Danse Macabre (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, #14)

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Danse Macabre (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter #14)

3.76 of 5 stars 3.76 · rating details · 24,553 ratings · 526 reviews

These days, Anita Blake is less interested in vampire politics than in an ancient, ordinary dread she shares with women down the ages: she may be pregnant. And, if she is, whether the father is a vampire, a werewolf, or someone else entirely, he knows perfectly well that being a Federal Marshal known for raising the dead and being a vampire executioner, is no way to bring...more

Mass Market Paperback, 517 pages

Published March 27th 2007 by Jove (first published June 27th 2006)

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Aug 25, 2012 Darby rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: scifi-fantasy, 2007, own, vampire-werewolves, 2012

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I have been a long time fan of Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series. I have reread the books Guilty Pleasures through Obsidian Butterfly - many times. But this book, as with the last one, I doubt I will reread. This one didn't even have a plot and the plot in the last book was thin. Each book I hang hoping and waiting to see if the entertaining characters that the beginning books had will show back up. And if the tough compassionate Anita will be present. But they aren't there...more I have been a long time fan of Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series. I have reread the books Guilty Pleasures through Obsidian Butterfly - many times. But this book, as with the last one, I doubt I will reread. This one didn't even have a plot and the plot in the last book was thin. Each book I hang hoping and waiting to see if the entertaining characters that the beginning books had will show back up. And if the tough compassionate Anita will be present. But they aren't there. I used to read her books in one evening...not able to put them down. And now this book took me 3 months to get through as it just didn't grab me. Because I couldn't figure out when the plot would kick in. Even the in last chapter I kept hoping that something would come tying it all together to make sense but it didn't happen.

Overall the book....is badly written porn type sex. It isn't even erotic or good porn sex. I would like to count how many pages actually don't deal with sex (the act or just the characters discussing sex) because I would be surprised it it was more then 10 pages out of 483. One chapter might be a page an half and all that just having sex. Now I love sex. But the plot of the book, the premise of the book and what made them entertaining was Anita Blake VAMPIRE HUNTER. I loved the chemistry of her and Jean Claude at the beginning but now Jean Claude hardly says anything interesting.

The title of this book came from a dance troop that is coming to town. The dance troop doesn't even show up until the last 80 pages and again very weak and more sex of course.

So...if you haven't read it and are a fan of this series do know you might be bored by it. I did hear her next book is going to have Edward back in it and some other characters from the past. So that might be interesting...crossing fingers!

If you enjoy stories about Vampires and werewolves, please pick up the the early books and you enjoy the stories.

EDIT August 2012: I reread this book for the first time since I first read it in 2007. I wanted to reread the whole series as I was behind on reading Hamilton's last 3 books in this series. So I thought what the heck give it another shot. I will say I am upping this from 1 star to 2 stars. Because I guess going in knowing I didn't like the first time - gave me the permission to let go and be okay with not liking it. But instead - I went from total hating the book to being okay. I still stand by everything I said in my above original review. The sex gets just very boring and annoying as time goes on and this book has a lot of it in it. I feel the book lacks everything that I love about the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter books. (less)

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May 01, 2013 Crystal Starr Light rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: erotica, i-whine-therefore-i-am, hello-my-name-is-mary-sue, idiot-protagonist, romance-in-disguise, plot-what-plot, so-bad-it-s-horrible, so-boring-it-s-boring, ha-ha-ha-no-really, read-at-your-own-risk, what-the-hell-did-i-just-read, i-should-know-better, audiobook

If you have ever considered reading the Anita Blake series up to this point, let me save you a bit of time, trouble, and heartache by giving you a plot synopsis of this book. Don't worry, I won't spoil anything nor will I get into so much detail that it will be ruined.

PLOT:

No, really, this book HAS no plot. The blurb burbles about a vampire ballet, hints at a pregnancy for Anita, and dances around the topic of the ardeur, but nothing happens in this book. (Cover blurb author needs a RAISE.)

OK, n...more

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Jan 15, 2012 Tilly Slaton rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviews-completed

Anita Blake; Vampire Hunter and animator. A love triangle doesn’t even begin to explain the most interesting relationships that currently complicate her life.

Cursed with the ardeur, Blake suffers through an existence as a succubus. Sex to survive, more sex and even more sex. Although, the sex has made the stories interesting, enough is enough. I mean, c’mon .. stop throwing her naked under random characters and slow things down a bit. Anita has her sweeties, stop tossing spontaneous sex scenes....more

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Apr 01, 2013 BarkLessWagMore rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: audiobook

I read this back when it was first released but am rereading it here as an audiobook. It's one of the later Anita Blake books which are all a blur of sex and power in my mind so I can't remember much about it.

