Every time we get vampire focused book in the series, you can be sure there will be torture and sexual abuse... I wish the author found some better ways of raising the stakes.

Outside of these scenes, it was enjoyable enough.

Also, let's appreciate Warrick, the only interesting vampire in this book full of vampires. ( )

Vampires

Oh, how I love this series! It's my guilty pleasure, the series I return to when I've been struggling to find a book that will hold my attention and a reading slump is imminent. As always, Hamilton does not disappoint. Right from the beginning, she swept me into Anita's world, with all its brutal, sensual, romantic, overwhelming and chaotic aspects.

Hamilton has a knack for making every character - fanged, furry or otherwise - feel incredibly real and multifaceted. It's fascinating to see the Anita Blake we know and love not just as a necromancer and vampire hunter, but as a nurturing, protective mother-figure of sorts, navigating through complexities of vampire politics and shapeshifter pack dynamics.

As always, Anita's relationship with Jean-Claude and Richard makes up the heart of the book. The tension between all of them is both unpredictable and fascinating, and I adored every moment of it. I can't wait to see where Hamilton takes this series next! ( )

Great book. I am still struggling with so many characters but this book was awesome. The council is in town and Jean claude's life is once again in jeopardy but as always Anita saves the day.
It is nice to see Larry becoming a good animator, I was happy to read about the rat king who seems to be a pretty cool guy.
I was upset about Richard. In this book I wondered many times why Anita picked Jean Claude if Richard is so perfect. And I hate to see him suffer.
In this book Nathaniel is introduced, grr nathaniel is super hot. I'm not sure what the deal with him is but he is pretty charming.
Also, pretty hot with Anita and her males. Kissing Richard kissing Jean claude kissing Nathaniel, kissing Jason, kissing even padma the bad guy for Christ sake.
I agree with Ronnie, Anita's gotta embrace the monster that she truly is and give in to her hunger. I just don't like every time she does something and then regrets it.
Anita Blake started as animator then necromancer then lupa then triumvirate now she can call Rainas power, the packs power and she is also the leopards leader. Wow

I have already started book eight my best friend is on 13 so I am playing catch up! I love it though ( )

I don’t know how much more awesome Anita Blake can get! With each book, she gets more and more badass and powerful. It makes me gag. Oh, wait…I forgot to mention how hot she is and how every man wants her. Laurell K. Hamilton really rolled around in ridiculous sauce for this series. The first book had Anita as an almost regular human who worked as an animator, vampire slayer and she worked with the Regional Preternatural Investigative Team (RPIT) as a consultant/investigator because she is an expert in preternatural beings. She had martial art skills and knew how to use a gun and knives. She also had a bit of magic handed down from her maternal heritage. In the following books, she got involved in a love triangle with a vampire and a werewolf and somehow shared powers with them. In this book, she surpasses both of them in power and saves the day. My eyes were getting sore from all the eye rolling I was doing while reading this book.

Anita (a necromancer), Jean-Claude (the master vampire of the city) and Richard (the werewolf pack leader) share a rare connection called a triumvirate, where a vampire, a lycanthrope and a necromancer join forces to become a powerful force.

In the last book, she forced her way into shifter business. She kept opening her big mouth and getting herself into deeper trouble. Richard told everyone that Anita was his mate which made her the pack’s lupa, the most powerful position of a pack besides the leader of the pack. Even though Richard and Anita are broken up, she is still the lupa…at least until Richard finds another mate..which makes her responsible to protect pack members. In this book, she steps into the were-leopard’s business. She killed their leader in the last book so now they are lost. She tells them that she will protect them. I guess because she has a gun, she thinks she can protect shifters who can bench press a bus, are faster than any human or regular animal and who have super sharp claws and teeth. Obviously, the great Anita Blake can pull super powers out of her butt to protect anyone from anything.

And now Anita has found an excuse to whore it up. She bragged about how morally superior she was because she was waiting for marriage to have sex. She wasn’t a virgin because she had had sex with her fiancé in college but he dropped her when his family didn’t think she was good enough for him so she decided not to have sex again until she was married. She was engaged to Richard but saw him turn into a werewolf and ran to Jean-Claude and had sex with him. Now, she is regularly having sex with Jean-Claude but still thinks of him as a monster. She still has the hots for Richard too. In this book, she starts to channel Raina, the cruel werewolf who was the former lupa or pack leader’s mate who Anita killed in the last book. Raina was a sexual deviant who liked to rape, torture and murder but apparently, she had healing powers and would heal pack members through sex. The pack called Raina and her powers the munin. Somehow, through the power she shares with Richard, she can channel Raina which makes her a super horny bitch with healing powers. She practically has sex with a were-leopard named Nathaniel in front of at least four other shifters in a hospital bed while channeling the munin to heal him. She made out with several men in front of others using the channeling of the munin excuse in this book. And Jean-Claude seems perfectly fine with all of it.

I guess I should tell you about the plot of this book. Sorry, I was too caught up in Anita’s awesomeness so I got a little lost. The vampire council has come to visit. They want to know how one of their seven members was killed by Anita or Jean-Claude. In a previous book, one of the council members, Oliver, was killed by either Anita or Jean-Claude. I can’t remember exactly who killed him. The council members are the most powerful vampires alive so they are suspicious of how he could have been killed by a mere master vampire. Of course, the council is up to no good and play all kinds of mind games with Anita and Jean-Claude including raping and torturing shifters and vampires who are under Anita’s and Jean-Claude’s protection.

There is also a group of fanatics on the loose setting fires and killing shifters, vampires and anyone who openly supports them. Anita has to find out who is responsible so the police can stop them.
The plot seemed kind of secondary in this book. Anita’s powers and sluttiness seemed to be more of the focus. By the end of this book, she is not only too sexy for her fanny pack but she is the lupa of the werewolf pack and the Nimir-Ra or leopard queen. See, I told you, Anita Blake is uber special!
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