Goodreads Mobile | see what your friends are reading

Jan 07, 2012

Tilly rated it:

I really wasn’t excited about this book. All I wanted was to skim over the paragraphs so that I could get to the next book of the series, Narcissus in Chains as quickly as possible! And then it hit me … mutilated bodies and Olaf. You need to read this book to understand just how messed up my opinion is of his character. He’s dangerous. He’s deadly. And Blake is just his victim type. I like him! Total turn on .. go figure.

Obsidian butterfly is a fantastic book filled with tortu More...

2 comments like (8 people liked it)

Aug 02, 2008

Jeremy rated it:

This was the last Anita Blake novel worth reading, primarily because of Edward. The rest of the series has been garbage (including Edwards' return. Seriously, what was his body count in the Harlequin, one? Maybe?). I don't have a problem with the sex - no matter how pluralistic, kinky, or gay it gets - but Hamilton has sacrificed that literary device thingy called 'plot' in order to pack the pages with smut. Something happens, they have sex for five hundred pages, then the Ardeur snaps it's More...

4 comments like (16 people liked it)

Jul 15, 2011

Regina rated it:

ETA: I ended up moving this up to 4 stars desipte my criticism below.

This book would have been 4 stars if not for the repeated cultural and geographic mistakes. It was definitely a horror and gore filled book, not for the light hearted -- includes child abuse and murder. Seeing Edward and getting to know more about him made this book for me. He is now a favorite.

13 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 26, 2008

Jeri rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 31, 2011

Willy rated it:

L'ho riletto anche in italiano perchè in inglese non me lo ricordavo molto e poi tendo a saltare un sacco di pg .
La violenza e la crudezza delle scene non mi ha granchè impressionato: prima cosa so che è finzione e quindi, come nei film dell'orrore, l'effetto speciale è molto difficile che mi faccia paura; mi terrorizza molto di più un aspetto psicologico approfondito e ben fatto o un'atmosfera; seconda cosa le scene in questione le ho trovate comunque giustificate nell'economia del libro. Il c More...

0 comments like

Aug 02, 2011

Jody added it

Great book! Lots of Edward, who has always been one of my favorite characters, and less of the love triangle drama. The scene with Jean-Claude in the dream was sweet, because their interaction was more emotional than sexual, and I hope subsequent books will deal more with the development of their emotional relationship, instead of just sex and more sex. I hold to hope, but live in doubt. It was also nice to see Anita follow someone else's orders for a change. I've noticed that most of the ch More...

0 comments like

Aug 03, 2010

Onefinemess rated it:

A nice change of pace with much less sex than usual (yay!). Don't get me wrong, I like sex, but man is it freaking overkill in some of these books. MMmm author fantasy fulfillment much? [return][return]It was a nice change seeing Anita almost totally out of her element. The rather unexpected character development for Edward was a nice touch too, and I hope to see it address again in the future. Especially the molestation thing... AGAIN: DID THE CHARACTER REALLY NEED TO BE RAPED/MOLESTED? I More...

0 comments like

Feb 25, 2009

yellowbird rated it:

This is the book where Laurell K. Hamilton lost me as a reader. I love the early Anita Blake books, because they are police procedurals set in a fantasy world. But somewhere along the way, the menage a trois between the three main characters (a necromancer, a vampire, and a werewolf) overspread the pages like a nasty rash of suspicious nature. In the books after Obsidian Butterfly, Anita is having sex with every were creature available, the detective elements have gone out the window, and I coul More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Jan 13, 2012

Anna marked it as to-read

I'm not much of a fan of Anita Blake. As the stories progress, book by book, Anita's life just gets so far out of the scope or reality and understanding, but well before Obsidian Butterfly came around, I had mostly surrendered to the inevitability of absurdity.

So, imagine my utter surprise, when all that takes a back seat to tracking down an actual monster, where Anita doesn't have to be the strongest (and no miracle needs to fall from the sky). The story itself actually revolves around a bount More...

0 comments like

Dec 16, 2011

Katherine rated it:

Obsidian Butterfly is #9 in the Anita Blake Series, and is one of the most shockingly gruesome so far. Anita is brought into the life of Edward (her mentor) after he calls in the favor she owes him. Edward's legal, but fake, alter identity is Ted Forrester, a Texan with an accent who lives in New Mexico. "Ted" is a respected bounty hunter, liked by the local cops, and has a reliable, friendly reputation. It is surprising for Anita (and the reader) that "Ted" is engaged to a m More...

