Customer Reviews

Bullet (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter)

5 star:		(55)
4 star:		(45)
3 star:		(46)
2 star:		(44)
1 star:		(150)

 

 

I've also loved the first 7 books in the series. I've been getting the last few from friends rather than buying them myself. It's particularly sad that there is such a large number of fans complaining about the turn in the series and LKH's blog seems to miss our main argument. Those of us who aren't happy aren't prudes, and we aren't complaining because we don't like sex in books, and we aren't upset because the characters aren't fulfilling our every wish. She seems to think we're being haters for the sake of hating, and the defensiveness is getting in the way of her really hearing us. The problem is not the sex--the problem is her craft. She's lost track of the basic fundamentals of writing fiction, and it sounds like the people who are responsible for pointing this out to her are silent because of the success of the series (which probably won't last much longer, judging from the comments here). She's stopped reading her own work critically, and has become unable to really see the weaknesses in the work. Comments she's made in her blog make it sound like she's determined to simply blow us off and tell us to stop reading, instead of hearing our complaints and considering them honestly.

I don't think the answer is ending the series or killing off characters, despite some posts, although the cast size has become ridiculously unmanageable. First, she needs to re-read the first five books, and compare the content and style to what she's written lately. She needs to see that the difference isn't only the amount of sex--it's the quality of the writing. She's blogged that in the past she belonged to a writing group, and the solution is for her to request more time between books so she has the ability to give her work to people who will be honest with her and force her to really edit out the weaknesses and develop the aspects of fiction which tie people in--character development, a strong plot, real consequences for the characters, and strong, fresh, original writing without repetitive conversations, phrases and scenes (sex scene after sex scene is as boring as conversations that go on for pages and pages while characters say the same things over and over). Finally, she needs to remember that true sexual tension comes from NOT sleeping with people...the reason the romance and relationships work in the early books is because the men were given the chance to become important to readers emotionally, there was teasing between characters, there was the tension and excitement of wondering when, if ever, the characters would have sex, and what it would mean when they did--as with Jean-Claude in the Killing Dance and Richard in Blue Moon, there was the worry of what would happen between them now that things had changed, and what would happen between her and the other characters. Real consequences with the sex instead of it being just another orgasm and another faceless body. The constant sex and the Ardeur have done Anita a real disservice. She used to be a truly feminist icon in-the-making, because she refused to be categorized as nothing more than a sexual object simply because she was female. Anita was more than that. She was embodying the qualities women have when they're given the chance to be more than simply physical bodies available for any man's sexual fantasy. True sexual empowerment comes from a woman having complete control over her sexual needs and desires, not sleeping with everything that moves despite her belief that it's wrong. And that's not prudery--that's a realization that sleeping with tons of men has not made Anita a better woman--it's made her abuse the people around her like the villains of the early books used to do. LKH can say that this is Anita owning her sex life and not being so paralyzed by sex anymore, but she isn't owning anything--she's the one thing now that Anita NEVER would have let herself be in the early books--a victim. A victim of her own body, her own power, of the ardeur. She has no choices, and she takes the choices of others. The whole reason she exists in the books now is to have sex, to the destruction of her own ethics (as they were), her relationships (like with Richard, Dolph, and even Edward) her career, and even her own source of magic (necromancy). That's not an empowered woman. It's an objectified woman.

My recommendation is pretty huge, but it would be that Marmee Noir's attempt to make Anita her human servant actually severs all of Anita's supernatural ties to the other characters, including her triumvirate with JC and Richard (sort of like Alejandro canceled her marks to JC in Circus). That will effectively pull the plug on almost all of Anita's powers (plus the Ardeur, thank the goddess) except her necromancy, and in one fell swoop, half of the ridiculous powers which contribute to making her a Mary Sue will disappear. This means that there will be tension about bad guys again, since Anita won't be able to just conveniently grow another power or have sex to save the day instead of having to use her head and her gun. This will also force Anita to question her ethics and her sexual relationships with the so-called 'harem'. Who will she keep now that she doesn't have the 'excuse' of the Ardeur? That will force her to actually pick someone, again, creating real consequences for the characters, since without the Ardeur, there's no reason for all the men to put up with her sleeping around, and she'll have to question who she really is and what she's become. Not only that, but without power tying the men to her, she can drop the utterly unrealistic 'everybody loves Anita' aspect of the Ardeur, another reason so many folks consider her a mary sue.

