Series: Anita Blake #24
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: June 9, 2015
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | Barnes & Noble
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Blurb from goodreads:
Anita Blake has the highest kill count of any vampire executioner in the country. She’s a U.S. Marshal who can raise zombies with the best of them. But ever since she and master vampire Jean-Claude went public with their engagement, all she is to anyone and everyone is Jean-Claude’s fiancée.
It’s wreaking havoc with her reputation as a hard ass—to some extent. Luckily, in professional circles, she’s still the go-to expert for zombie issues. And right now, the FBI is having one hell of a zombie issue.
Someone is producing zombie porn. Anita has seen her share of freaky undead fetishes, so this shouldn’t bother her. But the women being victimized aren’t just mindless, rotting corpses. Their souls are trapped behind their eyes, signaling voodoo of the blackest kind.
It’s the sort of case that can leave a mark on a person. And Anita’s own soul may not survive unscathed . . .
Jax's Thoughts:
Must get this out of my system....Book 24?!?! What is this, Xanth? Hats off to having that many books out there. Sadly, I like roughly third to half of them. On the plus side, this is one of them.
For those of you unfamiliar with the series, it started out as a very solid Urban Fantasy type of thing. Romantic interests weren't entirely absent, but they weren't the focus of the books. Somewhere around the 8th book or so, that changed drastically. It was, and can still be, quite the controversy. Honestly, I like both UF and Paranormal Romance, so that wasn't such a big deal. It was more that I felt Hamilton's writing was far superior to her romance/erotica. She's gotten better, but I still prefer her UF. The last few books have felt like she's slowly returning to her strong suit, and the series is better for it.
That's not to say there's no PNR in Dead Ice. Quite the opposite. At times, I thought I was reading two books entwined. There's plenty of naked time for our beloved smuthounds, but Anita is FINALLY more focused on the necromancer mystery solving. It was so good to have a plotline that revolved around something besides Anita sleeping her way to a new power level. (My gamer friends, can you imagine getting through a campaign that way? You roll a 20, your oral skills leave the evil wizard comatose. Loot the clothes strewn about the room and take 50 XP.)
For those who, like me, prefer the old school Anita, it's easy enough to skip through that portion o the book and just enjoy the adventure. I don't know what prompted her to bring back that type of story, but I was very happy to read it.
I enjoyed this one quite a bit and seeing some of the old Anita peeking out. There was hardly any on the smexy though which I missed. I would have liked more than one (I think it was only one if I'm remembering right) scene.
ReplyDeleteI really think she's an awful writer when it comes to the smexy stuff. Almost as bad as EL James. I skip a lot of those scenes in her books. It's made for some short reads.
DeleteThen I think I will love this. I started reading the series a while back, but a lot of fellow bloggers warned me of the change. I quit it then because I don't want to be wasting time on something that I will eventually dislike. I will give this a peek, maybe I'll like it.
ReplyDeleteI was happier that things went back to being more about the her ability to fight the monsters than bang the monsters, however, I could really have done out all the therapy. :/ I understand that therapy works, but it's fiction for the love of pete. I want more ass kicking and less brain shrinking. :(
ReplyDeleteI've been reluctant to read Affliction for just the reasons you stated. Her writing was much better in the beginning and while I'm not complaining about the sex itself I am going to complain about how badly it's written and how there aren't any good plots. So, now that I hear Dead Ice is getting back to the old Anita I'll have to get caught up so I can read it. Thanks for the insight! And LOL about the gamer visual.
ReplyDelete