Vaginal Fantasy Book Club discussion
Book Discussion & Recommendation
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Does Anyone Else Still Enjoy Anita Blake?
Felicia wrote: "I was thinking of picking up the new one, but I just REALLY can't deal with Jean-Claude and his total emasculation. I mean I LOVED HIM SO MUCH and then it seemed like her magical vagina was just un..."I've read all the books except the newest one that just came out. It does take a long time, much longer than it should have, but it does even out a bit. Hit List was Anita and Edward out of town fighting the monsters and it really reminded me of earlier books especially Obsidian Butterfly. Its probably the best one since Obsidian Butterfly. The last three or so before Hit List were still not as good but you could see a real turn towards more plot and less sex. So if you can make it through books 12-19 then 20 is much better but it really is a lot to get through.
I finally stopped reading around book 10 or 11. I decided to skip all the parts that weren't plot, all the poorly written sex, descriptions, etc. I ended up reading only 32 pages. I decided that couldn't be right, so I tried again, sure that I must have skipped the plot somewhere. Nope, only about 3240 pages of plot in a 350 page book. I was a sad panda.I also started to be turned off by the fact that most of the books seem to occur over a period of less than a week, then we have a very short chapter at the end of the book telling about the several months of "this is what happened while we weren't in the book."
I'd left Miss Blake aside for awhile.50 Shades of WTF is sending me back to her, promising I won't stray again.
I'm an obsessive series finisher, but I finally let myself leave Anita after Hit List and I've never looked back. There have been many astute comments made about the failings of Anita's character development and the book's plot arcs, so I'll let those speak in my stead. For me, the straw that finally broke the camel's back was the writing quality. I loved books one through eight, and I still do. But Hit List was nothing short of an assault on the English language. The plot was actually better than her previous books, but the writing...I could barely make myself finish it. I decided that there's no wrong I've committed that justifies torturing myself like that ever again.
Gwen wrote: "50 Shades of WTF"That one had me loling! Quite appropriate name.^^
I'll try to be careful with what I say bc I see how a lot of people still love the Anita Blake series and I don't want to offend anyone. Also I cannot tell you which book it was that made me go W-T-F?! (bc I've read them in German and they use to rename books over here) but the moment Jean Claude doorstep*d her with THIGH HIGH LATEX BOOTS I jumped overboard. I'm sorry, that was just weird. Talking about emasculation. (Eric Northman would be another example of that. His amnesia period (no pun intended) was painful to watch. From badass vampire to cuddly-fluffy vampire.)
And I agree with what a lot of people have said: too many men. Way too many men!
I just don't buy the whole pack thing. Sleeping with people and/or letting them lick me (I'm talking about the hands for example!) to comfort them? To make them accept me as pack leader (or the mate of one)? It's just an excuse (to me) to make her being able sleep around. I've never read about wolves banging each other to earn respect and obedience. The superior might mount the other after they won a fight about the lead but they do not sleep with the whole pack.
It felt a bit like Anita turned (for me) into a Mary Sue character: everone wants her, everyone needs her - simply put: the world stops rotating when she's not there. She is the main character, fair enough, but.. ugh, it's just too much.
Also I don't care much about all those were-people. Love me some werewolves and vampires and SOMETIMES people who can turn into other animals but with Anita Blake I got very tired of the were-people. I have the same problem with True Blood/the Sookie Stackhouse novels. Vampires - awesome! - Shapeshifters - alright. (even thou I could live without them or at least with less) - Werewolves - cool. - Fairies?! Oh, please Goth, no! I'm still watching it for the hell of it but Sookie and Anita became too Mary Sue-ish for me. I'd consider Sookie to be even worse than Anita. And actually that is a pity bc I like the stories. I just don't like the "surroundings", as you will.
I'll admit I'm not all that far into the series (I'm just about to start book 8. We'll see how it goes - but don't have that much to complain about right now. There's been a somewhat refreshing start to this series that as an avid romance-reader I missed: It took several books before there was any sex at all. As an author of romantic fiction, that's actually really hard to do. It's so easy to say "oh these characters are going to end up together" and then rush them into it way before it's logical to do so. So I have to applaud the author there.