This would streamline a lot of the bloated parts of the series and LKH can remember the most crucial part of fiction--it is conflict and consequences. At this point in the series, we know LKH isn't going to actually cause any legitimate pain to any characters, and that kills all of our desire to find out 'what will happen next'--we don't have to read to know that nothing bad is really going to happen--Anita will just have sex and things will magically and easily resolve. But the saddest thing is that I bet LKH won't take this criticism constructively and use it to make her series better, but will instead cop out and blame the fans for being disloyal or prudes or haters instead of people who want nothing more than to be given the chance to fall in love with Anita all over again.

Anita Blake, necromancer and servant to master vampire of St Louis Jean Claude, has grown more accepting of her succubus (ie, ardeur) powers. She uses them quite a bit in this book, more so than in the last few books. I'm not a prude and don't have a problem with sex in a book, however a strong storyline and good character development also needs to be present. Unfortunately that was not the case with Bullet. There wasn't as much action in this installment; the book seemed to be a setup for the next book with nothing major happening. Anita didn't work any animator jobs or cases with the cops (other than a brief phone consult). The death of a character that was hyped in the author's blog ended up being kind of ho-hum--it wasn't someone I was attached to. The main focus was on the over-the-top sex scenes and creating a power base to fight the mother of all darkness, who turns out is not dead after all. There was a brief statement towards the end saying that "Jake had helped us hunt Padma the master of beasts." WHAT? I would have liked at least a good scene of them facing off against Padma and less of the orgies with characters we don't know and don't care about.

So many extraneous characters have been introduced at this point, the character development is almost nonexisitent. And while I was glad to see Jean Claude and Richard have more of a presence in this book, Jean Claude still seemed too secondary to Anita. He's supposed to be the powerful, master vamp but instead he cowtows to Anita too much. At least Richard's whining was cut back, however Asher was hugely annoying and Anita herself whined too much. The editing was also poorly done. There were typos and a lot of repetition that should have been edited out with a good line editor.

Almost the entire book was set underground the Circus of the Damned, so that got quite a bit boring. When you combine that with the low action, there wasn't much to hold the reader's interest. It's sad to say, but I didn't even find the sex scenes appealing. I think mainly because they were more of a chore, i.e., 'I have to do this to solidify my power', not 'I want to do this because I care about or am attracted to this person'.

I don't know what happened to the early suspenseful, high action, mystery style of this series. It used to be great. I've stuck with it hoping it would get better. I thought it got a smidge bit better with Blood Noir and Skin Trade, but we were dragged further downhill with Flirt and Bullet. The one positive remains the world building. The setup for the next book sounds interesting, so I will probably give it one last shot.

If you are looking for good urban fantasy, here are some series I enjoyed and recommend:
Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs
Alpha & Omega series by Patricia Briggs (Don't miss the anthology in On the Prowl,which is a prequel to Cry Wolf)
Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews (Don't miss the anthology in Must Love Hellhounds, which should be read between Magic Strikes and Magic Bleeds)
Chicagoland Vampires series by Chloe Neill
Cassandra Palmer series by Karen Chance
Dorina Basarab Dhampir series by Karen Chance (Don't miss the anthology in On the Prowl, which should be read between Midnight's Daughter and Death's Mistress)...I liked Dory better than Cassie but it's best to start w/Cassie from a timeline perspective
Sookie Sackhouse by Charlaine Harris
World of Lupi series by Eileen Wilks
October Daye series by Seanan McGuire
Kara Gillian series by Diana Rowland
Elemental Assassin series by Jennifer Estep

Sorry I think that this may be slightly more of a rant than it is a review.

