The Harlequin

Ug what can I say – thank god it was 200 pages less than the last book – lots and lots of sex and the plot was very hopeful but dull sadly since the focus of the book was mostly all the sex and the build up came and went with a quick tie up at the end. Could have been better and felt like a narcissists masturbation of ego book more than anything -even the main characters were off their game and cruel and sadistic. I already skipped some books since it was not needed and will be skipping ahead again since the books after are reviewed about the same as this one was. Hoping it really does get better like everyone says the series will.

Well, if it weren’t for the continuity errors in this book, I’d say it was just more of the same. Sex, talk, talk, talk, agonize over Anita’s lost humanity, sex, sex, sex, talk, destroy another formerly wonderful charactger (Rafael), sex, talk, listen to Richard agonize over HIS lost humanity, sex . . . . you get the picture. Bad sex at that.

Continuity . . . Willie McCoy’s life love was not some unknown . . . Candy??? It was Hannah. Reread Burnt Offerings Ms. Hamilton if you need a refresher. At the end of Obsidian Butterfly, Olaf did not take the heart of the vampire while Anita took the head. It was the other way around.

Richard . . . what can I say. I don’t know who he represents in LKH’s real life, although we can guess. He has all the components of a very unhappy divorce and justification. Please . . . just kill him off. I’m sick to death of scene after scene of the reasons why he and Anita are no longer together. You’ve already destroyed every other worthwhile character in the book, just kill Richard off. I’m sure Anita and Jean Claude will survive it.

Wow, so you have a chapter discussing who will have sex, then a chapter on feeling guilty about it then a chapter on having it and then 3 chapters dealing with all the hurt feelings of having sex. Then another chapter on how everyone wants Anita etc. You can actually write down the percentage that is story and the rest. In the 100% that is what kindle is showing when you start. You will find that only 12% is story and the other 88% is the above garbage. It wouldn’t be so bad except the sex has been so over done in this series that it is so boring!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You know Hamilton went back and added a message at the end of the first few books. In it she bragged about how unique she was and how she had written an incredible series which no one else has been able to do like her. I wish she would go back and read all the reasons she praised herself and then read all the books over and see that at book 6 she threw out what was successful and just started selling this awful new Anita. Not an improved version at all. Also, by this book it becomes so clear that Hamilton has a problem with men. It comes across that she really does not like them and all. Hamilton’s portrayal of the males are guys with no back bone who just exist to please her. I hate that she took a really good character like Anita and made her where not one emotion that she supposedly feels is real. I mean I don’t believe that she loves anybody or anything but herself. The funny thing is in the first 5 books I believed Anita had feelings and really felt them. Then the next books you start doubting whether she really feels anything other than anger.

I have read several reviews of this book and others, both before and after reading this and other earlier and later A. B. Books. Some I thought were not long enough, because I like a long robust novel, but when a tale is told it is done and adding pages doesn’t change that. Ms. Hamilton’s books are a continuation of Anita’s story. We all grow and change with our experiences. I was amazed from the beginning that her novels, while indisputably full of sex, are not pornagraphic. If you don’t believe me, find a book that is, ONLY PORNOGRAPHY, to read. The plot will be practically non existent, the characters will be cardboard flat and there will be no heft to the book at all.
Ms. H, could have been much more descriptive in the sex scenes if she was only interested in pornography and fluff. Instead she has made all of her characters real and there is always a reason for the sex as part of the narrative. They have all grown and changed with each book. I have been amazed since the first Anita Blake novel at her deep understanding of human nature both good and bad and the way it effects people. I have read each book in order of it’s writing except this one. I thought that I had read it, as it was in my library, but I kept running into references to things that I should have known, but didn’t, about in later books. So of course I went back and read it. It filled in a lot of the blanks that lack of knowledge caused in the few later books I have read. If you have any issues with sex and sexuality these books are probably not for you, but if you have even a small understanding of human nature and are interested in people you will enjoy them. They certainly take a different view of vampires, wereanimals of any kind and GOOD & EVIL, and they are a lot of fun to read.

I must admit, the last few books felt wrong. They lost a lot of the Anita Blake flare; they were overcomplicated in their small and many pointless details. They also concentrated almost exclusively on only two elements: the first being the new and developing powers Anita and the others gain, the second being the multiple relationships. Not a necessarily bad thing, but it really went too far and made the plots shallow.

I persevered, both because i like to see a series through to the end, and because i had faith in Anita, Jean-Claude and others as character. In the end i was rewarded with this book. It’s almost back to where the series started in that the story has the same feel, it has a real plot-line that carries the series forward and adds intrigue, mystery and action whilst balancing with the emotional aspects raised in the previous few books (but does not allow them to overpower the plot). In short, a very nice recovery for the series.

If the books keep to this standard then I will be thrilled, because truly, the last few, though readable, lost a lot of the series’ charm. Glad to see that things have improved.

That said, the earlier books are still better in my opinion, hence 4 instead of 5 stars. However, a very good read, thoroughly enjoyable.

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