Well, just as I remembered with the other later books in this series this is all about Anita's sex with her many men and much less about the paranormal aspects of the book which I found so interesting in the earlier novels. This time around Anita fears she may be pregnant and because she ha...more

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Mar 10, 2008 Kathryn Lee rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Some one who's be all end all of sex is Fellatio

I hate to say this, but I think I am done with this author.
I remember when she first started the series and there were monsters and plots all over the place.
The last book was 800 pages of sex, most of it repetitive acts of fellatio from the main female characters point of view. with 69 pages of plot. 899 pages of imaging you are going down on someone, only the men change.
This book was 482 pages of fellatio with no plot, and the people being fellated were talking about their goddamn insecurities...more I hate to say this, but I think I am done with this author.
I remember when she first started the series and there were monsters and plots all over the place.
The last book was 800 pages of sex, most of it repetitive acts of fellatio from the main female characters point of view. with 69 pages of plot. 899 pages of imaging you are going down on someone, only the men change.
This book was 482 pages of fellatio with no plot, and the people being fellated were talking about their goddamn insecurities the whole time.
I am not against fellatio at all. I am not again erotic writing. My first novel, unpublished, written while I was in college, was an erotic story about werewolves that had so much sexual content it grew into a full novel.
But I would not try to pass it off as fantasy, and I have been very honest about the fact that my published novel is fantasy-erotica.
Something that is 800 pages of sucking dick, is what I could buy at a pornography shop for two bucks, and in fact I have bought books like that. Taming Katie (hahahah) and Hell's Bitch come to mind.
I guess what I am trying to say is that Laurell K. Hamilton wither needs to find some personal satisfaction or start writing in another genre and stop wasting my time.
And as a very small side note and maybe its something I am over sensitive about, though she expresses extreme tolerances of bisexuality in the men in her books, and I mean extreme, very homo erotic. She has never had a female character who's reaction to being with other women isn't nauseating. I think its bad form not to at least imagine both sides. After all it's one of your characters not yourself if you don't swing that way. As a bi-sexual woman, its a huge turn off to read a book where you get the feeling the author would throw up on you if she met you, and not feel bad about it.
I am very disappointed in this book. Why does every female writer I like go nuts. It's like watching the Anne Rice down fall over again, only over more books.(less)

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Dec 21, 2007 Samantha rated it 5 of 5 stars

Not going to give a plot summary. Yes there is a plot but no it is not about raising the dead or slaying vampires. I think if you don't go into the book thinking that then you won't be disappointed. This book is about vampire politics and Anita finding out more about her powers. I think this is a book that was supposed to be much longer and that the publisher split into two since Incubus Dreams was so long and people didn't like it. This book is leading up to the party where all the Masters of t...more

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Apr 08, 2008 Gina rated it 3 of 5 stars

Okay, if you're in the mood for meeting new characters, great sex and nothing but vampire/lycan politics, this is the book for you. But it ticked me off on another point. There was nothing to Anita's job in this one; no raising the dead, no investigations to do, it was kind of boring. I could understand why it had to be done this way. There was just way to much that 'Anita needed to know' about all the new powers, etc..., and I think it would have been too confusing had it been done in the regul...more

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May 02, 2007 Dani Meehan rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: chick-lit, fantasy-sci-fi

Really enjoy Laurel K. Hamilton and the Anita Blake series. That being said, I really enjoyed the first few books in the series because they were all about kick ass chick and a sorta interesting kinda mystery/thriller conundrum with some hot steamy scenes in the middle. This past book and the few before it seem to be all hot and steamy and very little advancement of the story.
I still like Hamilton, but I enjoyed her older stuff much more.

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Mar 17, 2008 Sonja rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: kristi

Shelves: vampires

I really liked this book. It is more erotic than I remember her other books being. I actually read the first few in this series and quit because they were so violent and bloody. after picking this one up thought I am going back to blue moon and reading forward. Yes they are still violent and bloody, but now I want to know how all the relationships got so complicated and the sex became so good... Is that embarassing or what?!?