I had for so long been an avid fan of the series and a defender of Laurell's, but no longer. I had hoped that this would be the book to wake me up and get me excited about this series again. It wasn't. And what a shame. Yes some "things" happen but frankly I'm tired of the metaphysical crap. I'm also tired of authors who are so in love with themselves that they think we MUST read pages and pages of crap just because it is something that has caught their fancy, such as the endless pages of heavy bag punching and running, home decorating and clothing discussions. Did Laurell redecorate lately, because the endless droning of the decor in the underground got old after a couple of chapters...as did the never ending droning on about (see? I too can use words over and over like LKH does until you want to rip out you eyeballs!And I don't even get paid for it.) the different clothes everyone wears in every other chapter. And spare me the new look at Micah's pretty little feminine face. Can we please add a real man to Anita's stable. Or will that make Anita less of the man she is so striving to be?




Story? Plot? Yes I suppose there was one; metaphysically speaking. Has Richard made a turn around that would make you head spin and force you into a plane of HIGHLY suspended disbelief? Yes he did. And I think you will be telling yourself the same thing I did---It's unbelievable. Did Asher finally get his man on man action? What do you think? Its sex and Laurell has become semi-good at writing BDSM scenes. (not! ) Yet another facet of her real life "spilling" out onto the pages? Yes, the word 'spill 'has again been used umpteen times. Did the emphasis on all the children and young adults creep me out? Yes it did. I hope this is not a new fancy that caught LKH's eye. She does seem to be pushing the envelope on inappropriate sexual behavior lately.

I would also love to see an author of this caliber, actually THINK about the physics of something before they write about it.

If Nathaniel has hair to his ankles it is impossible to put it up in a bun unless it encompasses his whole head and one uses a lot of hair pins. Why does this bother me? Because I wear my hair in buns - A LOT. I actually have experience with both very long hair and medium length hair. Unless he has thin hair (like 10 strands on his whole head) it's impossible for such long hair to be put in small enough bun to dance with. Think before you write. Does it paint a pretty picture? Yes it's a cute image but... Is it realistic to my readers? Not if they have half a brain. If not then don't write it.

The story/plot was in my opinion only about 25% of the book and the rest feels like filler. I don't think LKH is even trying anymore. Story lines were given short shrift by being sewn up in her epilogue. And not in a good way either. I realize that she does this often, but this time the story was too damn important to give it a measly 2 or 3 lines. It just goes to show me that LKH can no longer write a horror/suspense novel and should just stick to writing porn.

I've seen fans attacking others for having different points of view but as a reader who's been following every book released in this series I feel the right to express my opinion about it. If you don't like criticism, don't read it. If you insist, don't come nagging me because you didn't like what I said.

I thought of writing a review purely about this book but I find it is impossible. I can't discard what's been happening in this series. Hamilton has completely lost herself, she has a huge universe she's created and doesn't know what to do with it, so she's been slowly ruining it.

The point most people bring up when talking about Anita Blake is that the books started having too much sex. Well, I don't mind that. For me Laurell K. Hamilton can put in as much sex as she feels like, but she has to remember that even porn needs a story to be considered good (in books at least). She created an argument to introduce the sex scenes into the story and now everything falls into that excuse. Anita was a prude, thought everything was a sin, she was a one-guy kind of girl, then she thought better and decided she wanted to be a three-some kind of girl (Richard and Jean Claude) because she loved both (her idea of love is scary because she treated them both like garbage), then she got a power that forces her into a multiple partner relationship and she has to complain every step of the way even as we all know she enjoys it. Now, every time a sex scene comes it's always because of power necessity, be it to feed the ardeur or in need to gain more power or defend the power base. It can never be because she wants to be with the men she so eloquently says she loves. Sex became a tool and it's so mechanic, so the same thing all the time that it's just not interesting anymore. And honestly, it's so badly written in some parts that it's just too hard to understand who's where doing what.

