed this one.
February 16, 2021
The first 20% of the novella was spent in the hallway to the showers, discussing who was showering with whom, and the metaphysical relationships with the wereanimals and the vampires in Anita's life. I was glad when Anita and Rafael finally made it to the shower and then made love. I feel the heart of the novella was the fight for kingship of the wererats. The fight is to the death using only a knife and claws. The challenger has the aid of vampire powers, King Rafael does not. The challenger heals quickly, while the King is being held back from healing by the vampire's power. Which is more important -- killing the challenger or killing the master vampire controlling him? King Rafael will fight the challenger to the death to save his people and the one he loves, his friend and ally.
I feel a lot of time was spent in the hallway to the shower. I understand this delay allowed the reader to become reacquainted with the characters in the heroine's life, but practically 20% just to meet the characters either in person or in Anita's mind was a drag on the plot. When the plot did start moving forward, it did so quickly. I liked the fight scenes. I could feel the tension of the combatants. It was a decent book. I feel Micah's book was better, but, overall, this novella gave us peeks into the wererat world and their magic.
I feel a lot of time was spent in the hallway to the shower. I understand this delay allowed the reader to become reacquainted with the characters in the heroine's life, but practically 20% just to meet the characters either in person or in Anita's mind was a drag on the plot. When the plot did start moving forward, it did so quickly. I liked the fight scenes. I could feel the tension of the combatants. It was a decent book. I feel Micah's book was better, but, overall, this novella gave us peeks into the wererat world and their magic.
November 25, 2021
Los retadores para el trono de Rey Rata cada vez son mas constantes y fuertes, lamentandolo mucho esta vez Rafael tendra que luchar con alguien a quien considera hubiera podido ser su sustituto en unos cuantos anos, y el hombre es fuerte, por eso le pide a Anita que lo ayude alimentando el ardeur con el antes de la lucha y si es posible que lo acompane al estadio donde se va a celebrar el duelo.
Pero lo que no esperaban es que el retador fuera el animal-a-llamar de un maestro vampiro tan poderoso, que ni siquiera Jean-Claude se habia dado cuenta que se encontraba en su territorio por lo que tendran que armar una mejor estrategia para hacer que Rafel gane el combate y poder localizar y eliminar a este vampiro maestro.
Una lectura muy interesante, el autor por fin nos mostro la estructura de poder del "Clan" de hombres-rata y tambien pudimos conocer un poco mas de Rafel como persona, pero tambien el autor nos mostro que todavia le queda mucha historia por contar, ya que aqui no supimos nada del matrimonio, ni de las otras relaciones con los otros clanes, o sea, que seguimos con mas dudas que certezas y eso hace que la saga se vuelva eterna y aburrida.
Por mi, no voy a seguir leyendo mas libros de esta serie, asi sean nuevos o historias cortas que no haya leido, creo que ya es suficiente del drama y las tramas inconclusas para una sola serie.
Asi que, hasta aqui llego yo, no puedo decir que sea una mala serie, pero el drama y el erotismo eclipsa la mayoria de la trama en gran parte de los libros, lo que para mi, los hace fastidiosa. Pero como tiene libros aburridos, tambien tiene otros que pueden valer la pena, el asunto es que no puedes leerlos por separado, porque pierdes la mitad de los personajes y muchos de los "nuevos" poderes que el autor muestra en cada uno.
Pero lo que no esperaban es que el retador fuera el animal-a-llamar de un maestro vampiro tan poderoso, que ni siquiera Jean-Claude se habia dado cuenta que se encontraba en su territorio por lo que tendran que armar una mejor estrategia para hacer que Rafel gane el combate y poder localizar y eliminar a este vampiro maestro.
Una lectura muy interesante, el autor por fin nos mostro la estructura de poder del "Clan" de hombres-rata y tambien pudimos conocer un poco mas de Rafel como persona, pero tambien el autor nos mostro que todavia le queda mucha historia por contar, ya que aqui no supimos nada del matrimonio, ni de las otras relaciones con los otros clanes, o sea, que seguimos con mas dudas que certezas y eso hace que la saga se vuelva eterna y aburrida.