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Jul 25, 2012 Khristine Stain rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: People who only care about hundreds of pages of sex

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This book did not advance the characters. Those characters I loved, those real lovable characters that were so interesting are trapped under an avalanche of sex. This novel started out fine and then deteriorated swiftly. If I had to keep reading about how everything her sex partners did made her 'writhe" or how every man wanted to have sex with her, or how her 'writhing' made all her men so eager to keep doing her, my brain would go on strike.

In this novel, she had to manage her sexy time bette...more This book did not advance the characters. Those characters I loved, those real lovable characters that were so interesting are trapped under an avalanche of sex. This novel started out fine and then deteriorated swiftly. If I had to keep reading about how everything her sex partners did made her 'writhe" or how every man wanted to have sex with her, or how her 'writhing' made all her men so eager to keep doing her, my brain would go on strike.

In this novel, she had to manage her sexy time better so she had threesomes and foursomes all the time. If she wasn't blowing some guy, they were all talking about sex and who she should have it with next. All this in the time period of less than a day. Where is the intricate story lines from the earlier novels that all came together in the end? The ones that 'wow'd me into continuing to read the next in the series at 4am because I had been so enthralled that I couldn't help myself?

They are gone. Blue Moon was the last novel I enjoyed even though it hadn't come close to the magnificence of Obsidian Butterfly. LKH has decided to change her writing style and it feels like she abandoned the fanbase she built originally. The last full novel (Incubus Dreams but the sex-over-shadowing-chapter-after-chapter started back in Cerulian Sins and Narscisiss in Chains) had no plot whatsoever. This is what I could decipher as the new plot for the series: Anita must have sex with as many men as she can, at the same time and other people get jealous of it. 99 percent of the time, they want to do her so bad that they lose rational thought.

Its so frustrating to have Anita, who started out as such a strong female heroine, blowing every man in sight instead of using her brain to stop preternatural killers. After a while, her jaw must ache as much as my head from reading from about it. I am not anti-sex. Plenty of my favorite authors have sex in their novels. But at least the sex adds to the relationships developing story line... here it was sex for sex for some more sex. None of it progressed any relationships along.

The whole Dark Mother storyline: is it going anywhere? Holy cripes, even the Dark Mother wants Anita, probably for one of Anita's famous foursomes. If the Dark Mother had a penis, I'd say it was for her one of Anita's stellar blowjobs.

All Anita's leopards (except the ones she has sex with) were absent. She doesn't much bother with them anymore, I'm guessing. Funny, I thought being Nimjra meant she had responsibilities to her pard and Micah's new leopards. The last time we heard from them had been in the novel Micah's pard had been introduced in.

Overall, this novel was severely lacking. I do not know if I will continue this series... I had an interest in the story, and the characters but it might not be enough for me to push through this bad pornography plotting. I kept waiting for the Pizza delivery guy to come to the Circus to entice Anita with his delivery of 'extra sausage'.(less)

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Oct 16, 2011 Lady Jaye rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: stars-1, never-again

Admittedly I jumped into this book after reading the first two books so I don't know all that's happened in-between. I did not finish this book. I was very unimpressed what little I read. Anita is even more unlikable than ever, and she has the effrontery to judge others. Hah. As for the sex-all-over-thplace-and-with-every-possible-body aspects, I have no idea how LKH ever thought this foolishness is 'liberating to women'. S.M.H

Ps. Did the catholic church hurt LKH in anyway? All she does is carp...more

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Dec 12, 2012 Cathy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Still too much dumb orgy subplot. When is Anita going to get a grip on this problem she has so she can stop adding to the posse of emergency sex buddies she keeps close at hand? This was a pretty stupid book. Anita has a pregnancy scare, which just shows what a normal person (read: useless) Richard is, where the first few books spend their entirety making him out to be the most attractive of all the men in Anita's life. Now as a reader, I hate him because he's so self-righteous and whiny. Micah...more

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Nov 19, 2012 Matt Schiariti rated it 2 of 5 stars

you know what I'm talking about..like a train wreck..or a bad car accident..you know coming up to the scene that it's going to be bad..you don't WANT to look, but you can't help but slow down and take a lingering look out of some sense of morbid curiosity.

