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Anita Blake has been asked to raise the dead-but the results aren't going to make everybody happy...
262 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published February 2, 2009
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11019 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 - 30 of 1,277 reviews
February 26, 2010
Does anyone else get the feeling that if Anita, or Merry, for that matter, decided to do something as quotidian and mundane as changing her brand of toothpaste, it would provoke a long, drawn-out, tortuous discussion/debate/conversation (with all her friends, lovers and enemies, and random passersby) about her motivations for the brand change, the inevitable or potential repercussions of the brand change, how her unexpected brand-changing decision upsets and discommodes said lovers, friends and enemies (and disconcerts various of the passersby), how the new brand and its minty freshness might prove useful or detrimental to them all in the future, and how exactly the new brand might be better incorporated into their various defensive and aggressive sexual acrobatics?
All, of course, while somebody is bleeding to death or being tortured, and all brand-change debate participants hold guns, spells, swords, knives, penises, and other various and sundry weapons at the never-exhausted ready.
I'm just sayin'.
Apologies for the run-on.
All, of course, while somebody is bleeding to death or being tortured, and all brand-change debate participants hold guns, spells, swords, knives, penises, and other various and sundry weapons at the never-exhausted ready.
I'm just sayin'.
Apologies for the run-on.
March 11, 2017
I want to start off by saying that this wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. And it definitely wasn't as bad as it could have been. I had the lowest of hopes for this one after reading Divine Misdemeanors (★) last year so maybe that's why I liked Flirt more. Trust me though, it was nowhere near perfect and was also still far away from her earlier books in the series. I'm slightly wary though, could this be a sign of things to come? Will the Anita books continue to get better? I'm afraid to think this because I've been disappointed in Hamilton since Obsidian Butterfly. I'm afraid to hope.
"It made me hopeful, and I cursed it, because hope will keep you alive, yes, but it will also get you killed in ways worse than anything you can imagine. Hope is a bad friend when men with guns have you. But my lioness and their lions lusted after each other, sort of. Lust I trusted. Hope will lie to you, but lust is what it is; it never lies. Hope would keep me hoping, but lust might be a weapon I could use to divide them ..."
::groan::
And there it is. We get back to the Hamilton we've all come to know over the past few years. The one that latches onto a word or two and beats it into the ground. Someone please mail Hamilton a thesaurus. This passage isn't a rarity either and it's a constant reminder of what a lazy writer she has become.
I'm going to fast forward to the afterword now. I found it hilarious (in a bad way), sad, and frustrating and it made me want to deduct a star from my review score. She comes off as incredibly pretentious and arrogant and I honestly wish I hadn't read it and just stopped reading when Anita's story ended. She talks about how people ask her all the time where she gets her ideas and how she can write a whole book. I laughed out loud at this because she hasn't written a whole new book in YEARS. If you've read anything by her it won't take you long at all to find conversations, phrases, descriptions, scenes, and explanations practically pulled word for word from previous books. I can understand trying to explain things for new readers but come on, she doesn't even try to hide the fact that she's lifting whole passages and copied and pasted them into new books. And, the story in Flirt was only 158 pages long! About a third of the novella was stuff I had read in previous installments of the series. To me, this isn't the sign of a strong writer, it's the sign of a lazy one that's struggling, and I find it comical that's she's trying to give advice to aspiring authors.
I know I'm spending a lot of time on a part of the book that wasn't even the story but it just really struck a nerve. She also decided that it was a good idea to retell the same scene 3 TIMES! First, we read the original scene in the novel, then we get a retelling of the original event that inspired Anita's scene, THEN we get a comic of the scene. Now here's the thing; it's a BORING SCENE! When I was reading Anita's bit I was bored to tears, so you can imagine my surprise when it shows up not once, but twice more. And just the way she writes in the afterword she's making it sound like she's soooo clever for coming up with Flirt from her "real-life" experience.
And another thing, she does something in the afterword that she's constantly doing in her books as well that DRIVES ME NUTS:
"I am going to tell you where the idea for Flirt first came from. I'm going to tell you the first scene that came into my head, because most books start with a scene for me. I'll tell you the first idea, and I'll even tell you the fertile ground that that idea found to land on, which happened nearly a year before ... I'm going to tell you the schedule I kept, the pages I wrote per day, the music I listened to, and the books I read for extra research while writing the book. I am going to lay my process bare for you."
Quit telling me you're going to tell me something and just tell me it already!
Sigh ...
So, the story. Here's the crazy thing: I liked it! If you can get passed all the poor writing mechanics the story is actually enjoyable. We finally get back to Anita raising zombies and most of her men are absent for the better part of the novel. I've come to the realization now though that I like Anita when she's by herself and not constantly covered in men and having to deal with their moping and posturing. The scenes with Jason, Nathaniel, and Micah were the weakest in the novel. When we finally get to the meat of the story and the two crazy lions join in things get really interesting. It felt like I was reading the old Anita again. I found myself reading furiously, trying to get to the end to see what would happen to everyone. I stayed up until 5 in the morning reading so I could finish. I haven't felt that need with her books for a long time now. It was nice to have it back.
I'm still sick of Anita's magical vagina and how she collects a new man (or two) every book now though. It's gotten to the point where the original men are all but forgotten. Jean-Claude doesn't even have a phone call with her in this book, which I think is all he got in Skin Trade. I miss the vampires, there isn't a single appearance of one in this novella but it seems like maybe the were politics could be over finally. I think they might be now, but I'm not sure. She could collect another strain of lycanthropy though and start the process of finding a mate for it all over again. I'm hoping Hamilton doesn't follow that path though because it's gotten old.
I'm wondering if I liked this book because it was more stream-lined. Like I said before, it's very short, and I'm worried that Bullet, at twice the length, is going to be a bloated mess.
I'm flirting with hope though. And I'm scared of the power of hoping, because to flirt with that power IS to hope. But I smile at that and flirt with the hope that I CAN hope. And there's power in that. Because hoping IS power. And flirting is power. I hope I have the power to hope there's hope for Anita. I smile and flirt at the idea. Because she needs the power of hoping more than any of us.
"It made me hopeful, and I cursed it, because hope will keep you alive, yes, but it will also get you killed in ways worse than anything you can imagine. Hope is a bad friend when men with guns have you. But my lioness and their lions lusted after each other, sort of. Lust I trusted. Hope will lie to you, but lust is what it is; it never lies. Hope would keep me hoping, but lust might be a weapon I could use to divide them ..."
::groan::
And there it is. We get back to the Hamilton we've all come to know over the past few years. The one that latches onto a word or two and beats it into the ground. Someone please mail Hamilton a thesaurus. This passage isn't a rarity either and it's a constant reminder of what a lazy writer she has become.
I'm going to fast forward to the afterword now. I found it hilarious (in a bad way), sad, and frustrating and it made me want to deduct a star from my review score. She comes off as incredibly pretentious and arrogant and I honestly wish I hadn't read it and just stopped reading when Anita's story ended. She talks about how people ask her all the time where she gets her ideas and how she can write a whole book. I laughed out loud at this because she hasn't written a whole new book in YEARS. If you've read anything by her it won't take you long at all to find conversations, phrases, descriptions, scenes, and explanations practically pulled word for word from previous books. I can understand trying to explain things for new readers but come on, she doesn't even try to hide the fact that she's lifting whole passages and copied and pasted them into new books. And, the story in Flirt was only 158 pages long! About a third of the novella was stuff I had read in previous installments of the series. To me, this isn't the sign of a strong writer, it's the sign of a lazy one that's struggling, and I find it comical that's she's trying to give advice to aspiring authors.
I know I'm spending a lot of time on a part of the book that wasn't even the story but it just really struck a nerve. She also decided that it was a good idea to retell the same scene 3 TIMES! First, we read the original scene in the novel, then we get a retelling of the original event that inspired Anita's scene, THEN we get a comic of the scene. Now here's the thing; it's a BORING SCENE! When I was reading Anita's bit I was bored to tears, so you can imagine my surprise when it shows up not once, but twice more. And just the way she writes in the afterword she's making it sound like she's soooo clever for coming up with Flirt from her "real-life" experience.
And another thing, she does something in the afterword that she's constantly doing in her books as well that DRIVES ME NUTS:
"I am going to tell you where the idea for Flirt first came from. I'm going to tell you the first scene that came into my head, because most books start with a scene for me. I'll tell you the first idea, and I'll even tell you the fertile ground that that idea found to land on, which happened nearly a year before ... I'm going to tell you the schedule I kept, the pages I wrote per day, the music I listened to, and the books I read for extra research while writing the book. I am going to lay my process bare for you."
Quit telling me you're going to tell me something and just tell me it already!
Sigh ...
So, the story. Here's the crazy thing: I liked it! If you can get passed all the poor writing mechanics the story is actually enjoyable. We finally get back to Anita raising zombies and most of her men are absent for the better part of the novel. I've come to the realization now though that I like Anita when she's by herself and not constantly covered in men and having to deal with their moping and posturing. The scenes with Jason, Nathaniel, and Micah were the weakest in the novel. When we finally get to the meat of the story and the two crazy lions join in things get really interesting. It felt like I was reading the old Anita again. I found myself reading furiously, trying to get to the end to see what would happen to everyone. I stayed up until 5 in the morning reading so I could finish. I haven't felt that need with her books for a long time now. It was nice to have it back.
I'm still sick of Anita's magical vagina and how she collects a new man (or two) every book now though. It's gotten to the point where the original men are all but forgotten. Jean-Claude doesn't even have a phone call with her in this book, which I think is all he got in Skin Trade. I miss the vampires, there isn't a single appearance of one in this novella but it seems like maybe the were politics could be over finally. I think they might be now, but I'm not sure. She could collect another strain of lycanthropy though and start the process of finding a mate for it all over again. I'm hoping Hamilton doesn't follow that path though because it's gotten old.
I'm wondering if I liked this book because it was more stream-lined. Like I said before, it's very short, and I'm worried that Bullet, at twice the length, is going to be a bloated mess.
I'm flirting with hope though. And I'm scared of the power of hoping, because to flirt with that power IS to hope. But I smile at that and flirt with the hope that I CAN hope. And there's power in that. Because hoping IS power. And flirting is power. I hope I have the power to hope there's hope for Anita. I smile and flirt at the idea. Because she needs the power of hoping more than any of us.
September 10, 2010
Why did I do this to myself? Why return to Anita Blake, when all she does is annoy and frustrate me?
Because I am a fool.
But as foolish as I am, at least I didn't write a novel in which all the male characters tell Anita how hot and desirable and wonderful she is for an entire chapter. Is there a plot? Sure, but it's solved in about two minutes. Truthfully, there are so many problems with this story that it’s hard to know what to complain about most.