Por mi, no voy a seguir leyendo mas libros de esta serie, asi sean nuevos o historias cortas que no haya leido, creo que ya es suficiente del drama y las tramas inconclusas para una sola serie.
Asi que, hasta aqui llego yo, no puedo decir que sea una mala serie, pero el drama y el erotismo eclipsa la mayoria de la trama en gran parte de los libros, lo que para mi, los hace fastidiosa. Pero como tiene libros aburridos, tambien tiene otros que pueden valer la pena, el asunto es que no puedes leerlos por separado, porque pierdes la mitad de los personajes y muchos de los "nuevos" poderes que el autor muestra en cada uno.
February 15, 2021
This one was interesting, had things that I really liked about this series and things that have come to drive me nuts about the series. From the start I have liked the rats, liked how they have always had Anita's back, so learning that this book was very rat centric made me happy. I really liked how with this one we really learned more about the rats and their culture and history, which was interesting.
The rats got to see that Anita being friends and more with Rafael is a huge benefit. That Anita has more to her than she lets others see. While there was a lot of posturing during the fight, Anita came through to help defeat the rat gunning for Rafael, who teamed up with an old enemy of Anita's. Nice that they were able to take care of this and solidify Rafael with the rats and Anita's place with him.
The rats got to see that Anita being friends and more with Rafael is a huge benefit. That Anita has more to her than she lets others see. While there was a lot of posturing during the fight, Anita came through to help defeat the rat gunning for Rafael, who teamed up with an old enemy of Anita's. Nice that they were able to take care of this and solidify Rafael with the rats and Anita's place with him.
March 4, 2021
It's honestly exhausting reviewing this series lately. I did like this one better than the last several. I have always loved Raphael and Claudia, and it's more than past time we got a peek inside their world. (But I completely missed something somewhere given that I didn't know Raphael was no longer married.)
Aside from the last quarter of the book, where ALL the important stuff happens, we have to wade through the neverending relationship drama being repeated as if we don't all already know it by heart.
And also, I feel like I'm pissing into the wind here, but Asher, Kane, and Narcissus should have ALL been already taken care of in some kind of way that doesn't still have their precious feelerz on the line for literal war or death. It's been long enough. They don't have to kill anyone, but they don't have to keep letting everyone hang around and screw things up in their territory, either.
Anita and JC used to both be a lot more pragmatic and ruthless than this, and they're knowingly putting so many people in constant danger these days, it's a little off-putting.
Anyhoo, to the good parts, I am so intrigued by the magic rats, and a return to the magic Anita got from Obsidian Butterfly. Honestly, that corn-husk, soul-sucking, thing she can do is TERRIFYING and I don't know why she hasn't whipped that one out more often (like on Kane, hello? kick his ass already, I mean DAMN) because it would keep a lot of challenges off her plate.
I know all these reviews keep falling on uninterested ears, but please for the love of all things holy, we need MORE of like the ending quarter and LESS of the first 3/4 here. We don't care how much sex Anita has or doesn't have, or how she likes her cervix bumped, anymore. Throw it in, leave it out, whatever, but we want more story either way. If 300 pages are relationship drama, we need at least that much actual story story to go along with it.
Aside from the last quarter of the book, where ALL the important stuff happens, we have to wade through the neverending relationship drama being repeated as if we don't all already know it by heart.
And also, I feel like I'm pissing into the wind here, but Asher, Kane, and Narcissus should have ALL been already taken care of in some kind of way that doesn't still have their precious feelerz on the line for literal war or death. It's been long enough. They don't have to kill anyone, but they don't have to keep letting everyone hang around and screw things up in their territory, either.
Anita and JC used to both be a lot more pragmatic and ruthless than this, and they're knowingly putting so many people in constant danger these days, it's a little off-putting.
Anyhoo, to the good parts, I am so intrigued by the magic rats, and a return to the magic Anita got from Obsidian Butterfly. Honestly, that corn-husk, soul-sucking, thing she can do is TERRIFYING and I don't know why she hasn't whipped that one out more often (like on Kane, hello? kick his ass already, I mean DAMN) because it would keep a lot of challenges off her plate.
