Goodness, all the whining and complaining, combined with all the hyperboloid praise, would turn any author's head ... into mush. Good thing LKH doesn't read reviews. Frankly, for me, and for many of us quietly enjoying her artistry, the very plot devices and dialogue qualities that people alternately whine and glow about are what simply please us the most.

What if the criticized and beloved characters and plot lines are actually imperfect and growing, on purpose, and neither mistakes nor genre-typical simplistic devices machined to keep the dough rolling in? What if we are invited to grow, too, through the seeming imperfections?

As a human development specialist, I've felt relieved to read LKH's style, to see the ludicrously predictable hyper-drek of this genre meet the deeper, less-attractive qualities of the real human spirit. Oh yes, our favorite characters (and there are many!) are bull-headed, inane, cruel, surprising, narcissistic, passionate, bellicose, stupid, grandiose, ridiculous, insightful, incomplete, cheesy, shallow, tender, and confused. *But then again, so are we all.* And THIS is where LKH shines above and beyond the usual drek of this genre, which I normally dislike intensely. The author gives us more than what we expect - through fantasy, she gives us a detailed mirror of our own selves, warts and all.

Frankly, unlike some of LKH's critics, after the first few novels, I never wanted to read about exploding guts and impossibly studly Anita's many, beloved, penis-oid guns, ever, ever again. Freud, save me from the boredom. But then LKH began developing Anita and some of her relationships. And then more of her relationships, and the relationships between the relationships, aka politics. And despite the surreal surface complexities, the deeper issues that each character faces are surprisingly realistic, in that the politics and politicians are also just as desperate, stupid, pathetic, surprising, smart, defensive, and inconsistent as we and ours are in real life. Again, LKH holds up the mirror for us to consider.

And the rampant sexuality, I find fascinating. Overdone, certainly. But still beneficial, in that the author offers a relatively mainstream readership in repressed/overwrought American society further insights into the variety and possibilities of the human sexual-relational experience. She offers us possibility - we could, if we wanted to, give ourselves permission to be even a little more open, exploratory, and creative with our hearts, minds, beliefs, and bodies. Furthermore, for those whining about what LKH has done so far with the ardeur, notice that it's no different than what *we've already done in our society* - superficially hypersexualized the experience, and wrapped it in a shiny, neurotic bow. So if you don't like what LKH is showing you in the mirror, change the image you offer her.

Blessedly, though, in this novel, the author takes the ardeur one giant step beyond where we are as a society and points to another possibility.... without spoiling the plot, I'll just ask readers to see what happens next.... could it be a growing maturity? A tentative step into a new direction? Can you stand the possibility?

As for the accusation of underdeveloped plotlines, all I can say is, Of Course! Keep us coming back for more - how does character X (whether it's Harlequin, Nathaniel, or anyone/thing else) handle life after getting lucky, or acting stupid, or missing the point, etc? What if not-knowing in one book becomes knowledge-gained in another?

I've read reviews of her next book that suggest that, among other surprises, Jean-Claude gets insecure. I cannot *wait* to see what LKH does to develop this. His impossibly smooth competence was getting on my nerves, and I've been hoping that he'd learn to be human again.

I wonder what would happen if fantasy as a genre became beautifully, imperfectly human again? I know I'll stick around to find out.......

Remember that and don't waste your money buying this book. I wasn't able to finish TH as I was seriously afraid it would turn me off reading altogether. When will LKH learn that stories need a plot and that sex is NOT a plot. If the sex was well written and erotic then I could almost forgive the weak plots in the past 5 or so books. But it isn't. It's simply bad porn - repetitive and boring. At least TH was consistent to her past few AB books as they have been: 1) consistently bad and 2) consistently inconsistent regarding characterizations and Anitaverse rules.

Okay - number 15 - running out of plot ideas, are we? A few name changes and such, and !poof! you have "The Harlequin", a book that eerily seems familiar to all the other Anita Blake books, and not to far off from anything written by Laurell K Hamilton. If you liked her other books enough to read them again, go ahead and read this one. For everyone else, there are enough books out there that don't have that deja vu feeling to waste your time with repeat #15.

I missed the tough skinned Anita, and now we got her back. The past few books have been to sappy and over sexed to the point of boredom. I cherished that some of my favorites have returned and LOVE the fact Anita is finally getting her backbone and smart-mouth self back in the picture for readers to enjoy. The helpless maiden bit was getting old. If I wanted to deal with over emotional whiney women I would go spend thanksgiving with my family. I cannot wait for the next book.

I agree with a previous reviewer. I think I got through this book alot easier by deciding the story has turned into a sort of comedy...though un-intentional. Seriously...I laughed alot. I woke my husband when I bust out laughing about the condom apparently falling off the swan king. Are you kidding? But then I forgot how much she enjoys watching all her men *work* if you know what I mean. Of course that would be the only place she would be looking after the guy turns into a swan! I thought I was crazy when I connected the red shirts to Star Trek...haha..glad I'm not the only one. The ENDLESS dialog about Anita thinking everyone is picking on her, and snoozer sex scenes (oh add some additional whinney dialog there too)....wait....wasn't some/most of that passed off as the Harlequin *messing* with them?
Regardless, there are only so many times I can tolerate Anita or any of her men saying what "flat does it for them". I get it...just about anything flat does it for her. When I read that term "mommie dearest" for the Mother of All Darkness, I always want to cry out "no wire hangers EVER!!" I'll probably read the next one. It's like driving and watching a major car crash in slow motion. You know you really need to move on and you can't help but stick around to see how bad it can get.
I guess I can say at least she spent a couple hours at the office this time, Dolph, Zabrowski, and Edward make shadow appearances. I know I won't need to wait for long on the library list to check it out. Stay tuned!!