-The pages upon pages of descriptions of each man’s hair, eyes, muscles, and dreadful clothing choices?
-The chapter in which nothing happens except Anita and her waiter flirting with each other?
-The way the reader is repeatedly reminded that every single other female character is stupider, meaner, and less pretty than Anita?
-How every single time Anita does anything, all the male characters comment on how amazing and astounding it is?
-How Anita Blake uses magic to take away someone’s free will for the rest of his life? And then has sex with him? And then has a long discussion with her other boyfriends about whether she should “keep” him, while the poor dude listens and weeps? And then all her boyfriends comfort her about how hard it must have been on her?
-Or ooh, how ‘bout how we’re supposed to think Anita is oh-so-moral because she refuses to raise zombies that someone wants to have sex with, but then she raises zombies and forces them to kill and eat people? Including their own family members?
This series better end with someone chopping her head off, because at this point Anita Blake is actively evil.
Because I am a fool.
But as foolish as I am, at least I didn't write a novel in which all the male characters tell Anita how hot and desirable and wonderful she is for an entire chapter. Is there a plot? Sure, but it's solved in about two minutes. Truthfully, there are so many problems with this story that it’s hard to know what to complain about most.
-The pages upon pages of descriptions of each man’s hair, eyes, muscles, and dreadful clothing choices?
-The chapter in which nothing happens except Anita and her waiter flirting with each other?
-The way the reader is repeatedly reminded that every single other female character is stupider, meaner, and less pretty than Anita?
-How every single time Anita does anything, all the male characters comment on how amazing and astounding it is?
-How Anita Blake uses magic to take away someone’s free will for the rest of his life? And then has sex with him? And then has a long discussion with her other boyfriends about whether she should “keep” him, while the poor dude listens and weeps? And then all her boyfriends comfort her about how hard it must have been on her?
-Or ooh, how ‘bout how we’re supposed to think Anita is oh-so-moral because she refuses to raise zombies that someone wants to have sex with, but then she raises zombies and forces them to kill and eat people? Including their own family members?
This series better end with someone chopping her head off, because at this point Anita Blake is actively evil.
August 7, 2012
Good morning, boys and girls! Gather round Miss Michelle now. That's right. (Amelia, stop poking Mel. It's not nice.)
Today, we're going to do a little lesson in writing style. I want you all to look at the following passage and tell me: What bothers you most about it?
The boy came in with a book. I couldn't see the cover of the book. He always had a book with him, so it didn't surprise me he had a book. I asked him, "Why do you always have a book?" He looked at the book and said "I like books."
"You like books?"
"I like books."
"You always have a book because you like books?"
"Yes."*
::pause::
Anyone?
The correct answer is the heavy repetition of a single word throughout the passage hinders flow, deprives the text of all consequence, and makes the dialogue read like the inane chatter of two dimwitted parrots.
End of lesson. On to the plot.
Flirt brings Anita back to her necromancy, but complicates matters by throwing the animator's lioness into the mix.
The majority of the story felt very familiar. I'd have to look through earlier installments to confirm, but even the defeat of the big bad came off as a rehash. This wasn't helped by lengthy recaps that created awkward interruptions and clunky transitions.
Too much focus on Anita's thought process hindered the action until late in the game. It's a pattern established in the last two books; if you were irked by those, you'll probably feel the same here.
By the end, the few developments made were not enough to justify the novella's existence. I paid 12 bucks for it. I did not get my money's worth.
The Afterword.
LKH decided to trace this story from its inception to give fans an insight into her process. To this end, Flirt includes an afterword addressing where she gets her ideas and how she transfers them from mind to paper.
It's casual in tone, forthright, and interesting. It's thoughtful. She describes a real-life incident that very closely mirrors a scene in the book. But the non-fiction version is so much better. It has a vibrancy and natural appeal that's utterly lacking in the Anita-verse rendition.
In other words, it shows that LKH possesses talent and has an easy way with language. It reminded me of why I once enjoyed her writing, and why I'm now so irritated by the sloppy, repetitive mess it's become.
I'd like to say I'm ready to wash my hands of Anita Blake. I'd like to put my foot down and say No. More. But the truth is, I'll probably still pick up Bullet when it comes out. I can only hope that some of the flair that shows in this afterword will manage to wend its way into Bullet and make me a believer again.
____________
*Merely a made-up passage to illustrate my point. For concrete examples, please reference the words flirt, clothes, dude, dance, and smile (plus variations of the phrase "hard work") within the first 30 pages. Then poke out eyes accordingly.
Today, we're going to do a little lesson in writing style. I want you all to look at the following passage and tell me: What bothers you most about it?
The boy came in with a book. I couldn't see the cover of the book. He always had a book with him, so it didn't surprise me he had a book. I asked him, "Why do you always have a book?" He looked at the book and said "I like books."
"You like books?"
"I like books."
"You always have a book because you like books?"
"Yes."*
::pause::
Anyone?
The correct answer is the heavy repetition of a single word throughout the passage hinders flow, deprives the text of all consequence, and makes the dialogue read like the inane chatter of two dimwitted parrots.
End of lesson. On to the plot.
Flirt brings Anita back to her necromancy, but complicates matters by throwing the animator's lioness into the mix.
The majority of the story felt very familiar. I'd have to look through earlier installments to confirm, but even the defeat of the big bad came off as a rehash. This wasn't helped by lengthy recaps that created awkward interruptions and clunky transitions.
Too much focus on Anita's thought process hindered the action until late in the game. It's a pattern established in the last two books; if you were irked by those, you'll probably feel the same here.
By the end, the few developments made were not enough to justify the novella's existence. I paid 12 bucks for it. I did not get my money's worth.
The Afterword.
LKH decided to trace this story from its inception to give fans an insight into her process. To this end, Flirt includes an afterword addressing where she gets her ideas and how she transfers them from mind to paper.
It's casual in tone, forthright, and interesting. It's thoughtful. She describes a real-life incident that very closely mirrors a scene in the book. But the non-fiction version is so much better. It has a vibrancy and natural appeal that's utterly lacking in the Anita-verse rendition.
In other words, it shows that LKH possesses talent and has an easy way with language. It reminded me of why I once enjoyed her writing, and why I'm now so irritated by the sloppy, repetitive mess it's become.
I'd like to say I'm ready to wash my hands of Anita Blake. I'd like to put my foot down and say No. More. But the truth is, I'll probably still pick up Bullet when it comes out. I can only hope that some of the flair that shows in this afterword will manage to wend its way into Bullet and make me a believer again.
____________
*Merely a made-up passage to illustrate my point. For concrete examples, please reference the words flirt, clothes, dude, dance, and smile (plus variations of the phrase "hard work") within the first 30 pages. Then poke out eyes accordingly.
February 10, 2010
What a self-indulgent bit of tripe. The conceit for this book is that the plot stems from a thoroughly uninteresting and commonplace thing that actually happened (gasp!) to Hamilton and a few of her friends. The only amazing thing about it is that Hamilton and her friends seem to have blown the incident out of all proportion, into some sort of proof of their inherently awesome artistic sexiness AND something worthy of creating "art" around. The result is little more than a boring and extended anecdote, with a thin covering of "plot" that does nothing to advance the Anita Blake storyline (other than to add another man to her harem. But that hardly counts as advancement of plot at this point.). I'd say that Hamilton needs to get out more, but that would only lead to her having more boring experiences that she feels obliged to write entire books about. What Hamilton DOES need is a better editor, who might prevent her from using the exact same phrase to describe the exact same character ("He looked at me then, his eyes so wide there was a flash of white to them.") on two consecutive pages.
September 15, 2014
This message brought to you by the word: Flirt! Flirt! Flirt!
Anita Blake meets with Tony Bennington, who wants her to bring back his exploded wife as a human-life zombie (we find this out after they argue and posture for a while). SOP: Anita says no, smoochie-smooes with her stripper boyfriends/lovers that pop into the office in indecent sportsware (because they wanted to give Mary the receptionist a show).
Time to pop into the restaurant for a nice whinging session about how everyone thought Anita was ugly as a child!
I am in TEARS, Anita, that you, a petite, raven-haired, chocolate-brown eyed, curvy woman was considered ugly!
Oh yeah, the word of today is FLIRT! Nathaniel likes to FLIRT! with the waiter. The waiter FLIRT!s back. Anita tries her hand at FLIRT!ing. She's not used to FLIRT!ing because she only FLIRT!s if she wants a guy, not just to FLIRT! for the sake of FLIRT!ing.
The next day, Anita Blake meets with Natalie Zell, who wants her to bring back her dead husband so she can go axe murderer on him. Copy+paste previous conversation, replace all instances of "he" with "she" and make the woman look like a nutzo. Also include how Natalie wants babies, because we know that ALL WIMMEN WANT DA BABIES. SOP: Anita says no, Natalie huffs off.
Lunch time! Anita goes to lunch and sees the SAME WAITER as yesterday! GO FIGURE! I mean, it's like he WORKS at this place or something! Funny thing - he's FLIRT!ing with Anita! Anita FLIRT!s back! It feels weird to FLIRT! for FLIRT!ing sake. Only it seems the waiter isn't just FLIRT!ing for FLIRT!ing's sake - he actually wants to hook up. Anita is perplexed; she doesn't have a clue how to turn a guy down, since she never actually has (hence the Anita Blake Walking Sausages Harem). So she naturally keeps FLIRT!ing.
Two guys appear from one end of the restaurant and basically kidnap her while she is FLIRT!ing. They pile her into an SUV and take her to their boss, a person that Anita earlier turned down. Now, she MUST raise that zombie else her Walking Sausages WILL DIE!! (And since Walking Sausages can't defend themselves, even though they are ALL WEREANIMALS, Anita is in a panic.)
Anita FLIRT!s with Nicky, a werelion who is working for the Big Boss. It isn't long before they discover, go figure, Anita's lioness is in heat. Three guesses what happens, and the first two don't count.
After doing the naughty, we have zombie raising, fight scene, cut to the final paragraph or two wrap up and then THE END!
Shock of all shocks: I actually didn't half mind this book. Also shocking: LKH doesn't change in the slightest! Tour some of the best LKHism with me!!
10 LKHisms No Anita Blake Book Could Be Without:
1. Get a Room. LKH introduces the Three Walking Sausages with masturbatory descriptions that makes me cringe and want desperately to be in another galaxy (and cleanse my brain out with Chlorox). And then, we proceed to have Anita and the Three Walking Sausages do the cuddle-touchy-feely thing in a restaurant and thus become one of Those People.
Dude with the watch, I feel ya. I do.
2. Relationship Uncertainty. Even though Anita has been in dating relationships since Book 2 or 3 (even earlier with her ex-fiance), and even though Anita has been dating multiple guys since about 3 or 4, she still has no f@#$ing clue how to go about having a relationship.
