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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Setting up the plot for future books, 30 Dec 2007
The night starts off reasonably for Anita -- she has a straightforward job of reanimating a recent corpse to establish the cause of death. But things rapidly spiral out of control: the vampire Musette, Belle Morte's servant, arrives in town three months early, before negotiations are complete, causing chaos and consternation; there's a werewolf serial killer on the loose and Lieutenant Dolph is acting angry; and some rather spooky men are following Anita around.
Still rather too much emphasis on sex, but lots less angst, and rather more action this time around, as Anita gets to blow away, or at least severely inconvenience, several different classes of bad guy, and gets to be The Executioner again. Also, in a quite clear foreshadowing, we discover Belle Morte isn't the Big Bad after all, but that something else is Stirring....
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
cerulean sins, 5 May 2003
Having just read the latest Laurell K. Hamilton, Anita Blake Vampire Hunter novel, ‘Cerulean sins’ I was at a loss to explain where the plot line mentioned on the back had disappeared to. Having last read a Blake novel when the tenth in the series was published I found the constant back tracking useful if not a little over used for those of us who have started at the beginning of the series, though understandable for those who have not. I also found it almost disappointing, sure there were the reasons I my self read the books for, the wit of Anita, the werewolves/vampires/witches relationships that seem to get even more complicated as the series develops. Theres also the varied characters, murders and plot lines that usually rarely fail to enthrall me. however, I’m beginning to wonder if Hamilton forgot about the plot in the writing of this latest book, and focused more on the many [many] relationships that Blake is building around herself. Even though the first few books of the series seemed to test our own inhibitions and ideas of morality on the subject of sex and sexuality, this time it seems to go on for too long and strangely enough, it gets a little boring. Also, the main storyline in Cerulean sins seems to be that of vampire politics, again, and Asher’s mourning over the side of his face he will never get back whilst Blake tries over, and over, to convince him that she doesn’t see him as ugly, just as she did in the last book. Moreover, the murders and mystery side of the plot that always mixed so well with the world of vampires and werewolves that Anita has to deal with, seems to take second place to anything else that happens in the book. The ending was almost an after thought and the intrigue and ‘secret to an ancient crime’ mentioned on the back of the book wasn’t alluded to once. Most disappointing however, was the loss of personality of most of the characters, I couldn’t begin to describe Micah as a character, and Blake herself seems to be loosing the wit and sarcasm she had at the beginning of the series that kept me reading on. Overall, I would recommend that any die-hard fans really shouldn’t miss another glimpse of the world that Hamilton has created. I would still go on to read it having read this review as should anyone else, however I hope that in the next one, Hamilton develops the plot line and that the book actually lives up to the preface!
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Awful - Stop at Obisidian Butterfly, 20 May 2003
Im a big fan of Laurel K Hamiltons books but this is easily her worst one. It continues the decline started with Narcissus in Chains.
Its a virtual rehash of one of the earlier books in the series, with a couple of poorly glued on plotlines in a vain attempt to make it different. The sex scenes continue and neither further the plot or add any eroticism to the story. Ms Hamilton proved she can write a cracking Anita Blake story without gratitous sex (see the excellent Obisidian Butterfly - easily her best work). Ms Hamilton continues her fetishes for men with long hair and thigh high boots - please move on from this too Ms Hamilton!Without spoiling the plot (such as it is) she strays far too deeply into Anne Rice territory with another one of the plotlines that remains unresolved at the end of the book. Ms Hamilton is a good enough writer that she doesn't need to rip off Queen of the Damned for her ideas.
There are some great idea's here that are just not explored in enough detail. One of the series' main characters appears to be having a breakdown, but Ms Hamilton just skims over this.
There's also a serial killer in town, but this is dealt with poorly as well, and looks tacked on to the rest of the book.
In short this novel reads like a bad first draft not the polished novels we are used to from Ms Hamilton. I would advise anyone but die hard fans to avoid this, and even for them I would advise waiting for the paperback! On this evidence it looks like the Anita Blake series is running out of steam.
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