Narcissus in Chains (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, #10) by Laurell K. Hamilton

Jun 05, 2011 CJ rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, erotica-not-so-vanilla

The beginning of the end. I was fascinated with the whole human servant thing. I was fascinated with the werewolf added into the fray thing - talk about a messy love life! I thought that her powers increasing was fine - they had to if she was hanging around the kinds of monsters that were in her coterie. The twist with her being able to have a vampire servant bound to her was a nice one....after all, her power is to control the dead, and what are vampires but dead?

But it was never enough. It go...more The beginning of the end. I was fascinated with the whole human servant thing. I was fascinated with the werewolf added into the fray thing - talk about a messy love life! I thought that her powers increasing was fine - they had to if she was hanging around the kinds of monsters that were in her coterie. The twist with her being able to have a vampire servant bound to her was a nice one....after all, her power is to control the dead, and what are vampires but dead?

But it was never enough. It got to the point that every man who crossed her path fell madly in love, lust or slack jawed admiration of her whether he was human, vampire, werewolf, psychopath, you name it. She was a walking Love Potion Number 9. The only men who could withstand her powers of attraction were men who were such small side characters that they didn't matter.

And her powers just kept getting bigger. First she's an animator and can raise the dead...with some effort and a careful ritual and specific tools. Then she doesn't need much effort, then she doesn't need any tools at all, then she becomes a necromancer, able to call ALL the dead. Then she becomes the werewolf's female leader, then the were leopards female leader although she's not forced to do any changing with the full moon nastiness. It gets to the point that you figure when she meets God, she'll just absorb all his powers, too. Is there any power she DOESN'T have? Because if not, I can guarantee she'll have it eventually, although I will not still be reading this series by the time she ascends to divinity.

And as the sex increases, the plot decreases. I have nothing against soft core porn, I really don't. I read my fair share of it and enjoy it. But if I pick up a book to read a mystery or some fantasy and get doused with a couple hundred pages of fellatio before the plot even begins, I'm not reading what I picked the book up to read.

This book marks a major turning point in the series for me. Up until this book, the series was still a good one despite the loss of the female detective angle as her social life becomes the focus of the plots rather than solving a mystery. But this book crosses over the line and from here, you need to grit your teeth to keep going with the rest of the series.

(less)

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Sep 06, 2012 Tilly Slaton rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: reviews-completed

This book is the beginning, the core foundation of everything to come.

All of the books prior to this one were filled with death, gruesome and violent homicide scenes, bestial pornographic rape scenes to unquestionable love. Totally weird stuff, but worth every minute of couch time!

This book takes the entire series, and swings it into a completely different direction. This book really rocks the boat, and takes you by surprise. The once innocent and strictly moral and you must be in love to have s...more

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Mar 20, 2009 Rick rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: things-that-go-bump-in-the-night, 2-star, read-in-2000-2006

[My opinion, for what it‘s worth...exactly:]

With the exception of Micah, I've read the entire Anita Blake series up to this point (Blood Noir, #16) and, in the aforementioned opinion, Obsidian Butterfly was the last decent book, after which the series should have been renamed Anita Blake, Vampire Humper since the majority of what little action takes place occurs in the bedroom, the back seat of automobiles, on the kitchen table, the bathroom floor...etc, etc, etc.

Beginning with Narcissus In Ch

...more

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Oct 17, 2012 Crystal Starr Light rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: erotica, urban-fantasy, so-bad-it-s-good, romance-in-disguise, read-at-your-own-risk, i-whine-therefore-i-am, idiot-protagonist

Anita Blake is spending some much needed time with her friend, Veronica "Ronnie" Sims, when she gets a call. Apparently, submissive Nathaniel went to the club, Narcissus in Chains, and got into some BIG TIME trouble. Against the wishes of Ronnie, Anita calls Jean-Claude to give her an assist. At the club, she reunites with her other lover, Richard. From there, BIG changes happen.

NOTE: For some odd reason, the only audiobook version I could find is the abridgement. So I'm sure there are tons of n...more

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Jul 23, 2007 Stacy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Horror, Fantasy, and Romance

This is probably my favorite book in the series. I loved loved loved this one. I know many people think that after Obsidien Butterfly things went down hill and there was nothing but sex sex sex all the time, but if you look at the emotions involved and Anita's blossoming power in this book it is more than any book yet, plus there is nothing wrong with liking a little bit of sex (or alot) with your reading. So Since I do like those things I name this book my absolute favorite and I'm sure there a...more

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Aug 02, 2007 Damecatoe rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi_fantasy

TOTALLY SPOILERY, BEWARE

Hamilton managed to work in at least two Triple Word Scores with use of terms that resonate well with genre fans: ouroboros (remember Scully's tattoo, anyone?) and oubliette (yay! Jareth would be so pleased). But the newest term created for the Blakeverse? Panwere. Because it was not enough to have werewolves, wereleopards, wererats, wereswans, weresnakes, weretigers, werehyenas, weredogs and werebears. Nay, we also have to have someone who can shapeshift into multiple an...more TOTALLY SPOILERY, BEWARE

Hamilton managed to work in at least two Triple Word Scores with use of terms that resonate well with genre fans: ouroboros (remember Scully's tattoo, anyone?) and oubliette (yay! Jareth would be so pleased). But the newest term created for the Blakeverse? Panwere. Because it was not enough to have werewolves, wereleopards, wererats, wereswans, weresnakes, weretigers, werehyenas, weredogs and werebears. Nay, we also have to have someone who can shapeshift into multiple animals. Oh, and also, he must have split personality disorder. (Just roll with it, it's faster that way.)