At its core, this is what the Anita Blake books have become to me and DM is no exception. I know it's going to be bad but I just have to see how bad it'll get and how long it'll stay that way. And everytime I think 'phew, now that all the horri...more

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Oct 18, 2012 Lisa (Harmonybites) rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Those Who Love Mommy Porn

Recommended to Lisa (Harmonybites) by: Crystal

Shelves: fantasy, fiction, novels, horror

Laurell K. Hamilton has famously called those readers who don't like her direction post-Narcissus in Chains "prudes." You know what, nudity can be beautiful, and arresting in isolation. But I think there's nothing less sexy than a nude beach. Often with depiction of sex, less is more. And there's nothing more unintentionally hilarious yet embarrassing than badly-written pointless sex. Of which this is an exemplar. Perhaps not quite as egregious as Incubus Dreams at 752-pages with its novella-wor...more

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Jun 25, 2012 Laura Coulter rated it 1 of 5 stars

I hungrily devoured the first several books in this series - they were the ultimate guilty pleasure. An ass-kicking heroine, lots of steamy sensuality, death-defying acts, moral dilemmas, and plenty of supernatural beings to go around. Starting around book 10, the series started to choke, like a car with electrical problems. It was unclear if Ms. Hamilton had lost her direction where Anita Blake was concerned, or if she'd never really had one to begin with.

"Danse Macabre" descends to the level o...more

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Jun 05, 2012 CriCra CriCra rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: cartaceo

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Con questo nuovo libro, precisamente il 14°, tornano le avventure di Anita Blake e del suo vario e oscuro mondo.

La mia recensione per il Blog:SognandoLeggendo
http://sognandoleggendo.net/blog/?p=7...

Stavolta il tema trattato non è quello criminale/poliziesco in cui la nostra eroina è sempre pronta a cavarsi di impaccio, ma un avvenimento principale che la metterà di fronte ad una vera e propria crisi di puro panico.

Lei che è la Sterminatrice di Vampiri, Risvegliante autorizzata, Federal Marshall...more

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May 22, 2012 Nicole Green rated it 4 of 5 stars

Another great installment in the Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series by Laurell K. Hamilton. As a woman, I can greatly relate to Anita's struggles as she goes through not knowing if she's pregnant or not and I really liked this book because it was a lot more down to earth because of it. I also liked this book because we got to find out more about the ardeur, something that isn't as readily available to anyone and no one can relate to. There were a lot of sex scenes, all of which were great, and I...more Another great installment in the Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series by Laurell K. Hamilton. As a woman, I can greatly relate to Anita's struggles as she goes through not knowing if she's pregnant or not and I really liked this book because it was a lot more down to earth because of it. I also liked this book because we got to find out more about the ardeur, something that isn't as readily available to anyone and no one can relate to. There were a lot of sex scenes, all of which were great, and I felt that they were really tastefully done, although the one between Anita and Requiem took a little too long to get to. There are some points were it's just tension building and finally you get to the scene, but that particular scene took way too long to reach.

I rated this book a 4/5 because I felt that the ballet and party that is stressing everyone out from the beginning also takes way too long to get to. I understand that Anita has some issues going on in her life, but it felt like Laurell didn't really know how to introduce these issues without putting off the highlight and main part of the book until the very end. Also, there was too much Richard for my liking. I don't know what happens later on down the road, seeing as there are 20 books in the series (at this point) and I just finished number 14, but Richard is really starting to get on my nerves and I am really hoping he jolts out of the picture at some point. I really didn't miss him earlier in the series and I don't think I'm going to miss him now. Throughout the book, Anita is referred to as the "Prince Charming" whom all the princesses (pomme de sang candidates) were going after. Well, throughout the whole series it feels like Richard is the "woman/princess" of the triumvirate that he shares with Anita and Jean-Claude and he's constantly lusting after "Prince Charming/Anita" but to no avail. Just move on!

Alright, I'm going to end my Richard rant there and mention that I would recommend this book to anyone who likes paranormal fiction, paranormal romance, and the Anita Blake series. I know it's long, but keep going and Laurell will not disappoint.(less)

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Nov 23, 2011 Stephanie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Original Review: http://fangswandsandfairydust.blogspo...

Wow, if Anita Blake find massive difficulties and moral quandaries with her relationships with men, wait until she has a baby, IF she is pregnant. Okay, so the big questions for the first part of the book is if she is pregnant does she have one of the syndromes associated with shapeshifters or vampires or is the baby even vaguely normal? What would she even do with a baby? She has never seen herself with kids so why doesn't she use protect...more Original Review: http://fangswandsandfairydust.blogspo...