3. Misogyny. Because we all know that every woman other than Anita A) doesn't work hard, B) is a crazy, psycho-b!tch, C) is a weak wimp, and D) will use her feminine wiles to get out of sh!t.
4. Whinging and Wangst, Wangst and Whinging. Oh, POOR ANITA!
5. ...And the Subsequent Self-Esteem Boosting. Because Three Walking Sausages telling you you're always amazing and sexy is way cheaper than therapy!
6. Beating a Dead Horse. I got to hand it to LKH for her amazing ability to take a thought and absolutely wring every last ounce of meaning from it. Or talking about it so long you wonder what the f@#$ you were supposed to take from it.
7. LOLarious Bad Writing. It's bad enough when LKH goes on her rambling monologues about weird sh!t, but some of these descriptions need to be memorialized for their sheer awfulness.
8. Using "Spill" for Something Not a Liquid. If you are tired of reading how everything BUT water "spills", take heart! Someone finally got LKH a thesaurus, so she sometimes switches up her "spill" with "trickle!"
9. Anita Acting Like a Serial Killer. Because lines like the following are TOTALLY OK and not indicative of a SERIOUS problem in desperate need of therapy:
10. Anita Acting Like a Monster and Everyone Chuckles. Do I really need to elaborate?
But really, this wasn't half bad. There was a PLOT, things HAPPENED, Anita has a JOB (even if she never seems to take any clients, so it's unclear how she actually has any MONEY), Anita raised zombies (OMG, a necromancer raising zombies?! Who woulda thunk?!), and best of all, Kimberley Alexis is back as the narrator and she's amazing.
I'd feel EXTREMELY cheated if I spent money on this, but I got the audiobook free from the library. And for the mere 4 hours of listening time, it was a pleasant time waster. I still wouldn't say "Anita is back", but at least, I didn't want to hang myself by the end of the audiobook, so that's a bonus!
Anita Blake meets with Tony Bennington, who wants her to bring back his exploded wife as a human-life zombie (we find this out after they argue and posture for a while). SOP: Anita says no, smoochie-smooes with her stripper boyfriends/lovers that pop into the office in indecent sportsware (because they wanted to give Mary the receptionist a show).
Time to pop into the restaurant for a nice whinging session about how everyone thought Anita was ugly as a child!
I am in TEARS, Anita, that you, a petite, raven-haired, chocolate-brown eyed, curvy woman was considered ugly!
Oh yeah, the word of today is FLIRT! Nathaniel likes to FLIRT! with the waiter. The waiter FLIRT!s back. Anita tries her hand at FLIRT!ing. She's not used to FLIRT!ing because she only FLIRT!s if she wants a guy, not just to FLIRT! for the sake of FLIRT!ing.
The next day, Anita Blake meets with Natalie Zell, who wants her to bring back her dead husband so she can go axe murderer on him. Copy+paste previous conversation, replace all instances of "he" with "she" and make the woman look like a nutzo. Also include how Natalie wants babies, because we know that ALL WIMMEN WANT DA BABIES. SOP: Anita says no, Natalie huffs off.
Lunch time! Anita goes to lunch and sees the SAME WAITER as yesterday! GO FIGURE! I mean, it's like he WORKS at this place or something! Funny thing - he's FLIRT!ing with Anita! Anita FLIRT!s back! It feels weird to FLIRT! for FLIRT!ing sake. Only it seems the waiter isn't just FLIRT!ing for FLIRT!ing's sake - he actually wants to hook up. Anita is perplexed; she doesn't have a clue how to turn a guy down, since she never actually has (hence the Anita Blake Walking Sausages Harem). So she naturally keeps FLIRT!ing.
Two guys appear from one end of the restaurant and basically kidnap her while she is FLIRT!ing. They pile her into an SUV and take her to their boss, a person that Anita earlier turned down. Now, she MUST raise that zombie else her Walking Sausages WILL DIE!! (And since Walking Sausages can't defend themselves, even though they are ALL WEREANIMALS, Anita is in a panic.)
Anita FLIRT!s with Nicky, a werelion who is working for the Big Boss. It isn't long before they discover, go figure, Anita's lioness is in heat. Three guesses what happens, and the first two don't count.
After doing the naughty, we have zombie raising, fight scene, cut to the final paragraph or two wrap up and then THE END!
Shock of all shocks: I actually didn't half mind this book. Also shocking: LKH doesn't change in the slightest! Tour some of the best LKHism with me!!
10 LKHisms No Anita Blake Book Could Be Without:
1. Get a Room. LKH introduces the Three Walking Sausages with masturbatory descriptions that makes me cringe and want desperately to be in another galaxy (and cleanse my brain out with Chlorox). And then, we proceed to have Anita and the Three Walking Sausages do the cuddle-touchy-feely thing in a restaurant and thus become one of Those People.
Dude with the watch, I feel ya. I do.
2. Relationship Uncertainty. Even though Anita has been in dating relationships since Book 2 or 3 (even earlier with her ex-fiance), and even though Anita has been dating multiple guys since about 3 or 4, she still has no f@#$ing clue how to go about having a relationship.
"So if your guy friend and sometimes lover feels left out when you're cuddling your boyfriends at lunch, do you owe him a cuddle?"
If you have to ask...just sayin'
3. Misogyny. Because we all know that every woman other than Anita A) doesn't work hard, B) is a crazy, psycho-b!tch, C) is a weak wimp, and D) will use her feminine wiles to get out of sh!t.
"I'm trying to get these women to work harder than they're used to, and they're trying to flirt in part to get out of the hard parts."
Because female strippers doing things more than just taking off their clothes? Being actual dancers and taking PRIDE in challenges? PISH, never happened!
"Being the girl, I couldn't trust the silent communication. I had to say something."
Girls like to talk talk talk talk talk and never shut up, doncha know!
"When your babies are at stake, you want a man that can defend them."
Momma Bears? What is that? A sex position?
4. Whinging and Wangst, Wangst and Whinging. Oh, POOR ANITA!
"I was told all my childhood that I wasn't pretty..."
Try being 100+ pounds overweight, with a bad homedone haircut in your mother's old clothes and/or sweatpants. THEN come talk to me about how you "never felt pretty".
5. ...And the Subsequent Self-Esteem Boosting. Because Three Walking Sausages telling you you're always amazing and sexy is way cheaper than therapy!
Jason: "You know it's not true."
Gag me.
6. Beating a Dead Horse. I got to hand it to LKH for her amazing ability to take a thought and absolutely wring every last ounce of meaning from it. Or talking about it so long you wonder what the f@#$ you were supposed to take from it.
"That was the problem with loving people. It made you weak. It made you need them. It made the thought of not having them the worst thing in the world...'It's a terrible thing to lose someone you love'. I knew it for truth, because I lost my mother to death when I was 8, my fiance in college to his mother's pressure."
"The smile that went with it was not Nathaniel's. It was all mine, a little bit of come-hither and a little bit of threat, as if to say, 'If you take a bite, I might bite back'. It had been Jason who first explained my smile to me, but it was an honest smile, my life being the way it is."
"Because hope will keep you alive, yes, but it will also get you killed in ways worse than anything you can imagine. Hope is a bad friend when men with guns have you. But my lioness and their lions lusted after each other. Lust I trusted. Hope will lie to you, but lust is what it is. It never lies. Hope would keep me hoping, but lust might be a weapon..."
7. LOLarious Bad Writing. It's bad enough when LKH goes on her rambling monologues about weird sh!t, but some of these descriptions need to be memorialized for their sheer awfulness.
"They were both very powerful, so it was a matter of flavor, not strength."
I'm hoping for cinnamon flavor over spearmint, to be honest.
"Sex would be the least of what we might do."
We might be able to squeeze a game of Parcheesi in!!
"His hand closed over mine, and it was just a hand."
No way! I thought it was a FOOT!
"...I could feel the beat of his pulse on my tongue like candy that I wanted to lick and suck and finally bite down and let all that rich, hot center burst into my mouth."
Life is a box of chocolates...you never know when someone will skimp out and given you 3 year old stale chocolate.
8. Using "Spill" for Something Not a Liquid. If you are tired of reading how everything BUT water "spills", take heart! Someone finally got LKH a thesaurus, so she sometimes switches up her "spill" with "trickle!"
"[My beast] snarled at him inside my head, and the sound trickled out my mouth."
"...but his hands slipped under my skirt, and I struggled out from under him, spilling myself to the carpet."
9. Anita Acting Like a Serial Killer. Because lines like the following are TOTALLY OK and not indicative of a SERIOUS problem in desperate need of therapy:
"It was a cold place, the place I went when I killed."
"I smiled at him, able to do it because I calmed myself with images of violence."
10. Anita Acting Like a Monster and Everyone Chuckles. Do I really need to elaborate?
"'He would do anything you told him to do, Anita. He seems to have even less free will than the rest of us do.'
'I did it on purpose, Jason.'"
This is our Heroine, people: a woman who took over a guy's mind, made him extremely subservient against his will, and has NO QUALMS ABOUT IT.
But really, this wasn't half bad. There was a PLOT, things HAPPENED, Anita has a JOB (even if she never seems to take any clients, so it's unclear how she actually has any MONEY), Anita raised zombies (OMG, a necromancer raising zombies?! Who woulda thunk?!), and best of all, Kimberley Alexis is back as the narrator and she's amazing.
I'd feel EXTREMELY cheated if I spent money on this, but I got the audiobook free from the library. And for the mere 4 hours of listening time, it was a pleasant time waster. I still wouldn't say "Anita is back", but at least, I didn't want to hang myself by the end of the audiobook, so that's a bonus!
February 25, 2010
Yes, it's a novella. No, it's not worth $25. It's not even worth the $12 discounted price. This should have been a short story added to another book as a bonus, or posted on the website for free. It clocks in at less than 50,000 words, and about a third of those could have been taken out, if not for Anita's endless internal monologuing about thing we already know, Anita's need to have everything explained to her twice, and the fact that the whole thing reads like it started out shorter and then was padded out.
If you strip it down to the basics, cut out all the useless prattle and info-dumping, this could have been made nice and tight and snappy. But that still wouldn't have made up for, among other things:
- the blatant misogyny (once again, the blonde woman is a bad person)
- Anita's complete lack of professionalism (the interview with Bennington was absolutely ridiculous, and Anita had no good reason for refusing him the job - until he got creepy, which she disregarded and then was surprised when he followed through on his threat)
- the dead relative bashing (we get it, LKH, you had a rough childhood, but holy disrespect for the dead, Batman!)