When the books began, Anita was 24 and she was an animator (meaning she could raise zombies). Then she became a human servant to a vampire. But then she killed him (which nearly killed her) and was freed. Somewhere along the way, she went from being just an animator to a necromancer (like an uber-animator - she can now also raise vampires). Then she became a human servant again. And since she was dating the werewolf king (called an Ulfric), she was deemed his lupa (like a werewolf queen, I guess). And then she killed the head wereleopard in town and became the wereleopard's Nimir-Ra (queen).

So, when this book began, Anita was 26 and a necromancer human servant to the Master of the City and the werewolf king's lupa and the wereleopards' queen. (See how I said to just roll with it?) During the course of the book, Anita is accidentally impaled on the claws of one of her wereleopards, so it seems she might become their Nimir-Ra for like real, yo. She exhibits all sorts of new powers that confirm this suspicion. But come the next full moon, she doesn't shapeshift and it turns out that much as her vampire sweetie has an "animal to call" (being wolves), she (through the marks of being his human servant) has gained an animal to call of her very own - the leopard. How convenient. Oh, and she has also become a Master Necromancer, in that she now has a vampire servant. And did I mention she is now also a succubus? Yeah, that one would take too long to explain, so just keep rolling.

New folk that want to sleep with her: the new Nimir-Raj (leopard king) in town. And that panwere I mentioned earlier. Of course. (less)

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Oct 18, 2012 Lisa (Harmonybites) rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, fiction, novels

This for me is where the series went to crap. Before this I'd rate no book in this series lower than a four, but this one falls off a cliff. I held on and read to book 18, Flirt, because I had genuinely loved the series until this book, and back then once I invested in a series I kept with it, and with the books published up to The Harlequin, momentum kept me going, at least until I had to wait for the next book to be published. But Hamilton did something here that made me want to hurl the book...more This for me is where the series went to crap. Before this I'd rate no book in this series lower than a four, but this one falls off a cliff. I held on and read to book 18, Flirt, because I had genuinely loved the series until this book, and back then once I invested in a series I kept with it, and with the books published up to The Harlequin, momentum kept me going, at least until I had to wait for the next book to be published. But Hamilton did something here that made me want to hurl the book against the wall. I thought, she didn't just do that! But she did, and it wasn't an aberration or anything that was ever "fixed" and so completely changed the direction of the books from fun paranormal noir to soft porn. To explain what went wrong and how I felt, first I have to explain what originally appealed to me, then what Hamilton did here, and thus get into spoilers. So if avoiding them is important to you, you might not want to read beyond the next paragraph.

When I grew up there was no Buffy the Vampire Slayer, who appeared not long before the Anita Blake novels appeared. (Although Anita as a necromancer had appeared even before that in a short story.) There weren't many kick-ass action heroines around, so growing up I really appreciated them. I loved Anita's voice at first. She was a tough-as-nails take-no-crap woman in a male-dominated milieu and I found it easy to root for her. She had her vulnerabilities and hangups, but I thought Hamilton was pushing her in an interesting direction. I liked the dynamic between Anita, Jean-Claude and Richard. Jean-Claude, the vampire, started out fairly menacing, and the whole plotline with the different marks, with Anita struggling to remain human, resonated with me. Richard the werewolf represented something different: someone struggling himself to remain human, but perhaps in vain given his basic nature. And you could see Anita struggling not just between the two men, but what they represented. Learning that not all such "metaphysical" creatures should be seen as monsters, but struggling with the darkness within herself and where to draw the line. And I liked that Anita had a web of relationships beyond men she was romantically involved with, such as Dolph her colleague on the police force and her friend Ronnie Sims.

Spoilers Start Here--for this and future books

All that changed with this book. In this book Anita becomes a "succubus" because of the ardeur that forces her to have sex to feed it, and forces men to have sex with her who are drawn by it. So the fuel that drives the plots of the Anita Blake series from here on, a series that had been focused on a independent, tough take charge heroine... is rape. I hated that. And this book also adds one of my least liked regular characters in the Anitaverse--Micah--as well as marks the increase in importance of Nathaniel, a character I loathe. After this book Richard and Jean-Claude become more and more marginalized until in some books all we get are brief telephone conversation with them. And the sex takes over until there's little plot or scenes beyond the bedroom and Anita has an entire harem of men never developed beyond eye and hair color. That hadn't changed up to book 18.(less)

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Mar 16, 2011 Cat Russell (Addicted2Heroines) rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. "I crave you more than you will ever crave the man in your arms."

Another re-read for me. I had forgotten how good this one was!!
No detective work this time, but still a lot of wonderfully entertaining problems arise. I'm just going to sum up the fun stuff and what annoyed me.