Here's the Anita Blake I know and love! She's not being the prude she was when I first met her, nor is the story bogged down by too much erotica as the later stories were. The balance along with the tension of all her relationships makes for an excellent story.

it's about time. i'm refferring to that pivital moment near the end. we all knew it had to happen sometime. surely now things will be far less stressful for Ms. Blake.
if you have not yet read the books preceding this one, stop reading the threads. search this awesome author and amazon has this nifty thing that tells you which book in the series is the first. buy it. read it. love it. share it with your friends. but get it back from them too or you'll have to buy the same book several times because others refuse to give it back to you. bitter? who me?
and does anybody else think Janean Garafolo might play a fairly good Anita should she ever reach the big screen? lol buy this book. the whole idea of the harlequin is such a cool thing, that all vampiric story lovers should know it.

The 15th book in the Anita Blake series starts out with some promise. Anita is finally back at work and it looks like she'll actually do something interesting. The introduction of the Wild Hunt caught my eye right away. It's something I know a lot about and LKH's brief infodump on it looked correct. And that's where it was dropped. Key to the idea of a hunt is hunter and prey. Did the Harlequin pursue Anita et al? Nope, they were already in town and their power seems to consist entirely of the ability to irritate people and cause friction. That isn't exactly imposing. Then LKH adds the Commedia del Arte. I didn't know anything about it when I started reading The Harlequin and I didn't know anything more after finishing the book. There's no real description of it or why vampires would find a bunch of clowns so scary. And what do clowns have to do with the Wild Hunt?

Worse yet, we eventually learn that this isn't the *real* Harlequin, just imposters. This is the first book in which the Harlequin are even mentioned. Since we don't know anything about them, it's hard to feel shock or surprise to learn they aren't the real deal. If the book featured a group of corrupt cops, we wouldn't need a lot of explanation. We already know how cops are *supposed* to behave, so if we're told they're on the vampire counsel's payroll, we'd know they'd gone bad, but we've never seen the Harlequin act the way they're supposed to act, so who cares if they're real or not?

They come across as an inept Black Ops group rather than hunters. Of course the best part comes in the end of the book when the Harlequin stand around like characters straight out of Austin Powers and wait until Anita and crew finish having their emo moment to fight. A group of kindergarten children could take them out. All the while, the real villian of the story, Anita herself, is presented as the hero. If LKH realized Anita was evil and turned the story to describing a conflicted character's fall from grace the story might be salvaged, but she's stuck in a Mary Sue fantasy that makes Anita right no matter what she does.

Edward is finally back, the one highlight of the book, but he doesn't have much to do and seems to have turned into some emotional family man. Most of the real action happens off stage while Anita lies around in a hospital bed. We already know that LKH isn't willing to kill off any major characters, so there's no real tension. We also know she'll get the new super power du jour, so why even bother? Anita's powers are centered around sex, so the gang bang is on every time she needs to do anything metaphysical. When Joseph refuses to bed Anita for *her* benefit, she puts out a hit on him. I guess we're supposed to think, "That Joseph is terrible! He should do whatever Anita wants." but every concern that Joseph's wife puts forward is accurate and since when does staying true to your vows earn a death sentence? Especially when another bozo is available for the banging.

Which brings us to the Swan King. The guy is marched onstage solely for the purpose of serving the Doom Crotch and is set to work. After the usual boring, overlong sex scene LKH makes her usual error in telling too much. I mean really, the condom fell off? I get that he was forced to shapechange, but do we really need to know what happened to the condom? Granted it was hilarious. My husband and I laughed about that line for days, but that line doesn't belong in anything but a parody. Of course we never hear about him after that so where did he go? I guess he was sucked up into the Black Hole of St. Louis. Maybe he's still there now, wandering around. Hopefully Lemmiwinks will guide him out.

And the self-parody to end all parodies is the line about red shirts. Did she put this in the book as a joke? I mean the woman wrote a Star Trek novel, she should know the red shirts are the guys on the chopping block in TOS. I guess it's truth in advertising, since sex with Anita is the end of any characters personality. If you're looking for a good book with a great plot, great writing, and hot erotica look elsewhere, this book is more useful as a paperweight.

Like many other reviewers, I've been waiting for LKH to return to her old self and serve up a strong, interesting, multi-faceted character involved in a plot that's scary, fun and holds your attention. But that is just not going to happen, I guess. Where to start? In this book Anita is... dumbed down to an intolerable level. The first several hundred pages consist of her asking various men to "explain" everything over and over again. She repeats things like a moron and can't seem to focus on anything. Example, Byron: "I'm both dom and sub." Anita: "Dominant and submissive?" Uh, yeah, that's what it means. Example, Jean-Claude: "There are three colors of masks: red, white and black. Red means pain, white means [whatever]..." Anita: "What does black mean? Explain." Gee, I'd think black means DEATH, Anita. Could she be more stupid? And she just doesn't get that the Harelequin are (as it repeated a hundred times to her) "the police force of the vampire world," even though she herself is involved in police work. Or used to be because now she doesn't do anything but talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, and have random sex.

Where to go next? The sex. "Nasty, brutish and short" to steal a quote. With Richard the sex is so quick and brutal that she's bleeding afterwards and he's glad she's hurt. Is that... sexy? erotic? pulse-pounding because she urges him to do it? No. It's a turn-off and kinda repulsive, too. I like steamy erotica and lots of it if it's done well. Having a woman hurt and bleeding after sex is not cool. It just isn't. Don't know what else to say about that.

