fiainros reviewed Incubus Dreams (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter: Book 12) by Laurell K. Hamilton (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter (12))
Review of 'Incubus Dreams (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter: Book 12)' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
I went on an Anita Black marathon in February 2004. I did not write any "reviews" when I read books from the library because I had not yet started this journal. I do have some clips from some thoughts when I was talking to an email group. I may post those as another journal. But, here are my thoughts on Incubus Dreams.
Ms. Hamilton's writing is improving. I haven't yet read any of her Merry Gentry books, but every book is better and better in her Anita Blake series.
This may or may not be apparent in my other thoughts on Anita Blake books, but I was sick of Anita having power surges and her power improving. The last book, Cerulean Sins, seemed to bring Anita to a plateau, at least, where she was not gaining power all the time. It also brought Anita to a new level of moral …
I went on an Anita Black marathon in February 2004. I did not write any "reviews" when I read books from the library because I had not yet started this journal. I do have some clips from some thoughts when I was talking to an email group. I may post those as another journal. But, here are my thoughts on Incubus Dreams.
Ms. Hamilton's writing is improving. I haven't yet read any of her Merry Gentry books, but every book is better and better in her Anita Blake series.
This may or may not be apparent in my other thoughts on Anita Blake books, but I was sick of Anita having power surges and her power improving. The last book, Cerulean Sins, seemed to bring Anita to a plateau, at least, where she was not gaining power all the time. It also brought Anita to a new level of moral decay. While the moral decay of high and mighty characters is not my thing (I know some readers do enjoy it), it was at least a nice change to the previous books.
Anita is back to having power surges. (major spoilers if you have not read this book yet) She has formed a new triumverate with Damien and Nathaniel. Now, when this happened or how, I'm not sure. I think Ms. Hamilton could have added in how we jumped to the fourth mark within the first few pages. I doubt it would have lengthened the novel that much. I found it interesting that we had not even gotten to the meat of the story by p120 (It was all Anita's personal stuff) which is not much shorter than her first entire Anita Blake novel.
Ms. Hamilton did manage to break her cycle that the major bad guy is somehow related to the clients she meets in her office at the beginning of the novel. We're back to mixing Anita's work with the PD with her ties to the vampire community. We seemed to have a bit of a break from that with Anita facing her work only or her vampire community only.
I did enjoyed this story overall. It was a little heavy on Anita's personal stuff, but I think the story has moved onto that being the point. The story has probably always been about Anita's necromancy and the growth of her power. At first, it seemed it was more about her raising zombies and doing police work. Now, the zombies are thrown in as a requisite scene, and the police work may be put in as the major storyline, if it hasn't been put aside so another major storyline can be the plot.
You have to like sex scenes to read this book. One reader posed the question "How much sex can one girl have in two days?" Well, Anita certainly explores that. Quite honestly I don't think you can read this book and skim the sex scenes. You'd miss over half the book.
At this point, I think I'm blabbering on, so I won't continue. Suffice to say I doubt Anita Blake fans will be disappointed. I know some were hoping for less sex, but it is hopeless to go that direction, especially with the last few books. Even though I am sick of Anita getting superhuman powers, at least others around her are also reflecting power increases and she is also suffering from consequences. Yay for consequences!
