Anita Blake?

[CaptainOates]

Do we have any Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter fans in the house? It's a series of books by Laurell K Hamilton and they're amazing. The basic setting behind them is that vampire have been declared legal citizens, with rights and everything, so killing a vampire is equal to murder. Anita Blake is a licenced vampire Executioner, she has to have a court order and everything to take out rogue vamps, but that very rarely gets in her way...and we're not talking stakes here, we're talking silver bullets, silver nitrate injections, giant blades...think Underworld in fact.

She's also an animator...someone who raises the dead for a living. Fascinating stuff...she also has ties to the local werewolves and wereleapards. Lycanthorpy btw is considerred a disease like hiv, contracted in much the same way in fac...its vaccinated against and everything. It's a very cool setup all in all.

Over the years sadly however, the quality has dropped. If you compare book 1 to book 12, (the latest) its trippled in thickness, but sadly the plot is still about the same...they've bcome far too preoccupied in the last five or so books with graphic sex and metaphysical connections between everyone, and the good old vampire-murder-mystery-with-zombies which makes up the basic plot of most of them, has been shunted into a very minor part of the book.

Still a great read tho, they're written in first person from the perspective of Anita, and you really get inside her head. They really are great, I thouroughly recommend them! Especially if you're a fan of the movie Underworld, that has very strong Blake-esque tendencies. Oh and don't make the mistake of thinking its like Buffy. We're talking graphic violence, graphic sex, frequent strong language...if it was a film it would be an 18. When they were first mass marketed over here bookshops were pushing them with "if you like Buffy you'll love this", I'd hate to think of kids getting their hands on these!! But definatly worth a read...go check them out

[CaptainOates]

Woah I went on a bit didn't I? The first book in the series is Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K. Hamilton btw

[Steffimariechen]

I'm a huge Anita Blake fan. I have all of the books, as well as the others by Laurell K. Hamilton.

Unfortunately, I have to agree with you that the quality has gone slightly downhill since the first few books.

In her (Ms. Hamilton's) defense, I must say it hAS to be incredibly difficult to stay loyal to the initial premise, while trying to come up with a believable threat/villian so that every book can stand on it's own to first-time Anita readers.

I still have hope for the series. Although it certainly has become over-emphasized on the erotic aspects of the storylines, the Jean-Claude/Anita/Richard dynamic still remains interesting.

Steffi

[CaptainOates]

Oh yeah the basics premise in there is still fascinating...I think we need to get back to that actually...away with Micah and Nathaniel...get Anita and Richard back together, but keep with with JC too...they were at their best as a threesome The five/six/seven-whoever-is-around/some isn't working for me...its just making her ho-ish...lets be done with the ardeur too.

Too much sex, not enough plot But still very interesting at the core

[thelephant]

Gotta disagree. I can't bear Richard or Jean Claude. I think the best part of each book has been the supernatural crime, and I'd like to see a proper return to that. And I have to say, I prefer the shapeshifters to the vampires, although I prefer a little of both, rather than a lot of both.

[Ash]

i gotta disagree with all of you. i really love these books, even the more recent ones with all the sex. ok i kinda agree that maybe she could lessen it slightly and get a bit more of a different kind of action in there but i dont really mind it as it is. i have to say i find it quite interesting watching Anita trying to cope with the ardeur and all the havoc its caused in her various relationships.

as for her menfolk, i like them all - richard, jean-claude, micah and nathaniel (as well as the many others that could be considered hers for various reasons). and the shifters vs. vampires thing, i'd go for....the shifters too probably. not that the vampires aren't cool but there are generally more shifters that i like...actually i think there might just be generally more shifters so that might have something to do with it.

and dear god don't give these to the children, their heads would explode! definitely not a good idea pushing them as like buffy, silly silly bookshop people

oh by the way do any of you read Laurell K Hamilton's other series about Merry Gentry?

[CaptainOates]

I've read the first two Merry Books...really enjoyed them. Just as much sex, but somehow it works so much better...Anita just comes off as a whore, but I guess as Merry isn't really human anyway, and is part of another world almost, it kindof makes it seem less "in the way." I have bought the third Merry book recently, but to be honest, I was so dissapointed with Incubus Dreams (the latest anita book) that I havn't really been inspired to start reading it yet...I'll get there eventually

[fenris]

I bought the first seven or eight Anita Blake novels at my local branch of The Works a couple of years ago, for £1.50 each. They're still lying around somewhere, waiting for me to read them.

Just one of the many items on my 'Things I must get around to doing' list.

[CaptainOates]

Those first seven or eight are the best... move them up further towards the top of your list

The first book, Guilty Pleasures is currently being adapted into comic form... #1 comes out in October from Marvel Comics

[fenris]

It been announced that Marvel Comics, in association with Dabel Brothers Productions, will be publishing an original Anita Blake story.

Entitled The First Death, it's a two-part mini-series written by Laurell K. Hamilton and Jonathon Green, and set almost a year before the events of Guilty Pleasures. The first issue will be available in July.