What else? The same ol' cliches are trotted out YET AGAIN. Micah's cat eyes, "pile of puppies," etc. If you've been reading her books, you know what I'm saying. Why a supposedly strong, masculine hunk of man like Richard says, "I need to be in a puppy pile" is beyond me. Bleah. Cute or lame? Lame!

For anyone interested in dom/sub sex that's truly hot, try the Ann Rice "Sleeping Beauty" series. If you want a good vampire/werewolf tale... try anything but LKH. Like I said, I give up.

I think I'm all worked up about this because it's a real treat to find strong female characters in a paranormal setting, or movies or really in any media. To have Anita act like a dullard and talk endlessly about her hang-ups is just too "chick lit" for me, I guess. Why can't she be strong, enjoy hot sex and kick some vampire azz? And not get all hung up about it? Maybe that's just too much to ask.

I havent bought a Hamilton novel in two years. For either of her series.
From the rewiew that Amazon posted, about Hamilton responding to the cries of the fans about bringing back her skillful writing again - I was so hopeful. From other reviews, the plot sounds much better than the tragedies the previous four books have been. And I'm glad to see that Edward is back with his own rich dramas. What happened, Laurell? Bring back the old Anita writing style. Dont end the series writing like this. Its so depressing to see a great writer with such a great imagination take such a twist like this. I will not be purchasing this book, nor the other four missing from my collection - but I will be checking this one out at the library. She made the effort to try and appease us, I might as well read it.

I'm going to try this again - I wrote this really long review day before yesterday, which has not posted (argh!). I'll try to sum up what my gripes were, and, add a few more, since I've made myself get farther into the book.

I have to say I'm not reading the hardback, but listening to the audio version which I checked out from the library (unabridged). I had heard LKH's name dropped in some erotica circles, and I thought I'd give her a try. I don't know why, now that I'm halfway through the book, though. This story is neither erotica, nor romance, not porn (either soft or hard-core). The sex is a joke. But I digress. Let me count the ways the book fell short (IMHO):

1. I hate, absolutely hate, to read stories, especially stories of this type paranormal, "romance" - term used loosely, etc. It's never possible for the reader to get a good feel of the other characters in the story. And frankly, reading sex scenes in first person is either very awkward, vulgar or both. I actually played one of the scenes for a friend and we sat there and laughed at how ridiculous Anita sounded talking about it.

2. There are no strong men - hey, for that matter women, either - in this book. The male characters are weak, whiny and easily manipulated. I could go on and on with this one, but what's the point? I can't imagine any woman being attracted to any man that is mentioned in this story.

3. The idea of having to "feed the ardeur" is a joke. She has to feed it by having sex? Every, what, 12 hours? Because halfway through (disc 8 of 14), and she's HAD to have sex twice now and the only time that's passed has been one evening and one day. That's a little too far out there to even be believable.

4. "The Harlequin", which are supposed to be these big, bag vampires, have yet to make an appearance. Wait, excuse me. I think they've just sent some bad ju-ju Anita's way at the beginning of disc 8. Are they supposed to be the main theme of this book?

5. The majority of the book, is, as others have commented, dedicated to listening to whiny men, Anita pontificating about how so-and-so is picking on her. I can't even work up a good excitement over finding out just what the Harlequin are and why they're after them.

6. Several annoying character habits:
- Jean Claude calling Anita "Ma Petite". Repeatedly. Above all else. She has a name. Endearments are okay, unless one gets the impression they're used because the speaker has forgotten someone's name or has so many lovers, it's a generic term he uses with all "his women" to save himself some embarassment by calling someone by the wrong name.
- Richard and his jealousy. Yikes - get over it already. And if Anita says, "I guess we'll fight after all" one more time - ARRRR!!!
- Nathaniel is a joke as a submissive. Anyone who has any true knowledge of the BDSM scene would see right through him as a wannabe.

7. I have to say, while the narrator for the audio book has a pleasant voice, I would have rather had a more smoky (not as in cigarette) voice. More of a sensual timbre. She does, after all, sleep around quite a bit.

8. The book was, for once - for me, recently - follow-able, even though it's part of a series. I might have been able to really enjoy it, but there were just too many characters and too many annoying characters at that, to keep me entertained.

I'd recommend checking it out from the library, if you can, but I really, really would NOT pay for the audio-version, nor would I fork out the money for the hardback.

I was very relieved to have a good story present itself in "The Harlequin". I was interested in the plot and the conflicts between the characters. The sex was minimal compared to the last few books, and generally made sense (although throwing the Rat and Swan kings into the mix was... odd. I'm beginning to agree with Dolph a bit when he says, "Aren't humans good enough for you anymore?"). Nathaniel is one of my favorite characters, and while I'm sad that Micah got pushed to the curb a lot, I loved the growth in Nathaniel. It's about time Edward came back, even if he wasn't quite as fun as normal, and Olaf was just chilling.

On to the things that bugged me. First off, LKH has Sylvie say that she "would stay, but when the ardeur spreads, she doesn't do women". WHAT??? Sylvie was like... our token lesbian! Since when has this changed? Way to forget a major part of the plot of a previous book, LKH. There were a few other things that happened that I just went, "NO" to. Glaring errors make me cringe. Also, lesbian vampire dream sex? Anita would SO not go for that. And hasn't she been able to fight off the ardeur in the past when she gets too uncomfortable?

Overall, its working its way back to a good series, and this book helps a lot... now we just need a better fact-checker.

I have been reading this series now for 5 years. I find it interesting to see what the end result will be. The books are getting better everytime I read one.