Anita has been gone for six months distancing herself from her men and spending time with Marianne in an attempt to sort things out and focus on gaining better control of her magic. When in need of assistance regarding pro...more

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Jan 18, 2012 Kari Ramirez rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It's really sad the direction this series has gone. The first few books we SO GOOD! Scary and tense with a little sexual tension, but mostly just scary and tense. Then she introduced Richard and things started to go downhill. I don't mind a little romance in my blood & gore, but this is ridiculous. If I wanted to read supernatural porn I'd read Merry Gentry's series. Wait, I already did. So why would I want to read this crap?

It's no longer about the baddies that come out at night. It's all a...more It's really sad the direction this series has gone. The first few books we SO GOOD! Scary and tense with a little sexual tension, but mostly just scary and tense. Then she introduced Richard and things started to go downhill. I don't mind a little romance in my blood & gore, but this is ridiculous. If I wanted to read supernatural porn I'd read Merry Gentry's series. Wait, I already did. So why would I want to read this crap?

It's no longer about the baddies that come out at night. It's all about her threesome with Richard and Jean Claude or lack thereof and all the 'magic' that comes with it. It's SO BORING. They go on and on and round and round the same crap they've been circling around for the last 4 books!

And everything takes FOREVER! She knows that someone is in danger and she must save them, but before they get to where they need to be they discuss things that have no bearing on the problem at hand and then generally someone has to try to have sex with Anita. And this time, Hamilton recognizes her long-windedness but still doesn't seem to do anything about it. Apparently, she thinks it's good storytelling. IT'S NOT! It's PAINFUL.

And come on, I know I'm a bit behind on this series having started it late, but this book was written in the 2000's. Why is everyone dressing like they're going to a bad gay bar in the 80's? The descriptions of the clothes sound like horrible 80's rejects. Silver mesh shirts & pants? On men. Men with hair down to their waists with vinyl shirts and pants. Ew. "There was nothing feminine about Richard." Well, except his hair and his pathetic attitude.

And she repeats herself constantly. Twice in one chapter she writes that very powerful shapeshifts can partially shift. She's ALWAYS (I don't think there's been a book without this) says something about seeing something horrific and "my mind simple refused to understand". And then she'll go on to explain how the mind isn't meant to see such things and tries to protect you from understanding what you're seeing. I KNOW!!!! YOU'VE ALREADY SAID THIS!!!!!!! It's so annoying!

I don't think I can read anymore of this series. I can't stand Anita and her wishy washy morals and her sociopathic attitude. She's tired and done and really, just a projection of Hamilton wanting to play out her sexual fantasies. It's not about monsters and scary things anymore. Boo.(less)

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May 16, 2011 Samantha (Book Lover's Cozy Cafe) rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 5-star-books, read-2011, own, urban-fantasy

this was an intense book, so much going on. Anita poor Anita it's hard to be a badass when your badassness is running on low. Richard at first I was like oh awesome he's becoming cool, calm and collected and getting with the program ummmmm WRONG!!!! This man was more up & down and more emotional than a woman on PMS.

Jean Claude was as usual as calm and cool and sexy as always except when he attacked Micah now that was a trip.... OK so what is it with he shifter boys, they all seem to be rea...more

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Mar 29, 2009 mlady_rebecca rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: series__anita_blake, author__laurell_k_hamilton, genre__urban_fantasy, genre_sub__vamps, genre_sub__lycanthropes_and_shifter, 2002, read_more_than_once, 2009, abvh__us_pb_v2__bodyparts, fiction__part_of_a_series, best_of_sampling, pov__first_person_female, favorites, genre_sub__necromancers_or_reapers, fiction__speculative, troupe__mindlink_mates, genre_sub__incubus_succubus, in_retrospect__favorite

This is still one of my favorite books in the Anita Blake series. Part of that is that it was the last book I read when I first discovered the series and read them in one great rush. (In other words, "Cerulean Sins" was the first book I had to wait for.) But a lot of it is the fact that I like the possibilities this book opened up.

This book represented a turning point in the series, one that many readers disliked, but I was quite fond of.

There is an underlying theme in these books. Anita goes f...more This is still one of my favorite books in the Anita Blake series. Part of that is that it was the last book I read when I first discovered the series and read them in one great rush. (In other words, "Cerulean Sins" was the first book I had to wait for.) But a lot of it is the fact that I like the possibilities this book opened up.

This book represented a turning point in the series, one that many readers disliked, but I was quite fond of.

There is an underlying theme in these books. Anita goes from a very black and white closed off individual in "Guilty Pleasures", to an individual who sees the world in shades of grey. She stops seeing the "monsters" as other and starts judging individuals on their own merit. She also slowly releases all her self-imposed restrictions on who and how she can find love.

(Minor spoilers, although not enough to tag the whole review.)

After the Tri married the marks in the first few chapters of the book, I would have been satisfied with things moving forward as a threesome, but I'll admit in retrospect I like this twist much better.

I love Jean-Claude's lover's list and the fact that it was realized in future books. I love the fact that, even with the ardeur, Anita still makes the men in her life earn a place at her side. She's not a woman of casual lusts, no matter how things look from the outside.