- the lack of separation between the character and the author (other than the necromancy, LKH and Anita pretty much had the same childhood - I get that you're supposed to write what you know, but this is ridiculous)
- the pointless showing off of Anita's "skills" in the restaurant scene (that didn't actually do anything to move the story forward and made Anita come off as an amateur, not to mention showing off LKH's lack of "show, don't tell" comprehension)
- and the pointless addition of yet another penis to Anita's collection.
That last part is something that particularly makes me angry. After everything is said and done (and Anita has murdered a man, with the use of magic, ding ding ding! that's an automatic death penalty, folks! but of course this is Anita, so nothing will ever come of it), Micah tells Anita "I'm sorry you had to do that," referring to what she did to Nicky. And what did she do? She "took his body, his mind, the heat of his beast, and all the power that gave him." She took his will power, his free will, and any and all sense of self he had. In short, she destroyed him, and she used sex to do it. Now, if that's not a clear cut case of rape, I don't know what is. I know people will try to defend this, because Nicky wanted to belong, or because Anita did it to save her men, or because she can take care of him better than Jacob can, or because it wasn't her, it was the ardeur, or because it can't be rape 'cuz she's a woman, or because it was Tuesday. But the text clearly states Anita made the decision, she knew what she was doing, she knew the consequences, and she did it anyway. And that makes Micah's "I'm sorry you had to do that" the equivalent of "I'm sorry you had to rape that guy." Which, considering how Anita's relationship with Micah started (anyone remember the shower not-rape scene?), I suppose we can't really expect much more.
Given that the next novel features Edward, who is by far my favorite character in the whole series, I'm tempted to at least skim through it, but it will take a lot to get me to keep reading this series.
If you strip it down to the basics, cut out all the useless prattle and info-dumping, this could have been made nice and tight and snappy. But that still wouldn't have made up for, among other things:
- the blatant misogyny (once again, the blonde woman is a bad person)
- Anita's complete lack of professionalism (the interview with Bennington was absolutely ridiculous, and Anita had no good reason for refusing him the job - until he got creepy, which she disregarded and then was surprised when he followed through on his threat)
- the dead relative bashing (we get it, LKH, you had a rough childhood, but holy disrespect for the dead, Batman!)
- the lack of separation between the character and the author (other than the necromancy, LKH and Anita pretty much had the same childhood - I get that you're supposed to write what you know, but this is ridiculous)
- the pointless showing off of Anita's "skills" in the restaurant scene (that didn't actually do anything to move the story forward and made Anita come off as an amateur, not to mention showing off LKH's lack of "show, don't tell" comprehension)
- and the pointless addition of yet another penis to Anita's collection.
That last part is something that particularly makes me angry. After everything is said and done (and Anita has murdered a man, with the use of magic, ding ding ding! that's an automatic death penalty, folks! but of course this is Anita, so nothing will ever come of it), Micah tells Anita "I'm sorry you had to do that," referring to what she did to Nicky. And what did she do? She "took his body, his mind, the heat of his beast, and all the power that gave him." She took his will power, his free will, and any and all sense of self he had. In short, she destroyed him, and she used sex to do it. Now, if that's not a clear cut case of rape, I don't know what is. I know people will try to defend this, because Nicky wanted to belong, or because Anita did it to save her men, or because she can take care of him better than Jacob can, or because it wasn't her, it was the ardeur, or because it can't be rape 'cuz she's a woman, or because it was Tuesday. But the text clearly states Anita made the decision, she knew what she was doing, she knew the consequences, and she did it anyway. And that makes Micah's "I'm sorry you had to do that" the equivalent of "I'm sorry you had to rape that guy." Which, considering how Anita's relationship with Micah started (anyone remember the shower not-rape scene?), I suppose we can't really expect much more.
Given that the next novel features Edward, who is by far my favorite character in the whole series, I'm tempted to at least skim through it, but it will take a lot to get me to keep reading this series.
February 3, 2010
It's weird, after I read the free excerpt of this book a few weeks ago I actually predicted the plot somewhere on this site. So it was predictable. Oh dear.
We got back to zombie raising, necromancy powers and master vampire powers as well as Anita falling back on her coping mechanism of going to the "empty place", the place she goes when she kills. This is good. However, all of the events involving these were cut and paste scenes from previous books. Come to think of it most of this book was made up of scenes from previous novels, the ending of The Laughing Corpse (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, #2) being the first to come to mind. So it was repetitive. Oh dear, oh dear.
There was a scene where the lions were attracted to Anita (like they wouldn't be)but instead of the reason being the ardeur it was that her lion was in heat. Huh? Why do we need more reasons for Anita to be attracting every Tom, Dick and Harry? And out of the two intensely powerful lions on offer, the one I didn't respect was the one that Anita had her standard mandatory sex scene with and added him to her harem. But the way she took this lion was horrible. She broke him and then she and her men mocked him and compared him to a puppy. I was utterly disgusted by this. Mocking him was uncalled for and I'm not entirely certain that breaking him was absolutely necessary. There's a part of me that thinks that Anita is losing her humanity because one of the reasons she did this was to make her life easier so she wouldn't have another Richard - in my view that is evil. I would have preferred that she kill him rather than take him home to be her mindless slave (he has no free will at all), it would have been the merciful thing to do. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.
I will say that I am an Anita fan. Or I was, I'm not sure any more. Incubus Dreams (book 12) was the last book I truly liked, Skin Trade (book 17) was mildly better but Flirt was a bit of a disappointment. I'm missing Jean-Claude, badly. Lately in every book he gets left behind one way or another, I'm missing him terribly. His absence is one of the reasons why I think this series is on the skids. I think it might be time for Anita to hang up her guns and move into the retirement home for assassins.
Readable trash.
We got back to zombie raising, necromancy powers and master vampire powers as well as Anita falling back on her coping mechanism of going to the "empty place", the place she goes when she kills. This is good. However, all of the events involving these were cut and paste scenes from previous books. Come to think of it most of this book was made up of scenes from previous novels, the ending of The Laughing Corpse (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, #2) being the first to come to mind. So it was repetitive. Oh dear, oh dear.
There was a scene where the lions were attracted to Anita (like they wouldn't be)but instead of the reason being the ardeur it was that her lion was in heat. Huh? Why do we need more reasons for Anita to be attracting every Tom, Dick and Harry? And out of the two intensely powerful lions on offer, the one I didn't respect was the one that Anita had her standard mandatory sex scene with and added him to her harem. But the way she took this lion was horrible. She broke him and then she and her men mocked him and compared him to a puppy. I was utterly disgusted by this. Mocking him was uncalled for and I'm not entirely certain that breaking him was absolutely necessary. There's a part of me that thinks that Anita is losing her humanity because one of the reasons she did this was to make her life easier so she wouldn't have another Richard - in my view that is evil. I would have preferred that she kill him rather than take him home to be her mindless slave (he has no free will at all), it would have been the merciful thing to do. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.
I will say that I am an Anita fan. Or I was, I'm not sure any more. Incubus Dreams (book 12) was the last book I truly liked, Skin Trade (book 17) was mildly better but Flirt was a bit of a disappointment. I'm missing Jean-Claude, badly. Lately in every book he gets left behind one way or another, I'm missing him terribly. His absence is one of the reasons why I think this series is on the skids. I think it might be time for Anita to hang up her guns and move into the retirement home for assassins.
Readable trash.
February 11, 2010
Flirt makes it obvious that Hamilton has paid at least some attention to the criticism of this series. But considering that it took me a whole hour to read, this novella (terribly short for the price) is too little and probably too late.
Anita's long-neglected career as an animator makes another appearance, and she actually has an adventure that doesn't star half of her boyfriends. Of course that whole "Anita standing on her own" thing was completely undermined by her predictable strategy for dealing with the new men that show up.
The author's habit of using a couple of words over and over and over is in full force here. I'd suggest that the book needed more editing, but without the repetitive musings and relationship wankery, Flirt would have ended up as a short story.
There's a preface and an afterword, both have a condescending tone and read like a self-indulgent attempt to boost the page count. Readers are told an account of Hamilton and friends making a waiter uncomfortable, which supposedly inspired this book and is fictionalized in one of its scenes. Oh, and there's also a comic strip that someone else drew about the exact same incident, which is supposed to make some kind of point about how two creative types use everyday events differently. I'm sure that the whole gang found it just hilarious to screw around with their server, but honestly, the story comes off a bit sad.
It's like why you never try to explain an inside joke, nobody else gives a shit.
I almost went up to two stars because we finally got more animator action, but between the afterword and yet another addition to Anita's stable I just couldn't do it.
Anita's long-neglected career as an animator makes another appearance, and she actually has an adventure that doesn't star half of her boyfriends. Of course that whole "Anita standing on her own" thing was completely undermined by her predictable strategy for dealing with the new men that show up.
The author's habit of using a couple of words over and over and over is in full force here. I'd suggest that the book needed more editing, but without the repetitive musings and relationship wankery, Flirt would have ended up as a short story.
There's a preface and an afterword, both have a condescending tone and read like a self-indulgent attempt to boost the page count. Readers are told an account of Hamilton and friends making a waiter uncomfortable, which supposedly inspired this book and is fictionalized in one of its scenes. Oh, and there's also a comic strip that someone else drew about the exact same incident, which is supposed to make some kind of point about how two creative types use everyday events differently. I'm sure that the whole gang found it just hilarious to screw around with their server, but honestly, the story comes off a bit sad.
It's like why you never try to explain an inside joke, nobody else gives a shit.
I almost went up to two stars because we finally got more animator action, but between the afterword and yet another addition to Anita's stable I just couldn't do it.
July 8, 2010
It's not to say that I hated this book, it was more along the lines of what was the point of it all?
Anita has yet another adoring gorgeous man hanging off her arms and we've established yet again that her powers are awesome even without her men. What happened to the good old days of blood and gore.
Anita has yet another adoring gorgeous man hanging off her arms and we've established yet again that her powers are awesome even without her men. What happened to the good old days of blood and gore.
March 6, 2010
Flirt is the 18th installment in the Anita Blake series. It's not a full novel like her usual's, it's about the size of her novel MICAH. (approx. 200 pages). No matter, I was excited to get another Anita dose. The wait for each novel is a year(like most) and it's always a killer.
This time around, the usual characters who are in this story are Micah, Nathaniel, Jason and of course, Anita. And when her lovers are threatened, Anita will go through anything to save them...
I'm super happy Anita is getting back into her Necromancer ways (which sounds funny). I never read a book from the series that I didn't like...but I found it going a little off track with all the lust around Anita. Even with that though, the books always had a good story. Hamilton always writes a good story.
