Dead Ice (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, #24)

by Laurell K. Hamilton

I looked down at my bare arms as if I hadn’t really looked at them before, and in a way I hadn’t. I’d long ago given up on covering the scars I’d acquired on the job.

So getting tired of hearing the long-winded explanation of Anita’s scars, in every… single… book. Move on already (eye roll).

Seeing them side by side, I realized some of why Jean-Claude was well built; he even lifted enough weights to give definition to his muscles, but he lifted to be beautiful onstage, not to bulk, so that he looked almost willowy next to the other man.

Wtf? Jean-Claude is a vampire. He cannot grow muscle by lifting weights. No more so than he can just grow his hair with time. He’s dead. I know this is fiction, so therefore “fake.” But you can still make them feel real, even if just temporarily, by staying consistent. You cannot claim that vampires stay the exact same way they were when they died (per past books), then change that to them being able to grow muscle in the gym with hard work. Past books have even touched on the fact that it took power for Jean-Claude to grow his hair long. So which is it? Is it power or weight lifting that gave Jean-Claude toned muscles?

“They will think that Anita is hunting them as the Mother of All Darkness did,” Echo said. “She killed anyone who had her powers,” I said. “Yes,” Echo said, “but she missed you until it was too late.” “She was right to fear other necromancers,” Fortune said.

The Mother of all Darkness didn’t “miss” Anita until it was too late. She found her a LONG time before it was “too late.” First, Mother Dearest wanted to “control” her by making Anita her human servant. When that didn’t work, she decided she would use Anita as her personal shell/skin/body to possess. I feel like LKH forgets key points in her own books all too often. :(

24

This entire chapter is confusing and makes absolutely zero sense. Ideology is all over the damn place. I really hope things get clearer over the following chapters about what the author was trying to portray here. A new shifter ability for Dev and Micah out of nowhere? That comes with immense amount of more powers? Different powers than their initial were powers? The ability for Micah to pick from Anita’s supply and change into any were she has access to? Because, why not? Let’s confuse the reader even more? And Micah is totally cool marrying someone (aka adding them to the group commitment ceremony) just as long as they give him this ability? So many questions.

“Agreed; now what are we going to do about Justine and the love of her life?” I asked. “Anita, he goes back in the grave tonight; you can’t let this girl carry the memory of the one perfect night with her forever.”

This is pretty damn simple, honestly. Necrophilia is against the law in every state, according to previous chapters in this very book. So even though the zombie looks and behaves like a person, he is still dead. Not vampire dead. Dead dead. There should not have been several paragraphs dedicated to debating this. Ten chapters ago, Anita was disgusted about zombie porn and she wanted to bring the responsible animator(s) to justice; now she is contemplating allowing her own zombie an hour of sexy time. The contradiction is so old that it’s beyond the annoyance stage.

“You’re a sociopath,” Domino said. “You don’t give a damn for her feelings, or how her life will turn out.” Nicky shrugged. “True, and not true.”

I find it interesting how open people are to talking about Nicky being a sociopath; it seems like everyone not only knows it, but discusses it like it’s no big deal. Has anyone ever met a sociopath that admitted to being a sociopath? This kind of dialogue with Nicky never feels authentic.

“So you’ve already had sex with her,” I said. He looked embarrassed, blushing again, while Justine kept looking pale and wan. “Yes, yes, God help me, I was weak, and now I have hurt the one person in this world I never wanted to harm.

OMG… she already had sex with the zombie… all that dialogue I just read was POINTLESS. Talking just to talk and waste time and paper. Grrrr…

A voice off camera read back my words to him. He laughed. “A coffee date with Anita Blake, my mother would be so happy.”

I’m predicting that the voodoo priest is Dominga’s son. They mentioned her having sons and nephews earlier that set off red flags. This just sealed it.

“You don’t have a warrant of execution, so you’ve lost your chance to shoot me in the head.”

Am I the only one who finds it unrealistic that not only are the bad guys so well informed about the laws, but they always seem to know every current detail to their advantage? How convenient.