I also love that this book managed to visit with most of the characters we've come to love. Except for Animator's Inc., I think everyone (in St. Louis) was on stage. Of the vamps, we saw plenty of Jean-Claude, Asher, Damian, and even Gretchen, plus we were introduced to Meng Die and Faust. Additionally, this was the first real introduction of Belle (from a distance). With the wolves, we saw plenty of Richard, Jason, Stephen, Sylvie, Jamill, Shang-Da, and even a hint of Irving. Oh, and Raina, can't forget her. With the leopards we saw plenty of Nathaniel, Gregory, Cherry, Zane, Elizabeth, and Vivian and we were introduced to Micah and his pard. With the wererats, we saw Raphael, Dr. Lillian, and a hint of Louie, plus we were introduced to Claudia and Bobby Lee. We saw Ronnie and Zerbrowski and Dolph. I'm very very impressed that everyone was on stage like that. We also had both vamp and furry politics going on, as well as a (very connected) RPIT case.

Overall, I love this book and all the possibilities it brought out for the later books in the series, especially the next two - "Cerulean Sins" and "Incubus Dreams". Can't recommend enough.

(Review date: 03/25/2009)(less)

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Sep 21, 2007 LJ rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: suspense, paranormal_fantasy, missouri

Narcissus in Chains - Ok
Laurell K. Hamilton - 10th in series
Wounded in battle at a bondage club while trying to save one of the were-leopards she is protecting, Anita Blake, vampire hunter, wakes up naked in bed with a couple of strange men and discovers that the wounds she suffered in the rescue may be turning her into a werewolf herself. As usual in this series, there's lots of sexual tension as Anita tries to balance her two lovers, vampire Jean-Claude and alpha werewolf Richard, but this tim...more

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Aug 08, 2008 Amanda rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: paranormal-romance, favorites

i thought that this book was sad in a way. one...richard left broke up with anita. and for a stupid reason. just because she is more cozy with "monsters" than he is. then she got symptoms of being a sucubus from Jean Claude when he gave her the fourth mark. and when she fed off of Richard...he was like goin cookoo for coco puffs. im mean...u cant tell me he did not like it..and he had a chance to stop it or walk away...but he didn't...so its partly his fault. i dont know how i feel about Micah....more

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Apr 23, 2013 Ivette rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Anita Blake is coming into her own in this book. She has started out as a naive "good little Catholic girl" and learning that the rest of the world doesn't perceive sex and nudity in the way she has been raised. This plot development of the "good catholic girl" finding herself turning into a succubus with a supernaturally sex drive despite her iron-hard will power that we've seen from previous episodes. Its a good erotic subplot, to the good verses bad plot. She is finally accepting that she is...more

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Mar 15, 2013 Olivia Barrington rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Once I find a series of books I barely stop reading long enough to write reviews on the individual works. The books become my temporary world as I lose myself in the words of an apt writer.
The Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Series are written in a style I am not use to. It was a struggle for me to lose myself and go to that magical world and leave my mundane real life behind but I pushed through and with each book I found myself more and more bewitched by the tiny vampire hunter.
The dialogue is f...more

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Mar 10, 2013 Lisa H. rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, series

One of the things I initially liked about the character of Anita Blake was that she had a moral compass, and her job as an animator (the kind that raises the dead, not the kind that draws Bambi), her consulting position with the cops, and her burgeoning skills as a necromancer all kept putting her in positions where she had to evaluate her behavior and decide if she was still one of the "good guys." Not that I'm saying I'm the kind of person who carries multiple guns, hangs out with vampires and...more One of the things I initially liked about the character of Anita Blake was that she had a moral compass, and her job as an animator (the kind that raises the dead, not the kind that draws Bambi), her consulting position with the cops, and her burgeoning skills as a necromancer all kept putting her in positions where she had to evaluate her behavior and decide if she was still one of the "good guys." Not that I'm saying I'm the kind of person who carries multiple guns, hangs out with vampires and/or shapeshifters, or has power over the dead, but I empathized with her conflicts. She did things she later regretted, yet knew she would have done exactly the same thing in the same circumstances, even knowing that she'd be torn up about it later. Most of the time if you asked her to justify her position on an issue, the only thing she could come up with it "it's the right thing to do." I can understand that. I'm bad at parsing the philosophical underpinnings of my decisions, but I know "right" when I feel it.

As the series continued, Ms. Hamilton started to lose me with what I call "Ayla syndrome": as in Jean Auel's Clan of the Cave Bear series, where the main character is credited with increasing numbers of skills and discoveries (Ayla discovers fire. Ayla invents sewing. Ayla tames horses), Anita is given new abilities at virtually every juncture. Up to a point, it makes sense: Anita puts herself into situations or asserts authority without perceiving the consequences of her actions, and only by virtue of dumb luck, strong skills with firearms, and her metaphysical abilities (and later training) she manages to avoid getting killed and most of the time saves the people she cares about, with the result that she usually wins the respect of former enemies (or kills them!) But as we went along and new skills and/or complications continued to pop up and get integrated into her world, it began to beggar the imagination that one person could encompass all of it. The only explanation I could come up with was either that these people Anita's supposed to love have lied and/or kept major important facts from her (which in past would have been cause for her to terminate the relationship - one way or another), or that Ms. Hamilton couldn't figure out how to keep things fresh without adding on new complications.