As much as I like Anita's character, I find the other key characters always make the stories. I'm a huge fan of Nathaniel and Jean Claude(which doesn't seem to get as much face time in these past books). Micah is a great guy and Jason's a sweetie. The only character that gave me headaches was Richard. One minute he was a good guy, the next a big jerk. Towards the end it was 5% good and 95% jerk. I'm glad it's been a few books since his appearance. I think even Hamilton needed a break from him! (hehe).
I know I'm off track with the book and more with the series in general but the synopsis pretty much sums it up. I'm not going to give away anything big so I'm mostly telling the other key points of the book. I will say though, that I found myself liking the character Nick, even though all odds pointed to 'not like him'. I really felt bad for what was done, even though it had to be done. I'm glad I don't make Anita's choices for her.
The cover could have been so much better. I'm a big fan of the older covers. Or any cover that isn't just blank with one symbol or item on it. Blood Noir, Skin Trade, Flirt and now Bullet are all pretty bad covers. ( I know there's more than one cover and it's obvious the crow one is much better... but that's the UK version..) For paperback it's fine but for hardcover you should at least get something out of it for the price. (Besides the good writing).
As for the price of the hardcover of FLIRT. That's a different story...
30.00 CND for a 200 apx. page story. I think since it was a short novel it should have came out in mass paper back, or even trade paperback. It would have gotten even more sells for sure. Not many people want to pay 30 bucks for a 2 or 3 hour read. If your a collector on the other hand, it's always good to buy the hardbacks. I personally buy whichever is out, hard or paperback.
No matter the cover or cost, the book was refreshing and new. One of her best as of late. Flirt packs quite an emotional wallop. From the moment a oddly grieving Bennington begs her for help to when Anita's at her worst. I think and regret that Anita may be becoming the thing she fears.
Synopsis: When Anita Blake meets with prospective client Tony Bennington, who is desperate to have her reanimate his recently deceased wife, she is full of sympathy for his loss. Anita knows something about love, and she knows everything there is to know about loss. But what she also knows, though Tony Bennington seems unwilling to be convinced, is that the thing she can do as a necromancer isn’t the miracle he thinks he needs. The creature that Anita could coerce to step out of the late Mrs. Bennington’s grave would not be the lovely Mrs. Bennington. Not really. And not for long.
Anita has been relaxing just a bit with the men in her own life. The affectionate warmth of being with them brings out something softer in her, a sense of safety she can almost trust. They do love her; that part is forever and for sure. But flirting with feeling safe is a dangerous thing…
This time around, the usual characters who are in this story are Micah, Nathaniel, Jason and of course, Anita. And when her lovers are threatened, Anita will go through anything to save them...
I'm super happy Anita is getting back into her Necromancer ways (which sounds funny). I never read a book from the series that I didn't like...but I found it going a little off track with all the lust around Anita. Even with that though, the books always had a good story. Hamilton always writes a good story.
As much as I like Anita's character, I find the other key characters always make the stories. I'm a huge fan of Nathaniel and Jean Claude(which doesn't seem to get as much face time in these past books). Micah is a great guy and Jason's a sweetie. The only character that gave me headaches was Richard. One minute he was a good guy, the next a big jerk. Towards the end it was 5% good and 95% jerk. I'm glad it's been a few books since his appearance. I think even Hamilton needed a break from him! (hehe).
I know I'm off track with the book and more with the series in general but the synopsis pretty much sums it up. I'm not going to give away anything big so I'm mostly telling the other key points of the book. I will say though, that I found myself liking the character Nick, even though all odds pointed to 'not like him'. I really felt bad for what was done, even though it had to be done. I'm glad I don't make Anita's choices for her.
The cover could have been so much better. I'm a big fan of the older covers. Or any cover that isn't just blank with one symbol or item on it. Blood Noir, Skin Trade, Flirt and now Bullet are all pretty bad covers. ( I know there's more than one cover and it's obvious the crow one is much better... but that's the UK version..) For paperback it's fine but for hardcover you should at least get something out of it for the price. (Besides the good writing).
As for the price of the hardcover of FLIRT. That's a different story...
30.00 CND for a 200 apx. page story. I think since it was a short novel it should have came out in mass paper back, or even trade paperback. It would have gotten even more sells for sure. Not many people want to pay 30 bucks for a 2 or 3 hour read. If your a collector on the other hand, it's always good to buy the hardbacks. I personally buy whichever is out, hard or paperback.
No matter the cover or cost, the book was refreshing and new. One of her best as of late. Flirt packs quite an emotional wallop. From the moment a oddly grieving Bennington begs her for help to when Anita's at her worst. I think and regret that Anita may be becoming the thing she fears.
Synopsis: When Anita Blake meets with prospective client Tony Bennington, who is desperate to have her reanimate his recently deceased wife, she is full of sympathy for his loss. Anita knows something about love, and she knows everything there is to know about loss. But what she also knows, though Tony Bennington seems unwilling to be convinced, is that the thing she can do as a necromancer isn’t the miracle he thinks he needs. The creature that Anita could coerce to step out of the late Mrs. Bennington’s grave would not be the lovely Mrs. Bennington. Not really. And not for long.
Anita has been relaxing just a bit with the men in her own life. The affectionate warmth of being with them brings out something softer in her, a sense of safety she can almost trust. They do love her; that part is forever and for sure. But flirting with feeling safe is a dangerous thing…
January 26, 2012
Flirt is a short book. I think it could have fit nicely into another book with more exciting scenes, but I’m not the author I feel that it was a bit rushed, but other than that, not too many “complaints” from me. Hell, I think out of all the books in this series .. I can count the number of complaints on one hand
Flirt. Anita is kidnapped and taken from her sweeties that are being watched by snipers. A new Rex, a stranger and his pride, take her away from her loved ones and forces her to raise a zombie. Everything inside of Blake screams that this is wrong, but once she started thinking about what she would to keep her sweeties safe, the answer was simple. Anything.
There really isn’t a whole hell of a lot to say about this book. Anita realizes that her lioness is in heat and WHAM! Not so good around unmated lions.
Usually, I will make a huge effort to write a lengthy and “my usual” review for all of the books that I read. The only way to do that with this book review is to ramble on and on.
The book is simple. She is kidnapped. She survives. She brings a new man home. Shocker, right?
I recommend this book to others reading this series. I do not recommend this book to children or immature adults. I do not recommend this book to anyone who has not read the other books leading up to this one. This book isn’t interesting enough to just pick up off a shelf and start reading.
Some mild to moderate (mostly mild) sexual content. Disturbing but nondescript violence.
Line of the book:
When God ignores you, the devil starts looking good.
Flirt. Anita is kidnapped and taken from her sweeties that are being watched by snipers. A new Rex, a stranger and his pride, take her away from her loved ones and forces her to raise a zombie. Everything inside of Blake screams that this is wrong, but once she started thinking about what she would to keep her sweeties safe, the answer was simple. Anything.
There really isn’t a whole hell of a lot to say about this book. Anita realizes that her lioness is in heat and WHAM! Not so good around unmated lions.
Usually, I will make a huge effort to write a lengthy and “my usual” review for all of the books that I read. The only way to do that with this book review is to ramble on and on.
The book is simple. She is kidnapped. She survives. She brings a new man home. Shocker, right?
I recommend this book to others reading this series. I do not recommend this book to children or immature adults. I do not recommend this book to anyone who has not read the other books leading up to this one. This book isn’t interesting enough to just pick up off a shelf and start reading.
Some mild to moderate (mostly mild) sexual content. Disturbing but nondescript violence.
Line of the book:
When God ignores you, the devil starts looking good.
February 28, 2011
I'd say spoiler alert but Hamilton spoiled Anita a long time ago.
New Preternatural Villain: We heard you were all kinds of powerful but we didn't believe it.
Anita: Believe it.
New Preternatural Villain's Sidekick: You told me she couldn't perform supernatural tricks that powerful.
Anita: I can.
OH NOES here comes the ardeur!
Anita: I have to do it or I will die.
Lots and lots of fucking.
New Preternatural Villain's-now-very-tired-and Anita's-new-minion-Sidekick: We heard you were all kinds of powerful sexy but we didn't believe it.
Anita: Believe it.
Something supernatural gets killed.
Anita's Men (a day late and a dollar short): We wanted to save you but you are way more powerful than us so we will continue to be pretty while you emasculate us and keep us as pets.
The end.
*sigh* I NEVER learn....
New Preternatural Villain: We heard you were all kinds of powerful but we didn't believe it.
Anita: Believe it.
New Preternatural Villain's Sidekick: You told me she couldn't perform supernatural tricks that powerful.
Anita: I can.
OH NOES here comes the ardeur!
Anita: I have to do it or I will die.
Lots and lots of fucking.
New Preternatural Villain's-now-very-tired-and Anita's-new-minion-Sidekick: We heard you were all kinds of powerful sexy but we didn't believe it.
Anita: Believe it.
Something supernatural gets killed.
Anita's Men (a day late and a dollar short): We wanted to save you but you are way more powerful than us so we will continue to be pretty while you emasculate us and keep us as pets.
The end.
*sigh* I NEVER learn....
January 3, 2013
I have gotten to the point where Anita Blake books do nothing for me. It's because everyone wants to be with her, be like her or kill her. She is all powerful and doesn't need anyone. She's Buffy, but with dark hair. And by the end of the series, I wanted to stake Buffy my own damned self.
The one thing that pisses me off the most about Anita Blake though is the sex. I get it, you were raised one way, with those beliefs. But I hate that she's with fifty million lovers, is still a prude and pushes her prudish beliefs on others. Guess what Anita, Jean-Claude and Asher like to do the wild thing...together, without you. Stop with the squirrel face.
The storylines are the same. Bad guy comes to town. Bad guy threatens Anita or one of her many boyfriends. Anita flexes her muscles. Anita gets a new scar. Bad guy dies. Oh, and Anita gets a new boyfriend/pet.
The only thing keeping me reading an Anita Blake book is the fact I love the characters, even if they have increased in power but devolved on a whole.
Um. The book? I gave the book four stars, because I think it worked because it was short and it didn't involve all of the kiss/pack/pard/pride. Although I found it strange that two characters came to her for the same reason, but weren't connected to each other. That made no sense to me.
Sorry for the long ramble about everything but this book, but its been a long time coming for me to voice my frustration with the Anita Blake series. I honestly would be interested in reading an Anita Blake that didn't involve her having sex, gaining a new power or boyfriend.
The one thing that pisses me off the most about Anita Blake though is the sex. I get it, you were raised one way, with those beliefs. But I hate that she's with fifty million lovers, is still a prude and pushes her prudish beliefs on others. Guess what Anita, Jean-Claude and Asher like to do the wild thing...together, without you. Stop with the squirrel face.
