Cerulean Sins

The night started out fine. Anita just needed to raise a zombie to satisfy some insurance adjusters. But then she gets a surprise visitor - Asher. Apparently, Belle Morte's emissary of vampires have arrived months early from France before negotiations for their safe arrival have even concluded. Although this is terribly rude and an act of aggression, Jean Claude and his people have no choice but to put on their best diplomatic faces and make a show of it.

Leading the head of the invading vampire band is Musette, a nightmare from Jean Claude and Asher's past. She has come to start a war, or perhaps just to humble them all. Either way, she has set her sights on tormenting Asher and it's up to Anita and Jean Claude to think of a way to show more protect him.

To further complicate matters, with Belle Morte's people in town Anita is finding herself under metaphysical attack. Belle can control the ardeur, and she's more than happy to make Anita's life extra sticky. She puts the first vampire mark on Anita and threatens to take her from Jean Claude. Also, the Mother of all Vampires is beginning to stir. Belle has apparently been bothering her and now she might actually wake up after her sleep of centuries.

Oh, and there's another serial killer in town, which apparently happens every couple of months now. This one is a werewolf and Dolph is on the attack, turning his bizarre bigotry on Anita - physically assaulting her and threatening to have her friends locked up just for the crime of existing.

This one is a non-stop fuckfest from practically the first page to the last. Anita's finally caving to all her secret lusts and beginning to wonder if she should have done this a long time ago. She's also beginning to really examine the way she forms relationships and at least flirt with the idea of working on herself.

I know it's trashy, but the books are still fun at this point. This is also, of course, an Asher-heavy book so I have no choice but to Stan. I will always Stan for a sad boi. show less

First read: July 2006
Re-read: January 2018
Rating: 4/5 stars

As usual there is a lot going on in Anita's world at the start of Cerulean Sins. A representative of Belle Morte's arrives unexpectedly early at Jean-Claude's door. Musette is an evil and devout follower of Belle Morte, and she is out to cause as much trouble as possible for Jean-Claude and Anita. Meanwhile Anita is also called in on two murder cases; one which is set up to look like a ritualistic killing and another which looks like a werewolf attack. On top of this, she is still learning about the ardeur and how it can be used within the triumvirate with Jean-Claude and Richard.

What I liked:
- Seeing Anita in her role as a necromancer raising a zombie. It is nice to get a show more callback to Anita's roots as a character.
- The vampire politics is always intriguing; Musette was a decent threat to Jean-Claude, and the way in which Belle could possess Musette whenever she wanted to was suitably creepy.
- I also liked the nod/homage to Anne Rice and Claudia with Hamilton's own child vampire Valentina.
- The introduction of The Mother of all Darkness and the threat she represents for the future.
- Anita starting to understand the ardeur a little better, and building stronger bonds with the men in her life; in particular Jason, Asher and Damien.
- Zerbrowski is always a good character, he represents the normal side of the world they inhabit, and I like his interactions with Anita.
- As usual Hamilton drops some hints about the wider implications of what could happen in this world, in this case, what would happen if you could raise a zombie so alive that even it believed it was still among the living?

What I disliked:
- There wasn't much page time on the crime/murder element of the story until it's resolution just before the end of the novel.
- Dolph's massive character shift. It is explainable within the story as we find out that Dolph's son is going to be transformed into a vampire by his vampire lover and he is grieving for him but I feel like he turns on Anita very easily considering their history and how much of a help she has been to him in the past.
- I always dislike Richard whenever he appears in the series, and here is no exception. He acts like a selfish, spoilt, whiny, violent, entitled baby and doesn't care if he endangers Anita or Jean-Claude while he stamps his foot and has his temper tantrums. (Have I mentioned I don't like Richard?) show less

It's hard to believe, but when Anita stopped being celibate in The Killing Dance my reaction was "finally." I thought Hamilton had overdone the sexual tension leading up to that book. Oh, the good old days! When this was a fun series about Anita the necromancer and vampire hunter with her werewolf on the side. I knew it was a bad, bad thing when the ardeur rose up its ugly head in the previous book. In fact, I thought, "no, Hamilton didn't just do that!" but I thought it an aberration that Anita would fight--not, as another reviewer put it, "the new normal." And this really is the book where the porn overtakes plot and where Anita's previous relationships start going to crap. Dolph her collegue on the police force was once important to show more Anita, someone she respected. And her friend Ronnie Sims. But after Narcissus in Chains the only thing important to Anita is who she's boinking at any particular moment--but that's OK. It's the ardeur! Not like she has to take responsibility for her choices. I had a friend who actually loved the post-Narcissus in Chains arc. She thought it was all about Anita learning to love. I'm sorry, but I'm not seeing it. A person is about more than having sex--that's true even for a prostitute. And having sex with all comers does not a relationship make. show less

I really like this Anita, she is not such a hypocrite in this book. She seems to have mellowed out a little and is trying to take care of her people. Yes, I do miss the wise cracking "shoot them first" Anita, but I don't miss the Anita that was just such mean sprited self-rightoues to those around her. This book dealt with things that had been sitting on the sidelines for too long; ie., Asher/Jean Claude and Jason. As in all Laurall Hamilton books there is LOTS of sex. If this bothers or offends you, don't read the books. It's as simple as that. But if you've grown to love all of the characters and this world as much as I have, then dive in and hang on. You won't be disappointed.