I know all these reviews keep falling on uninterested ears, but please for the love of all things holy, we need MORE of like the ending quarter and LESS of the first 3/4 here. We don't care how much sex Anita has or doesn't have, or how she likes her cervix bumped, anymore. Throw it in, leave it out, whatever, but we want more story either way. If 300 pages are relationship drama, we need at least that much actual story story to go along with it.
September 1, 2021
Always too short too fast 💔 and now the waiting begins again.
February 10, 2021
Notes:
While I'm not a fan of the narrator, the narration usually does not make a huge impact on the story and I ignore it. This time? Nope! She made Anita super whiny and that made the story less of an adventure and more of a dopey whine-fest.
While I'm not a fan of the narrator, the narration usually does not make a huge impact on the story and I ignore it. This time? Nope! She made Anita super whiny and that made the story less of an adventure and more of a dopey whine-fest.
January 15, 2023
Of the latest books in this series, the back story books are the best.
February 9, 2021
This book is all about Rafael and Anita and whether or not she is going to make him her rat to call and whether or not the wererats are going to accept her. While a lot of the wererats like her and know that she isn't evil and know that they aren't in danger from her or Jean-Claude, there are a few that are scared which causes some problems.
Asher is back and Jean-Claude has forgiven him for being such a jerk in the past. I felt for the guy because he had some stuff that he needed to work through. But Anita is being standofish with him not only because of how he acted but because his boyfriend, Kane hates her. This is going to be really interesting in upcoming books when they all start sleeping together again which I know is going to happen.
Rafael is a wererat and The Rat King, which I loved. I'm a huge rat person myself so I really liked seeing wererats in this story. Rafael was getting challenged often because the wererats were scared that if Anita made Rafael her rat to call that all of them would be servant's to the vampires because of her ties to Jean-Claude. The wererats were also scared because Anita and Jean-Claude were getting married and although she had wereanimal magic, she couldn't shift into any wereanimals. Rafael is supposed to fight Hector and if he loses, Hector will be the new leader of the wererats. Anita is scared that Rafael might not win because Rafael doesn't seem to have what it takes emotionally to kill Hector. So when Anita feeds the ardeur from Rafael she can feel all the wererats through him and knows that Hector is trying to keep her out because he has a secret that he doesn't want her to know but she knows because she is stronger than he knows.
When Anita goes to the arena to watch Hector and Rafael fight, there are those that don't want her there and they let her know it. She has to fight her way through a couple of people and when a whole bunch of rats show up, she remembers that she's kinda scared of the little furry creatures. Personally, I loved the scenes with all the rats. Anita surprises a lot of the wererats because she has magic that they didn't know about which makes a lot of them back down from confronting her. There are secrets that are revealed and some really great twists in this book.
This is the 28th book in the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series and I've been reading this series since the beginning. If you've been reading this series you already know what to expect but I would definitely start at the beginning because there are a lot of characters in this series and it will make more sense if you start with the first book.
Asher is back and Jean-Claude has forgiven him for being such a jerk in the past. I felt for the guy because he had some stuff that he needed to work through. But Anita is being standofish with him not only because of how he acted but because his boyfriend, Kane hates her. This is going to be really interesting in upcoming books when they all start sleeping together again which I know is going to happen.
Rafael is a wererat and The Rat King, which I loved. I'm a huge rat person myself so I really liked seeing wererats in this story. Rafael was getting challenged often because the wererats were scared that if Anita made Rafael her rat to call that all of them would be servant's to the vampires because of her ties to Jean-Claude. The wererats were also scared because Anita and Jean-Claude were getting married and although she had wereanimal magic, she couldn't shift into any wereanimals. Rafael is supposed to fight Hector and if he loses, Hector will be the new leader of the wererats. Anita is scared that Rafael might not win because Rafael doesn't seem to have what it takes emotionally to kill Hector. So when Anita feeds the ardeur from Rafael she can feel all the wererats through him and knows that Hector is trying to keep her out because he has a secret that he doesn't want her to know but she knows because she is stronger than he knows.