The other thing that started out believable and degenerated to "completely unacceptable" (in my opinion) was Anita's sex life. Now, I like a good sex scene as much as anyone else, but the sexier Anita became, the more uncomfortable I grew. At the beginning, Anita was holding out for marriage, because that's the way she was raised and how she felt about sex. She acknowledged her attraction to certain men, but she was not into casual screwing around. With two extremely hot men wooing her, she didn't even sleep with one of them until the 6th book. The woman had standards. In NiC, tho', she gets overcome by the "ardeur", AKA, the lust-monkey power of her vampire lover, Jean-Paul, which compels her to fuck pretty much anyone. "Oh, geez, honey, I know I used to be a good Catholic girl, but now that I have your love buttons on me I just can't say no to a nekkid man." It's very disappointing, especially since the book just previous to NiC, Obsidian Butterfly, was very good, almost a noir treatment, and I thought Hamilton had made a real leap in her writing. Maybe that was it. Or maybe Hamilton divorced her old husband and started fucking some young stud* and felt she had to write about her quality orgasms. Of course, she also started another series around the time NiC was published, and it's almost pure soft porn, so it's not like she didn't have an outlet for all the sexual energy she was putting out there.

* Wholly speculative. Please, Ms. Hamilton, don't sue me.

So I will say this: Hamilton's Anita Blake books are fun, the writing from the first (Guilty Pleasures) up to Obsidian Butterfly improved markedly, but don't bother with NiC (or Cerulean Sins, which is where I gave up entirely on the series), 'cause you'll be disappointed. So saith me.(less)

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Feb 27, 2013 Haleigh Clark rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

As far as I am concerned, this is the final book in the Anita Blake line.

Don't get me wrong, it's been a bumpy ride. I loved the earlier books where she was routinely called in to deal with an undead something-or-other, or raise zombies to solve disputes and legal cases, and all of the fun that she got into with her supernatural gentlemen-callers, but two books ago, I realized something: I generally disliked Blake. I mean, she's powerful, yes, and has gone to hell and back, yes, but I generally...more

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Feb 09, 2013 Kat rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Ok! Dopo aver riflettuto esattamente su quello che avrei potuto dire di questo libro, eccomi qui!
Anita torna a casa con il botto ( come minimo direi ). Ed iniziano i suoi casini, tra il dividersi fra un vampiro ed un licantropo, vi si aggiungono anche due Leopardi mannari Nathaniel uno dei suoi Pardo ( ah! si perché lei è così figa che non solo fa parte di un Triunvirato ma è anche la Nimir-Ra umana del Leopardi mannari, della serie non facciamoci mancare niente ) e poi Micah, il Nimir-Raj di u...more

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Nov 28, 2012 Fangs for the Fantasy rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I normally begin my reviews with a summary of the book’s plot. So I’m going to scrape some plot out here to write about

Anita has, after the drastic events of the last book, decided to end her 6 month separation with Richard and Jean-Claude and re-bound the marks since without the marks being properly linked all three of them are walking around with a great big target painted on their foreheads. Unfortunately, because Jean-Claude is an incubus, uniting the marks means Anita gains the adeur, becom...more I normally begin my reviews with a summary of the book’s plot. So I’m going to scrape some plot out here to write about

Anita has, after the drastic events of the last book, decided to end her 6 month separation with Richard and Jean-Claude and re-bound the marks since without the marks being properly linked all three of them are walking around with a great big target painted on their foreheads. Unfortunately, because Jean-Claude is an incubus, uniting the marks means Anita gains the adeur, becomes a succubus and gains the mystical ability of having to have sex every 5 minutes.

There’s also a new force in town kidnapping shapeshifters and making a play for Anita’s leopards, a new Nimir-Raj in town interviewing to lead the leopards and a battle that results in Anita being clawed by a wereleopard. She now has to not only rescue her leopards and keep her people safe – but deal with both the demands of the ardeur and the urges of her beast.

I’m going to say something that will shock a lot of people who have read this book. This book had potential.

No, really, it did. We had Anita and Richard finally realising they need to work something out with Jean-Claude and stop doing the whole running for the hills thing (or the turn into acid thing). With the addition of the new leopards we could have actually developed Anita’s connection with the leopards and actually give the Pard a culture on par with the wolves (there’s a reason why Anita keeps using the wolf words for the leopards – because they don’t have words! They even shifted from a French Heraldic naming system to a Hindi naming system). We could have had an exploration of the political implications of an alliance between the vampires and the werewolves – and even working the hyenas into the system and where that left the rats. Especially with them developing a “Shapeshifter coalition”. Part of that could be pointing out that Chimera isn’t actually much of a threat and it’s only because the big hitters abandon the weak groups. They could have developed the sheer mess Richard had made of the pack – perhaps even working with Raina’s munin rather than making it another one of Anita’s arsenal of one-off-powers we forget about until they’re needed. We could have had a greater examination of what marrying the marks meant beyond just the ardeur and even some more definition as to what powers Jean-Claude and Richard actually have. We could even have had Anita remembering she’s a Necromancer or, y’know, has a job.