Okay, now we are moving into more sex but still a lot of story. Book full of twists and turns and fighting on more than one front. She weaves her threads so well. I get impatient with Anita's waffling. She makes a stand that causes all kinds of pain and ultimatums and not a day later backs away. I guess that is kinda like real life but it is a personal failing that can be way overused...like women using tears to control men. After a while, turning on the waterworks can be recognized as manipulation and ceases to work. Still, Cerulean was an enjoyable book.
Here I am rereading in 2018 and I still liked this book. Anita's homophobia bothered me. I know she doesn't think her reaction to the thought of Asher and Jean-Claude together is show more homophobia but it is to me...at least the way it is written. She is so clear headed in her job, in her responsibilities, in so many areas and in this one so blind. Ten books and she has not grown in this area at all...with all the inside knowledge of the true connection and love between JP and Asher and knowing they both need her so jealousy should not even be a factor and knowing that JP spent 100 years in hell to save Asher and she still holds to her selfish, irrational refusal to allow them relations. Maybe it is a plot device the writer cannot let go of but it makes me impatient with the character she wants as a hero, it makes me dislike the character intended to be the hero. I do not want to even think about Richard. It is like both main characters are retrogressing each in their own way...self destructive to the units they belong to, harming the power base out of sheer childish, whiny, self-indulgence. These are supposed to be leaders...hah...not my idea of a leader. Still, another book I stayed up late reading and not a line skipped. No skimming even the repetitive bits...I do understand that not everyone buys every book in a series and so the writer must make sure each book stands on its own. It is also true that the first time a collector reads through..it is not as noticeable as the eighth time. This book is listed as having been read by me two times...but that is only two times since I joined Goodreads. show less

In my defense, I've been trying to make bookshelf space, weeding out books I bought (and read) years ago. But it's hard to part with them--after all, then-me must have liked them for some reason, right? Currently, most of the Anita Blake series is in a box in the basement, but I brought this one up because I couldn't remember when the series finally went bad for me. I'm betting this one was the proverbial straw.

On the positive side, it kept me awake, partly because I was curious if the story started in the first four pages--a hit man looking to raise a zombie--would ever be completed, and partly because trying to figure out if I was remembering this plot or the plot of another one in the series was like a mental itch I couldn't show more scratch.

Speaking of itching, Laurell Hamilton is a tease, and I don't mean that as a compliment. Anita Blake's ability to raise zombies and her dominating personality made her an interesting character, one of the first female leads of the UF genre. The hook of a human among the supernaturals, working murders with the police was a captivating one, as evidenced by endless entries in the genre since. However, by book (pick any number after 5), it was mostly about Anita and her sexual inhibitions/adventures.

Cerulean Sins goes far down that path of exploring Anita's sexuality in its many forms, with a driving plot in vampire politics and a minor consult or two with the police about various grisly murder scenes. Read if you feel in the mood for some supernatural erotica, but don't expect any actual investigation or character development beyond sexuality. This is about who Anita will take blood/sexual energy/sex from and why, and her guilt about it. Actually, it becomes kind of boring, the erotic equivalent of watching the same car chase or shoot out again and again.

I never realized what a classic Speshul Snowflake Anita was--skills that make an assassin pause, strangely strong necromancy, powers of a vampire servant, an excellent shot, leader of a ware-jaguar pack, enforcer for a werewolf pack--she really does everything in the supernatural world. With the bonus special superpowers of being able to arouse lust in five seconds flat through her magical ardeur powers.



My only excuse is that I hadn't found on-line book clubs yet and was seriously in need of something new to read.



This one goes to the used bookstore, even if they don't want it. show less

Anita Blake is back on track in this book. Working with the police and trying to keep herself and her friends safe. This book was much better than the last one, so I guess I'll continue on with the series.

It seems Anita and some of her monster friends go up a level in each book. More powers emerge.

Her love life is more of a mess than ever. It seems the author still insists on having Anita jump through erotic metaphysical hoops to rationalize her libido against her Catholic-girl values.

There was a lengthy discussion between Anita and Nathaniel (a wereleopard), and another with Anita and Asher (a vampire) about how she holds part of herself back from her lovers, would-be lovers, and friends. As if she can't give 100% of herself. It was a show more great way to do a character analysis since the book is first-person.

I'm not sure how I feel about her police buddy Dolf having a nervous breakdown because his son is planning on marrying a vampire unless the author felt there needed to be someone close to Anita who is not happy at all with the way she fraternizes with the "monsters."

Richard, her one-time were-wolf boyfriend, hates Anita and hates himself. I wish we could have seen more of his deterioration, it just seemed to happen.

I also thought the ending was rushed. There were things earlier in the book that could have been streamlined if book length was an issue, but things just wrapped up so nice and neat with the bad guy, it seemed that could have happened earlier, or it could have been more dramatic. It should have been more dramatic. Suddenly the bad guy got stupid. It didn't make sense that he could be taken out so easily at the end. I mean, you always know that Anita will get the bad guy (or bad girl) at the end, but this just wasn't very satisfying. I really thought it might carry over to the next book.

But ... I still like the books enough to keep reading. show less