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Monday, October 10, 2016

Double Book Review: Crimson Death (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter #25) by Laurell K. Hamilton

Crimson Death (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter #25)
by Laurell K. Hamilton
October 11th 2016 by Berkley
ebook, 576 pages
The 25th Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter novel—from the #1 New York Times bestselling author.

Now, in her twenty-fifth adventure, vampire hunter and zombie raiser Anita Blake learns how far she’ll go to save someone she loves…

When Damian—Anita’s sometimes lover, servant, and friend—is kidnapped, Anita heads to Ireland. There she must face off against the vampire who created him. M’Lady, Moroven, Nemhain…under every name she brings terror and destruction. But Anita brings her own weapon to the party: Edward, the man known as Death itself.



Review by Mary Kirkland
3 Sheep
Anita Blake always seems to have some sort of drama going on in her life with at least one of her lover's. This time though, it's different because Damien really is going through something that she can't take care of just by shooting the problem or kicking its ass. Anita doesn't know how to fix the problem Damien is having, so she starts asking others in her circle if they know what's wrong with him and how to help him, but the advice she get's isn't what she's hoping for. Plus, Edward needs her to travel to Ireland and maybe bring Damien with her. Not something she's really wanting to do since Damien was held against his will there for many years by a sadistic vampire who they might have to deal with.

Damien is having problems with his girlfriend because even though he wants to solidify the triumvirate with Nathaniel and Anita, his girlfriend is super jealous and won't let him sleep with other people. Even if all he's doing is sleeping. Damien is having nightmares, the only problem is vampires don't have nightmares and they sure as heck don't sweat blood but Damien is and it's freaking him out.

When Edward calls Anita and asks her to come to Ireland to help him find out what vampires are killing humans there, I really thought I would see more of him after she arrives there, but that wasn't the case and that was a bit of a let down. Although a character that I didn't think I'd see again for a while did pop up in this book for a bit and I liked that.

This had a great story line, but the book itself was 708 pages long, so I thought there would be a lot of action, a lot of story or a lot of something that would keep me interested. Instead it seemed like this book was filled with a lot of talk about what they were going to do, how they were going to do it and just a lot of talking that really lead to nowhere. The core story was good but there was a lot of fluff added that didn't add to the story and just filled a lot of pages. A lot of the actual story gets bogged down by Anita's personal drama with her lovers. I've seen it in almost all of the 25 books in this series and while I know it's going to be there, it's getting old.

I found the first half of the book to be a little boring, at least until they all got on the plane and headed to Ireland to find out what vampires are doing all the killing there. There was a lot of lead up to this and seemed to be the main plot of the story besides Damien's nightmares and blood sweats. But the final battle seemed rushed, the final outcome was resolved in just a few pages and was a bit of a let down after such a long story and all the lead up to it. I'm a huge fan of this series and I'll continue to read the upcoming books but I hope we get more story and less fluff in the next book.



Review by DeniseB
4 Sheep
Anita has always kept Damian at arm’s length even though he is her vampire servant. In an interesting turn of events Anita finds that her triumpvirate of power with Damian and Nathaniel has some serious power and things are a changing. A large group of her lover’s head to Ireland to figure out why there is a vampire problem and who is really controlling the weird circumstances surrounding the deaths there. 

The Anita Blake series has always been one of my favorites. This book is one of her larger ones and I enjoyed the story though it took longer than usual to get to the heart of it. The first half of the book focused on Anita’s relationships and preparing to go to Ireland. It seemed a little drawn out in comparison to the actual time span it was representing. If you are one that loves the hot and steamy sexual encounters that fills Anita’s life than you will be disappointed. There were very few sex scenes in this installment but still a great story and it is worth the time to read the book and continue on with this outstanding series.


About the Author:
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Laurell K. Hamilton is one of the leading writers of paranormal fiction. A #1 New York Times bestselling author, Hamilton writes the popular Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter novels and the Meredith Gentry series. She is also the creator of a bestselling comic book series based on her Anita Blake novels and published by Marvel Comics. Hamilton is a full-time writer and lives in the suburbs of St. Louis with her family.

6 comments:

  1. Sometimes the lead up doesn't always sit right, good review indeed.

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    1. Thank you. The readers who have been reading the series will still like it though.

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  2. Good night, that's a long one. Glad you ladies enjoyed it.

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    1. I like really long books when it's one of the long running series that I've been reading.

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  3. I want to try this series, but 25 books is such an investment.

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    1. yeah, but the first 5 books are the best of the series...I read about 5 more and the series derailed for me. But those first five are badass.

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