When Anita goes to the arena to watch Hector and Rafael fight, there are those that don't want her there and they let her know it. She has to fight her way through a couple of people and when a whole bunch of rats show up, she remembers that she's kinda scared of the little furry creatures. Personally, I loved the scenes with all the rats. Anita surprises a lot of the wererats because she has magic that they didn't know about which makes a lot of them back down from confronting her. There are secrets that are revealed and some really great twists in this book.
This is the 28th book in the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series and I've been reading this series since the beginning. If you've been reading this series you already know what to expect but I would definitely start at the beginning because there are a lot of characters in this series and it will make more sense if you start with the first book.
August 4, 2023
I had such a good experience with Sucker Punch that I decided to move right on to this one... #28 in the Anita Blake series is a character-name book, so those of us familiar with the series know that this means it will be almost all power dynamics and relationship stuff. That remains true in this entry, and our focus this time is wererat king, Rafael.
It's funny, I ended this book not really feeling like I knew more about Rafael than when we started? Rafael is an old-school character, part of the Anita series since nearly the beginning. He's always been a bit of a strong and silent type, and drawn to power. Makes sense for a king. In this book, the question is whether Anita will make Rafael her "rat to call" - i.e. a special relationship that involves a power-up for Rafael (in exchange for losing some autonomy). This is timely and relevant because he's starting to see challengers to his throne from up-and-comers that don't like his close association with Anita and her coterie of vampires and other wereanimals. (Understandable.)
The overall takeaway of this book is that it has LOTS of callbacks to characters and plotlines from earlier books. (If you haven't read them, you'll be at sea, but I have NO IDEA why anyone would just pick up this book without already being invested in the series.) Some of these callbacks work vastly better than others. I don't want to spoil, but I thought two of these callbacks were very lame , one was just "eh" and one was actually good and interesting .
Sometimes the character name books are skippable, but I don't think this one is if you intend to keep reading in the series. Some important plot stuff happens, and also, I thought what we learned about how wererat culture operates (and how it's different than other wereanimals) was actually one of the cooler elements of this book.
Still, is it as strong as the Anita books that focus on a police investigation or mystery? Lol def not. But I was in the mood for some "drama llama" Anita soap opera dynamics, and this book certainly delivers on that.
It's funny, I ended this book not really feeling like I knew more about Rafael than when we started? Rafael is an old-school character, part of the Anita series since nearly the beginning. He's always been a bit of a strong and silent type, and drawn to power. Makes sense for a king. In this book, the question is whether Anita will make Rafael her "rat to call" - i.e. a special relationship that involves a power-up for Rafael (in exchange for losing some autonomy). This is timely and relevant because he's starting to see challengers to his throne from up-and-comers that don't like his close association with Anita and her coterie of vampires and other wereanimals. (Understandable.)
The overall takeaway of this book is that it has LOTS of callbacks to characters and plotlines from earlier books. (If you haven't read them, you'll be at sea, but I have NO IDEA why anyone would just pick up this book without already being invested in the series.) Some of these callbacks work vastly better than others. I don't want to spoil, but I thought two of these callbacks were very lame , one was just "eh" and one was actually good and interesting .
Sometimes the character name books are skippable, but I don't think this one is if you intend to keep reading in the series. Some important plot stuff happens, and also, I thought what we learned about how wererat culture operates (and how it's different than other wereanimals) was actually one of the cooler elements of this book.
Still, is it as strong as the Anita books that focus on a police investigation or mystery? Lol def not. But I was in the mood for some "drama llama" Anita soap opera dynamics, and this book certainly delivers on that.
March 29, 2021
Here I am again, reviewing another Anita Blake novel - well, novella more like it. And you know what, this one wasn't half bad. My main issue with these books is the influx of characters. There's so many new ones, that Hamilton tends to just forget about all the ones from the beginning. And for me, it's the characters in the first 10 books or so who make this series. I could give a rats ass about any of these new people.
