The Anita Blake Vampire Hunter Series

Guilty Pleasures (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter)

In this first book we meet Anita Blake who raises people from the dead for a living. That's right she makes Zombies. Not a pretty job but it pays really well.

Anita also does some freelance work with the police and they have asked her to look into some vampire murders. Now I know what you're thinking. Vampires are already dead how can they be murdered. Well the law states that vampires are living dead because they don't decay. Zombies on the other hand are just dead because they do decay. And thus begins the complex world of interspecies relations in Laurell K. Hamilton's book Guilty Pleasures

In her quest to find the killer Anita Blake brushes with some seriously scary supernatural types including wererats and the ever so creepy and super powerful Nikolaos who looks like a little girls but is in reality the cities most powerful vampire and twisted to boot.

The second most powerful vampire, Jean-Claude, is interested in more than just Anita's professional talents, but the she's not interested in what he's offering. Eternal life sounds good but she's worried about her soul. Still he does have a certain appeal that she finds hard to resist.

Anita Blake is a superb character. She's sassy, powerful and flawed. But best of all she's not looking to be saved. She's the one doing the saving.

Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter: Guilty Pleasures - The Complete Edition

The Laughing Corpse (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter)

Once I finished Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K. Hamilton I was ready for more and immediately picked up The Laughing Corpse.

In the second book of the series Anita is asked to assist police in what appear to be the murders of entire families. The most likely culprit? Zombies. But not ordinary Zombies. It was all wrong. Too brutal, too calculated and too skilled for a regular run of the mill zombie.

In Anita's search for not only the killer Zombie but also the person who could have raised such a creature she comes across Dominga Sanchez. A voodoo priestess who wants Anita to join her so she can teach her the darkest magic and together they can rule. Or if Anita refuses perhaps she will kill her.

And if Dominga isn't enough to deal with she also has a wealthy millionaire wanting her to raise a very old zombie for him. He's willing to pay her well for the service. After all what's a little human sacrifice if the money's good. And if she refuses him ... well let's just say Harold Gaynor is not a man who hears the word "No" all to often.

And lastly Jeane-Claude the Vampire Master of the city is working hard to either seduce her or get her to be his human servant.

In this book Anita begins to discover her true power. She's not a super hero mentality where she just breezes through danger and trouble and comes out unhurt. No Anita is a wonderfully flawed and complex character who struggles like any human would in a world filled with powerful non-human beings. But then Anita is not quite "just human" either.

This book is a real page turner and the cast of new characters are as interesting as the primary ones. The Laughing Corpse is a really great read.

Circus of the Damned (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter)

Laurell K. Hamilton is beginning to hit her stride with her Anita Blake character in this latest book of the series. It opens with the usual murder investigation but the story begin to truly embrace the bizarre and supernatural as early on there is a monstrously large (think telephone pole in size) king cobra running amok at the Circus of the Damned. The Circus is run by the vampires and they put on shows to thrill, titillate and terrify it's human audience.

In this book Anita is faced with ever more powerful master vampires who have come to take over the city now the Nickalaous has been elimanted. Jean-Claude is the new master of the city but he as seen as not very powerful since he hid his powers for so long. A vampire becomes more powerful with age and both of the intruding master vampires are much older than Jean-Claude. Indeed one has been around since the dawn of man. These new vampires see Anita as a pawn to be used against Jean-Claude since she has been partially marked as Jean-Claude's human servant.

The final battle is set to take place at the Circus Of The Damned as entertainment for the human masses. Of course depending on who wins will determine whether they are entertained ... or eaten.

Anita is torn between being betraying Jean-Claude in order to finally be free of him. Of course as they say the devil you know is better than the devil you don't. And that is the crux of Anita Blake's problems.

This was a great page turning read that I could not put down.

The Lunatic Cafe (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 4)

In The Lunatic Cafe Anita Blake is asked to look into some missing Lycanthrropes more commonly know as werewolves. Though in this series that includes any shapshifter including weretigers, wereleopards, wererats and even a swan. Missing persons is not really her thing and try as she might to stay out of it, it seems forces beyond her control keep plunking her down in the middle of it. While lycanthropes are an accepted part of society they are still discriminated against and so many when out lose their jobs. Thus the shapeshifter community prefers to keep police out of it and Anita in it.

