Guilty Pleasures [Paperback]

Like any person i started my love of vampire fiction with Anne Rice's absolutely delishous Vampire Chronicles. She was and is still the Queen of that Genre and i never would have thought that another author could match her. Laurell K Hamilton has to be called a co-ruler, at the least. She is as good as Anne Rice. Dont believe me? Then read Guilty Pleasures and you'll see. As I cannot yet speak for the whole series yet, having just finished Guilty Pleasures I cannot compare the whole of the series with the Vampire Chronicles. But Guilty Pleasures can hold its own against any one of the chronicles including the enigmatic Interview with the Vampire and the seductively brilliant Vampire Armand.

Now so much for the introduction, Guilty Pleasures is one of the best books I have ever read not many books can leave you emotionally drained like this. The only other books that have ever done this to me are: Mercedes Lackey's The Last Herald Mage Trilogy and Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire. The begginning of the book is brilliant and a few pages in when you see the words 'Welcome to Guilty Pleasures' 'The only Vampire Strip Club', you have to be hooked, the entire concept of Vampires stripping made me laugh for ages, but in a most delighted way. And upon the first mention of his name and manner 'Jean-Claude' the master vampire will have you completely and utterly enthralled. I have never read a book with a character so intensely seductive that you have fallen in love with him before even reaching the end of his description. And his devotion to Anita Blake is beautiful and obvious, I am not strong like Anita I would have yielded within moments, gods. And speaking of Anita the heroine and main character, who's view point is taken throughout the book, she in her own way is as delighful, her narative does not enthrall you in the same way as Louis's in Interview with the Vampire, but it captures you completely because of the sarcastic humour and honesty. a girl who throws the odd quote in from doctor seuss or from the wizard of oz is truly entertaining. By the end of it i was emotionally drained, because of the love and fear that she felt. Her books and Anne Rice's to me are not horror but are the struggles of one person or more trying to succeed in whatever they choose to do and to be happy. And if killing Vampires makes Anita happy who are we to argue...

Anita Blake is an Animator, an animator is not someone who draws cartoons but rather a person who has the innate ability to raise the dead. Anita and those she works with raise zombies to settle will disputes, have abused people resolve their feelings and other things -- all for a reasonable fee. On the side of this most prolific of professions Anita is a vampire hunter -- she's nicknamed 'the Executioner' by the vampires and (obviously) isn't too keen on them. In fact, she loathes them and there's references to her and Edward seeing all supernatural beings as monsters. The fact that Anita is also a christian may factor into this view, although I never felt like Hamilton was too heavy handed with Anita's religion it's just sort of there... In 'Guilty Pleasures' a vampire master named Jean-Claude is shown as being interested in Anita. Much to her chagrin, and not only this but he's keen to make her his human servant.

Hamilton's world is well conceived and boasts an interesting array of characters. I found Anita a little difficult to engage with at first because she was so tough-minded, and came off a little cold. But after a fashion I started to really adore her -- she has a wonderfully peculiar sense of humour and a penchant for stuffed penguins. Another character I loved was the ruthless Edward; he in particular seemed interesting. Jean-Claude the master vampire was a little under-developed but I liked him nonetheless. Guilty Pleasures is written in quite a hard-boiled manner and is nice and gory (proably not one for people who dislike blood) -- this book is definitely gritty, as urban fantasy's go. You can really see how a lot of other UFs have been influenced by this series. Indeed, the best thing about this novel and the series as a whole (the early books anyway) is that it's dark and unafraid to lean towards perversity and uncomfortable matters.

The main plot of the book is Anita being asked by the Master of the City to find out who is murdering vampires. In this world vampires are legal citizens and as a result, killing one without a court order of execution is considered murder. Thus, despite Anita's reluctance in this matter she is drawn in to solve the case. If she doesn't she'll probably be in for a world of pain. Something she wishes to avoid at all costs.

The plot was well paced and wasn't bogged down with too much emotional baggage and annoying romance; I liked the bitter-sweetness of the ending and found it quite 'realistic' in the context of Anita's world. This series does become poorer as times goes on -- I've read books 1-9, but would only recommend 1-6 and skip straight on to the ninth book 'Obsidian Butterfly' which is a fantastic 500 page epic to finish on (a must read if you like Edward). I do feel like you'll get the most out of the series from reading those: those are the books where Anita faces the monster in the mirror as well as those down the barrell of her gun. She's conflicted, she has complex relationships with those around her and realises there's little she wouldn't do to save herself and those she wishes to protect. Edward acting as the mirror to her changing morality all the while. It's good stuff, books 10-17? Not so much.

Once upon a time, before the Anita Blake series became cheap porn with well-endowed vampires and werethingies, there was "Guilty Pleasures."

Laurell K. Hamilton's breakout debut was one of the early urban fantasy stories, though by no means the best. It's an amusing, gorey story with some unusual twists, but it often seems like a goth teenager's daydreams of vampire romance and superpowers.

It takes place in an alternate universe where werecreatures and vampires live amongst us openly. Anita Blake is a vampire hunter -- known as the Executioner -- and an animator, able to raise zombies from the dead, but she isn't too fond of vampires or weres. So when a vampire comes to hire her, she turns him down. But at a bachelorette party, she soon finds herself hip-deep in vampire politics, courtesy of the sensual club-owner Jean-Claude.

Things only get more complicated when she ends up facing the Master of the City, a deceptively sweet-looking little vampire who wants answers about the murders right away. Anita is going to end up facing a dungeonful of wererats, zombies, vampire groupies... and possibly the seductive Jean-Claude.

Admittedly there's not a lot of innovation here -- there are foppish, sensual vampires in the Anne Rice style, attack zombies, an army of werecreatures, and a Buffy-style heroine. It's a bit of a horror mishmash, and Hamilton never really adds much to the equation.

Nor does she add much to the simple murder mystery that the plot revolves around -- take your basic crime thriller, and add a few supernatural characters. Bang, you're done. But Hamilton loads it down with gore, violence, mystery and some unusual twists, such as Anita visiting a "freak party" full of vampire groupies and junkies.

As for her writing, Hamilton will never win a Pulitzer, but it's sparky and colourful enough to maintain a reader's attention. However, Anita's scenes with Jean-Claude needed work. While they have a sexual snap, some of them reek too much of a fourteen-year-old goth's fantasies of vampire romance.

Despite her goddess-of-the-universe turns later in the series, Anita Blake is a more compelling character here -- flawed, blunt, and very scarred. And Jean-Claude is fascinating when he's being manipulative to everyone... and much less so when he's awkwardly flirting with Anita. All other characrers more or less range from two-dimensional (the cartoonish Nikolaos) to the bittersweetly realistic (Philip).

With no hint of what was in store, "Guilty Pleasures" is nothing more or less than what its title suggests -- a lightweight adventure story with vampires and a Buffyesque heroine.