But here, Hamilton takes us back to the rats - a group who have been with us since book one. They are mostly talked about as a side note, so this book was a nice glimpse into how they run as a pack. We got to know more about them as individuals as well. Of course there was the gratuitous sex scene that's always in these books, but I honestly just skimmed it because they aren't anything new and it's just blah at this point.
One issue I am having, is time is not passing at all in this series. Each book is just like one day. We've been talking about Anita's wedding for multiple books now, but it doesn't seem to be getting any closer. Let's movie it along a bit here. Also, where the eff is Jason???
But here, Hamilton takes us back to the rats - a group who have been with us since book one. They are mostly talked about as a side note, so this book was a nice glimpse into how they run as a pack. We got to know more about them as individuals as well. Of course there was the gratuitous sex scene that's always in these books, but I honestly just skimmed it because they aren't anything new and it's just blah at this point.
One issue I am having, is time is not passing at all in this series. Each book is just like one day. We've been talking about Anita's wedding for multiple books now, but it doesn't seem to be getting any closer. Let's movie it along a bit here. Also, where the eff is Jason???
January 11, 2024
While I enjoyed having a little more focus on Rafael (After all, he's been around since the beginning), I just didn't love this one. I enjoyed some parts, and I liked the twist a lot, but other parts felt a little underwhelming.
November 8, 2023
Rafael ranks among my favorite of the recent books. It started out trying to be a novella, so there is a more straightforward plotline. It’s all vampire and furry politics. No Federal Marshall duties. No Animator Inc.
In fact, the furry politics have been simplified by pushing the lions and tigers offstage entirely. (Nicky is out of town, may he never return.) Except for talk of Richard and the original Tri, the wolves are offstage as well.
Obviously Rafael and the rats are center stage, but we visit hyena politics in the form of Asher’s animal-to-call Kane and Narcissus’ continued insistence that Anita pick her animal-to-call among the hyenas before she picks one among the rats.
Things have moved on from the earlier notion that Anita could have a mate like connection AND an animal-to-call connection to each group. Like she has with Micah & Nathaniel and would have had with Richard & Jason if Richard was less conflicted. Instead, both Narcissus and Rafael personally wish to be her animal-to-call.
(The blessedly offstage situation with the tigers is best described as “it’s complicated”. As for the lions, did she ever pick an animal-to-call or was (the now deceased) Haven the closest contender?)
Among the familiar rats, we see Rafael, Benito, Fredo, Claudia, and Lillian on stage.
Among Anita’s ever-more-complicated love life Pierette is the only lover onstage, beyond Rafael, who wasn’t in Jean-Claude initial permissible lovers list (from when Anita first gained the ardeur). The only sex scene is with Rafael, but we get affectionate greetings with Anita’s leopard fiancees and a cuddle with Jean-Claude and Asher.
(Pierette is one of the former Harlequin, a wereleopard paired with her long time lover and vampire master Pierrot. Pierette Is among Anita’s lovers, Pierrot is not.)
Asher is back in Jean-Claude’s bed, though things are still a bit frosty between Anita and Asher. Like Richard, Asher has “I’m being good” moments and “I’m sowing chaos” moments. Here, he’s trying to make things work.
Micah and Nathaniel have been going on one-on-one dates, without Anita. So when she greets them in the hallways of the Circus, Nathaniel is delighted to share all the fun they’ve been up to. Nathaniel and Anita’s bond has been strengthened and Anita has clearly become more comfortable letting down her barriers with Nathaniel, because he shares his day the way Anita typically only connects with Jean-Claude. A direct mind-to-mind sharing. Love how “I won’t be discounted” Nathaniel is here. Our submissive kitty has certainly grown up.
Brief mention of Damian when Anita & Nathaniel are communicating across their bond. He wakes and Anita and Nathaniel’s eyes bleed vampire green. Speaking of eyes, Anita’s eyes shift to leopard when Nathaniel calls on their bond and his own eyes shift. (Anita’s inner rat and leopard weren’t paying nice.)
And I haven’t even hit the main plotline yet.
