Paranormal Romance & Urban Fantasy discussion
Paranormal Romance
>
Laurel K Hamilton - Anita Blake
date
newest »
newest »
message 51:
by
Jael ~ *~ Syhren ~* ~
(new)
Jun 09, 2009 02:06PM
Don't worry I've been spoiled already book still haven't arrived.
reply
|
flag
STILL? That's weird. Where'd you order from?
Rhapsody Book club they never ship until a few days after the release date
Jael wrote: "Another thing I hate is when some begins reading the series,reads the reviews for the newer books, than starts bashing Anita and her plethora of men because of all the harping she read about how Anita changes. They never even got to the part where Anita becomes sexually awakened but yet they cry Whore. I say at least read one of the more sexual books before voicing such strong opinions."Hope that comment wasn't directed at me! I am on book 5 right now and LOVING the series so far. What sparked my post is that I know it is a very long series, and I saw some heated debates going on about future books, and wanted to know what all the fuss was about! I always get impatient to know what happens when reading a series and it is hard not to read spoilers! I was just shocked because so far in the books Anita has sworn to no sex before marriage. I have NO problem with sex in books, I just was curious how and why the change takes place. I NEVER pass judgement on a book before I read it.... that is just silly. I intend to read all the books and decide for myself. Just wanted to hear others opinions since I love the books so much thus far.
Lol @ Meredith no it wasn't directed to you. It was from previous experiences on other boards with other people.
Thanks Jael! Guess I am extra sensitive! ha ha. I know this is going way back for some of you, but it is driving me crazy.... Did they ever say why Richard was in bed naked when Anita first met him? Are we supposed to assume he was having sex with that other werewolf or taking a "nap"?! ha ha. I was surprised that Anita never asked him because she got mad when she found out he had sex with Raina and that was years ago.
No! They never explain him naked and it strikes me as bizarre when you compare it with his later opinions and behaviour. Naked in JC's bed!
Michelle M. wrote: "No! They never explain him naked and it strikes me as bizarre when you compare it with his later opinions and behaviour. Naked in JC's bed!"I am like two books later and it is still bothering me!!!! I mean it doesn't seem like he would just be hanging around naked in JC's bed, not to mention he agreed to wait on sex till marriage with Anita. I was hoping it would come out in a later book or something? Doesn't it seem odd that Anita wouldn't even ask him?
The sex til marriage is part of his prevailing personality, with his picket fence fantasy. But the naked in JC's bed remains a mystery. I can only guess that he's there at Raina's insistence.
They mystery of Richard naked in JC's bed drove me crazy too. It has never been explained and it just doesn't make any sense given Richard's personality. And why wouldn't Anita want to know? That's so unlike her too. Very odd.
Exactly! It's always bugged me, and I'm up to the most recent book!Sorry, Meredith919, but you'll just have to keep wondering and being irked like the rest of us!
Thanks ladies! I guess we'll just never know! I kept waiting for Anita to ask him and she never did! ARGH!!! Looking forward to catching up to you guys on the reading!
Mod
But he didn't seem all that unhappy to be there. And the pretty boy was Phillip. I always think of Richard as Phillip 2 since in my mind's eye, they have similar looks.
I think even Anita thought of Richard as Phillip 2! She made a few references to that! I wish they didn't kill Phillip off. He was kind of a sad character but I liked him! In regards to what Ann said, I think that JC might have wanted Anita to be attracted to Richard because it would prove that she "could" be in a relationship with someone not human (although Anita didn't know that he was a werewolf at the time). I think he was already starting to pave the way for himself!
Meredith919 wrote: "Did they ever say why Richard was in bed naked when Anita first met him? Are we supposed to assume he was having sex with that other werewolf or taking a "nap"?! ha ha. I was surprised that Anita never asked him because she got mad when she found out he had sex with Raina and that was years ago."Rashida was the other werewolf.
At the time, I guess we were to assume they were intimate, but later on we find out Raina was Richard's first and only lover prior to Richard and Anita dating. When they oh so briefly got engaged both Richard and Anita only had one previous lover.
So, looking back, I guess we are to assume it was just lycanthrope casual nudity and "puppy piles".