0 comments like

Dec 09, 2011

iamjenai rated it:

Obsidian Butterfly is the 9th book in the Anita Blake series. I was so excited to read this book because I miss Edward sooo much. I was so damn tired with Anita dealing with vampire and werewolf stuff that I thought seeing Anita work again as a necromancer would make me feel great. In this book, Anita had to go down to New Mexico to help Edward solve a mystery. Someone is skinning and mutilating victims and Edward believes that Anita is the only one who can solve this mystery. Anita and Edward More...

0 comments like

Jul 05, 2011

Sand rated it:

I've just finished this and am half way through the next. I've read some other reviews to see if my feelings are shared and it seems they are. I've been reading these one after the other and was pleasantly surprised by how strongly plot driven this one is. Anita is out of her comfort zone and the character development goes hand in hand with the story. The refreshingly clear plot line rather made me blind to just how violent and dark it is, which shows perhaps how much I've been missing a strong More...

0 comments like

Mar 28, 2011

Diana (Offbeat Vagabond) rated it:

Review posted here: http://offbeatvagabond.blogspot.com/2010/10/laurell-k-hamilton-obsidian-butterfly.html

Let me start off by saying, I am a huge Anita Blake fan. There wouldn't be True Blood if not for Anita. Hell, as much as it pains me to say this, there wouldn't be Twilight if. It for Anita. She is the original badass. Now I am aware of how people feel about the series now. But this does not mean I am going to stop reading the series though.
This book is definitely di More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 11, 2011

Ithlilian rated it:

I have to say that Edward and Olaf are two of my favorite characters. Knowing that this book was about them had me extremely excited to read it. Unfortunately, I was let down. I didn't think I could get more disappointed after Blue Moon, I was wrong.

Edward calls in Anita's favor by asking her to solve the case of the fleshless ones. People are turning up dead with only parts of them remaining, other people are turning up alive with no skin and seemingly in no pain. Anita must find out More...

0 comments like

Nov 21, 2010

Mary Grace rated it:

After Blue Moon, Anita continues the adventure with book 9 of the Anita Blake series titled Obsidian Butterfly.

As I have said im my previous review of Blue Moon, I think the series is on a plateau level in a way that it is not as exciting as the previous books that I have read in the series. This novel is centered with the life of Edward, assassin and a friend of Anita, and his life outside the killing industry. We will se a softer side of Edward that we don't see much often.

More...

0 comments like

Jun 11, 2010

Chinablue_25 rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 22, 2011

Myvampfiction added it

Reviewed by Ciara

*Warning: possible spoilers ahead.*

This is one of my favourite ABVH books (so far). Anita has taken time out from her complicated love life, and is focusing more on work, so Jean Claude and Richard and all the others are absent from this book.

LKH replaces them with Edward (who Anita describes as … a hit man. He specialized in monsters. Vampires, shape-shifters, anything and everything. There were people like me who did it legal, but Edward did More...

0 comments like

Jan 31, 2010

Bookworms rated it:

I as a Jean-Claude fan came not on my costs, but the Richard fans aren’t, too. Since both play no role in this book and are mentioned only on the edge. For it the fans of Edward may be glad, because this book is dedicated to him as the second central figure beside Anita.

She owes to him one favor whom he takes up now. So she travels to him and finds him as Ted. Since Edward leads a double life and has a girlfriend with their two children as Ted. Anita also does not manage this situat More...

0 comments like

Feb 10, 2010

Leslie rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like

Oct 18, 2010

lisa rated it:

oh god i love this book! i haven't read it in so long and guilty pleasures was good but not as amazing as i remembered so i didn't know how this would stack up, but i still love it so much.

anita/edward is still a major OTP for me, and this book is full of super-faded highlighted passages where they declare their love for each other. (sort of. shut up.) i was really embarrassed the last time i loaned it to someone, because it's clearly been read over a dozen times and there are a lot More...

