I have read all of the Anita Blake books and I have loved every single one of them. It is something revolutionary to read about a woman who is discovering her sexuality and that sex is not something to hide in the dark. If it were a man doing the same thing no one would be bothered by it.

Sex is something that naturally occurs in life. Why are we so ashamed of it?

It is nice to see how Anita transitions from the virginal woman to a woman who is ok with her sexuality and doesn’t repress herself.

If you follow the books, each man in her life is there for a reason. Remember the Ardeur gives people what they want most, in the last book, Hit List, her new lover wanted a home and to feel loved again, he found it with Anita.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion; these books are not for everyone. It’s ok to criticize the books but not to rip them apart; it just ruins it for the rest of us.

I can wait for Kiss the Dead. So far from I have read, I’m going to enjoy this book. I wonder if she is going to call Death (a.k.a Edward) to help?

I totally agree with you. I love Anita, and all of her men. I love the transformation she went through to evolve to the woman she is now.

I hope Edward and Olaf is in this book. I cannot wait.

I'm not ashamed of sex, nor am I upset by the amount of men Anita has sex with. What I'm upset about, with this series, is the fact that sex is all it's become. She has sex, whines about having sex, talks about the sex, and why she wishes she didn't have to have the sex, etc, etc. In the last 4 or 5 books, there has been zero character development, just more sex. I miss Hamilton's early stuff. You know, the books with a plot.

I have to disagree about the books just being about sex. But that is just a difference of opinions. There is a lot of sex going on...but what you all have seem to forgotten is that Anita is a servant of Jean Claude...and how does Jean Claude obtain his power???
Now you have to admit Anita has come a long way from the first book where she was kind of like a NUN. Now she is this bad ass uber executioner whom death (Edward) himself takes pause in going up against.
Anita did not want the ardeur, she hated having to feed it (hence the whining)...but it was a necessity...she did what she had to do to keep her and hers alive. That I can respect. I can sit and read through three to five hundred pages for a strong character like that, even if four hundred and ninety pages of it is just sex. Now granted, there has been several books after reading them, I was like, really...nothing happened...but I did not slam the whole series because of those books. I mean as long as this series is, you are going to have some bad books in there somewhere. I can only remember the last two books right now, but there was little sex, and a good plot. So my advice, stop judging and keep reading...or just stop reading them period.

I have read other books which have more sex scenes in them than in the Anita Blake Series. No complains on those forums of too much sex. As I recall, there was not a lot of sex in Hit List, it was more about Anita doing her job of as a Marshal and solving the case. I will be honest with you, I remember feeling that the ending was a bit rushed, I have reread the book to see if still feel the same way.

As for no character development, in every book someone is developing in some way, Anita is constantly developing, as I have mentioned before, she has come a long way since the first book. We have to keep in mind that one of the biggest internal battles Anita faces each day is with the shame she feel towards her life style. Remember that she grow up in a very Catholic family, I grew up in a Catholic family, I a fully understand why she struggles with her sexual lifestyle. Guilt and Shame are the two tools that they use in order to keep you away from sin. However, it is not only about her sex life, she also struggles with being a human servant; she constantly worries about the effect of being a human servant will have on her soul.

Anita is not the only character that has developed, in Bullet, Richard finally accepted himself and let go of the resentment he had against Anita and Jean Claude. Other characters have developed as well: Jason, Nathaniel, Asher… the list goes on, each book there is going to be someone who changes and develops, they are not the same as they were in the beginning.

You can skip the sex scenes and read through the rest of the book, but then you would miss important things that occur during those sex scenes. They are small but important.

As I have said before, everyone has a right to criticize the books, in a good way. I always like to have a good constructive argument.

I know LKH has other books with more sex than Anita. Ok, not more, cause that's impossible, but just as much. I read almost all the Merry Gentry books as well. The difference is that Merry was always smut, and Anita wasn't. It was 6 books I think before we got any sex at all (but I have to admit, that first scene with Jean Claude in the bath is till my favorite).

The stories used to be centered on the animator stuff, or police work. Now it's all centered on Anita's seemingly endless supply of power and sex. And honestly I'm getting a little bored of it. I used to buy the new Anita as soon as it came out, but I haven't even picked up Hit List yet.

You can't honestly say that Anita has evolved over the last few books. Yes, she's evolved a hell of a lot since the beginning, but not in the last couple of books. Adding some new power to her list doesn't count as evolution. Other characters have changed, yes, but not her.