A fan since childhood, I've ridden out the funky turn that the Anita Blake series has taken. I always loved it for being a more adult Buffy the Vampire slayer meets paranormal investigation kind of thing. When it turned into soft porn...I have to admit, I became morbidly fascinated, until I got bored with pitiful excuses for tons of mindless sex.

So how's The Harlequin? Actually, it was a bit of an improvement. Hopefully my favorite character will gradually come back someday... what can I say? I'm a glass-half-full girl.

You can't help but be totaly involved with the Anita Blake series and they just keep getting better and "The Harlequin" proves it- can't wait for the next one!

I stopped reading the series after it started becoming bad soft porn. Didn't read Micha, Danse Macabre or this one.

Then I got an e-mail from Amazon stating that Ms. Hamilton has a new book in the series coming out. So while in the library picking up "No Country for Old Men" I picked up "The Harlequin." Started it and by gosh Anita was in the office. Didn't do any work but she was there. I had hopes. Then I had hopes dashed.

I basically started skipping the pages where Anita was either having sex, thinking about sex or having were discusions on sex. Started out skipping a couple of pages at a time. Then 3-5 pages at a time. Then it seems like whole chapters. The book in the edition I had was 400 pages and if you took out the soft core porn it'd be less than half that.

Even when a fight is in progress Anita now uses her "SEX" magic to vanquish the foe.

It's disgusting. A good character and series killed due to a writer just being lazy.

I stopped buying the books and now I won't bother with a copy from the library either.

It's a shame when a writer gets so lost they lose their readers along the way. I won't buy another book my Laurell Hamilton. There are plenty of really good books being written by some very talented writers. If I wanted porn, I'd have ordered it. My biggest mistake was thinking that it would get better and we'd go back to the Anita Blake of "Guilty Pleasures" days. Sadly, this isn't it. It's over. I won't do it again - promise!

Way back Anita compared her life to a mix of Preturnatural soap opera "As The Casket Turns" and Rambo. Then it went to "As The Casket Turns and "Debbie Does Dallas". This was a slight upward turn as Anita becomes a cross between "As The Casket Turns" and Dr. Phil.

It probably reads better if you like your men totally emasculated. I don't. A couple of decent villains would make Anita look better too. Anita looks better when someone else is ordering the deaths and she's trying to stop them.

Finally! The old Anita is back. Well, not exactly the old Anita but close enough. There is page after page of plot, not sex. Monsters abound with Anita and the gang fighting their way through super bad vampires. There are a few sex scenes and discussions about sex, which is OK, but maybe LKH learned you can have sex and the old elements of the series at the same time. She could probably win all of her old fans back and sell even more books now if she pleased everybody. This book is a step in that direction.

The first half of the book is mostly dialogue but the old Anitas were
like that, too. I was more than ready for Edward to make his appearance. It felt like old home week. Other reviewers have outlined the book so I won't do that. I just want to tell the old fans that they may want to give this book a try. If we show LKH how much we appreciate the old elements of the books, maybe she will include them in the next books, too. Heck, maybe we will even see a few zombines raised ;)

I purchased this as a Christmas gift. The service was wonderful and the book arrived in rather short amount of time. From the enjoyment on face of the person I gave it to, it was a good book!

Anita Is Back and in Black. That would be Nathan's fault!
This is the return of the babe I missed, my Hero Anita Blake. The book is full of old gags, great plot twists, and a whole lot of guns!
The book starts out with dealing with Malcom at Anita's office. Last time we were there wasn't there lost of Sex, well none this time. After that a date with Nathan, and no sex there. Just Nathan becoming what Anita wanted him to become, a Man. Then off to Guilty Pleasures, no sex for awhile, just politics.
Yes, there is sex as it's own self in the book, sex into feeding, sex into REAL Love, sex into friendship. And I was not happy with the sex partners this time, still to high. But that's what LKH wanted, it is her books! But the Sex this time furthered the plot. And it was useful!
And finally the best part of the book is.. There's a hint that Richard is FINALLY out of her bed, or at least coming to terms with himself.
I truly believe this is one of her better books!
Anita's Back!

The book was everything I expected from one of her great books and I have already pre-ordered her next one.

I'm a real fan. I bought this in hard cover! LKH goes back to her roots, this book has far more plot, even though much of it is simply reminding readers what happened in the past books. It's got all the favorites and I'm enjoying it far more than her last few.

When I first started reading this series, I was so hooked, I had trouble getting my work done, all I wanted to do was read the books from end to end. Then the books started to dwell too much on the graphic sex, and not enough on the excitement and zombie raising, etc. the things that made them so good. This last one, however, got back to the basics and really made you want to keep reading so you could see what would happen. It was the best she has done lately and I hope she keeps writing this way, instead of dwelling so much on the graphic sex, orgies, and the stuff that was making her books just plain poronographic. This one was perfect.

I do so want to love every book of the Anita Blake series. But the last few books I've read more out of duty to the series than any real desire to read it.

The series started out with so much promise - there were times I could feel my pulse race and palms sweat... not during the sex scenes, because there were blissfully few then, but during moments of magic, suspense, and horror. Then began the hideous descent into bad porn. Porn porn porn. Pron, pr0n, prawn even. I can't even remember if there was a plot-line to Cerulean Sins or Incubus Dreams because all I remember is sex. And quite frankly, it wasn't even all that hot.

This book fulfills its promise as yet another disappointment. The plot line was semi-decent, but still a far cry from say Bloody Bones. And it contained slightly less porn that the last few attempts. But not only did it fail to get me hooked, the writing style has degraded to that of the average 7th-grader. Hamilton seemingly has lost all ability to find decent synonyms. When multiple sentences involve the same subject, it's perfectly acceptable to use the word "it," or to throw in another descriptor to give the reader a clearer picture. For example, "the chair" could become "the faded recliner" or "the straight-backed throne" WITHOUT you having to say, "The chair sat in the middle of the room. The chair was a recliner. The chair was faded." Does Anita do anything during sex but "cry out"? "I cried out... made me cry out... Cried out again..." Kill me, please.