The sex/romance part of this doesn't bug me as much as it seems to bug most people. Maybe because in a way I understand where it's coming from. The books lead up into the romance with so much sexual tension, that when it got to that - it just sort of spread like a plague. In real life it can be that way too. (ever heard of being a teenager?) Now maybe Anita isn't a teen, but she is a fairly young adult.. and when you go from being practically chaste to being wanted by two very powerful men.. it's really easy for the whole thing to get out of hand. I think for the author, Anita is sort of stuck in that transition. Add to that the fact that Anita is this huge power - and keeps growing in the novels... and with every new vampire or were-creature or even human that she impresses with her power, strength of will, and beauty.. sure. There are going to be more characters drawn to her. Thus is the way of life. You think celebrities don't get some of the same treatment? Anita is in over her head.
Now getting into the writing itself.. there are some times when it seems a bit adolescent, and I even sit back and think "why the hell did the author just break fourth wall?" but most of that can be skimmed over. My biggest complaint is the author's complete inability to make Anita grow as a character as the books go on. It wasn't noticeable in books 1-5, but as the series goes on and Anita gets sucked farther and farther into this chaotic, death-filled world of hers... she hasn't changed. She's still a bit goofy, feminine, and smart-mouthed. She says she's getting more callous and uncaring - but that isn't what I see when I read Anita's inner voice. There's a lack of character development. I think that's a lot of why the series starts to get on people's nerves the farther in they get. The books are growing and changing - the situation around her is changing.. but Anita is still Anita as she was in the first book, and it starts to sound a bit ridiculous after awhile.
Like I said, I haven't gotten that far in yet, and this is just my opinion, but that's my interpreting of the puzzle.
Cary wrote: "I'll admit I'm not all that far into the series (I'm just about to start book 8. We'll see how it goes - but don't have that much to complain about right now ..."You've got maybe one more good book (I LOVE Obsidian Butterfly) and then you'll understand where all the hate comes from. Sexual tension? I LOVE me some tension between the characters! But there really isn't that tension. To give you an example of what's to come, I read Kiss The Dead this past month. The story takes place over a two day period. While the story does have a plot involving her 'working a real case' it's mostly just a forum for her to have sex multiple times a portion of her reverse harem. It made me sad.
Jack wrote: You've got maybe one more good book (I LOVE Obsidian Butterfly) and then you'll understand where all the hate comes from.I'll keep an eye on the story and come back with an informed opinion after a few more books. I'm already starting to see it though. 8 is full of nothing but sex. It's a bit of a harder read this time around. No pun intended.
I've found that the Meredith Gentry series doesn't have the plot problems. I like that series more than Anita Blake, but I still read them both.
I recently finished Circus of the Damned, but I really love her books, having already read 1 or 2 of her Meredith Gentry books, but yeah I still enjoy Anita Blake. I'm obviously not far into the series but still.
I finally got through the whole series - and actually found that I enjoyed the majority of it. There were definitely a few moments where I sat back and said "WTF" - and I'll admit there were a few books that I just didn't enjoy all that much compared to others in the series, but the majority of them, I quite liked ^^
Well. I finally finished Skin Trade, Flirt, Bullet, and Hit List, I am currently almost optimistic to the way that the plot has actually started to take place, unlike in many of the other books. However from all that I am hearing from reviews I am not sure I want to pay 15 dollars for a book that is not even going to have a plot. The series has SOOOOO much promise however it feels like it has been tossed out the window for sex scenes that are the same, over done descriptions, and Anita's emasculating bullshit. I love so many of the characters and what they have to offer but I have become bored. That and the whole dues ex machina stuff gets a little old after a while.
My biggest complaint about the series was having to read through all of Anita's guilt and denial about her enjoyment of and desire for the various couplings she was having. There were more of these in the early part of the series and perhaps that's a reflection of the times in which they were written, when there just was not as much of this type of fiction available to Main Street USA. I just wanted to shake her and tell her to get over her own bullshit because it was tedious as hell to read, over and over and over again.