Then there are the two other sex problems. One, Hamilton had the absurd idea that introducing underage characters into Anita's orgies would be kinky. It's not kinky, it's sick. Two, it seems she has a need to include BDSM into the writing but doesn't know what she's talking about so it seems fake and she ends up "teaching" wrong concepts to her readers.

If we can forget the whole sex problem, hard since it makes 99% of the series nowadays, there is the relationship itself. Anita is involved with how many men? I lost count by now but I'm also ok with that. What I can't take is that she's supposed to be the link between her guys, she's supposed to be the one that makes so much testosterone work together and instead she is the main problem in their relationship. She's so self-centered that they have to spell things out for her because either she can't deal with that right now (her favorite phrase) or she can't understand it. In some parts she's so slow to catch up that she sounds stupid. In this book, for instance, she takes forever to understand what Ash's problem is and it's been going on for several past installments. It was bound to happen and for a woman who prides herself in solving mysteries, she's very slow to catch people's moods and actions. You may say it was because Jean Claude didn't tell her. Honestly, would you? She snaps every time someone tries to talk to her about anything and I'm sorry but the whole anger excuse is not enough to justify her attitude. It's like she's in PMS 365 days a year. Every single man involved with her had to adapt to her way, so much so that now even Jean Claude, who used to be a very interesting character, became just another puppet for her. If that's Hamilton's concept of a strong woman, I feel bad for those who have to deal with her. Lashing out is not the same as strength.

Anita has the potential of being one of the most powerful characters ever written, she collects abilities but she's always avoiding them. Yes, she doesn't want to be a monster, we get it. But she doesn't have to jump from two extremes all the time. When it comes to her powers, she's a victim to them and falls apart. When it comes to the people surrounding her and her relation to them, she's the hardest creature ever born. Wouldn't it be nice if she, just for once, found a middle ground?

I honestly don't understand where Hamilton is trying to lead Anita. I never really liked Anita since the beginning, but I used to enjoy the series because of the other characters and the plots. Her attitude really annoys me but I could get past that for a good story. Now, it just seems the fountain has dried. The universe is there, the characters are still there but the plot is chasing its own tail and can't seem to find a way back on track. Even the writing is lacking its quality, weird phases, meaningless conversations - the phone conversation in this book about cussing, what was that?

The whole book was insignificant and every metaphysical change that happened in it could have been easily put into a real story. I don't know if it's about a contract that forced a certain number of books or if it was a deadline, but this one was just a waste of time and money. Why have several pages about a school recital? Why so much talk about running tracks and a punching bag? What difference did those events make? Why use so much space to describe clothing? The whole Anita in shock part was just pathetic. She was numb because she killed a guy. Oh, come on. How many has she killed before that? How many times has she bragged about being able to go to her calm place and shoot whoever threatened her? That was ridiculous.

But not as ridiculous as Richard's change of heart. Why insist on that? Since the first time Richard showed up it was clear he did not like to share. That's not a flaw! There are monogamous people. Hello? That created a long lasting problem and when we finally got rid of it, he pops back in with a personality transplant. I would love the phone of his therapist, she's a miracle worker or maybe he was brainwashed. The guy dreams of getting married, having children and the whole white picket fence thing. He's homophobic and he wants to be the most important person in a woman's life. Why on Earth would he go back to having a relationship with Anita and her men? And don't give me the anger excuse again. Yes, she pulled it back but he was not an angel before the triumvirate, these problems were already there.

And I do have to say: Laurell, we are not stupid. If you write something once, we understand it. You don't have to use dozens of pages of the same thing over and over again. It becomes annoying. For example, Anita says her mind created a path for the animals inside her to run as an alert for when they want out. She's explained that for over five books, several times in each one. WE GET IT. MOVE ON.

One last thing. Does anyone out there know why this book was named Bullet? Because if it is just because of the shooting, it shows the creativity problem LK Hamilton is going through.