Rafael has been receiving more challenges to his leadership as of late, and he’s especially conflicted about his upcoming confrontation with Hector. One, because Rafael feels Hector would make a great future leader, and the fights for kingship are usually to the death. And, two, Hector is the son of one of Rafael’s former lovers and she is messing with his head implying that Hector is Rafael’s child.
When Rafael and Anita have sex, Rafael asks that Anita feeds the ardeur on both him and every rat that owes him allegiance. When she touches Hector, she feels something out-of-place. Turns out Hector is the animal-to-call to a Master Vampire that isn’t Jean-Claude’s. And because Jean-Claude can’t sense him, Hector’s master is in all likelihood a major player. (Spoiler: He is. Former Vampire Council member Padma, the Master of Beasts.)
Since this mysterious Master Vampire is a threat to the whole preternatural power structure in St. Louis, they get Narcissus to back off his demands to become Anita’s animal-to-call before Rafael. And wham-bam-thank-you-mam, they take care of that little magical matchup offstage.
As the first leader of his group as an animal-to-call, Rafael’s bond is tighter from the start next to anyone save Nathaniel (because of the Tri with Damian).
Anita’s visit to the rat’s seat of power echos back to attending the lupinar in “The Killing Dance” or perhaps “Blue Moon”, as the rats have magic. Magic that is eerily similar to Obsidian Butterfly’s gift of the starry night and the ability to drain a person of their lifeforce.
Seems like I had more to add, but the flood of words has turned off. So I’ll leave things there. Great book. A lot closer to the style I like than recent books. No real complaints, though I would have loved more screen time with Jean-Claude, Nathaniel, and Micah.
In fact, the furry politics have been simplified by pushing the lions and tigers offstage entirely. (Nicky is out of town, may he never return.) Except for talk of Richard and the original Tri, the wolves are offstage as well.
Obviously Rafael and the rats are center stage, but we visit hyena politics in the form of Asher’s animal-to-call Kane and Narcissus’ continued insistence that Anita pick her animal-to-call among the hyenas before she picks one among the rats.
Things have moved on from the earlier notion that Anita could have a mate like connection AND an animal-to-call connection to each group. Like she has with Micah & Nathaniel and would have had with Richard & Jason if Richard was less conflicted. Instead, both Narcissus and Rafael personally wish to be her animal-to-call.
(The blessedly offstage situation with the tigers is best described as “it’s complicated”. As for the lions, did she ever pick an animal-to-call or was (the now deceased) Haven the closest contender?)
Among the familiar rats, we see Rafael, Benito, Fredo, Claudia, and Lillian on stage.
Among Anita’s ever-more-complicated love life Pierette is the only lover onstage, beyond Rafael, who wasn’t in Jean-Claude initial permissible lovers list (from when Anita first gained the ardeur). The only sex scene is with Rafael, but we get affectionate greetings with Anita’s leopard fiancees and a cuddle with Jean-Claude and Asher.
(Pierette is one of the former Harlequin, a wereleopard paired with her long time lover and vampire master Pierrot. Pierette Is among Anita’s lovers, Pierrot is not.)
Asher is back in Jean-Claude’s bed, though things are still a bit frosty between Anita and Asher. Like Richard, Asher has “I’m being good” moments and “I’m sowing chaos” moments. Here, he’s trying to make things work.
Micah and Nathaniel have been going on one-on-one dates, without Anita. So when she greets them in the hallways of the Circus, Nathaniel is delighted to share all the fun they’ve been up to. Nathaniel and Anita’s bond has been strengthened and Anita has clearly become more comfortable letting down her barriers with Nathaniel, because he shares his day the way Anita typically only connects with Jean-Claude. A direct mind-to-mind sharing. Love how “I won’t be discounted” Nathaniel is here. Our submissive kitty has certainly grown up.
Brief mention of Damian when Anita & Nathaniel are communicating across their bond. He wakes and Anita and Nathaniel’s eyes bleed vampire green. Speaking of eyes, Anita’s eyes shift to leopard when Nathaniel calls on their bond and his own eyes shift. (Anita’s inner rat and leopard weren’t paying nice.)
And I haven’t even hit the main plotline yet.