The storylines are the same. Bad guy comes to town. Bad guy threatens Anita or one of her many boyfriends. Anita flexes her muscles. Anita gets a new scar. Bad guy dies. Oh, and Anita gets a new boyfriend/pet.
The only thing keeping me reading an Anita Blake book is the fact I love the characters, even if they have increased in power but devolved on a whole.
Um. The book? I gave the book four stars, because I think it worked because it was short and it didn't involve all of the kiss/pack/pard/pride. Although I found it strange that two characters came to her for the same reason, but weren't connected to each other. That made no sense to me.
Sorry for the long ramble about everything but this book, but its been a long time coming for me to voice my frustration with the Anita Blake series. I honestly would be interested in reading an Anita Blake that didn't involve her having sex, gaining a new power or boyfriend.
February 22, 2013
The only reason I gave this booklet 1 star was that I couldn't assign a negative star rating. This pathetic attempt at a novella was so bad it hurt my feelings. The action wasn't so bad, but the dialog was just awful. I understand that the title of the book is "Flirt", but I don't need to be reminded in every paragraph.
The Anita Blake world is taken over by an evil power that forces people to use the word "flirt" in every verbal exchange, regardless of how ludicrous it sounds in context. Here's an example:
"You wouldn't give me back my flirt, so I took yours..."
The main villain of this story not only contributes to the gross overuse of the Word That Must Not Be Named, but decides its use can be butchered into something I've never even heard before. Seriously, when has anyone referred to a husband, wife, or lover as their flirt? When I reached the end of this book, I felt a deep sense of relief that the torment was over, and a vicious need to physically assault anyone that spoke that evil word in my presence.
I'm not even sure how this got billed as a novella. The actual story was only about 70 pages, and then we had some thoughts from the author, surely the first evidenced in this book. Still, in 70 pages Hamilton managed to throw "flirt" in there 54 times. I'm not joking. I've read that Hamilton has managed to negotiate so that editors cannot make changes to her work prior to publishing. I don't know if that's true or not, but I cannot imagine any competent editor passing this garbage to print.
The first 3-4 books in this series were great. I mean spectacular. The action was intense, the world was rich and detailed, and the characters drew you into their stories. If you read the first few, however, please do not fall into the trap so many others did. You'll be tempted to keep reading, because no series that starts off so well could possibly be as bad as the detractors have claimed, could it? Yes, it really could. Save yourself while you can.
The Anita Blake world is taken over by an evil power that forces people to use the word "flirt" in every verbal exchange, regardless of how ludicrous it sounds in context. Here's an example:
"You wouldn't give me back my flirt, so I took yours..."
The main villain of this story not only contributes to the gross overuse of the Word That Must Not Be Named, but decides its use can be butchered into something I've never even heard before. Seriously, when has anyone referred to a husband, wife, or lover as their flirt? When I reached the end of this book, I felt a deep sense of relief that the torment was over, and a vicious need to physically assault anyone that spoke that evil word in my presence.
I'm not even sure how this got billed as a novella. The actual story was only about 70 pages, and then we had some thoughts from the author, surely the first evidenced in this book. Still, in 70 pages Hamilton managed to throw "flirt" in there 54 times. I'm not joking. I've read that Hamilton has managed to negotiate so that editors cannot make changes to her work prior to publishing. I don't know if that's true or not, but I cannot imagine any competent editor passing this garbage to print.
The first 3-4 books in this series were great. I mean spectacular. The action was intense, the world was rich and detailed, and the characters drew you into their stories. If you read the first few, however, please do not fall into the trap so many others did. You'll be tempted to keep reading, because no series that starts off so well could possibly be as bad as the detractors have claimed, could it? Yes, it really could. Save yourself while you can.
May 6, 2010
I was going to skip this one altogether until I read a review stating that in this book, Anita was baaaaaaaaacccccccccccckkkkkkkk! And doing things! (Meaning she was on her two feet walking around and using her powers to raise the dead and kill bad guys, not that she was flat on her back doing things.) YAY!
It wasn’t a bad book. A plus was that it was short and about as long as the plot. Hurray! Short books with short plots are a good thing. Though reading it, I had to wonder if Hamilton had forgotten that she wrote another twenty books.
For example: Oh noes! Anita is captured by the bad guys and cut off from her friends. Wouldn’t it be handy if she was a wickedly powerful necromancer who could raise a whole graveyard to protect her?
Or: Wow! She’s captured the loyalty of the baby were-lion who is metaphysically tied to all the pride of bad were-lions. Wouldn’t it be useful if she could use that link to steal all the power from the other were-lions and make them pass out?
Head slap. Powerful she is. Bright she is not. At least she didn’t scornfully tell anyone “I don’t faint.” in this one. That line was growing old.
In the end, she is every woman’s fantasy: powerful beyond any necromancer who has ever lived, lots of cute shoes and fabulous clothes, unable to get rid of any co-dependent, clingy whiney man who walks into her life because she doesn’t have a backbone… Oh oops, did I say that? I meant surrounded by her bevy of hot boyfriends who support her while whining at her. Yeah, that’s every woman’s fantasy.
It wasn’t a bad book. A plus was that it was short and about as long as the plot. Hurray! Short books with short plots are a good thing. Though reading it, I had to wonder if Hamilton had forgotten that she wrote another twenty books.
For example: Oh noes! Anita is captured by the bad guys and cut off from her friends. Wouldn’t it be handy if she was a wickedly powerful necromancer who could raise a whole graveyard to protect her?
Or: Wow! She’s captured the loyalty of the baby were-lion who is metaphysically tied to all the pride of bad were-lions. Wouldn’t it be useful if she could use that link to steal all the power from the other were-lions and make them pass out?
Head slap. Powerful she is. Bright she is not. At least she didn’t scornfully tell anyone “I don’t faint.” in this one. That line was growing old.
In the end, she is every woman’s fantasy: powerful beyond any necromancer who has ever lived, lots of cute shoes and fabulous clothes, unable to get rid of any co-dependent, clingy whiney man who walks into her life because she doesn’t have a backbone… Oh oops, did I say that? I meant surrounded by her bevy of hot boyfriends who support her while whining at her. Yeah, that’s every woman’s fantasy.
March 8, 2010
There's a reason I stopped buying these books. There's also a reason why I say I won't read any more after each one. But then, I got and read it anyway and I've no idea why that is. Maybe it's because I feel like I've invested so much time in this series that I'm compelled to finish it. And let's be honest: They don't exactly take much time to read so it's not like there's a huge time investment. Laurell K. calls this a novel in her Afterword. I think she's kidding herself. First, there's the obvious: this book is only 180 pages long, and that's being general. The 180 includes the Introduction, Afterword, and the 6 pages of comic that she didn't even do herself. The actual "novel" is only 158 pages. The Afterword is this long piece of bullshit about how she and her friends had this scene in a restaurant that she copies word for word in her book. The comic contains the exact same text of the conversation. Neither one does anything to enhance this book in the least. The actual story is little more than a short story. Not a lot happens and there's not a lot of substance. If Anita didn't take 12 pages to mull over ever decision she makes with ever single person in her life, she might get a lot more done and a lot more might happen. There's nothing here to really advance the overall Anita story either. She adds yet another boy to her harem, but that's hardly a revelation or even important.
February 27, 2022
This short novel gets started with a bang. Two different people come to Anita to raise their dead spouses as a zombie. The first is a man who avoids coming right out and saying it, but sounds like he wants to continue having sex with his dead wife (and yes, even though Anita raises very lifelike zombies, that’s as gross as it sounds). The second wants her to raise her husband so she can chop him into bits for cheating on her (because Anita’s zombies remember who they are and won’t die from being chopped up, so he can suffer forever). Anita refuses to help either person despite being offered seriously large amounts of cash. But one of them decides to force her to do the resurrection anyway.
The pacing of this novel is very quick with very little in the way of subplots. It doesn’t need them. Anita is on her own in a way that she rarely is in this series and when we compare her solution to her problems to similar ones that she has used in earlier novels, it shows just how starkly she has changed over the course of this series.
If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.
The pacing of this novel is very quick with very little in the way of subplots. It doesn’t need them. Anita is on her own in a way that she rarely is in this series and when we compare her solution to her problems to similar ones that she has used in earlier novels, it shows just how starkly she has changed over the course of this series.
If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.
February 6, 2010
While I did like this book, I think of it more as filler than an actual entry into the Anita Blake series. It's a lot like Micah was--focusing on one story and no subplot. I'm curious to see if any of the events from this story make it into the next full-length Anita book.
For those hoping to see more of Anita's necromancy, you will see that here. I don't want to say more just yet, but there were a couple of plot points involving Anita's character development that disappointed me.
This book also contains an afterward describing the event that inspired Flirt and an acompanying comic strip. Quite strange.
Very curious to see what others think.
For those hoping to see more of Anita's necromancy, you will see that here. I don't want to say more just yet, but there were a couple of plot points involving Anita's character development that disappointed me.
This book also contains an afterward describing the event that inspired Flirt and an acompanying comic strip. Quite strange.
Very curious to see what others think.
August 15, 2016
Víte, co jsem udělala jako první dneska ráno? Došla jsem si k doktorovi, aby mi předepsal prášky na spaní (což jsem měla udělat už dávno. Ale hej! Nejsem Anita, takže nejsem perfektní!) . To, že trpím nespavostí není novinka. To že dělám kraviny, když nespím, není novinka.
Ale co je moc, to je moc.
Co to bylo?
Taková povídečka. Nic na to víc říci nejde.
Povídečka, jak Anita přišla k nové hračce.
A už mě fakticky začíná štvát absence J-C. Furt jenom chlupáči.
Ale co je moc, to je moc.
Co to bylo?
Taková povídečka. Nic na to víc říci nejde.
Povídečka, jak Anita přišla k nové hračce.
A už mě fakticky začíná štvát absence J-C. Furt jenom chlupáči.
November 15, 2021
Un cliente que no acepta un no por respuesta quiere obligar a Anita a levantar como un zombie a su esposa muerta, y para eso contrata a un grupo de mercenarios were-leon, lo que no esperan es que ella no es solo peligrosa con sus armas, sino que tambien tiene poderes peligrosos y no dependen exclusivamente de su Maestro-Novio vampiro Jean-Claude.
Los leones se la veran con lo peor de su caracter y con algunas de las peores consecuencias del ardeur, y el cliente quizas no logre volver a ver la luz del dia.
Esto mas que un libro es una historia corta, entretenida, con un toque de humor y algo de auto-confianza. Al autor logra en estas pocas paginas lo que logra en casi todos los libros de esta saga, un poco de humor, accion, misterio y sobre todo mucho drama.
La historia como tal no me dio ni frio ni calor, podria haber sido un capitulo mas de cualquiera de sus otros libros, pero fue lo suficientemente entretenido e interesante para mantenerme leyendo, asi que todavia no abandonare esta saga.