Anita is falling in love with Richard who is a werewolf. She has reservations about the Furry folk but Richard is charming and everything she always wanted in a man, well ... except that he's not human. Jean-Claude decides that if Anita will accept Richard than surely she'll accept him and so starts to woo her as well. Thus begins the strangest relationship triangle ever.

The Lunatic Cafe begins a new chapter in the life of Anita Blake. She is changing into a more dangerous individual. Working so close with magic and death will do that to a person. This is the first book where she kills someone in cold blood. Someone who was not threatening her in any way at the time she kills him. But she threatened him she would if harmed someone dear to her and so when he did, she made him pay.

I think the books from here on out may get a little more dark when it comes to Anita Blake's personality.

Bloody Bones (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 5)

In Bloody Bones Anita Blake is hired to raise an entire ancient burial ground. The skeletal remains were unearthed during excavation of a remote mountainside where there are mingled and broken. There is a dispute over the lands ownership and Anita needs to raise the zombies to settle if they are relatives of the disputing parties. But as usual things are never that simple.

Most of the Anita Blake books are named after locations in the novels. Bloody Bones is the name of a remote bar run by fairies. No, not the cutsie little pixie types. But dangerous supernatural beings who have a dark secret.

Anita faces yet another powerful master vampire who even Jean-Claude fears. He has offered to help negotiate with The master vampire of the area Sereaphina in regards to a rogue vampire who is killing humans with abandon. Because the one law vampires hold most dear is to not garner exposure. Political power is the new vampire objective as the current laws allow them to walk among the humans as equals. So a violent vampire on a killing spree will change all that.

Anita discovers she feels more deeply for Jean-Claude than she ever expected and we learn just a little bit more of Jean-Claudes history.

My Personal Thoughts On The Anita Blake Series Books 1-5

On the whole what I really love about a book series is that over time the author gets to expand the story and the characters. By Book 3 Circus Of The Damned, Anita Blake and Jean Claude began to really develop and were no longer just cookie cutter type characters.

Jean-Claude was no longer totally evil but a deeper individual that had some redeeming qualities about him. And Anita Blake though the hero of the series and a character that you route for is not totally good and begin to show a dark side. This makes sense since a person could not be immersed in the occult and death all the time and not develop a darker personality.

On the whole I thoroughly enjoyed the first 5 books. At the end of Bloody Bones Laurell K. Hamilton said that this book was a turning point and that the character were going to change some from now on. There will be a sexual context added as well as the violence will become more graphic. I'm not sure paranormal writers feel the need to "go there" but I have seen this happen time and again with paranormal book series'.

The Killing Dance (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 6)

In The Killing Dance, the title refers to a werewolf ritual of climbing the political ladder by the killing of the previous leader. The werewolves also use this term for sex amongst themselves. It's about treading the fine line between death an pleasure.

Someone is trying to kill Anita Blake. Nothing new there, but what is new is that they are willing to pay a huge sum to have her dead within 24 hours. Anita is almost too busy with her social life to be bothered much by the contract out on her life.

In this book Anita Blake becomes more deeply immersed in the werewolf culture. Richard a shapshifting werewolf and also Anita's boyfriend and fiance wants Anita to really understand what it means to be part of the pack. Deep down Richard doesn't believe that Anita can accept him for who he really is, but then again Richard denies his inner beast so how can he think anyone else would love it.

But Richard needs to embrace his wolf in order to defeat Marcus and Raina the current pack aplhas. They are slowing tearing the pack apart and using it for their own personal playground. Richard is a man of high morals and wants to avoid killing at all costs. But Anita insist he needs to in order to protect himself and his people. The question is, Once he does can he ever forgive himself ... or Anita.

Burnt Offerings (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 7)

As Burnt Offerings unfolds a potential psychic firestarter has been running amok and it's up to Anita Blake to find out who it is. But she has bigger problems. The vampire council has come to town to find out why Jean-Claude has not taken his rightful place on the council after he killed a previous council member.

The answer ... because Jean Claude understands that he'd be nothing more than a stalking horse. He is not powerful enough to hold the council position and so would be challenged until he was defeated (and by defeated I mean killed.) For that is the only way to gain a council seat. Kill a previous council member.

Even though the Vampire council is working hard to keep a good public face on their community side because they enough the freedom of being considered people and wish to enlarge their legal standing, they are indeed vampires and take and destroy what they can. Their mere presence has thrown Anita's community into chaos.

