Normally I would have needed to make these books two individual reviews, but books 29 and 30 cover so little time in the world of Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter that a single review will suffice. If you have not read any of this series, this review is not going to encourage you to start, or explain the basic premise. It may convince you to save yourself, though, if you were considering it.
Y’all, I think it might be time for me to give these up. I have read all of them – the novellas, even some of the graphic novels, as well as all 30 – 30! – of the series proper. But Smoulder killed me. It covered only HOURS! The bulk of it was trying on OUTFITS! She brought Edward in, and he did NOTHING!
I cannot believe I paid a full novel price for this, and the ending was “yeah, so the bad guy didn’t actually attack again so we figured we scared him off.” What? WHAT?! Does anyone remember when Anita Blake was a monster-of-the-novel book, with each installment setting up a Big Bad then defeating it? Is there ANY series arc still happening here?
Moving on to Slay, I guess there was some set up in Smoulder for the whole “people are opening hotel room curtains on vampires so they burn up” stuff that comes to a head in this book. I mean, not satisfyingly or anything. It was really used to drive home the point that Anita’s paternal Gran is a massive dick, more than for any narrative purpose.
Just writing about this is exhausting. I stuck through the early books where the spelling of Dolph’s name changed from book to book. I stuck with Anita when she went from cave diving on a date to having been historically claustrophobic to her claustrophobia having come from an incident in one of the early books. But I don’t think I can stick with Anita any more. I want to. How many more books can there really be in a series that is already 30 strong?
Gah. Anyway. So the Big Bad from Smoulder that we thought was gone is not gone, someone else who we thought was dead isn’t actually dead, but I already forgot that book. Something something, saved with sex? I don’t know. Someone betrayed Anita, Edward was there and somehow got his flamethrower through airport security again, Olaf turned up to remind us that his dangling shapeshifter serial killer storyline might go somewhere some day, in book 73, Micah telephoned from somewhere to remind me that he exists, Richard turned up and wore green. Day saved, bulk of family more evil than the evils Anita faces with a gun, wedding upcoming at some point, the end.
Oh, and we covered THREE WHOLE DAYS in Slay! Mostly because Anita was knocked out for two of them. These f***ing books, ISTG.
[note: featured image adequately depicts the ennui I now associate with LKH books]