Melissa‘s review of Narcissus in Chains, book ten in Laurell K. Hamilton‘s Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series.
“The last thing on God’s green earth that I needed was another man in my life…
I didn’t have a clue what to do with the two I had already. The fact that they were, respectively, a Master Vampire and an Ulfric, werewolf king, was only part of the problem…They both had my libido, but I was trying to decide who had my heart…
Obsidian Butterfly is still my favorite LKH book. I had very high expectations for Narcissus in Chains.
It starts off well enough. Even though it wasn’t within my comfort level. Anita is up against a couple of different monsters. She has been spending the last 6 months separating herself from the 2 men in her life, trying to move forward with out them. But, it is weakening her, and them (yes, we learned this from the last book).
So, here we are. The time has come for Anita to call on her men, she needs their help. To save one of her leopards, they marry the marks that bind the 3 of them together, which allows them to share and grow their powers, then the fight begins. Anita almost dies.
Now the some monsters are revealed. She doesn’t die, but they think she may have been infected by a shapeshifter AND Anita gets Jean-Claude’s ardeur. These are just some of the changes Anita is going through, internal monsters she has to fight. Plus there is a new man in the picture, a leopard, and we can’t forget about the real bad guy that is out there. The one that is hurting people.
I liked this book, just not as much as I liked the others. I feel like the vibe is changing. Anita used to kick ass and take names. She is still kicking butts, just checking out all the butts she didn’t kick, too. She is not sleeping with all of them, yet. A big part of it is the ardeur, but you just sense that pretty soon she is going to change.
I am going to take that change hard, she had such high standards in the beginning. Her morals are slipping and with them my respect of Anita.
My favorite Line:
“Well, that just fries my bacon,”
Grade: 3.75
She is still kicking butts, just checking out all the butts she didn’t kick, too.
Best ABVH review line EVER. No lie. I will so be quoting you!
I have a sneaking suspicion, based on your feelings for NiC, that you aren’t going to be singing the praises of the rest of the books in the series.
Ah well, I’ll like ya anyway. hee.
So, what are your initial thoughts about Micah?
I HATED THIS BOOK! After I read this I was so upset, I threw it against a wall!!
This whole ardor crap is an excuse for Anita to be a skank for no reason. For the first ten books she was all prudish, don’t tough me, sex bad. After this I was so depressed and realized the series I was foaming at the mouth for months till the newest book came out was now dead to me.
Sorry, I sound so rabid! LMAO 😀
Yea, this is the changing point and I think that people either get Anita and the changes or fall away from the series. Personally, I see the changes as a real struggle for Anita. She is very moral and I think that she still is (at book 16), but the things that she is ok with have certainly changed.
Anyway, I still enjoy your reviews. 🙂
Great review!
This is the last one I read, like a year ago, but I just got a copy of Cerulean Sins and I’m going to dip back in. I still have a weird loyalty to Anita.
I struggled on until Danse Macabre. That was my “throw book against wall” moment. I didn’t finish it. I packed up all my LKH books, sold them at Half Price Books and took my husband to dinner with the money.
I couldn’t cheer Anita on anymore. She became one of the monsters…maybe even the queen of the monsters and I couldn’t go along for the ride anymore.
I try and pretend that no books come after OB, but I know this is not the truth. I remember how excited I was that Anita was finally going to make a choice. Instead, she ended up with a harem and Richard and JC became shadows of their former selves.
*sigh*
Thank God for Kim Harrison!
This, plus Cerulean Sins (because of Jason) are the last two books I found something to enjoy in. But it was still a big notch below any of the first 9, especially after I had loved Obsidian Butterfly so much. I never liked Micah much (too bland), so I admit I was shocked and disapointed that when he was still only a stranger, Anita slept with him at the drop of a hat, no matter what weird metaphysical justification you give for it. I knew then that Anita would probably change and not for the best, and I admit in the subsequent books my respect for her was slowly eaten away until there was not a shred of it left. The ardeur could have been an interesting twist had it remained only a plot element among others and faded in the background after a book or two, three at the most. And by the way, Ms Hamilton should stop using foreign words like ardeur if she can’t spell them properly. The little French she uses in her book makes me cringe half the time.
Kim Harrison, hm?? I will need to try her books. I think they have them at the library. I need a new good paranormals series.