Wow, if Anita Blake find massive difficulties and moral quandaries with her relationships with men, wait until she has a baby, IF she is pregnant. Okay, so the big questions for the first part of the book is if she is pregnant does she have one of the syndromes associated with shapeshifters or vampires or is the baby even vaguely normal? What would she even do with a baby? She has never seen herself with kids so why doesn't she use protection or have her tubes tied? She doesn't have sex with humans so she wouldn't have any sexually transmitted human diseases, so why not protect herself as she screws her way through St. Louis instead of playing Russian Roulette.

Richard brings up a good point in this book. Anita is filled with rage; always pissed off! Aside from being pissed off, fighting and killing, having sex conastantly with her cadre of sex soldiers being angry with her friends, having more sex, the occasional dinner out or bar stop where she doesn't even drink, working out, what seems to be the more an more infrequent "real job" raising zombies; aside from this does she ever just have fun? In this book she goes to the vampire ballet and even the ballet ends up as a problem. Why is Anita always pissed off? Has it ever been explained? She is PMS, 365/24/7.

Seriously, it's wake up, coffee, sex, sex for the ardeur, lunch, violence, sex, sex, sunset! meet Jean-Claude or one of the other vampires she is doing and then interview or search out more guys to have sex to feed the ardeur, have sex, kill someone, discuss 1,000 reasons why it is hard for her to have sex with yet another guy, fight with Richard about it,.... Discuss her anger and other emotions some more, get the idea? Anita has so much sex that she should ask Jean Claude to install a bidet!

There is an ongoing story here of Anita's constant angst and conflicting behaviors.

It's first person, and even there it is amazingly self involved.

Well, why do you keep reading the series then? The sex. Okay. Even when Hamilton hasn't got a plot, the prose is good and the sex writing is awesome. Never icky. You may actually feel like you've had sex after reading one of the scenes.

That is my guilty admission. Other than that there is a lot in this book about injuries both physical and metaphysical. We also have the mother-of-all-vampires waking up after a 1,000 year nap. She is so dark, Anita says that she is why humans are afraid of the dark. She isn't scary because of the dark, the dark is scary because it is her.
(less)

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Aug 24, 2011 Ana rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011

Still has the painful "oh yeah, all this stuff happened in the short, short time between books" pitfall, and again when do they all sleep?!?! I suppose this was really only, what, two or three days, so I suppose a lot could happen otherwise - but if she's feeding the ardeur that often, how does anything else get done, how does she go to work, the time for everything that they do just doesn't add up! I loved the very mundane, humanizing problem; she'd been getting a bit far from "real" problems i...more Still has the painful "oh yeah, all this stuff happened in the short, short time between books" pitfall, and again when do they all sleep?!?! I suppose this was really only, what, two or three days, so I suppose a lot could happen otherwise - but if she's feeding the ardeur that often, how does anything else get done, how does she go to work, the time for everything that they do just doesn't add up! I loved the very mundane, humanizing problem; she'd been getting a bit far from "real" problems in her life and this one was very fitting. I do not like how in the beginning, all of the personal issues were resolved or at least worked on by one person in the group saying "your problem is X" rather than talking like adults, figuring out your own stuff, or other ways of having problems and dealing with them. There seem to be a couple of personality traits that the author keeps giving to her characters rather than building them like real, separate people: they seem to have at least one problem where they get irrationally angry rather than dealing with the problem and they all have some odd phobia/avoidance/anger issue that is resolved when someone psychoanalyzes them. Not terribly three dimensional and realistic, but these are not literary masterpieces and I keep reading them, so obviously not a major problem!

What I liked about this book was that they did add pieces to the puzzle, they had real problems, they had some actual discussions, but there was still a lot of time spent in odd company and in-depth discussions that were just awkward. I liked how the overall plot was forwarded. I did not like how the end just kind of...ended, rather than really wrapping up. A couple loose ends were not tied up as they should have been. Also, does she ever actually work anymore? She mentioned working 60+ hours/week, but she has done very, very few hours in her actual job in the last couple of books, does she mean working as in working with the shifters and vampires as well as her typical job? The timeline just does not match up as well as I would like it to, at least. I ended the book enjoying it and gave it four stars. In starting the review and thinking back over it, I remembered a lot more things that annoyed me. Longwinded review, ended with three stars total because while the plot was much better and there was some great explanation and pieces of the overall puzzle thrown in, the execution and characters left something to be desired.(less)

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Mar 31, 2011 Myria rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: vampires