0 comments like

Jun 08, 2008

Melissa rated it:

This book, although part of the wonderful series of Anita Blake books, was almost boring. I think it took me 2 months to read it because I kept putting it off. The story was good but was drawn out and lengthy in places. If anyone is starting the Anita Blake series I would almost recommend to not read it because it has almost no effect on the outcome of the other books...this is a first for me out of the other 12 books in the series that I have read already.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 13, 2011

NicNacNoodle rated it:

Argh! This was not expected and not well received. I had been complaining that I had given out two 9/10 scores recently to Anita Blake Books (Books 7 & 8) and worried that I'd end up giving the same score again and again and again. I needn't have worried at all.

This one was so not par for the course. The story centres around Edward the notorious Bounty Hunter, a.k.a. Death, and although Edward is an excellent character on the pages and one I had taken a liking to right form the start, More...

0 comments like

Sep 10, 2011

Casey rated it:

For me, Obsidian Butterfly was a nice break in the Anita Blake series, because by this point in the series sexual relationships were starting to take over a lot of Anita’s life, and in this book she left town to go focus on a serial killing case. Don’t get me wrong, I understand why sexual relationships became such an integral part of the series, but it was nice to get a change of pace. She didn’t exactly leave her relationship issues behind her, of course, but the focus is different.

More...

0 comments like

Aug 25, 2009

Mia rated it:

This was the first ANita Blake novel I've read. Whenever I read a book or author that is hyped a lot, I make it a point to read the whole book, so I can see what it is about them that attracts readers. I've got to say, that took work. I was bored and annoyed for the first half of the book -- overwritten yet somehow half-assed descriptions and snark, with all the depth of a papercut. (How does a character who prides herself on her smarts not know that the word for removing the skin from someone i More...

1 comment like

Oct 16, 2011

Pat rated it:

Good beginning and nice finish but too long by half. 600 pages? Oy vey (and face palm). 300 pages of that were wasted on he said, she said, meaningful looks, and driving driving driving. Yes, it takes a long time to drive around in New Mexico. Who cares? This thing was structured like an old episode of 24, in fake real time. Sloooow. WAY too much time with not a single thing happening. Any by that I do mean nothing.

That's most of the reason for the 3 stars. The other? I missed More...

0 comments like

Sep 09, 2011

Cherie rated it:

My ratings system is as follows. One star is GOOD. The book is entertaining, easy to read and you don't want to stop reading because something about the book is compelling you not to. Two stars is GREAT! This time the story is not only entertaining, but highly creative, unique, easy to read and hard to put down. Three stars is EXCELLENT. Here the book has all aspects of one and two stars, but now the book is thought and emotionally provoking. Four is AWESOME. This is the read that is not onl More...

0 comments like

Jun 15, 2011

Laura rated it:

At the Q&A with Laurell K. Hamilton, she mentioned a young fan who began reading the Anita Blake series at the age of 14; she was introduced to the series with this novel. There was a horrified indrawn breath from the audience. Re-reading the novel reminded me why this is an adult series.

Obsidion Butterfly is a horror novel, plain and simple. In addition to the "normal" horrors of Anita's universe (vampires, werewolves, witches, brujos, etc.) we have the brutality of kidnappe More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 19, 2010

Emma rated it:

Obsidian Butterfly is primarily set in New Mexico, because Edward has finally called in the favour Anita Blake owes him and she goes to his home town to help him out. Therefore, the story focuses on new characters, and doesn't feature the familiar St. Louis characters we know and love.

However, this is not a problem and the storyline and new characters are so interesting that we don't mind not hearing about the old ones.

In this book, Anita learns a lot more about Edward More...

0 comments like

Jan 23, 2012

Elizabeth rated it:

This is my favorite volume in the series. It never drags, it gives us fresh faces alongside old familiar ones (hi there, Edward!), and it explores new supernatural territory with the ol’ Anita flair. Being from New Mexico myself doesn’t hurt, but even were I not, I’d like this one.

Seeking a break from her complicated love live, Anita heads down to New Mexico to help Edward with some work. Surprises abound, including Edward’s new fiance and stepson, and an apparent Aztec god running--wh More...

0 comments like

Apr 18, 2011

Deborah rated it:

Well, I think it was number nine. After a while I realised that people who read Laurall K. have stoped bothering about the novel titles and just refer to them by number.

Anyway, picked one up off a friends shelf and tried to read it. It might work better if you start with #1 and work up but I doubt it.

I love sex, I like engaging in it, reading about it or discissing it. I enjoy eroitic novels and soft porn on the odd legal occassion. Rarely have I found an author who can m More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)