Sunday, July 1, 2007

Danse Macabre



Title: Danse Macabre
Author: Laurell K. Hamilton
ISBN: 0425207978
Publisher: Penguin Group
First Published: June 2006
Pages: 496

Paranormal


I actually finished this book last weekend, but haven't had time to post about it. So here it is.

The book opens up with Anita's worst fear of being pregnant and in Anita's world there are many men to choose from as to who is the father. Anita is several weeks late, but is her usually way thinks that if she doesn't confirm the possibility it might not be. This pregnancy comes at bad timing, as always. Jean-Claude has invited Masters Vampires from other cities in order to come to some sort of agreement for artistic vampires to travels between cities to do shows without having to worry about "crossing boarders" so to speak. The pregnancy fear is present through most of the book, but that initial idea of traveling artists seems to die at the close of chapter 1. From then on out it's all about other Master offering their people to be Anita's new pomme de sang and people trying to find out just how powerful Jean-Claude and his people are.

Anita's ardeur begins to takes on a life of its own and seems to be seeking out powerful lovers to satisfy it. We also learn that Anita now has a third strange of lycanthropy in her blood. Aside from leopard and wolf, we now find out she has lion and one other unidentifiable strand in her bloodstream. Then she has a very bad incident where she is almost drained dead and Lilly (wererat doc) had to give her blood to survive but wouldn't say which type of blood she gave. I'm predicting that in the next book Anita will be able to call rats as well. Hamilton plants the seed that Anita might just possible be a panwere (able to carry several different strands of lyconthropy).

Anita has another power burst and through it all those connected to her gain powers as well. Asher now has an animal to call. Seems like powers are gained with each new book now, but these powers are never fully developed in the story and just sort of there. It's almost too much power to even be believable if you have followed this series from the first book.

I enjoy this series very much, but I have mixed reviews about this book. This series seems to be heading more toward the erotica and less mystery/horror. The whole series seems to have shifted. I miss the old Anita who use to kick some real ass! We never read anything about her previous life anymore. There are no more cases for her solve. She seems to have been swallowed up into Jean-Claude's world. Everything seems to be about protecting the Master of the City. Hamilton's characters are developing powers so quickly that I don't see how she can keep this series going for much longer. Anita herself is extremely powerful for a human that it seems to be bordering along the line of convenience.

1. The Poe Shadow - Matthew Pearl
2. Danse Macabre - Laurell K. Hamilton
3. The Double Bind - Chris Bohjalian
4. Twilight - Stephanie Meyer
5. A Killer Stitch - Maggie Sefton
6. Mistreal's Kiss - Laurell K. Hamilton
7. Rain Village - Carolyon Turgeon
8. Black Moon Rising - Damien Ashton
9. The Demon Awakes - R.A. Salvatore
10. Disobedience - Naomi Alderman
11. Ophelia - Lisa Klein
12. Voodoo Season - Jewell Parker Rhodes
13. Wild Women's Weekend - Lynne Kaufman **up next

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Casts Off: The Yarn Harlot's Guide to the Land of Knitting - Stephanie Pearl-McPhee **added after list was created

2 comments:

Valerie said...

I couldn't agree with you more. I loved Anita when she was kicking ass and chewing bubblegum (movie reference). I love erotica but when you start the series as one thing you should really continue with it and maybe add erotic moments here and there. Dance Macabre was up there with the sleeping beauty trilogies. However, I loved the sex scene with Asher, then again, he has always been my favorite next to Nathaniel.

Pheelya said...

I totally agree with you on the Asher and Nathaniel thing. At time, I still root for Richard, but Hamilton hasn't really developed his character very much since Anita gained the pomme de sag. It's like we hardly ever see him. And being that he is a major part of the triumvirate, his character should be just as developed and engaging as the others.

I'm still not convince of the whole Jean-Claude thing either. I have this feeling that he is still more concerned with gaining power then Anita herself.