Whooooooooaaaaaaa. I'm not gonna lie, this book is too much for me! ONE DAY I will finish this book but I just cannot get past this 20 pages (feels like 50 pages)of one sex scene. It's been months since I put it down to get a break and when I picked it back up, I read mmmm.... 2 pages and put it right back down. Now I remember why it's so hard for me to finish it. I know, I know, I know. The sex scenes are crucial for Anita but this is just way too much sex. Does there really have to be that man...more

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Dec 30, 2010 Karissa rated it 2 of 5 stars

I have to start out with saying what many other reviewers have said. I love the Anita Blake novels. I have devoted a great part of my life into reading and re-reading the series. That being said the latest books have been a disappointment. The sex involved in them doesn't really bother me; it's more the lack of story. Unfortunately I am a bit behind on the series because I have been waiting to buy the latest Anita Blake books until I can get them in paperback...used. That's how valuable these la...more I have to start out with saying what many other reviewers have said. I love the Anita Blake novels. I have devoted a great part of my life into reading and re-reading the series. That being said the latest books have been a disappointment. The sex involved in them doesn't really bother me; it's more the lack of story. Unfortunately I am a bit behind on the series because I have been waiting to buy the latest Anita Blake books until I can get them in paperback...used. That's how valuable these latest books have been to me; that being said there were some positives to this book. I just can't seem to give up the series yet. So I will try to create a quick list of negatives and positives.

Negatives
- What does Anita do for a living? There is no police work and no animating in this book.
- How many more strange relationships can we handle? The number of weird relationships that Anita is involved in is getting so ridiculously complicated that I am going to have to start keeping a character map to keep it all straight.
- Do we care about the sex scenes between her and all the men? Okay the men are tasty sounding and it's nice that they are having fun; but the sex scenes are all the same. If you are going to have that many lengthy sex scenes they should be more imaginative.
- Are we ever going to span more than a few days in these books? The plot (what there is of it) is moving incredibly SSSLLLOOOWWWW.
- Is anyone else sick of Richard? I know I am.

Positives
- I really did enjoy some of the character development for Nathaniel. He has always been one of my favorite characters and I love that he had more of a main role in this book.
- I also enjoyed some of the character development between Anita, Jean-Claude, and Asher. Some of this was really interesting; albeit a bit drawn out.
- I do find Anita's growing powers interesting.
- I liked the inclusion of some additional supernatural races; the mermaids and were-lions.

All that being said. Will I read the next book? Of course I will; I am 14 books into the series it will take more than 3 bad books for me to let go. I have high hopes for Harlequin as I have heard there is *finally* more action in that book. (less)

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Nov 05, 2010 Patrick D'Orazio rated it 2 of 5 stars

I will say that I have enjoyed the Anita Blake books a great deal. Do I like how they have developed more recently? Not exactly. That is to say, I guess I am a bit bothered by how willingly Anita has done a 180 degree turn from where she was at the beginning of things. This is not to say that I do not enjoy the changes or feel that they are unfeasible. I guess it is that I liked the tough as nails take no prisoners attitude she had earlier on. It is still there, but it has softened tremendously...more I will say that I have enjoyed the Anita Blake books a great deal. Do I like how they have developed more recently? Not exactly. That is to say, I guess I am a bit bothered by how willingly Anita has done a 180 degree turn from where she was at the beginning of things. This is not to say that I do not enjoy the changes or feel that they are unfeasible. I guess it is that I liked the tough as nails take no prisoners attitude she had earlier on. It is still there, but it has softened tremendously as she has continued to build her own little entourage of lovers and power partners.
While I guess the overpowering need for sex is a definite plot driver, it does tend to get monotonous. It seems that in the more recent books Ms. Hamilton is forced to spend such a massive quantity of effort covering the various aspects of the Ardeur and its affects on all involved, especially Anita, that we have limited storyline that takes place outside of the bedroom or where ever the latest "feeding" happens to occur. It becomes so omnipresent that Anita seems to have gone from being a totally independent and powerful character to being someone who relies on a huge network of others just to get through each day without accidently killing someone in one of her triumverants because she has not fed...it just seems that this is such a overbearing part of the stories that every other aspect of the storyline suffers. Of course the whole aspect of being a Succubus is interesting, but it is definitely only a small portion of what makes this character so cool, so fun to learn about. Her necromancy, her mixed lycanthropy, heck, just being a plain old Executioner are what makes her so dynamic.
In this book the character of Merlin is only briefly explored. Brought up in that last part of the book, his tremendous power is only a factor for a very short period of time and then he disappears while Anita has yet another sexual tryst to complete the novel. I would have loved for there to have been a much more involved confrontations with him, Adonis, and other interesting characters such as Haven, Samuel, and Thea. I feel that the interactions were cut tremendously short with them because of so much space devoted to the Ardeur.
It is my hope that after all the knowledge gained in determining the true power that Anita has and can gain that furture books will not have to dwell so completely on it and can have much more complex plots and interesting and new developments that so much captivated me with this series in stories such as Obsidian Butterfly and earlier works.
I do enjoy the characters and even though I think this book is a weak link in the series I am definitely hooked and will continue to read on and see what happens next.(less)

