Reviewer: Melissa Circus of the Damned by Laurell K. Hamilton
Series: Anita Blake #3
Also in this series: Guilty Pleasures, The Laughing Corpse, The Killing Dance
Publisher: Penguin
Publication Date: September 24th 2002
Genres: Fiction
Pages: 336
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Series Rating:
First time in trade paperback: the third novel in the #1 New York Times bestselling series.
In Circus of the Damned-now in trade paperback for the first time-a rogue master vampire hits town, and Anita gets caught in the middle of an undead turf war. Jean-Claude, the Master Vamp of the city, wants her for his own-but his enemies have other plans. And to make matters worse, Anita takes a hit to the heart when she meets a stunningly handsome junior high science teacher named Richard Zeeman. They're two humans caught in the crossfire-or so Anita thinks.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
This is the third book in the Anita Blake series. If you haven’t read the first 2 books, or reviews of them, this won’t make too much sense. Halloween is approaching so Anita has been slammed at work. It makes sense, if I was going to have the dead raised, I would want it on Halloween. If there was a full moon on Halloween, I would pay double. Although Anita is still working with the police, it doesn’t seem to be as focal, or as gory. (Thank goodness, the kid’s hand from the last book still makes me gag!)
But there is a pack of vampires chewing on people. The strange part is, it’s almost as if they want to be caught. But why? Vampire war. That is what it is all boils down to. The new bad guys introduced are older, freakier, and meaner. There are “lamia” or “snake people”, a vampire that can be dated back to Aztec warrior times, and Oliver. Now Oliver, he is not what I expected. Oliver is compared to a reconstructed Homo erectus skull. Yeah, we are talking like the first rendition of man here. Which doesn’t really scare me, I would think I could out wit him, ya know. Throw a steak and he would run after it like my dog. But since vampires get more powerful with time, he is a force to be reckoned with. Jean-Claude, St. Louis’ master vampire, is young in vampire terms. So all the meanies are moving in on him. Attempting to rule the city. Getting to Jean-Claude, by getting to Anita.
Anita, known as the Executioner to vampires, has more vamp kills than anyone in history. Jean-Claude has been trying to claim power by “taming” her. The wicked games he is playing to make her give in and be his human servant just pisses her off. When he marks her for the 3rd time she looses it. Being a woman, when a man pisses us off, what do we do…hurt them where it counts, right? So, Anita sells him out.
WTF….Ok, I really like Anita, but come on, trading in one bad guy for another? That’s just plain stupid. Maybe she is just not thinking straight b/c she is falling for a werewolf???
I didn’t like this book as much as I like the first 2. A big part of it was the fact that Anita sold out Jean-Claude. She has been fighting her attraction to him for the first 2 books, and still in the 3rd. She has standards, and they don’t include the un-dead, but do include a were-wolf you just met? Hhhmmm, I have to digest this a little. I am secretly rooting for Jean-Claude. Now, that in and of itself totally freaks me out. By description, I didn’t think I would look twice. Well, ok, maybe look twice, but not drool over!
My favorite line from the book:
“So he gets furry once a month. No one’s perfect.”
3.5 out of 5
This book is available from Jove. You can buy it here or here in e-format.
As a long time reader of the Anita Blake series, I’m really loving your reviews. They make me remember what was soo frickin awesome about it. Ahhhh the good old days.
Just wait till you get to book 6, I think thats, the book with the stuff your looking for. 😛
I miss the good old days when Anita and JC kept bantering back and forth.
Does she have to wait until book 6? I think she might get what she wants sooner – I want to say 4 or 5.
But I agree, these reviews are delightful. Odd, though, how hot and sexy and attractive JC can seem in these books, when, shit if I saw somebody wearing the outfits he wears, I would run the other way – not from fear, either. I would run from pure fashion PITY.
Still, oh, the fabulous stuff coming up! I think this and book 2 are the freakiest. Wait, is the next one the fae one? Yeah, you might be waiting until #5.
I hope that you keep the reviews coming, I’m enjoying the trip down memory lane. 🙂