I started reading the series earlier this year and stopped in May after The Harlequin (#15), which I thought was really good. I just got to the point where I stopped caring about the world and most of the characters. I'm hoping a break will renew my interest in the series. But at this point, I'd be fine with a one-sentence summary of the rest of the books--with spoilers, of course--and not actually reading them.I really liked Obsidian Butterfly (#9) because Edward is one of my favorite characters. And Nathaniel has grown on me through the series.
Funny enough, I actually didn't know there was a book series of Anita Blake until I joined this forum (and watched all the Vaginal Fantasy vids). I actually started out with reading the Marvel Comics version. It was the art that attracted me. Those issues were just drawn so lovely and Jean Claude was so yummy. And I was actually pretty excited to hear that there was a book series out. (Well, more like that the comics were based on the book series.) I thought, "Yay! I get to see more of Jean Claude's character faster", because to me, other than Anita he was the only other most interesting character. It saddens me to hear that the stories go downhill by book four. (That's SO soon!) I guess I'll start reading the books soon and make my own judgement but if most people are saying that the books go downhill from there, they're probably right. Saddness. Jean Claude looked to be such an interesting character too. T_T
Hilarious Keidy! I was the same way....I knew the author name, but didn't know the series. I have yet to pick up the series though (considering my list is ever growing). Glad to know I'm not the only one that jumped on with the comic!
Lindsay wrote: "Hilarious Keidy! I was the same way....I knew the author name, but didn't know the series. I have yet to pick up the series though (considering my list is ever growing). Glad to know I'm not the only one that jumped on with the comic! "Well seeing that I'm a HUGE comic book fan, it's really not all that surprising. It's a miracle I didn't find out about The Guild through comic book form first! XD
If you start reading the books, let me know. I actually have a friend that has most of her books so I can borrow them without purchase. Yay for friends. ^_^v
Tangled wrote: "I keep reading each new book that comes out, but I don't know if I I really enjoy them or if I am just too obsessive not to keep up with a story I've followed for so long. I didn't stop liking the..."My thoughts exactly. I would add that the kinda of repetitive writing has been a nag for a while. For example, it seems like Hamilton kinda beats a dead horse with Anita tring to fit in with the guys 'at work".
That being said...I have read and will read every single book.
I loved the anita blake series, until i started to read Cerulean Sins (Book #11), I originally liked this series because of how real it was. She still had bills to pay, she still had to go to work, and do laundry.But once i started reading #11 it sucked, i kind of missed her black and white vision of the world, i miss her police work. And anita seems like a whiny bitch this book. And the sex urgh, dont get me wrong i dont mind a little sex in my novels, but seriously woman. We get it the Arduer is like raging fire, you cant think, it sweeps through you like a river, yada yada ya.
I just think she ruined the series. I stop reading Anita blake around chapter 12 of Cerulean Sins, and i havent picked it up since. I need to know, did it ever get better?
So for me, the series stopped being good book 10-11 all the others where great.
I think I loved the series up to right after Incubus Dreams and Micah. ID was the last one I truly enjoyed, and Micah was the beginning of "wtf" for me. It wasn't the sex, the amount, the volume, whatever, it was that things changed SO much. Anita no longer kicks ass. She wangsts and whines, she insists she has a bigger penis than all the men around her, she doesn't raise the dead anymore (on page), and virtually all the killing is now done with the magic vagina, rather than all those knives and guns she so loves to go on and on about.
I've read and own all but the most recent. Obsidian Butterfly being my favorite, hands down. I don't enjoy them like I used to, but I keep reading because I've invested so much already I might as well see it through.I think a lot of the changes in her writing can be attributed to her divorce. All the books leading up to OB were dedicated to her husband, everything after is dedicated to someone else. J...something...maybe.
While I do feel that she kind of fell off her rocker (verbally attacking people on her own forums), I do have to admire her perseverance. She's kept going despite what all of her critics say. Now if she could just get us back to the zombies, blood baths, and police work I'd be a happy camper.