Because there was actually a lot more to this book than the ardeur and the endless humping, though it is the first step down the road that leads to all the books being consumed by humping. But none of it was developed – there was just a lot of random, seemingly pointless, events that didn’t develop into anything, added nothing to the characters and nothing to the plot. Damian and Gretchen being released from the coffins – not developed. Gil, the werefox, what was the point? Faust and Meng Die introduced – why? The Swan-King and the Swanmanes – added nothing. Even the core of the shapeshifter coalition could just have had Christine (a pre-existing character) turn up and say “shifters going missing” and covered everything that was needed there. Ronnie and Anita going out dancing? Pointless. Paris strutting her stuff at the Lupanar? Pointless. Richard’s angst about some werewolf killing someone on her wedding night? Pointless! Even that whole leadership challenge was covered in the damn epilogue! Chekhov’s gun,folks! Or Chekhov’s damned arsenal in this case!

Wait, I’ve got to have a tangent here – by all that is holy stop resolving issues in the epilogue! An epilogue exists to tie up minor loose ends! The epilogue exists to bring some confirmation on side issues. The epilogue does not exist for you to brush over huge great big sections of the plot and world! Why set up Anita as Bolverk and have an angst ridden scene where Richard concedes that he can’t be evil enough to be Ulfric and needs Anita’s help if all of Anita’s help and all of that conflict is solved in the epilogue?!

These random pointless events not only cluttered the story but also made the pointful events that were foreshadowing for future books – like Dolph’s family issues and Asher’s bitterness seem just like extra clog and filler. Even parts of the plot like rescuing and healing Gregory just dragged on for chapter after chapter with no good purpose. It’d fit if there weren’t so many distractions – but there always are.

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Nov 23, 2012 Sian Jones rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: first-person-narrator, horror

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

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Nov 19, 2012 Matt Schiariti rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Ok, I've been rifling through these books as fast as I can these days. I just finished NIC about ten minutes ago and I'm trying to see how I really feel about the book, the series and the main character herself.

If you're reading this, you've probably read the book's description and some of the 500+ reviews already so you know what it's about, at least in a general sense, by now. I will say that there's probably going to be some SPOILERS in this review...be warned ;)

Overall I enjoyed the book. It...more

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Nov 15, 2012 Aisha rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

If I hear ARM WRESTLING one more time, I'll be shooting Anita Blake myself, and ask questions later.

The character clothes are startlingly late 80s to early 90s kind of sexy, I wouldn't know I was a baby then but Bitch please! A healthy coat of vinyl body tight suit with matching boots ON A MAN'S BODY is hardly sexy! No matter how sexy that man is!

Last book Anita was becoming this unrelatable character badass and the author tries to humanize her in this one by making her cry all the time and thro...more

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Aug 04, 2012 Daniela rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

So long dear Richard and welcome Micah!!!

I am totally pleased with this book. I think it's safe to say this has been the best book so far.
I was getting tired of Anita's guilt and morals, so tired that I wanted to get inside the book and slap her around lol but God bless the "ardeur".
This book was so different, I enjoyed every minute of it, I couldn't put it down.
First of all, the new and improved Richard at the beginning of the book after months of not seeing Anita and all the trials he had to...more So long dear Richard and welcome Micah!!!

I am totally pleased with this book. I think it's safe to say this has been the best book so far.
I was getting tired of Anita's guilt and morals, so tired that I wanted to get inside the book and slap her around lol but God bless the "ardeur".
This book was so different, I enjoyed every minute of it, I couldn't put it down.
First of all, the new and improved Richard at the beginning of the book after months of not seeing Anita and all the trials he had to endure as Ulfric it was obvious he couldn't keep being the nice teacher he was at the beginning of the series, so when he appears at the club with Jean Claude and kisses the life out of Anita I almost cried of bliss. Then the trio Jean Claude/Anita/Richard where the marriage of the marks takes place was breathtaking and it felt so right that they were finally together.
Then we meet Narcissus and seeing Richard defend Jean Claude was so cute. I had great hopes on this triumvirate.
Anita inherits the ardeur which pretty much means shes very horny and then along came Micah. Beautiful, sexy, smart, Micah and Anita couldn't help herself she ended up having sex with him. The right phrase would be she lost herself in Micah.
She confessed to Jean Claude and here is exactly where I understand why I love the vampire so much, he comforts her without reservation or jealousy. He tells her (and I hope it's okay to quote from the book) "I am glad u r the woman that u r, but there are moments when I wish that u could simply enjoy something without being chased around the room by your guilt and your morals afterwards" I was thinking THANK U Jean Claude for saying it for all of us!! This vampire is such an amazing character. And Anita knows it because she wouldnt be moving mountains to bail him out of prison otherwise.
Nathaniel, dear Nathaniel, sweet, wonderful Nathaniel. I am in love with this character, the cuddling between him and Anita, his submission in anitas kitchen, the man he is becoming thanks to her is amazing. I feel like saying Anita just dump all of them and keep Nathaniel lol
Chimera's multiple personalities? Didn't see that one coming. Pretty disturbing.
And at last I would like to say poor Richard, he went from ordinary school teacher to a monster. And I blame it all on Anita, I feel like she pushed him around and interfered so much that he ended up a victim. And now he is scared of her because she is a monster? I don't understand him, but Anita deserves it because she did the same to him when he shifted on top of her. Pay back is a b... And I understand they have hurt each other and it's time to put an end to their unhealthy relationship. So long Richard.
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Aug 04, 2012 Grace rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Gaaaaaaaaaaaaah.