Los leones se la veran con lo peor de su caracter y con algunas de las peores consecuencias del ardeur, y el cliente quizas no logre volver a ver la luz del dia.
Esto mas que un libro es una historia corta, entretenida, con un toque de humor y algo de auto-confianza. Al autor logra en estas pocas paginas lo que logra en casi todos los libros de esta saga, un poco de humor, accion, misterio y sobre todo mucho drama.
La historia como tal no me dio ni frio ni calor, podria haber sido un capitulo mas de cualquiera de sus otros libros, pero fue lo suficientemente entretenido e interesante para mantenerme leyendo, asi que todavia no abandonare esta saga.
March 7, 2018
Friends don't let friends read a bad book. Please, please, if you happen to see another Anita Blake book on my TBR shelf, please do an intervention and feel free to be as forceful as necessary. I am officially done. I enjoyed the start of this series, even though it was a little trashy. I liked that there was substance to her plots. She had a flair for creativity. I want to know where that went because I'm not seeing that much anymore. Now every thing feels the same to me and it has me feeling like I need to move on.
Read
May 31, 2024Spoilers: Tony Bennington wants his wife raised from the dead and he hires a lion pride of mercenaries to kidnap Anita and make her do it. This is the one with Nicky. Anita rolls Nicky in a true morally grey moment—she needs Nicky on her side so she takes away his free will and binds him to her permanently. They get out of the bad situation by force and now Anita’s gained a Nicky.
February 25, 2010
I never thought I’d be nostalgic for Micah. Back then, it seemed a little much to charge mass market paperback price for a novella. Enter Flirt: a novella in hardback. This is one case where the format of the book affects the star rating. Flirt would be much more palatable in an anthology, or even as a mass market paperback. At hardback price, I can’t recommend it.
The early chapters are a mix of the interesting and the tedious. The good parts involve Anita working at her job as an animator, something we haven’t seen enough of lately. She meets two clients who want their late spouses raised from the dead. Their reasons are very different, but both are “wrong” reasons. Anita turns down both jobs. The boring parts involve Anita’s introspection about her various boyfriends, which takes up way too much page space, and the incident that inspired the entire novella: a flirtatious encounter with a waiter. As Hamilton mentions in the author’s notes that follow the book proper, this was based on a real event, but I think it was probably more interesting to live through than to read. It reminded me of being in college and thinking my late-night pancake-eating expeditions would be the stuff of great novels if I wrote them down.
The plot thickens when one of Anita’s rejected clients decides not to take no for an answer. The client will have the dead spouse raised, even if it means taking Anita hostage and threatening her boyfriends’ lives. This part of the story is actually pretty compelling. Anita crosses a couple of ethical Rubicons, but she does it with just the right amount of introspection: enough that the reader knows she’s horrified at the choices she must make, but not so much that the story gets bogged down in angst. Yet this sequence leaves the reader with a feeling of “oh no, not again” when it sinks in: Anita has added another man to her stable.
Anita’s bevy of lovers poses a huge problem in the series, and I don’t mean a moral problem, I mean a literary one. There are simply too many characters for Hamilton to juggle. Nowhere is this clearer than when Damian is briefly mentioned in Flirt. How many books has it been since we even heard Damian’s name? It’s been even longer since he did anything interesting. He seems to exist primarily as a metaphysical canary in the coal mine, signaling when Anita’s power is running low by starting to keel over dead. Yet Damian is supposed to be a major character. He’s one of Anita’s lovers, and part of one of her triumvirates. Now there’s yet another hunk in the mix. I realized, after finishing Flirt, that I’d have welcomed a tragic death for this new guy. That way, Anita could have her moral crisis without adding anyone to the regular cast.
Overall, Flirt is best seen as a quick “snack,” and mainly for those already addicted to the Anita Blake series. Get it from the library or wait for the paperback.
Read this and other LKH reviews at Fantasy Literature
The early chapters are a mix of the interesting and the tedious. The good parts involve Anita working at her job as an animator, something we haven’t seen enough of lately. She meets two clients who want their late spouses raised from the dead. Their reasons are very different, but both are “wrong” reasons. Anita turns down both jobs. The boring parts involve Anita’s introspection about her various boyfriends, which takes up way too much page space, and the incident that inspired the entire novella: a flirtatious encounter with a waiter. As Hamilton mentions in the author’s notes that follow the book proper, this was based on a real event, but I think it was probably more interesting to live through than to read. It reminded me of being in college and thinking my late-night pancake-eating expeditions would be the stuff of great novels if I wrote them down.
The plot thickens when one of Anita’s rejected clients decides not to take no for an answer. The client will have the dead spouse raised, even if it means taking Anita hostage and threatening her boyfriends’ lives. This part of the story is actually pretty compelling. Anita crosses a couple of ethical Rubicons, but she does it with just the right amount of introspection: enough that the reader knows she’s horrified at the choices she must make, but not so much that the story gets bogged down in angst. Yet this sequence leaves the reader with a feeling of “oh no, not again” when it sinks in: Anita has added another man to her stable.
Anita’s bevy of lovers poses a huge problem in the series, and I don’t mean a moral problem, I mean a literary one. There are simply too many characters for Hamilton to juggle. Nowhere is this clearer than when Damian is briefly mentioned in Flirt. How many books has it been since we even heard Damian’s name? It’s been even longer since he did anything interesting. He seems to exist primarily as a metaphysical canary in the coal mine, signaling when Anita’s power is running low by starting to keel over dead. Yet Damian is supposed to be a major character. He’s one of Anita’s lovers, and part of one of her triumvirates. Now there’s yet another hunk in the mix. I realized, after finishing Flirt, that I’d have welcomed a tragic death for this new guy. That way, Anita could have her moral crisis without adding anyone to the regular cast.
Overall, Flirt is best seen as a quick “snack,” and mainly for those already addicted to the Anita Blake series. Get it from the library or wait for the paperback.
Read this and other LKH reviews at Fantasy Literature
May 22, 2011
Save me from a heroine who is never wrong and copied and pasted paragraphs of description and dialogue.
Anita Blake is obviously the epitome of everything Ms. Hamilton would like to be, surrounded by ethereal men of all shapes and sizes, all of whom believe she is the most amazing thing since sliced bread and of course add to this fact that everyone around her underestimates her constantly, and then eventually either dies or runs away or falls hopelessly in love with her (in the space of a 5 minute copied and pasted sex scene). Do you know what this adds up to? A character that will never grow or become anything more than a caricature of her author.
People like their protagonists to be flawed Ms. Hamilton. We all loved Anita when she was unable to balance her moral beliefs and the relationship she was developing with Jean Claude and Richard. The dynamic made for excellent fiction. Hamilton also added an excellent mystery to each book, granted some of these did not require much in the way of effort to figure out before reaching the climax of the book, unfortunately now she seems to think that the only way to solve any mystery is to _climax_ in the book and some how everything else falls into place.
This short novel exemplifies everything I have come to loathe about Ms. Hamilton's writing. It feels like she is writing only for herself now, allowing her own daydreams to leak out into the world of modern fiction. It grates my nerves every time a paragraph I recognize from earlier in the book, or from another part of the series, appears. There is little if any character progression in these 192 pages, which is disappointing considering that Charlaine Harris and other authors in this area of fantasy who I'm sure have been inspired by Ms. Hamilton in ways (as she was one of the first to be very successful with modern vampire fiction) put forth some of their best character background and subtly progression in the short stories and novellas they release.
Please stop treating your readers like uneducated automatons who don't question the content of the books they choose to read.
I feel like I could remove names and locations from this book and compare it with any of the last maybe 8 books and I would be looking at the same story. For someone who has had such an influence on the genre it makes me sad that her publishers are content to allow so much to get by the editing process. Each successive book does more to drive away fans and release more bad press into the internet. Eventually fans and reviews will result in a sharp decline in sales and only the most hopeful optimists will continue to buy these books. I will not be one of them. I hope that Ms. Hamilton is remembered for her earlier books and not the ones we have all come to dislike.
Anita Blake is obviously the epitome of everything Ms. Hamilton would like to be, surrounded by ethereal men of all shapes and sizes, all of whom believe she is the most amazing thing since sliced bread and of course add to this fact that everyone around her underestimates her constantly, and then eventually either dies or runs away or falls hopelessly in love with her (in the space of a 5 minute copied and pasted sex scene). Do you know what this adds up to? A character that will never grow or become anything more than a caricature of her author.
People like their protagonists to be flawed Ms. Hamilton. We all loved Anita when she was unable to balance her moral beliefs and the relationship she was developing with Jean Claude and Richard. The dynamic made for excellent fiction. Hamilton also added an excellent mystery to each book, granted some of these did not require much in the way of effort to figure out before reaching the climax of the book, unfortunately now she seems to think that the only way to solve any mystery is to _climax_ in the book and some how everything else falls into place.
This short novel exemplifies everything I have come to loathe about Ms. Hamilton's writing. It feels like she is writing only for herself now, allowing her own daydreams to leak out into the world of modern fiction. It grates my nerves every time a paragraph I recognize from earlier in the book, or from another part of the series, appears. There is little if any character progression in these 192 pages, which is disappointing considering that Charlaine Harris and other authors in this area of fantasy who I'm sure have been inspired by Ms. Hamilton in ways (as she was one of the first to be very successful with modern vampire fiction) put forth some of their best character background and subtly progression in the short stories and novellas they release.
Please stop treating your readers like uneducated automatons who don't question the content of the books they choose to read.
I feel like I could remove names and locations from this book and compare it with any of the last maybe 8 books and I would be looking at the same story. For someone who has had such an influence on the genre it makes me sad that her publishers are content to allow so much to get by the editing process. Each successive book does more to drive away fans and release more bad press into the internet. Eventually fans and reviews will result in a sharp decline in sales and only the most hopeful optimists will continue to buy these books. I will not be one of them. I hope that Ms. Hamilton is remembered for her earlier books and not the ones we have all come to dislike.
March 1, 2010
I count Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake series as “guilty pleasure” reading; not complicated and fun (or on occasion fun to make fun of). I’m happy to suspend disbelief as long as there’s a decent story arc and fun, interesting characters. To be sure, there are things I find annoying about author’s writing style including but not limited to distracting repetition, over-reliance on exposition and argument in lieu of action, ponderous emotional angst about and between the males in Anita’s life and her “woe is me” childhood, pages of technical jargon about weapons or techniques that do nothing to advance the story and which often serve as a brick wall that stops the action cold. Most of these problems could be addressed by a good editor but as long as these books remain more entertaining than annoying, when it comes to mindless entertainment I’m pretty easy to please.