Yes I still enjoy them. It's been a guilty pleasure since... well The Guilty Pleasures :)
Lanie wrote: "I've read and own all but the most recent. Obsidian Butterfly being my favorite, hands down. I don't enjoy them like I used to, but I keep reading because I've invested so much already I might as w..."They're back together.
Carolyn F. wrote: "Lanie wrote: "I've read and own all but the most recent. Obsidian Butterfly being my favorite, hands down. I don't enjoy them like I used to, but I keep reading because I've invested so much alread..."No, she divorced her first husband (I forget his name) and married the president of her fan club, Jonathan. She's always talking about Jon, her husband. Her husband, Jon. It's kind of funny the way she always says it just like that. Jon, her husband. Her husband, Jon. Like people who regularly read her blog and tweets have no clue who Jon might be.
Jon- the apparently kinky fellow who inspired her to write paranormal porn.
Nothing wrong with paranormal porn, so long a it's good paranormal porn.
Nothing wrong with paranormal porn, so long as it's good porn. :D
Bitchie wrote: "Nothing wrong with paranormal porn, so long as it's good porn. :D"Agreed!
I put the series down for a while right after she got the ardeur. She started to get on my nerves and I wanted to slap some sense into her. Of course, being myself, I can't leave things unfinished so I picked the series up again. I will ride this bumpy road until the end.
Bitchie wrote: "Nothing wrong with paranormal porn, so long as it's good porn. :D"No doubt. :)
I stopped reading her books a few years back only because I thought the sex was overtaking the storyline but I picked them back up a few months ago and was glad that I did. Have any of you read the fairy series with the Meredith character?
Like many, I loved the beginning of the series. I loved Obsidian Butterfly and I adore Narcissus in Chains. But, it was a game changer book. As I read that book, (obsessively read it I might add, 3x in a 5 day period), I realized she was going to jump the shark. I read Cerulean Sins and thought .. ok, not bad, but the writing was changing and the style/quality was shifting downward. I kept reading the series but it was soon relegated to "buy it when it comes to PB not immediately buy in hb" status.
The writing got worse, the sex more frequent, and the plot (what plot?!) was non-existent or minuscule compared to the previous books.
The writing became repetitious and tiresome. I just got tired of reading the same things over and over. Is the woman not chafed?!
Anyway, I still love the world and actually read some fanfiction for it and have read some great crossovers pieces that make me realize how good the stories could have been and how far they had fallen.
I may at some point pick them back up and see how things resolved themselves but there are too many other books out there to spend my time on.
Melissa wrote: "I stopped reading her books a few years back only because I thought the sex was overtaking the storyline but I picked them back up a few months ago and was glad that I did. Have any of you read the..."I popped into this thread to know if the A. Blake series would be worth my time. I've been reading the Merry series again recently. I enjoy it, but I feel like there is too much sex and not enough plot movement.
This was one of my first introductions into "stuff that's talked about at Dragon*Con." I went to my first D*C with the hubs and wasn't into anything. I loved the atmosphere, so I started looking into things to see if I'd be into it and my first things were Buffy and Anita Blake. I LOVED Anita Blake. It was a series I bought and kept the books (and I don't do that too very often). But somewhere along the way, I got bored out of my head with the lack of plot and 100% sex. Still, I don't like to quit series, so as long as the library had them, I kept reading. But this last one...no. Just no. I didn't even finish it, it was so horrible. So I've quit her. I tried the first one or two Merry books, but I didn't love them. At least they made no bones from the beginning that they were going to be all about the sex.
I love Anita. I am mostly caught up with the series...haven't read Hit List or Kiss the Dead yet, but I enjoyed Bullet and all, what 17 or 18 books before it. Anita Blake novels are consistently 4 or 5 star reads for me. Anita grows in each novel, and she has an overarching character arc that I've enjoyed in which she learns to live with life being a little gray when she'd prefer decisions to be black and white. I love seeing her struggle with ethics and make progress in learning to trust others with her heart. While she often must compromise in some areas, she always remains true to who she is, and she's brave enough to draw lines when necessary, even if it means doing things the hard way, sometimes.I'll keep reading in the series, and I'll keep my eyes peeled for more Merry Gentry (those horny, mischievous fae!). Count me among those still reading LKH.