By the time I read the second use of the word "sooo" I was ready to throw the book across the room. That is the kind of vernacular one expects in an editorial, or a span of dialog, but not in the text of a published novel from a (formerly) great author. Especially one in hardcover that costs 25.95 new. Anita Blake is a hardened vampire executioner, federal marshal, and necromancer; I highly doubt that such a pubescent word is part of her vocabulary.

I want my money back. Like I mentioned previously, I do so want to love this book, and all the Blake series. But when the next one comes out, I probably won't bother to buy it. I don't think I can take another disappointment.

This series started of great than fell off by spending too much time on sex and not enough time on plot. Well I am happy to say that the series is back on track with a very good plot and great charecter development. It made me eager to read the next entry in this series

This another Anita Blake novel and while it is entertaining, it is not engrossing. I was hoping that this book would take the series' back to it's earlier quality, but instead it is just another in Hamilton's supernatural erotica. Bearing that in mind it is a nice way to blow and hour.

I bought "The Harlequin" only after reading several months of reviews ... but the magic is 'broken' for me over the last few entries in this series. I loved Laurell Hamilton's Anita Blake character and story in "Incubus Dreams", and have been an avid fan through my disappointment with "Danse Macabre". Sounds and feels like Ms. Hamilton is becoming the Barbara Cartland of this genre, as her story content slides into cookie cutter themes between her Anita Blake and Meredith Gentry series. Although I find her faerie writing still sparks with a sweet creativity, I'll be taking a long vacation into other writers' works with my my hard-earned consumer dollars.

The 15th installment in Hamilton's train wreck series Anita Blake is surprising for a few reasons.

Hamilton has been heavily criticized for taking books with plots and turning it into bad porn. The author appears to be aware of this criticism and has toned down the sex to only a handful of scenes. What is surprising is that they are -still- so badly written, serve no purpose except to titillate desperate housewives or teens and are with 2 dimensional characters that no one really cares about (certainly not the author who cannot be bothered to remember the basics like names, heights, ages of these characters). Hamilton has heard half of the criticism of too much sex scenes but has missed the other part - too much BADLY WRITTEN sex scenes.

The other aspect of this novel that is surprising is that Hamilton attempts to fill the pages with plot. The criticisms in the past have been 'sex in lieu of plot'. Again her plot is carried on by long conversations which tell and don't show any action. These conversations are shotgunned with unnecessary descriptions of clothes, eye color, hair length and color to pad the slim page count in this novel.

But what Hamilton lacks in action she makes up with inconsistencies. The plot consists of stringing together completely illogical events that defy reason. For instance, The Harlequin (vampire cops) are hired to assassinate Anita and crew. So they follow Harlequin protocol and announce they are there to observe at the Vampire Councils behalf but just magically mess with Anita's emotions instead. The Harlequin has signed their own death warrants by announcing their presence and then not following their own rules to observe only. They also never attempt to assassinate anyone themselves.

Character motivation changes without reason from page to page. An example is that Anita needs to sex someone for power and on one page we're told it is to fuel the weaker vampires (which goes against cannon the author sets up at the start of the novel) but a page later we're told it's to save a werewolf and other vampire. Obviously the point is to get Anita into bed with someone and Hamilton does not care about the reason.

The author does seem to become aware of her glaring plot holes and tries to patch them but lacks the imagination and conviction to truly try. When their doctor miraculously (and conveniently) escapes being knocked out it with everyone else, it is explained with an 'I don't know'. When someone asks why the Harlequin (conveniently) never attacks while all the big guns are in coma's, again the answer is 'I don't know'. The next question is 'why bother reading this lazy author' and the answer is 'I don't know'.

In sum, Hamilton has now re-defined herself. She is no longer an author who delivers badly written porn in lieu of plot but now delivers badly written porn WITH a laughable plots.

In a period of 48 hours, Anita Blake, partakes in a string of mulit-partnet sex sessions with hand-wringing, gripe session spaced just long enough in between for everyone to recover.

I got sooooo tired of the sniveling, crying, whining, tirades of ... well almost everyone in the book. Sex - whine - sex - whine -

This is the first book I have read by this author and I have come to understand that this series has taken a turn for what most fans agree to be the worse.

Anita's bizzare sense of morality was annoying to as she hept 6 or 7 lovers and used them in various combinations, but was bothered by her non-human master's male-male relationships.

I don't usually write negative reviews - as I try two only reasd books I think I'll like - but in this case, I am afraid the shoe fits.

At the very end, the series plot moved forward a bit, but the tedium of getting there wasn't worth it to me.

I read this book first and was so impressed with the imagery and the original story line that I went back and bought the rest of the series. I can't wait for the next book to come out!

Very good audiobook version of Laurell K. Hamilton's book. The actress reading the book does a great Anita, but her Jean-Claude and Richard are not as convincing. I always pictured Richard with a deep voice, but the way it is done on the audiobook just makes him sound very stuck up and pretentious. Still, the audiobook is definitely entertaining enough that it makes my commute much, much more bearable.

Very good audiobook version of Laurell K. Hamilton's book. The actress reading the book does a great Anita, but her Jean-Claude and Richard are not as convincing. I always pictured Richard with a deep voice, but the way it is done on the audiobook just makes him sound very stuck up and pretentious. Still, the audiobook is definitely entertaining enough that it makes my commute much, much more bearable.