And to top it off some political nutjobs are trying to recreate the cleansing, which is a holocaust like happening in which all the vampires were burnt and destroyed in Europe several centuries prior.

The Living

Anita Blake. Known as the executioner among vampiric circles she has killed more vapires (most of them legally) than anyone else on record. She is a animator (raises zombies) and a necromancer (which means she has power over anything that is dead.) She's a no nonsense tough little woman who assist the police in solving paranormal crimes.

Dolph Rudolf Storr Detective on the Preternatural Crime Squad. He was given this duty as a punishment but he turned it into one of the most successful divisions with a high number of solved cases. He's tough and like Anita though they have a very different opinion about the monsters.

Lerbowski Part of the police squad and all around good guy.

Ronnie Veronica Sims is a private detective and. Anita Blake's Best Friend and pretty much her only real human friend that isn't part of the police squad.

Rafael The Rat King. He's the leader of the wererats who on the whole seems to be pretty good folks compared to the other shapeshifters.

Richard Begins as the werewolf second in command. A high school science teacher who has too high a moral standard to be a werewolf leader.

Edward Is known as Death among the vampires. He's a gun for hire and the mostly deadly hunter out there. Even Anita is scared of Edward and they are friends.

The Undead

Jean-Claude He begins the series as a master vampire but not thought to be a huge player. He grows in power throughout the series, first becoming master of the city and then later 1/3 of a triumvirate which increases his power by sharing in the power of two others. He begins as the bad guy but soon into the series becomes Anita Blake's lover.

Marcus Leader of the werewolves. The Alpha.

Raina The Lupa or mate to the Alpha male. Marcus. She's pretty evil and uses and abuses the others for her own pleasures.

Gabriel The leader of the wereleopards. One sick kitty and the plaything of Raina.

The Very Dead

Nikalaos The original master of the city and the first big baddie that Anita Blake had to go up against.

Mr. Oliver Possibly the oldest vampire Anita was ever to come against. He was technically prior to homosapiens on the human evolution scale.

Blue Moon (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 8)

In Blue Moon Anita Blake receives a call in the middle of the night telling her Richard, her previous werewolf boyfriend/fiance has been imprisoned on rape charges while he's out of town studying trolls. Now Richard is capable of murder ... maybe, but certainly not rape. Also they need to get him out on bail (which is currently being denied) because in a couple of days there will be a blue moon and well ... he's a werewolf. While being a lycanthrope is not illegal since it's considered a disease, all to often once exposed the werewolf loses its job and is run out of town on fear alone. Richard being a high school science teacher would prefer to keep his furry side hidden.

The great mystery to be solved in this book is why Richard has been framed for rape and why the local law enforcement wants him out of town and is willing to do anything to make it happen. There is demonic disturbances, the endangered troll.s to protect, new werewolf protocols to meet as well as issues with the local vampire clan to add more trouble to Anita's list of pain in the backside things to deal with.

In Blue Moon Anita finally gives in to her love for Richard, despite knowing she still loves Jean-Claude and has no plans of giving him up either. So those of you wishing she choose Richard instead get to see what happens when they finally allow themselves to embrace who they really are.

Obsidian Butterfly (An Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 9)

In Obsidian Butterfly we finally get a good look at Edward. Anita's friend though she knows it is entirely possible that someday Edward may just try to kill her. But Edward has asked her for help, something he has never done and Anita is more than a little intrigued at being able to get a glimpse of Edward's personal life. Turns out ... he's not at all what she though.

Edward is living a double life as part time gun for hire and part time family man. Is Edward just playing these people for fools or some personal game or does he really care about this single mother and her two kids.

In this book Anita gets a break from the Jean-Claude and Richard drama and risks her life in the ever weird and twisted life of the vampire underworld. She goes to Albuquerque and runs into an ancient Aztec clan of vampires complete with their own werejaguars. She must tread the fine line between vampire executioner and police investigator with her human servant title to Jean-Claude. But there is something big and bad that's got everyone scared, including Edward and it is up to Anita Blake to figure it out and stop this creature whatever it is, before is can brutally mutilate and kill anymore people.

Narcissus in Chains (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 10)

In Narcissus In Chains Anita has been injured in a fight with with some Snake people. She is saved by one of her wereleopards but is accidently may have gotten infected with the lycanthrope disease in the process. She won't know for sure until the full moon but all signs seem to point to the fact that she is the Nimir-Ra and indeed now a wereleopasrd.

