Skin Trade (Anita Blake Vampire Hunter 17) [Paperback]

I actually think that Laurell Hamilton has taken some of the criticism about NO plot at all on board and tried to take this back to her original style of a crime to solve, a bad guy to find etc. She has crippled herself with all of the characters in St Louis as she can't seem to write without getting involved in Anita's complicated relatonships so instead she moves Anita out to Las Vegas in this latest instalment.

Rather than too few new characters this time I felt there were too many new characters to complicate the story. None of the leads seemed to lead anywhere but she still got the bad guy in the end and it only took one paragraph! I was confused at the end as to whether Paula was involved or not, where Olaf and Bernardo had got to - especially since she had laid it on thick about Olaf wanting to date Anita - and what Belle Morte's 'gift' to aid her was. I don't usually need things spelt out for me and I don't mind loose ends but it felt like bits of the story were abandoned half way through thought. Can anyone recall that magic scene in Guilty Pleasures where she and Edward killed the Master of the City - all the suspense and drama of those pages and the finality of the close. That is the writing that I want back and for the last few books it hasn't been there.

Let's face it: if you are reading the seventeenth book in a series, you are going to be a fan of it and will have read the previous volumes. You will be familiar with the characters, the milieu and know what to expect - or think you do - and will be plunging in to the novel's world to catch up, and see how the author moves the overall plot forward. The question you will want answering is: does this installment do what you expect? Does it surprise, or disappoint? Well, the answer to these two questions in the case of 'Skin Trade' is a little bit of both.

Laurell K. Hamilton has taken her heroine, Anita Blake, on quite a journey in the course of the previous sixteen books: while remaining an indomitable and courageous crusader against evil in all its forms, Anita has changed from a lonely single woman who went to sleep clasping a stuffed penguin in the first volume, to a mortal succubus who literally has to have sex frequently to survive. Luckily, she's also blessed with a succession of improbably gorgeous lovers who are only too willing to oblige. The novels have changed from relatively 'straight' horror adventures at the outset, to erotica, to explorations of the intricate relations between Anita and her lovers, and between the various groups of vampires and shapeshifters with which Hamilton populates her world. This has led to some criticisms from fans that the more recent books haven't been true to the initial vision - there is some truth in this - but, people mature and change as they grow older, and it would be tedious for Anita to remain ever unaltered, like an insect in amber.

In 'Skin Trade', however, Hamilton breaks away from the relationships, political and otherwise, and takes Anita back to straightforward vampire hunt. Vittorio, a vampire serial killer, who last made an appearance in book twelve, 'Incubus Dreams', sends her a macabre invitation to come find him in Las Vegas, in the form of the severed head of a murdered vampire executioner. Anita has no choice but to go after him, even knowing it is almost certainly a trap. Once there, she has to handle hostility from the police, machinations by the local weretiger queen, who would like nothing more than to see Anita married to her son and part of the pack, and relations with her fellow vampire hunters, among them her long-time friend and mentor, Edward, and the serial killer Olaf, who has developed an unhealthy interest in Anita herself, and actually tries to court her, in his own twisted way. All this, while also trying to locate Vittorio, and find out what other supernatural surprises he has in store, and resisting the continued attempts by the Mother of All Darkness to possess her.

With everything that Hamilton has packed in to this volume, it makes for an involving read, and the absence of both most of Anita's steady lovers and the political to-ing and fro-ing makes for a refreshing change after the last few books. I wouldn't exactly describe it as a return to form, but it is closer to the type of tale that made so many people fall in love with Anita Blake in the first place. Hamilton has also toned down the quantity of sex somewhat - a disappointment for some, I'm sure, but a relief for others. Anita is as tough as ever, ready to do whatever it takes to protect the innocent - human, vampire or shapeshifter - while struggling with the conflicting nature of her dual roles as vampire executioner and human servant to a Master of the City.

Hamilton's writing is as good as ever, although the novel lacks some of the more visceral descriptions and images of the earlier books, and most Anita fans won't want to put the book down until they've finished it, I'm sure - I know I didn't. If I have any criticisms, it's that the denoument seems a little anticlimactic, with a major plotline which has continued over several of the previous books seemingly disposed of in a couple of sentences. Then again, I wonder if that is truly the case...

In conclusion, then, 'Skin Trade' is a welcome addition to Anita's adventures, and a promising sign for volume eighteen, for which I'll definitely be putting in a pre-order.

RATING: 1.5 stars.

In this 17th book of the series, Anita Blake receives a human head in the mail. It seems an old foe, Vittorio the vampire is back to wreck havoc, this time in Las Vegas. So, Anita has to go to Nevada to give chase. US Marshals Bernardo, Edward and Olaf go with her.

This book was eerily reminiscent of "Obsidian Butterfly" (book 9 in the series) in a few aspects: Anita Blake travels to a new city and the characters that go with her are the same ones that appeared in book 9 (Edward, Olaf and Bernardo). This group of US Marshals is trying to capture Vittorio, a deranged vampire who once (some books ago, I forget which) left a high body count in St Louis.

At first it almost seemed like we were back in one of the first books: there was some gore, a new mystery to solve and fortunately the recurrent cast of characters were left behind (which I hoped would cut back on the endless relationship-related talks and angst).
But it got bad real fast. You know how this book has about 496 pages? Well, I think that if the author/editors had cut down the paragraphs and paragraphs describing weapons and it's uses; the scenes where Anita Blake bitches at men and women to "prove" that she's better than everyone; the boring sex and the endless info-dump-ey or just plain meaningless conversations, the book would have roughly 200 pages. And that would be a good thing as it would make the book a lot less boring and the story more coesive and interesting.

Also, I didn't see any improvement on the part of the main character (Anita Blake) after 17 books. She is still the same woman she was when the series first began in the early 90's, where it concerns gender roles and sexism. There is no evolution and that is why the character is still having manly staring contests with male police officers and other assorted military. I think this attitude is... a bit outdated.

Another thing I didn't like is how Anita Blake was all powerful (has been, really, for the past 5 or 6 books). I dislike those kind of characters, because who wants to read about them? I actually prefer to read about people who win against the odds. Humans going against vampires and other supernatural creatures and having to really fight their way through; not just wave their hands around and beat all the villains.

The ending was pretty ridiculous too. This was mostly a waste of time. Still a bit better than the latest books, even if there were some parts that I thought were a bit creepy and possibly poor taste.