I had given up on Laurell K. Hamilton for a long time. So much so that I hadn't bothered to read the last couple Merry Gentry novels. How could I not? For one thing, the Anita Blake series hasn't been the same. Anita and its characters had become redundant and boring and I had to skim through inane conversations and pedantic sex scenes to find a plot. (No such luck.) But someone told me to give The Harlequin a whirl. "Hamilton is going back to doing what she does best," my friend said. Could it be? There's only one way to find out.

Anita Blake, vampire executioner-slash-grand marshal-slash-necromancer-slash-superwoman-slash-biggest sex goddess since the dawn of time, gets an unexpected visit from Malcolm, founder of Church of Eternal Life. Malcolm loathes Anita, Jean-Claude and anyone who associates with them, for he sees them as immoral and evil, but his desperation drives him to seek their help. This worries Anita. What could be so terrible that Malcolm of all people would pay *her* a visit? The answer is the Harlequin: a sect of vampire spies so dangerous and powerful that no one dares to speak its name. The Harlequin communicates through colorful masks: white, red and black. All masks have a certain meaning. White signifies that the spies are watching you, and that's the one Anita receives. But things aren't going quite the way she had expected. These vampires have their own agenda and they are breaking all of the rules. Anita, Jean-Claude and Richard are in danger. So is every other vampire and were-creature she has gathered powers by way of triumvirates. Throw in Anita's usual I'm-scared-to-show-a-softer-side-due-to-some-dude-who-broke-my-heart-while-I-was-still-in-college angst and the ever-present ardeur rearing its insatiable head and you've got... well, a little more action than in Incubus Dreams and Danse Macabre, that's for sure!

I'd like to clear out something first. I have nothing against Hamilton or her assistant or her husband or whomever. She wrote a snarky blog entry to her fans that, in my opinion, should have been written during an angry moment and saved in her computer, never to be published in her blog. Ever. I've got no axe to grind here, nor am I some prude who runs a mile at the mere mention of sex. I simply didn't like the last four or so novels and the direction the series has taken and I've said so. Nothing more, nothing less. I enjoy erotica. Heck, I *write* erotica for a living, but I'm one of those kooks who believes that erotica should be fused with a real story, and not let erotica override the story. Having said that, I enjoyed The Harlequin to some degree. The plot is stronger than the previous efforts, and it kept my interest throughout the book. The sex scenes are not as intrusive here either, but they still lack a certain something. And it adds nothing to the plot. All it does is fill up pages. As for the characters, remarkably, Jean-Claude is very appealing in this book (or at least he was to me). He was my favorite vampire when I first started reading this series, then I couldn't give a toss about him (or the other characters) for a while, so imagine my surprise when I actually enjoyed his scenes. Richard, on the other hand, is... well, still Richard. The other characters fall into the "meh, who cares?" category for me (especially Micah). Anita still mentions her aversion to yucky girl stuff like romance and tenderness. (I can't believe we're still reading about this after fifteen books!) And the characters talk. A lot. Conversations flow throughout the novel -- the same conversations these characters have had book after book. Anyway, like I said before, The Harlequin was more enjoyable than Danse Macabre. It made for an interesting Halloween read. Perhaps you can't tell just how much I enjoyed it with this review, but that should tell you one thing: it's a mixed review. Take it or leave it. :-)

I got this book from the library because I knew better than to buy an AB lately. I was hoping it would be better than the last 5 books and that there was some hope for this series. This was not the case.

The same old problems are still there. The meandering, repetitive dialog; the repetitive phrases; the author's inability to cull out the ever expanding cast of characters that really serve no purpose other than to worship and whine at AB's feet; the badly written porn--just not as much of it; the inconsistencies; the same old argument between Richard and Anita (poor Richard gets tortured every book); and that the master vampire, Jean-Claude is about as scary as Bambi.

The AB character has been going down hill for quite a while, but even so I was disgusted that she condemned a man to die because he would not break his marriage vows and have sex with her so she could power up even though there was a replacement in the wings (no pun intended). I was floored when the author decided to insert the same tired relationship argument between AB and Richard in the middle of showdown between the warring sides. The bad guys just stand around listening, not taking advantage of such a ridiculous situation. Totally unbelievable even for this genre.

There are many things you know are either NOT going to happen or WILL happen in an AB book and that makes a dull, predictable read. There have been so many missed opportunities as of late with this series as far as plot lines and character development that I have finally decided this is it. No more AB books, there are just too many other really good, well written books of this genre to read, so good-bye Anita Blake.

This is her best book ever!!! Can't wait to read the new Anita Blake story!!!

Linda

Understand, Laurell K. Hamilton has been shuffled onto my list of "2 hour" writers along with R.A. Salvatore. This means that they were both writers that I once loved, but whose books have become so tragically dull that I no longer buy them. Instead, I go into a bookstore with a coffee shop, and I give them two hours to convince me that they have kickstarted themselves, and no longer write dull books. I've just given up on Salvatore. But I still keep hoping for Hamilton. I love the characters in her Anita Blake novels.

I must give Hamilton credit. I stopped buying her books after Obsidian Butterfly. Well, okay. I admit I bought Micah because I saw a used paperback. But I won't talk about that.

This book fooled me. The first 50 pages sounded like the old books. Nobody even had sex! Yay! So I plunked down the cash, and bought a paperback.

What followed was a long string of conversations about sex. Then, about 150 pages in, Anita starts having sex. And once she gets going, there is no stopping her. She beds Richard. She beds the Swan King. She beds the Rat King. She has lesbian dream sex. And then she talks about it. And talks about it.