I finished Kiss the Dead a couple of days ago. She definitely toned down the sex in this one, but I had other issues with it. One day, when I'm not being a lazy bum, I might write a review for it....I think I'll add that to my to-do list.
Jessi wrote: "I love Anita. I am mostly caught up with the series...haven't read Hit List or Kiss the Dead yet, but I enjoyed Bullet and all, what 17 or 18 books before it. Anita Blake novels are consistently 4 ..."I agree wholeheartedly :-) I love the character development (can't quite understand why people dont think she's had any at all - he struggle is the best part!)
I just read the first graphic novel and I love it! I enjoyed most of the books, but the graphic novel is a whole new level. It helps that I haven't read the books in years, so I'm genuinely surprised by the storyline.
Kari wrote: "Jessi wrote: "I love Anita. I am mostly caught up with the series...haven't read Hit List or Kiss the Dead yet, but I enjoyed Bullet and all, what 17 or 18 books before it. Anita Blake novels are c..."I don't think there is necessarily a lack of character development, but it did get a little lost in all of the sex. One complaint I do have about Anita's character is that she seems to be losing her edge. Her unwavering practicality, and willingness to get her hands dirty for the greater good seem to be brought into question in Kiss the Dead. It felt to me like LKH was prepping us for Anita's retirement. After twenty-something books I can't say I blame her, but I think I would rather see Anita Blake go out with a bang, rather than just hang up her Browning holster for good because she had a conscience crisis.
I think Anita evolved to a certain point, and then just stopped. She went from closed off and alone, to in love with, and sleeping with, lots of men. But she still has a tough time with the ardeur and control. She still thinks she has to be the biggest baddest man of them all. She still thinks all cops are against her because she's the "little woman". She still forgets to eat, and doesn't feed the ardeur when she should. And now, she's taken to enslaving men to get them to do what SHE needs. Sure, she's evolved some, but to me, she's closer to the one she most wanted to avoid being like, Belle Morte, than ever before.
I too stopped at Cerulean Sins. I don't mind a certain amount of sexy time in books, but good lord, when it's 90% sex and NO PLOT I couldn't take it. On a side note I also stopped reading because she and her camp would get rid of any negative comments on many review sites. Especially on her site. I know it's "your" site, but you should be accepting of criticism. When your an author you should expect a certain amount of criticism and not everyone is going to like your books.
I stopped enjoying Anita Blake after Obsidian Butterfly. After that, everything just turned into a never-ending orgy with barely any plot. I like sex scenes as much as the next person, but I need plot too. The mystery/thriller plots of the first 9 books are what kept me coming back for more. Personally, I really wish Ms. Hamilton had proceeded with the amazing, but minor subplot she introduced in Cerulean Sins, wherein agents of a 3rd world dictatorship were going to kidnap Anita and force her to raise their dead leader to avoid a coup. That would have been a hell of a book. It would have also introduced all sorts of new paranormal creatures for her to deal with too, since many seem regional.
Ah well, no use dreaming of what could have been. Still, there are 9 amazing books in this series and they are absolutely worth reading.
I never had a problem with the sex. I love 90 percent of Anita's character, how it's real, and flawed, and bad-ass as a protective measure. But as has been mentioned, I cannot stand the constant guilt and whining about having to do it. I understand that it would definitely be a problem when you first learned about the ardeur. You'd have to learn to reconcile what you had become to what your true values are. But her true values are keeping her people safe. And I kept expecting her to ...I don't know...man up for lack of a better term. To realize it was another avenue to keeping her people safe. And she didn't. And she wouldn't. And then she started holding everyone in her life emotionally hostage. The minute glorious, dangerous Jean Claude starts tiptoeing around her mood swings, I died a little inside. I can't stand people like that in real life. I definitely can't stand it in my heroines.