Sadly, “Flirt” was a real disappointment. For starters, the story itself is a slight variation on an oft-repeated AB story arc (not necessarily a bad thing) in that a bad guy wants Anita to raise zombie for nefarious or creepy reasons, and Anita must feed the ardeur on yet another shapeshifter who she rolls like a vampire and turns into a hopeless wreck.
"Flirt" is short in length but not written in the more concise style of a real short story. Some of the persistent problems with the writing are there (too much exposition that slows down the action and angst about Anita’s lovers/childhood). Perhaps I wouldn’t be quite so disappointed if it weren’t priced as a full-length novel.
The author’s preface and afterward are revealing in a not-very-flattering way and I could have done with less of LKH’s self-involved revelations and more of the actual story. I’m glad to see Anita still doing her job as an animator but this story arc could have fit as a b-plot in a full length novel and without the extra filler. I can’t help wondering, what was the point of publishing this book now other than feeding up some leftovers to hungry fans and keep the money coming in?
I may look at future full-length Anita Blake novels but “Flirt” feels kind of pointless, slapdash and unsatisfying and if it’s supposed to show progress for Anita Blake, the character and series it's a pretty poor showing.
Sadly, “Flirt” was a real disappointment. For starters, the story itself is a slight variation on an oft-repeated AB story arc (not necessarily a bad thing) in that a bad guy wants Anita to raise zombie for nefarious or creepy reasons, and Anita must feed the ardeur on yet another shapeshifter who she rolls like a vampire and turns into a hopeless wreck.
"Flirt" is short in length but not written in the more concise style of a real short story. Some of the persistent problems with the writing are there (too much exposition that slows down the action and angst about Anita’s lovers/childhood). Perhaps I wouldn’t be quite so disappointed if it weren’t priced as a full-length novel.
The author’s preface and afterward are revealing in a not-very-flattering way and I could have done with less of LKH’s self-involved revelations and more of the actual story. I’m glad to see Anita still doing her job as an animator but this story arc could have fit as a b-plot in a full length novel and without the extra filler. I can’t help wondering, what was the point of publishing this book now other than feeding up some leftovers to hungry fans and keep the money coming in?
I may look at future full-length Anita Blake novels but “Flirt” feels kind of pointless, slapdash and unsatisfying and if it’s supposed to show progress for Anita Blake, the character and series it's a pretty poor showing.
January 12, 2011
I remember a time when I loved Anita Blake novels. I didn't start reading at book one, I started reading at book 11 or so, at a time when most people were already not enjoying the books. I liked them because I like the characters and I wanted to know what would happen to them all. I used to be able to read about the characters talking to each other, eating, going shopping, or doing whatever boring stuff they do, but now I just can't do it any more. Maybe I matured as a reader, or maybe I've just realized these books really are bad, but after Flirt I am done. No more books from this author ever. I just can't enjoy reading about Anita toying with her lovers and getting aroused in public. Having multiple men is not very realistic and it's not believable. They are always fawning on Anita telling her she is amazing beautiful and great and they don't care who she sleeps with. Right. I love urban fantasy because it is usually believable. Books that make me believe werewolves and vampires could exist with humans are the best kind, but the Anita Blake series is not one of those types of books. I don't know how a book so short and packed full of boring nonsense could have even been published. The appeal of the characters has long since worn off, the plot is so thin it's pretty much non existent, and truthfully, there is no reason to continue reading this series. If you are interested in Marmee Noir, stick around until Anita Blake Vampire Hunter Book 74, maybe then you will get some closure. By then Anita with have 60 animals to call, 4 vampire slaves, and 89 lovers. Is it really that predictable? Absolutely. If you didn't like the previous novels, you won't like this. I don't think this series will ever go back to what it was in the beginning. Anita would have to lose all of her lovers and all of her powers and I don't see that happening at all. I'm not interested in a character that is only seeking attention and wants to feel special so she takes 25 lovers. She doesn't think she is powerful even though she is probably the most powerful human in the world. Disgusting. I'm done and you should be too.
April 15, 2010
Reading the introduction and afterthought of Laurell K’s recent novella we are informed that this piece was created as a cure for writer’s block during the creation of Divine Misdemeanours (from the Merry Gentry series), much the same as her other novella, (or novelette or whatever) Micah.
So don’t expect too much from this short story from the Anita Blake series. Again similar to Micah the story involves Anita being drawn into taking a dodgy animation case, one sex scene and a fairly quick conclusion. Although in Flirt we meet (another) bed buddy who at the end of the book seems to have become another live in.
It’s unfortunate but Anita Blake books are becoming like comic books, the plot structure is derivative of early books, the interactions are truly unbelievable (in some moments Anita chats like buddies to her kidnappers) and in the end her massive supernatural entourage appears to save the day. I could just picture everyone bursting into the scene in one of those comic-book pictures where we see everyone rushing the camera.
I realise this was just a filler-piece but it’s all getting so overdone. I also realise I’m the last to notice this but every time Anita sees a boyfriend we are greeted to the literary equivalent of a Baywatch swimsuit scene as she describes the height, build, hair style, and eye-colour of her men. (who incidentally in this book turn up to her work wearing tank-tops and shorts, which was apparently yummy but I thought more 80’s)
In the end we are also provided with the experience which inspired flirt (which seems to have nothing at all to do with the actual plot of the book just one scene in it) and a cartoon created by a friend of Hamilton’s featuring the author herself.
All in all it’ll take you little more than an hour to flick through this book so where’s the harm, although seeing as anyone who has read Blake’s series up to this point could probably predict the plot, I might also ask what’s the point?
So don’t expect too much from this short story from the Anita Blake series. Again similar to Micah the story involves Anita being drawn into taking a dodgy animation case, one sex scene and a fairly quick conclusion. Although in Flirt we meet (another) bed buddy who at the end of the book seems to have become another live in.
It’s unfortunate but Anita Blake books are becoming like comic books, the plot structure is derivative of early books, the interactions are truly unbelievable (in some moments Anita chats like buddies to her kidnappers) and in the end her massive supernatural entourage appears to save the day. I could just picture everyone bursting into the scene in one of those comic-book pictures where we see everyone rushing the camera.
I realise this was just a filler-piece but it’s all getting so overdone. I also realise I’m the last to notice this but every time Anita sees a boyfriend we are greeted to the literary equivalent of a Baywatch swimsuit scene as she describes the height, build, hair style, and eye-colour of her men. (who incidentally in this book turn up to her work wearing tank-tops and shorts, which was apparently yummy but I thought more 80’s)
In the end we are also provided with the experience which inspired flirt (which seems to have nothing at all to do with the actual plot of the book just one scene in it) and a cartoon created by a friend of Hamilton’s featuring the author herself.
All in all it’ll take you little more than an hour to flick through this book so where’s the harm, although seeing as anyone who has read Blake’s series up to this point could probably predict the plot, I might also ask what’s the point?
February 3, 2017
Added 01/26/17I'm walking down Goodreads reviewer memory lane and this is one that popped up. There was a reviewer that described the repetitiousness in the books and how she could practically write it herself giving about a page worth of dialogue. She actually did a really good job so I innocently said, trying to be funny, "You did such a good job you should be Laurell Hamilton's ghost rider!" The response was "Har, har", unfriending me and then blocking her account. I'm still scratching my head on that one. :)
Re-read this time by audiobook I am getting very tired of Anita hemming and hawing, questioning everything even though she still states in the middle of all of these situations how she should feel more upset about something and she's concerned that she doesn't. And I feel like screaming when I hear "I don't understand" again. It's like another opportunity for Laurell to say something slightly different for the 3rd or 4th time. Give me a freakin' break! Also, I swear she used the word "Flirt" at least 30 times or more throughout this book. More editing please!
PREVIOUS REVIEW ON 03/09/10 This book was pretty good. There were some parts that seemed really repetitive and/or long - like the flirting in the restaurant, but I enjoyed it overall. I wish Anita could live with decisions she makes like turning Nicky over completely and then leaving the poor guy standing there while she makes up her mind what to do. Did she really have a choice after turning him? I hope she treats him a little better.
Re-read this time by audiobook I am getting very tired of Anita hemming and hawing, questioning everything even though she still states in the middle of all of these situations how she should feel more upset about something and she's concerned that she doesn't. And I feel like screaming when I hear "I don't understand" again. It's like another opportunity for Laurell to say something slightly different for the 3rd or 4th time. Give me a freakin' break! Also, I swear she used the word "Flirt" at least 30 times or more throughout this book. More editing please!
PREVIOUS REVIEW ON 03/09/10 This book was pretty good. There were some parts that seemed really repetitive and/or long - like the flirting in the restaurant, but I enjoyed it overall. I wish Anita could live with decisions she makes like turning Nicky over completely and then leaving the poor guy standing there while she makes up her mind what to do. Did she really have a choice after turning him? I hope she treats him a little better.
February 13, 2010
Yawn . . . yawn . . . yawn.
Practically every sentence in this novella stimulated a deja vu experience, not to mention self-doubt. (Why am I reading this? Why? Why? Why?) This was actually refreshing. Some of Anita's actions in this book should have warranted at least a smidgen of self-doubt.
I never would have imagined flirting with a waiter in the presence of one of your gorgeous friends could inspire not just a novella, but a retelling of the flirting, and then a comic of the retelling. Maybe some people will be enthralled by this peek into the artistic process. I was not.
I've almost run out of reasons to keep reading this series. The only thing that keeps me hanging on is that I still want to find out what happens. But I'm caring less and less with each novel, liking Anita less and less, enjoying the writing and stories less and less. If I found any of her harem of men appealing, maybe I could at least enjoy the ardeur-dominated sections. But Richard, the only guy that remotely appealed to me, isn't around enough to keep me reading.
Will I read the next novel? I don't know. I doubt it. Maybe if it's the last.
Practically every sentence in this novella stimulated a deja vu experience, not to mention self-doubt. (Why am I reading this? Why? Why? Why?) This was actually refreshing. Some of Anita's actions in this book should have warranted at least a smidgen of self-doubt.
I never would have imagined flirting with a waiter in the presence of one of your gorgeous friends could inspire not just a novella, but a retelling of the flirting, and then a comic of the retelling. Maybe some people will be enthralled by this peek into the artistic process. I was not.
I've almost run out of reasons to keep reading this series. The only thing that keeps me hanging on is that I still want to find out what happens. But I'm caring less and less with each novel, liking Anita less and less, enjoying the writing and stories less and less. If I found any of her harem of men appealing, maybe I could at least enjoy the ardeur-dominated sections. But Richard, the only guy that remotely appealed to me, isn't around enough to keep me reading.
Will I read the next novel? I don't know. I doubt it. Maybe if it's the last.
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