Rafael has been receiving more challenges to his leadership as of late, and he’s especially conflicted about his upcoming confrontation with Hector. One, because Rafael feels Hector would make a great future leader, and the fights for kingship are usually to the death. And, two, Hector is the son of one of Rafael’s former lovers and she is messing with his head implying that Hector is Rafael’s child.
When Rafael and Anita have sex, Rafael asks that Anita feeds the ardeur on both him and every rat that owes him allegiance. When she touches Hector, she feels something out-of-place. Turns out Hector is the animal-to-call to a Master Vampire that isn’t Jean-Claude’s. And because Jean-Claude can’t sense him, Hector’s master is in all likelihood a major player. (Spoiler: He is. Former Vampire Council member Padma, the Master of Beasts.)
Since this mysterious Master Vampire is a threat to the whole preternatural power structure in St. Louis, they get Narcissus to back off his demands to become Anita’s animal-to-call before Rafael. And wham-bam-thank-you-mam, they take care of that little magical matchup offstage.
As the first leader of his group as an animal-to-call, Rafael’s bond is tighter from the start next to anyone save Nathaniel (because of the Tri with Damian).
Anita’s visit to the rat’s seat of power echos back to attending the lupinar in “The Killing Dance” or perhaps “Blue Moon”, as the rats have magic. Magic that is eerily similar to Obsidian Butterfly’s gift of the starry night and the ability to drain a person of their lifeforce.
Seems like I had more to add, but the flood of words has turned off. So I’ll leave things there. Great book. A lot closer to the style I like than recent books. No real complaints, though I would have loved more screen time with Jean-Claude, Nathaniel, and Micah.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 17, 2021
I’m so happy that we got a book with Rafael as the main focus.
A lot less sex than normal but perfect level amount.
Another good read and I can’t wait for the next in the series hopefully we aren’t waiting too long.
I just hope that the next novel will be longer and more detailed with a more indepth storyline.
A lot less sex than normal but perfect level amount.
Another good read and I can’t wait for the next in the series hopefully we aren’t waiting too long.
I just hope that the next novel will be longer and more detailed with a more indepth storyline.
February 16, 2021
DIFFERENT....
It pains me to give an Anita Blake novel less than a five rating, sadly I haven't been inspired to come close to that number in some time. When I first began reading Laurell K. Hamilton's Vampire Hunter series, I could barely contain my excitement: anxiously waiting for each new book to be written, arriving at the bookstore on release day to purchase my hardcover copy, and reading it within a day. Unbelievably, the first twenty or so of these novels are wonderful, with the initial ten practically OUTSTANDING. The world-building and the characters themselves defy imagination. Perhaps that is why it is such a disappointment that Ms. Hamilton's most recent endeavors are not up to her former standards. This newest novel, Rafael, is a perfect example. While it continues with Anita's connection to Jean-Claude, Rafael and his wererats, there just seemed to be so much missing from this book that kept it from being as fleshed out as its predecessors. Even the excessive sex scenes that are often predominate in an Anita Blake novel were omitted. Without providing any spoilers, people appear and disappear without rhyme or reason, and as a reader we are expected to accept these odd occurrences....
It pains me to give an Anita Blake novel less than a five rating, sadly I haven't been inspired to come close to that number in some time. When I first began reading Laurell K. Hamilton's Vampire Hunter series, I could barely contain my excitement: anxiously waiting for each new book to be written, arriving at the bookstore on release day to purchase my hardcover copy, and reading it within a day. Unbelievably, the first twenty or so of these novels are wonderful, with the initial ten practically OUTSTANDING. The world-building and the characters themselves defy imagination. Perhaps that is why it is such a disappointment that Ms. Hamilton's most recent endeavors are not up to her former standards. This newest novel, Rafael, is a perfect example. While it continues with Anita's connection to Jean-Claude, Rafael and his wererats, there just seemed to be so much missing from this book that kept it from being as fleshed out as its predecessors. Even the excessive sex scenes that are often predominate in an Anita Blake novel were omitted. Without providing any spoilers, people appear and disappear without rhyme or reason, and as a reader we are expected to accept these odd occurrences....
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