The Harlequin, who are supposed to drive the action in this book, and give it a title, aren't so much present in the foreground. They are more like explosions in the background during a sex-driven 2-dimensional romance novel set against the backdrop of a war. You don't even see them until the last 50 pages of the book.

You'd think that her calling in Edward - one of my favorite characters in the Hamilton mythology - might salvage things, but the first time he runs off to fight something major, Blake falls unconscious and we only hear about it later. Retold in the third person.

I give this book two stars because it carries a few small moments of pleasure. The characters develop a little bit. Edward develops his relationship with his son, and Nathaniel grows as a character. But, like a good conversation in a loud dance club, most of this is lost against the thumpa-thumpa of the overwrought, neverending sex scenes. Hamilton is one of the few writers who makes me start flipping pages when clothes start coming off.

I love Laurell's books and this was no exception. I am always amazed that she never gets stale. I was disappointed when this ended. I just wanted to keep reading and reading and reading...

I'm going to make this quick. While this book is a little bit better than the last two or three, it's still almost complete drivel. The series has degenerated into a formula. Sex, argue, fight, sex, fight, argue, degrade Richard, sex, argue, argue, argue. And, the spelling errors, lack of continuity, and lack of attention to prior detail negated any possibility of salvation of the characters.

This series is doomed. Save your money. Anita died around the mid part of Book Eight. Todays Anita is not the heroine we loved and respected. And, if I wanted to read good porn, I would buy it. Titillation is one thing. Pointless porn is another. And this is BAD pointless porn being read by a Tijuana hooker. The whole fiasco makes my hair hurt.

While I am all for eroticism and metaphysical jargon, I purchase the Anita Blake series for the action and the supernatural detective work. I've been in purgatory the last few books while Anita slogs through her boy toys. Ms. Hamilton infuses enough plot to keep me buying the next book, but I would prefer some serious action and less angst.

When Edward is on the scene, it usually means less relationship BS and more plot. If that's what it takes, I would prefer an entire series based on Edward.

Otherwise, I hope Anita gets her ducks in a row quickly, so she can concentrate on being who she is: A kick-butt federal marshall & zombie raiser who solves crimes.

One last note: It's high time to kick Richard to the curb or make him a respectable character.

Great story line with interesting crime investigation. still the the occasional steamy sex scenes. I am was a little worried after the most recent Anita offerings but I am once again eagerly awaiting the next novel.

I have been a long time reader of Anita Blake books. I honestly had given up on the series and had stopped reading them completely until I read the reviews on this website. So I checked it out of the library and here is my review..


1) Laurell K. Hamilton did manage to tone down the sex, although her blatantly obvious "scolding" scenes where she's obviously referencing fans that are upset with where the sex has gone, having Anita "justify" her sex life for "right-wing conservatives" (aka "the mean fans"). I happen to be a liberal myself, and I enjoy some steamy sex scenes in my books. It's when the sex becomes more than the plot that I have an issue with it. That is when she should stop labeling it at fantasy, and start labeling it as erotica. Having said that, she did a good job of toning it down in this book, but the fact that she slaps the fans on the wrist several times within the content that almost negates my good feelings toward her for doing it.

2) The book was filled with the same old arguments that have been repeated and repeated and repeated in the past five or six books, and it's getting old. I don't want to hear Richard whine anymore. I don't want to hear Anita whine about Richard anymore. I don't want to read the same argument that Anita and Richard seem to have every five pages. Pick a way that these two are heading and STICK WITH IT. I don't expect the relationship to be perfect, to have no arguing at all, but PLEASE stop fighting about the same thing over and over! Fight over something new, or HEY! Don't fight at all for an entire book. NOT fighting also happens in relationships too.

3) There are too many men. I'm not talking about Anita and her sex life here, she can have as many lovers as she wants. But Ms. Hamilton should realize that after awhile, this becomes confusing. Ratio-wise, she just gains more men and not less every book. I can't remember them all or who they are or where they came from or what part they play in the book. Ms. Hamilton just spends time re-explaining every bit player and it just takes up more useless space where some real plot should be going.

I honestly feel like this series should have ended five or six books back. It makes me sad when authors continue to chug out books simply because it's making money for them and not for the integrity of the story. It seems like Ms. Hamilton has good ideas for plot, but not as many as she used to and now she's filling in between the spaces of the sparse concepts she does have. She has made comments before on her blog about how fans should just stop reading her books if we don't like them. How about she just stops publishing them publicly and writes them for herself then? Because she makes money off of them, but feels that she shouldn't have to listen to fans that pay her bills. Well, that's also the case with the story. It's been drawn out too long, and it's diluting what should have been intensely and purposefully ended a few books ago, with the strong ending it deserves.

what do you say about a writer who you can't wait until the next book comes out. it was excellent. i always recommend laurell hamiltons books

I've been reading the Anita Blake series for years. It was the original confident and self-sufficient Anita who had me loving these books. She knew what she wanted and what she was about, and she went after it. I know that people/characters evolve. Stories stagnate if no one ever changes. Her changes, however, turned her into a shadow of her former self, and it was painful to see this persist over the course of several books. I was ready to throw in the towel and write Anita off. The last book that I truly enjoyed was book 9, Obsidian Butterfly, which also happened to feature another of my favorite characters, Edward. I slogged my way through the next 5, hoping to see Anita find her way out of her circle of self-doubt and endless sex. This book took a turn for the better. The plot was tighter and there was less of an emphasis on Anita needing sex to feed the ardeur. She's still agonizing over Richard though. UGH! Hamilton is at her best when she's crafting action scenes that have Anita tackling bad guys coming at her from all sides, and there was some good action in this one. The Harlequin will not rank among my favorites in the series, but it gives me hope. I'm not going to give up on Anita or LKH yet.