Also she has finally agreed to embrace her human servant position with Jeane-Claude and the final marks get opened. It seems Jeane-Claude was a succubus and has passed this along to Anita through the open marks.

My Opinion Of This Anita Blake Book - Narcissus In Chains
In truth I was a bit disappointed with this book. There is no real mystery to be solved which is the reason I love the Anita Blake series. The book spends most of it's pages with Anita struggling with her out of control libido and having sex with the old and new boyfriends.

As an erotic thriller it is a success. As the paranormal mystery it is no where close to being one.

Cerulean Sins (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 11)

The book Cerulean Sins begins with a murder in which a man is stapled to a wall. This bizarre crime has Anita and the local police stumped. Tensions with Anita and her detective friend Dolf ignite because of his inability to accept that Anita or anyone for that matter would willingly be involved with the monsters. Dolf's son plans to marry a vampire who wants to bring him over and Dolf is taking all of his frustrations out on Anita. What this leads to is a very difficult working relationship between her and the police force as Dolf spirals into racism headlong and at a time when there is a particularly heinous serial killer on the loose.
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For me much of the first half of the book was devoted too much to Anita's libido. Frankly the author seems to be more interested in Anita's bizarre sexual encounters with the wide variety of monsters she deals with, and somehow writing it into the storyline that it makes it like Anita Blake really has no choice but to do these things. Frankly that part has gotten stale and tired.

The second half of the book however actually deals with the crime at hand and in part redeems itself by becoming like the original books that drew us all in with mystery and bizarre preternatural world that is created for us to enjoy.

According to Wikipedia
Laurell Kaye Hamilton was born in Heber Springs, Arkansas but grew up in Sims, Indiana with her grandmother Laura Gentry. Her education includes degrees in English and biology from Marion (now Indiana Wesleyan University), a private Evangelical Christian liberal arts college in Marion, Indiana that is affiliated with the Wesleyan Church denomination.

Hamilton is involved with a number of animal charities, particularly supporting dog rescue efforts and wolf preservation.

Hamilton lives in St. Louis County, Missouri with husband Jonathon Green and daughter Trinity. (more ...)

Incubus Dreams (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 12)

Micah (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 13)

Danse Macabre (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 14)

The Harlequin (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 15)

In The Harlequin Anita Blake is about to meet the Vampire worlds most hidden secret for to say their name aloud is a death sentence. The Harlequin are a band of powerful vampires that police the vampire community. They are the enforcers of the council who study those of interest and then hand out punishments as needed. The Harlequin has a list of rules which must be followed however and any violation is not tolerated.

Anita and Jean-Claude have captured the Harlequins attentions, though they don't seem to be playing by the rules. It's a game of intrigue, like chess but only with the losers dying.

Marme Noir grows ever more restless and more powerful, invading Anita's weaknesses whenever she can. Everyone's got to pull together to win against these terrible forces.

Blood Noir (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter)

Much like in Micah, Blood Noir revolves around just Anita and one of her many male partners. Jason a werewolf needs to go home to visit his dying father and Anita has agreed to go with him.

Once there she discovers that Jason looks like an identical twin to two brothers who are sons of a very famous politician. They are hounded by the poparazzi thinking that Jason is a soon to married son of a presidential hopeful and Anita is his new girlfriend.

There is a great deal of family drama and Anita seems to be getting ever nearer to have the Mother of All Vampires take her over. And while she's this far from home it's possible it may just happen

Skin Trade (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 17)

In Skin Trade Anita Blake vampire hunter is drawn into a serial killer nightmare ... literally. Anita travels away from her e vampire lover Jean-Claude and her wereleopards to take on a very powerful and very old vampire named Vittorio who sent her a special invitation to come play in the form of a decapitated head via the postal service.

Accompanied by fellow executioners "Ed"Ted Forrester, Bernado Spotted Horse and their own personal pet serial killer Olaf they embark to find and destroy this ominous new threat before it can become even more powerful.

This book finally gets back to the reason we love the Anita Blake series. It's murder and mystery and evil bad guys that need eliminating. There is still plenty of sex and yet more wereanimals are thrown into the mix but the story is sound and keeps you turning the pages up until the very end. I am glad that Laurel K. Hamilton has turned back to the writing style that made her famous and left most of the sex behind.

Flirt (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 18)

Bullet (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter)

Hit List (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 20)