Laurell K Hamilton admits that she has many personal hang-ups that resemble Anita's. I think she hasn't figured out how to work through that little patch personally, and thus, neither can Anita. I think the last book I read was Bullet (or whatever the name of the one where she went somewhere to have a get-it-on fest with Jason.)
Maybe if I space them out every few years, the emotional baggage won't crush my ability to enjoy the books. I didn't know about Hit List. My favorite character is definitely Edward and I'd be willing to read another book if it attempts to be as good as Obsidian Butterfly was.
So I finally got around to reading Kiss the Dead and I am very disappointed. Hit List was the best one since Obsidian Butterfly. Lots of action, a crime to solve, a lot less boyfriend drama, more Edward. I really hoped that it meant that the series was going to be headed more in that direction again but Kiss the Dead was a return to all the bad stuff. I think one of my biggest problems with the series is how repetitive Laurell K Hamilton is in her writing. She re-explains things about Anita and her situation that don't need to be explained in every book much less multiple times in every book. She is repetitive in her explanation of the ardure. She is repetitive in the way Anita deals with the men her life. Having the same fights over and over. Dealing with the same issues over and over. She is repetitive in talking about how Anita deals with the police. She is repetitive in the way she write her sex scenes.
The book started out strong with Anita interrogating a prisoner and then going after the bad guys but quickly went downhill with Cynric bringing emotional drama into the crime scene. From the time she got home from the crime scene the rest of the book was nothing but one emotional problem after another with couple sex scenes thrown in. There was so much drama that by the end of the book I was left wondering what really happened.
I enjoy the books but I need to read them in between others. The books get a bit repetitive so I like to read them as a break in between other series. I do find the "superman" quality of her a bit annoying. Honestly every book some new power arises.....there has to be a limit lol
I think I finally gave up on Anita when I proudly purchased a new hardcover (on release day, no less), hurried home and read it in a day. I normally read/consume books in a matter of hours. When I realized that all of the action took place in pretty much 24 hours and I found myself skipping sex scenes to get back to the PLOT, I realized I was done. I missed the books from the beginning, with a real crime, a real timeline and a real point. I LOVED Merry Gentry, but the last two are starting to follow the same recipe for disappointment. She claims she can't finish the next Merry book, that Anita claims her attention, etc. Whatever. I find Hamilton arrogant after an interview where she claims to have "invented" her genre, and I can't see spending more time and money on her. If there are 3 Anita's in a row I haven't read, I will grab them from the library to plow through and keep current, but that's usually when I feel sick enough to stay in bed.
Cheralee wrote: "I think I finally gave up on Anita when I proudly purchased a new hardcover (on release day, no less), hurried home and read it in a day. I normally read/consume books in a matter of hours. When ..."I completely Agree Cheralee. I started at about book 7 and went back and loved the series from Book 1. Then I decided to just read the synopsis of all the books and I couldn't do it. I have a hard core hatred of all books with a love triangle, and it just gets insane. I like plot and I do believe Anita Blake should no longer but put in the Fiction section of my bookstore and should be in erotica.
Hey guysI stopped reading about book 11 I think, as it all got a bit too much for me, but kudos to you that have stuck it out.
There's just one thing.
Has anyone noticed how often she mentions what colour the 'swoosh' is on her nike sneakers?
From book number one, it made me giggle, and to this day it is the most memorable thing about this series. Anitas very specific coloured nike swooshes.
Am I the only one to notice this?
I'm starting to enjoy Anita again, since she's gone back to kick Anita instead of let's have sex with everything that's male. I recently reread Guilty Pleasures and realized how much I missed that Anita. I'm happy to see that she's coming back.
I think the world is well-developed and interesting, many of the characters are strong enough to have more stories written about their pasts and it is one..."
I got upset enough at the lack of plot before Skin Trade that I sold all my hardbacks after Obsidian Butterfly to Half Price. But I still read them, from the library. I have an investment. I want to know what happens next, and Anita is like an old friend you see once a year. You want to catch up, so you ignore all the boring stuff. :-)I am enjoying Kiss the Dead. 13-1/2 chapters before gratuitous sex.