Finally, an Anita Blake novel with 15 chapters before actual sex! Of course, a lot of those 15 deal with talking about sex, but there does seem to be an actual story this time. After the last few I waited until now to get the book to see what other readers had to say...and for the most part I agree - the story is better and the sex less frequent and graphic. She's almost like the old Anita we knew and missed. Here's hoping for the future.

To say that the Anita Blake serries has fallen on hard times in the past years is an understatement of massive proportions. It went from cool, stand alone, film noir type detective stories with occult overtones to a serries of installments of vampire porn. Heck even amazon lists possible tags for this as 'bad erotica' to show how far the serries had fallen. Fans have rebelled loudly on line and in print and after the last few books that could be recylced as fire lighters, this shows a hint of the old charm.
The story is that word comes to St louis that Harlequin, a group of elite vampire assassins, are in town. Oddly word is they are not looking for anita and her sweetie, the Master of the City Jean Claude, but rather the affairs of Malcolm, who runs a different band of vamps. Naturally things don't stay calm and Anita and friends find themselves facing vampire intrigues and nasty powers, all before breakfast.

This book is so much better than the last several. The characters have more dialoge, they move quicker and there is far less sex and what is there, while still pretty raunchy is far more tame than what Hamilton has had in recent books. The result is a better book. It still lacks the stand alone element of earlier volumes in the serries but it is such an improvement you don't care.

For fans it gives hope that the bad days of "Incubus dreams" and "Danse Macabre" are behind us. but in all honesty, compared to the other books, i don't think this will draw anyone new into the fold.

This is the first book of the series that I didn't buy right away (or at all). I waited to check it out of the library after shelling out big bucks for the last Merry Gentry book and feeling really ripped off. Spoilers!!!!! I was pleased to see that there was less sex and it was, for the most part, less graphic than in the past, although reading that she is bleeding after sex and that her partner is turned on by it was just gross. That said, this book felt like a rerun. I cannot stomach another argument between Richard and Anita, much less one that comes in the middle of a scary situation when their lives are in danger. I think a good editor could've tightened this book up a bit and improved the flow. The relationship stuff, while very important and interesting, constantly took over and stalled the action. The internal dialogue of Anita's thoughts and the external dialogue she had with other characters was frequently repetitive. We, the readers, only need to be told the facts of a situation once. My final complaint is that what could easily have been the most emotionally dynamic scene in the book, the fight between Richard and Jean Claude, was only written as the aftermath, because Anita was in another room at the time. Could've been brilliant, shame it's not.

The bad part is that Hamilton's books don't even begin on the library's hold shelf like they use to. They're placed directly on the shelf like any unknown, poor writer. It seems most everyone has given up on her. I checked this out from the library when it first came out, brought it home, stared at it, then brought it back to the library. I just didn't have the stomach to read it. Then, a few months later, when I had nothing else to read, checked it out again to give it a try.

After reading the first four pages and reading Hamilton sprouting her holier than God comment about how he has not forsaken her (because, obviously, Laurell sees herself as Anita and lives vicariously through her) I begin skimming the book. Even skimming, it was horrible. When they stop supposedly life-threatening situations to have philosophical spats between Anita and Richard, geez, I mean come-on! I know it's fantasy, but it is so far over the top it becomes just trash. I absolutely HATE the Anita character now. She is disgustingly nasty in appearance, attitude, and life-choices. I'm through. NEVER AGAIN!

I will start this by saying I am glad this book has been a little bit of a return to Anita actually doing some friggin' work. The increase of work/blood/killing/badassness and the slight decrease of were-sex gives this book a 3 for me.

Caution - there may be spoilers ahead.

What does disappoint me, is reading some of these inaccuracies.

First of all - Willie McCoy is dating Hannah. NOT CANDY. Who the heck is Candy, anyways? Candy? Huh? What?

Second - Sylvie...remember Sylvie? The second-in-command of Richard's pack? Remember her? The lesbian? Well, it turns out she must have forgotten her past and her sexual preferences, because she actually says to Anita: "I'm sorry, but I don't do girls."

Um, Sylvie...YES, YOU DO GIRLS. You know why? Because you're a LESBIAN. Lesbians are women who like to have sex and be intimate with other women. For real.

Newsflash - Anita? You have sex ALL DAY EVERY DAY. Stop describing your [...] as "tight." That is nothing but wishful thinking. If you're [...] is tight, then I'm a big black man (I'm not, though).

Anita's self-righteousness is getting annoying. Whether she feels she is forced to or not, she is having sex with incredible amounts of people every day. Hell, she is dating like, what, 6 guys? Lose a few of those, and maybe you'll have a right to be self-righteous.

It'd be nice to see more of Edward in the future, as well as Shang-Da and Jamil. And whatever happened to the leopards? It was nice to see Cherry, but we haven't seen them in ages. It's always nice to see Rafael, but it was disappointing to see his role in this one.

One big problem I have with Anita is that she appears to be everyone's type. Everyone is falling all over themselves to get up in that, and it's so irritating and out-there to read. You know why? Because NO ONE is everybody's type. I know people who think Angelina Jolie and Jessica Alba are dogs, and I know others who would do whatever those two women asked of them, including dismembering themselves. I know a woman who thinks Matthew McConnaghey and Brad Pitt are gross, and I personally would kiss their feet if they asked me to.

Anita's portrayal as this "perfect" woman who appeals to everyone is just aggravating.

FINALY, less sex more action and mystery solving, too much sex in last 3 books, glad anita is back in action (not in bed)