You know who I'm thinking of here? Marion Zimmer Bradley. That is not a compliment. Talk talk talk sex whine talk cry sex cry sex sex talk whine politics whine sex talk talk mope sex pine sex sex talk cry. Except with Anita, so there's also stomping, threatening violence, and being a total asshole.

The outfits in this book are a cross between a West Village queen's fever dream, the erotic etchings of a courtier during the reign of the Sun King, and the yearnings of some sort of...more Gaaaaaaaaaaaaah.

You know who I'm thinking of here? Marion Zimmer Bradley. That is not a compliment. Talk talk talk sex whine talk cry sex cry sex sex talk whine politics whine sex talk talk mope sex pine sex sex talk cry. Except with Anita, so there's also stomping, threatening violence, and being a total asshole.

The outfits in this book are a cross between a West Village queen's fever dream, the erotic etchings of a courtier during the reign of the Sun King, and the yearnings of some sort of hair fetishist. Men's hair flows down to waists, down to ankles, can you imagine what a total nightmare it would be to participate in an orgy with that much free-flowing hair? They deliberately take their hair out of braids before climbing into bed! INSANE. I know from experience that it is no damn fun to have your boyfriend accidentally pin your hair while moving around, and my hair was shoulder-length and there were only two of us. I now imagine all of these ridiculously unerotic sex scenes ending with all participants stuck in a giant snarl. Like a hairball hocked up by a massive cat.

And then Anita goes into conniptions about whether or not she had sex. This is a woman who has been sexually active for about six years. If she doesn't know what is and is not sex, I don't know what she's doing roaming free. Anita, you went to third base with one guy, second with another, and the others squirmed around you. Man up and deal. Stop whining.

Also, I am damn tired of Anita being talked round to a point of view over the course of fifteen pages, then if she's left alone for two seconds she reverts to her previous stance. Usually this stance is "no, don't wanna" even when someone has patiently gone over every avenue with her and it's taken thirty pages to get her to see reason. It's like listening to someone compromise with a toddler. There is nothing admirable about Anita's inability to make choices and stand by them. Sometimes she manages to reverse herself twice within one page, and she always ALWAYS takes her indecision out on someone nearby. She is a whiny brat, and J-C is too patient and accommodating. Richard on the other hand? Totally delusional and quite regularly dangerous in his idiocy. I think J-C is a dull fop who lays down for Anita like a brocade doormat, but even now I feel a weird pity for him, that he had the misfortune to hook up with these two morons who are going to get him killed. He must rue the day. Probably tries to kill himself every few weeks out of frustration.

The saving grace of this book is that when Anita is having sex with a cat-person, most anatomical features of cat breeding are not carried over. That will probably happen in book 14, though. Shudder. (less)

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Jul 27, 2012 Anna rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: paranormal

There are 3 episodes in this novel showcasing: 'Anita Blake Vampire Hunter' the opening rescue - unsurprisingly in an S+M club, the retaliation at her home about 60% through the book and the final showdown - no prizes for guessing where. The rest of the novel is 'Anita Blake, Furry Succubus'. To be honest I've read so many forum comments about Anita Blake turning into the 'Vag of Doom' that it was a relief to finally find the novel where it all comes together/falls apart depending on your perspe...more There are 3 episodes in this novel showcasing: 'Anita Blake Vampire Hunter' the opening rescue - unsurprisingly in an S+M club, the retaliation at her home about 60% through the book and the final showdown - no prizes for guessing where. The rest of the novel is 'Anita Blake, Furry Succubus'. To be honest I've read so many forum comments about Anita Blake turning into the 'Vag of Doom' that it was a relief to finally find the novel where it all comes together/falls apart depending on your perspective.

On a positive note there was lots of pillow talk with great characters like Asher, Nathaniel and Jean Claude, and Anita's wardrobe has finally been influenced by Edward. On the negative side she has had a total personality revamp: little reference to necromancy, she's lost her assasin's edge and gained a tendency to fall into bed with any new furry male that crosses her path.

To be honest none of that bothered me - I still think that Laurell Hamilton is a better writer than most of the PR/UF I've been reading lately - this should be a 3.5, but I have to say that consistency is not a strong point in this novel - there seem to be lots of unresolved/conflicting moments: Blake has gained shapeshfter skills but is still easier to hit/attack than she was as a 'human' in books 1-10. Narcissus disappears for most of the novel and his were-scene takeovers seems unconvincing. The ardeur seems to come and go despite a huge build up by JC and his own sudden lack of control seemed a bit bizarre given his previous history. And Blake suddenly remembers how to use necromancy to fatal effect in the final showdown having had all sorts of survival issues previously.

All in all definately an adult novel; my reservations in the past have been that Hamilton has had to increase the gore factor in each novel. In this one she has replaced most of that with sex ...and then more sex. Hamilton has clearly had fun writing this, and I guess although I would feel more comfortable with a better balance between the two, it still held my interest. I like Anita's world and it is probably about time the girl lightened up a bit, even if that means she's more succubus than assassin for a while!

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Jun 11, 2012 Khristine Stain rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

4 stars...