I have to thank you guys for the mental image of Richard naked, always a good good thing ;)As for the question, I thought it was partly the casual nakedness, with perhaps something to do with how Raina and Co. had power over him. Like he was expected to be there and pay court, part of being in the pack, whether he liked it or not.
Catherine, that's how I thought of it, too. And Richard naked is indeed a yummy thought. So long as he keeps that pretty mouth quiet and occupied with other things. Whoo hoo!
Especially when his hair is long... sigh. And laugh at myself a little.
I am new to the boards; I did want to chime on the LKH debate. I have made it through Incubus Dreams and the 3rd Merry Gentry book. I was one of the people that were really on board with the crime\suspense aspect of the Anita Blake series I guess that makes me in league with the more frustrated fans. In the beginning I did find it quite odd that Anita was celibate and would have enjoyed a romantic sub plot. My chief complaint with the turn the series has taken is that Anita is just unstoppable, it seems that there are no limits to the power that she can manifest. Normally in an engaging plot wouldn’t you find a limitation that the main character had to over come or find a way to work around to make her stronger? I do not think the arduer counts.
At the point that I stopped reading I did not even find Anita be a likable character, she was super powerful and irresistible to all men and pretty much knew it. While I am touching on her irresistibility, why is that all these men find this short, curvy woman with long, dark, curly hair to be so attractive? LKH states several times in the books that Anita is very pretty but probably would not be considered beautiful. Is it her metaphysical powers that make her so alluring?
The thing that really gets my goat is that here you have this seductive, unstoppable, Necromancer Supreme, Vampire Executioner Extraordinaire, Federal Marshall, Nimir-Ra, Human servant with a vampire servant of her own, and Bolverk for Richard’s wolf pack that could possibly manifest some potent new power that no one even thought possible, at any time and that physically looks quite similar to Hamilton herself. Anita is short like LKH, had similar style of hair though Anita’s is blue\black and LKH hair is dark brown, and shares LHK penchant for bright red lipstick. The development of the Anita characters taken with the similarity to the author leaves me with the impression Anita is a Mary Sue for Hamilton and the whole series is pretty darn self indulgent.
Well, all writing is self-indulgent in a way. Writers use their own life experiences as a foundation for their creations. And perhaps it is a fantasy of hers, but that could be said of any story, and I think there's always a lot of the writer herself or himself in his/her heroine. The departure from the writer's reality is where the differences occur. She happened to use herself as a template for the character, but they've diverged as the series has continued. Charlaine Harris uses her background to develop her characters, Vicki Pettersson's heroine Olivia is a Vegas socialite become more just as she's a showgirl turned writer. LKH just happens to share more surface similarities with her character than other writers.
Michelle M. wrote: "She happened to use herself as a template for the character"Laurell has admitted she writes about someone with the same height and build because it helps her with realism. She tries out the grips of guns, and because her hands match Anita's, then she can describe things like that accurately. Same goes for weapons belts and other equipment usually sized for a larger male.
I always thought that was a very intelligent approach.
Merry, I believe, is also within a few inches of the same height. She just has different hair and eye color.
Hi im new here. Ive read all the anita books, more out of an OCD like inabillity to quit a series ive once liked, than any real sense of loyalty to the series. As a guy ive enjoyed more the mistery/police procedural/vamp execurioner/animator aspects of the story, but im also a sucker for a good romance/erotica, so stuck through even incubus dreams and i even kinda liked danse macabre and the harlequin, but blood noir almost made me give it up completely, i dont mind the smut, hell i like it, but the books got so repetitive and without any real plot, if youve read blood noir you know what im talking about, and on top of all that, at every new book LKH adds thirty new characters and tries to rush through the plot in between all the sex, in such a way that all the carefull world building goes out the window. more on the subject later cause i going out.
Hi. I just got to the book Blue Moon and from what I hear this is about when things start to change. I agree with you about not minding the sex, but I still like a good plot. Does the police and vamp/animator stuff completely go out the window in the next few books? From what I hear Skin Trade is a lot better than the prior few books, and is starting to sound like some of the earlier ones. I kind of like the whole true love conquers all part of a story, and it is going to be hard for me to see Anita with multiple partners for the sheer fact that I like a character to care so much for one person that they don't want to be with anyone else. I understand the love triangle thing but at some point it has to end. Did anyone hear if Anita will ever lose the arduer?