Her endless supply of new powers is getting a bit old, too. She used to have people who help her when something was too big, now it seems that she just has sex, gains a new power from it, and is able to beat the bad. I understand struggling with her lifestyle, and of course it wouldn't have been realistic if she'd just rolled over and accepted it, but at some point, I'd like to see more story, less angst.

Another thing that bothers me to no end is Anita's strict double standards. She sleeps with as many men as she needs to to feed the ardeur, but pitches a hissy fit every time one of her men would like something more. "Drop you in a hot second," seems to be her favorite line. Sure, some of the "less important" men still fool around with others, like Jason, but her "core boyfriends" like Jean Claude and Micah, well they're screwed. Only by her :p

^ agree with the above comment. I like everyone I think waited with bated breathe for book 6 when Anita finally has sex with JC. I don't think anyone complaining is against sex. What people like me I suppose (although this is really my own opinion) is that if you literally cut away the sex, you have half a book of a somewhat boring book. And yes, the double standards she shows each time is annoying, its not sending out a great message to be honest. and as someone said, if you put a guy in place of Anita, we'd all still be yelling "too much sex" although admittedly with more disgust. I loved every book up until book 14 when my enthusiasm waned.

Have any of you read some of the reviews? Not just on this site, but on others as well... they were pretty brutal. It makes me wonder, if you stopped loving the series six or seven books ago, why keep reading it?

To me, it is exhausting to read such reviews. I know everyone is not going to like the book(s), but jeez, it seems as if some people go into reading the book with a negative review already in mind. Why bother? Why waste your money or time reading a book you feel does not have a plot, or character development, and has way too much sex in it. I feel like even if Hamilton took out all the sex, people would still be complaining about the sex. Get over it already. You know there is going to be sex, she has to feed the ardeur, which she did not ask for. I have yet to read the book, I have read like the first few chapters. I will come back later with a full review of the book, I just wanted to see if anyone else had read any of the reviews?

My complaint isn't that she's having sex or poly or any of that. I have poly friends and have had them longer than Anita has been so. My problem is that the sex scenes aren't sexy anymore. The foreplay is gone (not literally, metaphorically). It's repetitive and the men's previously well-developed, separate characters have blended and there is no variation. It would be nice if she would only write new sex, not just new people to have sex with. And having the same atypical phrase used twice in the same paragraph and immediately in the next is a serious faux pas.

I want the romance back. The varied character development. Varied dialogue and character voices. More of the fascinating world and edge of you're seat mystery.

I've put 17 years into this series. I care about the characters. I feel like Anita's great far of being blended has already happened, only as the dominant personality, she's the one who they are all becoming.

If that's a plot point, I'd love to see it. Sadly,I think that Laurell is just having add hard a time keeping track of everyone as her readers.

BTW, I was actually excited about this book, after Hit List (my favorite in a while, though Burnt Offerings will always be my all time fave, it seems). I just finished it and I'm disappointed. It felt like filler (like the last Sookie book before Deadlocked... Haven't read that one yet). I have zip desire to read Beauty and that makes me VERY sad--I've never felt that way about an AB:VH book before and I used to love Asher...

Claudia I totally agree I loved this one, I'm sad tho it's sounding like and end is near and I don't want there to be. I'm thinking she will me hanging up her badge soon! Can u believe how cold Larry was to her? Also Arnett I see her going crazy lady crazy! I know that then end of this series will go out with a bang and I'm sad but can't wait!!!!

Rosezetta wrote: "Have any of you read some of the reviews? Not just on this site, but on others as well... they were pretty brutal. It makes me wonder, if you stopped loving the series six or seven books ago, why ..."


EXACTLY I seems like those people have to much time on there hand and they r just being hateful!!

Rosezetta wrote: "I totally agree with you. I love Anita, and all of her men. I love the transformation she went through to evolve to the woman she is now.

I hope Edward and Olaf is in this book. I cannot wait."
I think Anita and Olaf will be a great showdown!!

I have no problems with sex or polyamory. Don't assume that the criticism is about being prudish. The fact is that character development in the last several books does not even come close to matching the first ten. Book for book, they just don't hold up. I keep reading this series because I keep hoping that Hamilton will refocus on the characters to whom I am so attached. There are a few awesome scenes in this book, but it's so chock full of filler that it's distracting. She's stopped showing me things and started telling me, and that isn't a recipe for great writing.