*spoilers*

I loved the last novel, Obsidian Butterfly. I had a hard time loving this one. It was interesting but the ending... I was very disappointed that Anita was not what Chimera thought she was. Maybe that is, only becuase I am a shifter lover. That would have brought up a whole new problem for Anita to try to avoid at all costs, angst over relentlessly and second guessing every single thing about herself. Lets be honest, that is half the fun of an Anita Blake novel. I don't see h...more

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May 22, 2012 Nicole Green rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book was just a jumble of crazy. Anita is crazy, the bad guy is crazy, the plot was crazy, and I think I myself went slightly mad just reading it. Just a little. It took me a while to read this one, not only because of its 630 pages, but because the plot seemed to be everywhere and nowhere all at once. In the beginning, Anita sets out to save her wereleopards from Narcissus, a werehyena and owner of the club "Narcissus in Chains." Note: All of Laurell K. Hamilton's book titles, so far, have...more This book was just a jumble of crazy. Anita is crazy, the bad guy is crazy, the plot was crazy, and I think I myself went slightly mad just reading it. Just a little. It took me a while to read this one, not only because of its 630 pages, but because the plot seemed to be everywhere and nowhere all at once. In the beginning, Anita sets out to save her wereleopards from Narcissus, a werehyena and owner of the club "Narcissus in Chains." Note: All of Laurell K. Hamilton's book titles, so far, have been the name of a club or attraction in the novel.

Back to the review. After that whole thing, she ends up going through some changes herself, driving her crazy with fear and denial, and this takes up most of the novel. She meets the Nimir-Raj of a new wereleopard pard in town, Micah. He eventually becomes a romantic interest, just not in the way Anita (or her readers) expected. Then randomly a bunch of snake men attack Anita and her pard and somewhere in the mix she has to go to the Circus of the Damned, owned by her vampire master and lover, Jean-Claude, to save a vampire named Damian. She also has to convince her Ulfric (werewolf king), Richard, to toughen up or he will get himself and his pack killed. Eventually, toward the end of the book, the kidnappings mentioned in the synopsis are actually mentioned in the book. She goes back to Narcissus in Chains to fight a bad guy. This bad guy, it turns out, is just as crazy as the rest of the novel. Turns out, along with a very surprising scene where it is revealed that he is a panwere (you will have to read the book to find out what that is, unless you want to spoil the surprise and look it up), the bad guy has D.I.D. (Dissociative Identity Disorder). This is important later.

Anyway, the plot seemed really out of order. Near the beginning they talk about saving Damian from the Circus, but don't actually do it until quite close to the end of the book. There were some fight scenes that I could have done without. They didn't solve anything, nor did they really add to the plot of the book. Also, this book was hard for me to read because I have spent most of my time at school or work these past couple of days and some parts were basically like porn. It was awkward to read (for me) in a public setting. Especially at the risk of someone becoming interested in what I was reading and trying to read over my shoulder. I warn you now, read this where you know no one will know what is going on. I myself got a little red-cheeked reading it alone in my living room. Quite a steamy book.

Anyway, despite the major plot dis-organization and the craziness of most/all of the characters, I quite enjoyed this book. Not because it was a paper version of porn (that's just one of the reasons), but because it revealed a lot about Anita's current personality after having spent a long time (6 months?) away from Missouri trying to harness and control her emotions, powers, and connection between Jean-Claude and Richard. I have read many reviews of later books saying that Laurell K. Hamilton is losing touch with Anita's character and the books are becoming less interesting. This was not true about this book. This book added another layer on to Anita and I'm excited to see what is going to pan out.

I would recommend this book to anyone who has read the series before. I am totally against reading books out of order, especially this series. Start from the beginning or you will be very confused. I would though, recommend this entire series to those who love action, adventure, a little sex, and a strong female character.(less)

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Mar 10, 2012 Margit Sage rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: horror, humorous, kick-ass-heroine, mystery, romance, shifters, urban-fantasy, vampires, 1st-person-pov, magic-sorcery-witches

This book was disappointing. The acknowledgements said that Hamilton's writer's group didn't get a chance to read it, and I think it showed. Hamilton uses a lot of the same phrases over and over, in the same book, and throughout the books. I would think she could come up with some new metaphors and phrasing.

Maybe Hamilton had a change in writing style (I think she got divorced?) and changed what she wants to get out of writing a book, because the main plot seemed rehashed in some senses (all dif...more

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Dec 16, 2011 Katherine rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Narcissus in Chains, Book 10 in the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series, was a very complex read. It was a little hard to follow because at this point, Anita Blake is still recognized as Lupa (but maybe not for long, as Richard, Ulfric wolf-king of his clan, decides to break it off because he can't accept what she's become--HYPOCRITE!--which makes me mad because he proves again that he is a sissy leader, and doesn't appreciate the fact that he's lucky she loves him), Nimir-Ra (of the wereleopards)...more

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Dec 09, 2011 Myvampfiction rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Reviewed by Ciara

*Warning: possible spoilers ahead.*

After a long leave of absence from all her paranormal responsibilities, Anita is back in St Louis fulltime, and ends up neck deep in trouble straight away.

Fans of Jean Claude will be happy to see he makes a long awaited return in this book. Anita has been avoiding him for the last six months while she figures out how she feels about him, and all the metaphysical complications that come with him.

Anita needs his help to save local lycanthropes, w...more

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Narcissus in Chains (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter #10)

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