Ok, rant is over. It is just sad to have a series that could have been great turn into a mess of pages that don't make sense as a whole.

This only gets 1 star as I can't actually give it a 0.

Sigh. There once was a series about a vampire executioner/necromancer that kicked ass. Anita Blake was her name and she rocked my urban fantasy world. She kicked ass, took names, and didn't care that she was wearing outdated/out-of-fashion clothing while she did it. She didn't need stiletto heels or mid drift bearing leather vests. She wasn't swayed into stupidity by the likes of hot men and out of the world orgasms.

Where oh where has our Anita gone to? She certainly isn't being written by Laurel K. Hamilton anymore. Now before anyone says "oh you are just one of those who like to complain about all the sex".... no, I'm not. I like sex in books.... in fact sometimes i LOVE it. What I don't like is sex to the point that it has no relevance to the plot, or worse, sex instead of a plot. I've never been a complainer when it comes to Hamilton, other than what she did to poor Richard... I didn't hate the ardeur or complain about the harem of men until I started losing track of who was who. I even kind of liked Blood Noir and Skin Trade... had hopes that maybe the Anita I loved was making her way back.

Unfortunately, Bullet is exactly as it is titled, a bullet into the coffin of the Anita Blake series for this reader.

Now here I could try to sum up what was going on in this book and put it into neat paragraphs... but I have put enough time into this one. Instead I am just going to give you a nice neat bulleted list (heh, pun intended) of my complaints and notes.
***The phrase "creamy goodness" should never be used more than once in a book, much less two times or more and when talking about one's own breasts
***"too tall for straight missionary, or I was too short" was used more than once... relatively close together about entirely different men. Furthermore.... eh what? I want details in a sex scene but can they please be better than random thoughts like this?
***More than once I noted a big W-T-F is going on? There is all kinds of strange metaphysical triumvirate crap going on and most of the time it doesn't make sense. If there are rules to the supernatural world Anita lives in now that she is ever-powerful, I can't figure them out and I don't like it. I don't buy the weird magic touching mojo just works without rules or reasoning, giving Anita and gang the power to fix anything. Additionally, how many new powers does Anita have now and can someone get me a chart?
***Pages and pages and pages of description. Not just any description... but description of guys' hair color, eyes, clothing, and shoes. It was endless... if the guys were not always wearing knee high boots we probably would have gotten description of their sock color... surely all varying colors of blue (cue *eyeroll*). Oh and it was not just Anita's main squeezes that we were treated to unnecessary man drooling, it was every guy she lays eyes on. Bullet could have been at least 50 pages lighter if an editor would have done their job and not allowed her to bore us with Hamilton's game of "how many different kinds of blue eyes can I shove in a book and how long can I write about them."
***On the note of clothing... WHY does every man in the book have pants that were "painted on"? Really? I lost count of how many times Hamilton was painting pants on men.
***Boring, emotional, relationship drivel. Pages and pages of talking whether it be among the characters or within Anita's head. Every scene was like one of those bad fights you had with your high school sweetheart where you both kept going long after everything was said and you found yourself talking in circles.... except in Bullet every one of those scenes involved 3 more more guys making them excruciatingly long. Sigh. I enjoy a good turbulent relationship but at some point in the book there must be a plot right? I mean something has to happen outside of the bedroom right?
***Rainbow of Tigers... they are confusing and totally weird. That is all.
***Poorly written sentences and paragraphs. Unnecessary details that only make my brain go into zombie mode... such as:


Nathaniel had made me drink a Powerade from the cooler near the locker rooms, but he'd also insisted on stopping at the kitchen so he could make me a protein shake. They were designed to replace things a hard workout would take out of you, and the interesting thing was if you didn't need the shake, it tasted bad, but if your body needed it, chocolate tasted like chocolate. It tasted very good today.