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Oct 29, 2010 Chibineko rated it 1 of 5 stars

I really tried to read this book, honestly I did. It started off well enough and was better than it's predecessor (not saying much). The idea of a meeting of several different Masters of the City was interesting since it would lead to different types of vamps & magic. Unfortunately all it lead to was providing Anita with different flavors of vamp & were to bang. It honestly was incredibly boring after a while, especially the sex scenes.

I'm no stranger to porn or written sex. (I have a f...more

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Oct 19, 2010 Mary Grace rated it 3 of 5 stars

The strength of the Ardeur rises but Anita has come terms with her power in addition to her other supernatural abilities. Not only has she been The Executioner, investigator, Jean-Claudes human servant, a member of two triumvirate, and other obligations that wears her down everyday. Now she is faced with the possibility of having a child and what's worse, with Anita's multiple partner, the gang doesn't know who's is it. Which makes it more complicated.

From the previous book we know that Anita ca...more

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Sep 08, 2010 Michelle O'flynn rated it 3 of 5 stars

I have gone from reading "The Killing Dance" to this one in the series. Yeah a massive jump I know and it blew my mind. In "The Killing Dance" I was so glad that Anita had finally chosen the gorgeous Jean Claude as her lover... even though he is a corpse at least he is still a human corpse, but Richard goes really animal! In Danze Macabre, I was stunned to learn about the 'ardeur' and the need for it to be fed. I didn't mind all the sex and vampire politics, but Ms. Hamilton seems to have decide...more

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Jul 16, 2010 Raiveran Rabbit rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: avoid-reading

No amount of ridiculously reasoned hardcore porn is worth this. —

If you want to read someone’s repetitive, repetitive, repetitive Mary Sue fantasy about legions of perfect, beautiful, smart, powerful, perfect men either fighting over or adoring, but all fucking, one insecure, shallow, selfish dumbass character, this book is for you. If you don’t demand a storyline to prop up the epic and imminently selfishly immature and needy fantasies of not one but ten Twilight twihards distilled and poured...more

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Jun 12, 2010 Cloudwalker rated it 2 of 5 stars

"What was wrong with me? I was hysterical, that was what was wrong with me. The moment I thought it that clearly, I started to calm. I didn't feel any better, really, but I could think. That was an improvement. I thought about being free of the ardeur, and that was a good thought. I thought about being free of Jean-Claude's marks, and all the metaphysical mess that came with it. My life being my own again, that sounded good. I thought about being just me, as Jean-Claude said, just me in my own s

...more

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Apr 10, 2010 D.C. rated it 3 of 5 stars

Ooooooookay. So I am honestly speechless at this point. Not so much that I think the series is taking a header, but more along the lines that I'm starting to feel uncomfortable. All the sex Anita is having is not a problem, its the amount of men she is involving that makes it difficult to keep track of her relationships. There were several plots to this book and several matters were explained and brought up which was nice so it wasn't so much about how many men Anita can get into bed. I hate to...more

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Mar 24, 2010 Angela rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: erotica, romance, vampire, were, witch

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I am amazed that the entire book takes place in just about 3 days/nights. WOW! I do have some thoughts on the sex that occurs in this book (not as much as in Incubus Dreams - I think - tho it may be close)

We find Anita still battling the ardeur, and all the other powers that seem to be springing up from the same. And, we find Anita finally chatting with her only NON-preternatural friend -- Ronnie. It seems Anita has a little problem - she could be pregnant!!! Well, Ronnie is less than sympatheti...more I am amazed that the entire book takes place in just about 3 days/nights. WOW! I do have some thoughts on the sex that occurs in this book (not as much as in Incubus Dreams - I think - tho it may be close)

We find Anita still battling the ardeur, and all the other powers that seem to be springing up from the same. And, we find Anita finally chatting with her only NON-preternatural friend -- Ronnie. It seems Anita has a little problem - she could be pregnant!!! Well, Ronnie is less than sympathetic with the problem of who is the father, mainly because R, who used to slut around, is ready to settle down with just one man (a fantastic man, but just one) and she is jealous. So, it looks like R and A are on the outs, but who knows -- that could get mended.

