Bloody Bones (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter (Prebound)) [Library Binding]

Anita Blake is a feisty, independent, 21st century lady who's got attitude with a capital "A." Animator, necromancer, called by vampires everywhere "The Executioner," she is tops in her field and a woman of many talents. The St. Louis Police Department's Regional Preternatural Investigation Team has made her a full fledged member, a civilian expert, and she is on call 24/7 to help solve their more grizzly cases. Unfortunately Anita prefers to date the undead and the "lunarly disadvantaged." She is involved with Richard Zeeman, rugged, outdoor type, science teacher by day, and otherwise a werewolf. Jean Claude, Master Vampire, sophisticate, unbelievably handsome and sexiest vamp around town, also has a hold on her affections. What's a girl to do?

Bert, the unscrupulous owner of Animators, Inc., and Anita's boss, has accepted a large fee in exchange for Anita's services on a new case; services he doesn't know whether she is able to perform. Millions of dollars are at stake, and Anita may be the only animator powerful enough to do the job. Her mission is to raise an entire graveyard of zombies in order to settle some land dispute issues. The bones have been disturbed and separated, and the corpses are at least 300 years-old. The older the corpse, the bigger the sacrifice needed for a raising, and the more powerful an animator has to be. Another matter of great concern - someone, or something is killing local youths. An ancient, psychotic, sword-wielding vampire, and his renegade cohorts, are most likely involved in the grotesque serial murders. Against her better judgement, Anita calls on Jean Claude for help, since she isn't receiving any from the local police. The idea is to go through the area's Master Vampire - Serephina - and petition her to rein in her monsters. The story can only become scarier with Serephina in on the action.

A fey family, the Bouviers, is involved in the graveyard-land dispute. Brother and sister, Magnus and Dorcus Bouvier are faeries, Homo arcanus, and proprietors of The Bloody Bones, a bar and eatery in the Ozarks. Anita and Larry Kirkland, an animator trainee and Anita's new protégé, pay a visit to ask the owners some questions about their estate holdings and discover that faery magic, glamour, is being used, illegally, to bring in customers.

The tone of the series gets darker and richer with every book, as does Anita's character. Initially, she is only an animator and The Executioner, a vampire hunter, convinced that fighting monsters is the right thing to do. Now, as her necromancy powers become stronger, she's not so sure that all the monsters are all bad. What exactly is the price she is paying for each new victory? Action and adventure-wise, "Bloody Bones" is one of Ms. Hamilton's best books yet. And Anita Blake is a delight - witty, savvy, hard-boiled, and a major cynic with a tender heart. I highly recommend this series. A Warning, however - to really enjoy these novels, and the characters' development, the books should be read in order.
JANA

For the first book I've ever bought off Amazon, Bloody Bones had a lot to live up to, and I wasn't dissapointed! It was more then I thought it was going to be, the summary had confused me a lot but it was nice to see Anita go out of town and to battle a new Master. It also showed me a terrifying side to Anita and I think Larry really grew up in this book. I loved finding out more about Jean-Claude in the bathtub scene. It just added a vulnerability to him I'd never thought of before.

Overall I truly loved this book and was surprised at the lack of physical involvement on Dolph's part. I was also surprised at the villain in the book, but Laurell always manages to surprise me.

This was the first Anita Blake novel I picked up. Thanks to this book I'm now hooked on the Anita Blake series. Absolutely brilliant, I haven't read such a good fantasy/horror book in a long time. However, the dark side was that it dragged a little but somehow LKH manages to keep the reader (me!) acting like an addict i.e. scrounging for more. I was incredibly happy that LKH wrote this book as I've been searching for such a complete series for ages, with a non-perfect hero/heroine, lust, sexual undercurrents and kick-ass moves. However,I admit I had to get used to a lot:

1. Anita resembles in stature, Buffy the vampire slayer. I mean I've always wanted a tall slayer

2. That Anita has ugly scars that don't really seem to bother her. I kinda admire her for that, I mean she is the only slayer that I've come across that doesn't care for what she looks like.

3. Anita can't really do kick ass moves without her gun. She gets chucked across a room by a kid-vamp so Lord knows how she became dubbed 'The Executioner' and even survived in that world. It seemed to me she's had a couple of lucky escapes

4. I really liked fact that LKH explored issues which some writers fear to go near or don't have the expertise to express in words. I'm talking about paedophiles, family beliefs and attitudes to teenage kids and underage sex or fatal seduction. This is one of the reasons that kept me reading probably, I love it when a writer is bold, because it makes me feel enthusiastic in a way.

5. One of the biggest shocks is that Anita doesn't do sex before marriage. What a shocker! But I'm guessing hormones will kick in sooner or later especially with 2 delicious hunks circling her

6. Finally the men! God they are to die for. Jean-Claude is probably my dream man and everything I wanted Angel (from Buffy) to be. He has secrets , is a vamp but strangely one of the few who actually seem human at the same time. Maybe it's because of the simple act of him LOVING Anita rather than lusting for her. Richard, poor guy. I feel so sorry for him, I mean Anita he realizes starting to fall for J-C and he can't do anything about it, coz she can't dump him in case ends up like dog meat. Larry is just so adorable definitely one of my fav characters, he's so vulnerable , immature but he grows up incredibly quick I guess that's what Anita's world does to you. It's an almost happy ending coz he becomes independent from Anita in the end. Which can't be said about Jason. He is honestly the most complex characters I've ever come across even more than J-C . He's so intriguing, kinda of a twisted masterpiece. I hope to see more of him in the future.