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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Werewolf or vampire, that is the question, 31 May 2004
Up until this point, the main character in the series, Anita Blake, has been staying away from love. Anita is an animator and vampire slayer, who has been wooed for quite some time by the master vampire of the city, Jean-Claude. On the previous book, "The Circus of the Damned", we saw Anita moving away from the enchanting vampire to start searching for love in what she thought was a normal human. She was surprised when, after a vampire tore out the throat of his suitor, he did not die. Richard is a werewolf, and Anita is trying to reconcile this information with her own feelings for him. Anita's reluctant acceptance of love may have to do with the moment in time in which Laurell K. Hamilton wrote this book, since she was pregnant and delivered a baby girl named Trinity.With each book, the reader gets a clearer idea about what the place in which Anita lives in is like. For example, we find out that there are creatures that we did not know existed in this world, like dragons, gargoyles and trolls. Also, we learn that discrimination against lycanthropes is illegal but existent nonetheless. In this case, everything starts when the husband of one particular lycanthrope shows up at Anita's office looking for help, since his wife is missing and he cannot go to the authorities for fear she will be fired if the "secret" comes out. In addition to this, Dolph, who works with the preternatural unit of the police department, summons Anita because there has been a murder of suspicious nature. Anita determines that the murder was committed by a shapeshifter, denomination that includes werewolves. Besides the "usual" type of situations Anita faces, she has to deal with her relationship with Richard, and his battle for the leadership of the wolf pack with an alpha male called Marcus. Jean-Claude will not go away without a fight, and he is trying to get Anita to date him instead of the werewolf. To complete the picture, there is a female vampire that is in love with Jean Claude and thinks that the only way to get her prize is to eliminate her competition. Anita describes this situation perfectly: "Bully for me!" Hamilton is perfecting a world and a character that grab the attention and the heart of the reader without letting go. As the story progresses, we learn more about Anita's past, her relationship with her mother, her previous experience with love, etc. Also, the reader comes to cherish some of the characters that at first seem unlikable, like Edward, the "gun for hire". A friend told me that the series will get kinkier as it progresses, and I already saw this happen in this book, but this change in tone matches perfectly the mood of the main character. The truth is, I cannot get enough of Anita Blake!
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