So, in my opinion, this book is all about Anita accepting who she is. There are those that will say that is really Richard's problem, he needs to accept who he is, and who she is, and what their lives are about, but really -- A needs to accept what she has become. She is no longer the good Catholic girl, and yet, she finds she can still talk to God. I believe that every step of this novel, she is finding that she is still a good person, and deserves to be happy - however that is happening.

We don't delve into the other characters of the book. We only touch a little on how they help A feel Good. And she is. By the end I think she has realized that for her, sex matters, and that is ok. It is all right that it matters with many a man as well. She needs them all, for various reasons. I look forward to the next book, because I think finally A can get back to business (detective work, zombie raising, and keeping the power base J-C and she have created strong) - she finally is comfortable in her own skin...only how long with that skin last is the big question, and what exactly is that other furry living inside her?? HMMMM, thoughts for the big picture.

Yes, I enjoyed this read. I have fond memories of the beginning and may need to go back to it, but Laurell is still keeping me happy. And I think she is still being true to Anita and her crew.(less)

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Feb 25, 2010 Terry rated it 1 of 5 stars

This book is a good explanation as to why this book series hasn't been picked up for television or the big screen. Could you imagine sitting through 1 to 2 hours of a movie or show & watching a room packed full of characters dramatically staring at each other, clutching each other, spontaneous fainting, collapsing, gasping and shuddering in a very mellow dramatic way with very little duologue.... All with nothing actually going on? Yeah, neither can I. And when there is dialog, the character...more This book is a good explanation as to why this book series hasn't been picked up for television or the big screen. Could you imagine sitting through 1 to 2 hours of a movie or show & watching a room packed full of characters dramatically staring at each other, clutching each other, spontaneous fainting, collapsing, gasping and shuddering in a very mellow dramatic way with very little duologue.... All with nothing actually going on? Yeah, neither can I. And when there is dialog, the characters banter back and fourth verbally beating the most minuscule theories and details of their romantic life to death.

Past pages upon pages of the uncomfortable and boring bouts of "ripples of power" scenes that infest the book.... Hamilton putties the cracks of her book with pages upon pages of pointless and mindless blow jobs, dry humping and Anita donating blood every few chapters. The sex... So disappointing. It's meaningless and anti-climactic. No thrill of the hunt, no pining or hoping, feeding your imagination or build up. It would be nice if we could see Anita having real sex because she wants to not just randomly doing it with every anyone who crosses her path because she has to "take one for the team". I wish Hamilton would just let Anita want to have sex, not be forced into a situation where she has to do it The idea of the adure could actually be a really fun fantasy but it's just over-kill and redundant now. This book definitely drove that feeling home for me.

Another thing that bothers me is that Hamilton has really ruined Jean-Claude (among others)for me in this book. He was dark, powerful, unpredictable, mysterious, masculine with that hint of femininity that is attractive. Now he comes off (in his relationship with Anita) as weak, complacent, transparent, predictable, feminine and boring. Part of what made his relationship to Anita attractive to me as a reader was the tension, danger and mystery. Besides Nathaniel, I could go on for pages about how I just don't like most of the characters in these books anymore.

Basically, I'll keep reading the series (mostly because I can finish a book in 1-2 days no matter how horrible so I at least don't waste a month of my time reading this crap) in hopes I get a glimpse of what I enjoyed about these stories at one time.... But at the same time, I'll never read the books again and I'm happy I'm getting them from the library so they don't take up space on my book shelf.

(less)

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About Laurell K. Hamilton

Laurell K. Hamilton is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of two series that mix mystery, fantasy, magic, horror and romance. Her Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter novels from Berkley Books began with GUILTY PLEASURES and continues to thrive with over sixteen volumes to the series and an comic adaptation. There are now more than 6 million copies of Anita in print worldwide, in 16 languages. Hamilt...more

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Books by Laurell K. Hamilton

Guilty Pleasures (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, #1)

Circus of the Damned (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, #3)

The Laughing Corpse (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, #2)

The Lunatic Cafe (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, #4)

Bloody Bones (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, #5)

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Danse Macabre (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter #14)

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