Guilty Pleasures Mass Market Author: Visit Amazon's Laurell K. Hamilton Page | Language: English | ISBN:
051513449X | Format: PDF
Guilty Pleasures Mass Market Description
Amazon.com Review
Anita Blake may be small and young, but vampires call her the Executioner. Anita is a necromancer and vampire hunter in a time when vampires are protected by law--as long as they don't get too nasty. Now someone's killing innocent vampires and Anita agrees--with a bit of vampiric arm-twisting--to help figure out who and why.
Trust is a luxury Anita can't afford when her allies aren't human. The city's most powerful vampire, Nikolaos, is 1,000 years old and looks like a 10-year-old girl. The second most powerful vampire, Jean-Claude, is interested in more than just Anita's professional talents, but the feisty necromancer isn't playing along--yet. This popular series has a wild energy and humor, and some very appealing characters--both dead and alive.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
'Death and gore galore ... Hamilton writes with ease and vigour..." SHIVERS 'I was enthralled - a departure from the usual type of vampire tale which will have a wide appeal to any reader hunting for both chills and fun' Andre Norton 'This fast-paced, tough-edged supernatural thriller is mesmerizing reading indeed' LOCUS 'Supernatural bad guys beware, night-prowling Anita Blake is savvy, sassy and tough' --P N Elrod, author of THE VAMPIRE FILES
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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- Mass Market Paperback: 272 pages
- Publisher: Jove (September 24, 2002)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 051513449X
- ISBN-13: 978-0515134490
- Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.3 x 0.7 inches
- Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
I have been a great fan of Laurell Hamilton. I greatly admire her writing ability and imagination. And her daring as well, she is willing to confront unusual sexual issues in a genre where sexuality is more often a matter of hints and gestures. Struck by the intensity of the sexual focus in her recent work I thought it would be entertaining to go back and reread some of Hamilton's earlier books.
"Guilty Pleasures" is the first of the Anita Blake series. What makes the series unique is the strong, tough-minded character of the heroine and narrator. Before "Guilty Pleasures" vampire stories rarely had female leads, let alone one with the hard-nosed style of Anita Blake. She is a professional animator (one who raises the dead) and a licensed vampire killer in an alternate earth where vampires have come out of the closet (coffin?) and are active participants in American life.
Hamilton's vampires are of the Anne Rice genre. They are beautiful, deadly and follow their own code of ethics. Many humans have become enthralled with them, but many are deeply suspicious. To Anita they are monsters who, when they go out of control, must be killed. But U.S. law protects vampires that behave themselves. Even so, when someone starts killing the vampires of St. Louis, authorities make little progress. Angered, two of the strongest vampires in the city, Jean-Claude and Nikolaos, convince Anita to hunt down the killer.
Jean-Claude is one of the modern romantic vampires, easy to look at with fine manners and style. Nikolaos, on the other hand, is a thousand year old sadistic horror in the body of a thirteen year old girl. Her powers are unimaginable and dark hungers hide under her innocent looks.
This book was highly recommended by a fellow Amazon reviewer whose tastes mirror my own. Not only did she give it an excellent review, when we spoke she sang its praises. So, I went and bought the book. After all, I had read books by Anne Rice, as well as Donna Boyd, and enjoyed them. So, obviously books about vampires and/or lycanthropes are hardly a stretch for me.
To my surprise, I was hooked once I began turning the pages of this book. It is a totally fun book to read, with its diminutive, feisty heroin, Anita Blake, a formidable vampire hunter who now focuses on being an animator, one who raises the dead. She lives in an alternate America where vampirism is legal, and vampires of the world are flocking to our shores. In good old St. Louis, Missouri, where our intrepid heroine lives, vampires live openly among humans and have developed a bizarre cult following. Of course, since killing vampires is against the law, Anita works closely with the police supernatural squad.
Someone, however, is killing vampires, and although the police is investigating, the most powerful vampire in the city, Nicholaos, a thousand year old being who is ensconced in the body of a beautiful pubescent girl, has commissioned her to find the killer. The reluctant Anita, who finds herself at odds with evil Nicholaos, finds an unexpected ally and friend in the handsome Jean-Claude, a two centuries old vampire for whom she feels an unexpected attraction and affinity.
Anita finds herself in a number of hair-raising situations as she seeks to discover the killer. Along the way she is plagued by vampires, wererats, ghouls, other animators, and fellow humans. The plot is fast-paced and intriguing. Its characters capture the reader's imagination.
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