Blood Noir (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 16)

Cynthia Holloway provides a moving, absorbing and charged reading to another Anita Blake vampire hunter/werewolf novel: this revolving around Jason, her best friend and sometimes-lover whose father is dying on the same weekend as an ancient vampire decides to make her move, cutting the connection which ties Anita with Jean-Claude. An outstanding vampire novel evolves with many unpredictable twists and turns perfect for general lending libraries.

I have to disagree with most of the other reviewers for this book. While it clearly isn't up to some of LKH's better Anita Blake books, it moves the series forward...there's an explanation (of sorts) for what has been happening between Anita and Richard (or rather, what hasn't been happening). There's also a return to the idea of Anita acting more like J-C's servant and less like a sexualized loose cannon.

That being said, if you don't trust that LKH has a plan, then just quit reading the series and leave it at that. We've all known that Anita is a stand in for LKH. If you aren't comfortable with what she's doing and working out, then stop reading. But don't keep reading and keep complaining. Authors are human too, and while LKH probably needs more people helping her edit, the emotions and growth that she is exploring is real. If that makes you queasy, then don't read...don't buy another book. But if you believe that there is something building, it's worth it to keep up.

I really wonder how much of the last couple of books were pressure from her publisher rather than fully developed stories. That happens, unfortunately, and especially to very popular authors.

Overall, it was a worthwhile read...I enjoyed it.

Hey its Debbie does vampires and werewolves and......there was a time when the Anita Blake series actually had a plot that was entertaining. Not anymore. Laurell, why don't you either write porn or horror/fantasy? I'd call it erotica but it's more like a bad porno. Pick a genre lady. This book was a total waste of paper time and money.

Like so many other Anita Blake fans, I have grown steadily disillusioned with the series, which took a definite nosedive with Obsidian Butterfly. I am so not a prude, but sex just for the sake of writing in a sex scene doesn't cut it after the 4000th time. I really need some plot, some character development and lack of repetition to go along with the steamy stuff. And I would LOVE to have an intimate scene, limited to one or two "people", like the early, wonderful scenes with Richard and Jean-Claude. I'm not sure what's going through Miss Hamilton's mind except trying to rake in the dough. IMO, save your money and borrow the books from the library -- you'll save yourself the clutter and the wasted money, and support a great institution like the Public Library System. It's really sad when a beloved series goes bad. (I'd also recommend saving your hard-earned money on the other LKH series, too. Blech.)

A "little" less concentration on sex for its own sake than in the last few, but it appears that Hamilton will never get back to the plot-driven wonderfulness of the first 8-9 novels. From now on I'll stop buying, and read any further installments from the library. Zombie-raising and vampire-hunting are now apparently history. There's no question that the biggest mistake Hamilton ever made with this series was the invention of the "ardeur." It's led her off on a sex-for-no-damn-plot-reason-at-all tangent that's left most of her fans walking away in disgust. I always thought that she created the parallel Princess Merrie series just to get all of the sex writing out of her system, to keep it from bleeding into Anita Blake stories. Fat chance! Now it appears sex is all she wants to write anymore.