I couldnt agree more with you more, im a sucker for a good true love story. And yes skin trade is much better almost as good as books 1-9, though it still has some of the idiosyncrasies that have become LKHs trademarks. Its not that the vamp/animator stuff goes out the window completely, she starts some half assed plots she just doesnt finish them, somewhere in the middle of the book in between all the sex she forgets there is even a case to solve, ending up with unclosed plot lines or rushing through their finish cause the sex just seems more interesting to her.
Skin Trade is NOTHING like the first four books.Anita is unsure of herself, whiney and can't control her powers. She does not do any butt kicking nor does she do much other then whine and once again defend herself to every cop known to man.
It might be what people wanted as far as lack of sex but definately nothing good in the way of Anita as a character.
I would say more but I would be spoiling alot of the book for you guys. I have a full review of the book if you don't care about spoilers and want to read it.
I hope the next one is better then this last though =/
I am just getting to the racier books now so I will definitely want to chat as I read. One of the things that I like about the books is that Anita is tough and confident and doesn't need anyone to defend her. She reminds me a lot of Cat from Jeanine Frost's night huntress series.
I just started this series and just finished Circus of the Damned. I'm loving it so far. I've avoided reading previous comments so I don't spoil things but I have to know or I'm going to go crazy. Does she ever have anything with Edward? Please god say at least a kiss.
Jessica wrote: "Does she ever have anything with Edward? Please god say at least a kiss."No, Anita and Edward never get involved. And, from what I've heard Laurell say, it's going to stay that way.
Edward calls Anita his soul mate, but in the most non-romantic sense. They're too similar.
It would be like making out with your twin!
LOL But there is so much sexual tension between them in the first three books and he is human.
I never really interpreted it as sexual tension...hmn.
when I got to O.B. i had had enough of Edward
I still liked him in OB. In the latest, I was very meh toward him. He's changed a lot, and though the changes are good for HIM if he were a real person, they make him less interesting to me as a character.
I have to agree with Lauren, I really liked Edward at first, maybe cuz we didn't really know that much about him so he was still kind of intriguing, but after Obsidian Butterfly, don't really care for him as much and kind hope we dont' see much of him here on out....Sorry Jessica dont' mean to ruin anything for you and you may completely go the opposite direction!! Keep reading tho!!! Ultimately IMHO it's still a great series! And if you like this one you should check out her Merry Gentry series!!
Jessica wrote: "LOL But there is so much sexual tension between them in the first three books and he is human."Didn't see it as sexual tension, myself. Just a strange friendship.
And the other thing I'm dying to add would probably be a spoiler. Let's just say Anita's life path isn't what she would have chosen for herself (as of the early books), but it was what she really needed. Road not taken, and all that.
Right now (I'm only on the third book) I can't stand Richard. He doesn't seem m.... what's the word "Man" enough for Anita. I don't know I have to see how it develops.
Jessica wrote: "Right now (I'm only on the third book) I can't stand Richard. He doesn't seem m.... what's the word "Man" enough for Anita. I don't know I have to see how it develops."If there were a poll conducted on who is the most frustrating, irritating, love to hate him character, Richard would win hands down. It doesn't get any better.
You so hit the nail on the head Lori!!!!
Okay I really hated Richard in the beginning but I just finish Killing Dance and now I'm feeling for him. I hear a lot of people complaining about the sex scenes in the later books. I found the one in book 6 corny and I really did laugh at certain points in it.
Yeah he does that to you alot Jessica, makes you love him, then makes you hate him, etc... Currently I'm back to loving him LOL but we'll see when I get into Narcissus in Chains ;)
I waiting desperately on book 7 from the library. It's been in Transit for like a week. I'm beginning to think that they are shipping it from overseas or the truck blew up.
Oh yeah 7 & 8 are great! 9 I didn't care for so much, but definitely looking forward to 9!!:)
Lori you are so right. I never loved or hated a character as much as i love/hate richard. Im already and indecisive person that my mixed feelings of richard sometimes just put me over the edge...lolNIC here i come!
Jessica wrote: "Does the poor guy ever get any?"Oh yea...he gets some. Only because he's so fricking hot! It's certainly not because of his personality :) That's what they make ball gags for...