***Richard... sigh. My dear Richard. I want Richard to stop whining and being a pansy as much as the next girl. When forced to choose between a creepy old vamp (Jean Claude) and an uber hot alpha werewolf (Richard) I am always going to side with the warm blooded non-creepy one. Well, I got my wish in this book.... but I am sad to say it was disappointing. Not because unwhiny Richard wasn't what I thought.... oh no.. Richard accepting the things he wants is totally SEXY. The problem is that the turnaround is completely unrealistic and poorly done. It is done without set up or any believable back story. A fellow blogger described it perfectly, it seems that Hamilton just got tired of writing him as a pain in the ass and decided to stop doing it.
***Sex scenes.... for those who complain about the frequent sex in the later books...Bullet was a nice inbetween. It wasn't overwhelming and it wasn't sparse.... but it was BORING. Uninspired and lacking chemistry or sizzle of any kind. I am going to blame it on all the talking during, before, and after.
***Anita getting it on with the girls. Hey, I am all about Anita getting a little help taking care of her harem... its large, she needs it. Yet when Anita actually gets some sexual mojo going with one of the girls underneath her Hamilton wimps out on committing to it. The girl is left to get off on her own by rubbing up against Anita's stomach? Really? Either dive in or get out of the pool.
***Plot..... where the hell is it? Other than a dance recital at the beginning of the book, Bullet takes place entirely in the Circus of the Damned.... much of it in the bedroom. AND THERE ISN'T EVEN A LOT OF SEX! There is definitely sex... but not enough for most of the book to take place underground in a bedroom. We get glimpses of cool things Anita could be doing (vampires running amock everywhere!) but we never actually get the action! Even the end reads like "here are all the traditional urban fantasy things that happened when we weren't having sex or talking about our feelings, but I didn't feel like writing them into the story so let me just tell you how it ended."
***No Edward. Do I need to say more?


Now, I could go on.... but really, who is still reading at this point? My words can not express how bad I think this book is. And honestly, its a pretty harsh review already. I probably harbor an unhealthy amount of anger in regards to Bullet. Hamilton used to write better than this... and where is her editor? Are you telling me that no one at her publisher read this and questioned anything? Or is it no longer about writing a good story but instead about just meeting a deadline so it hits shelves on time? If so, its shameful... readers spend hard earned money on these books and deserve better than this. When you are the author of a long running, popular series, you have a higher level of responsibility. Your fans trust you, they buy your books on faith. If you can no longer deliver a book of at least mediocre quality writing then do yourself, your fans, and your characters a favor. Stop.

With that, I say good-buy to Anita Blake. Anita, Richard, Jason.... I have loved you and you helped me escape from my crazy so-called life many many nights. I will miss you but I am afraid I no longer care what happens unless it involves Edward coming in and and going on a mass killing rampage complete with Anita/Edward showdown. I am going to try to appreciate Bullet for what it did give me - sexy alpha Richard and series closure.

I've read this book before. Or at least I feel like I have read this book before. The book was all about Anita having sex with a plot summary at the end. In this book you get to read all about how Anita has issues with sex (still) but it doesn't stop her from having it with every willing body in the book and that she exercises. In fact you get pages and pages of details about how Anita has sex and how she exercises. I seriously feel cheated. Anita is a Vampire Hunter. It says it on the book. There was no vampire hunting in the book. There was no zombie raising. No mystery to solve. It was a book on relationships. Bad relationships that I feel no emotional ties too. I didn't really care about any of the characters in the book. I vowed not to read another Anita Blake book after Blood Noir but I gave in to Skin Trade and was quite surprised. It wasn't great but it was better. The book seemed like Anita was getting back on track. She didn't "need" to have sex until 300 pages into the book. Then when Flirt came out I thought at least she's raising zombies again but now with this book I think I'm through. I keep reading the books because I keep thinking that it is going to get better. I keep reading the books because I love Anita's character and the world she lives in but now I don't love it anymore. Anita seems like an old friend in a bad relationship with alot of baggage. Goodbye Ms. Blake, I'll try to think of you fondly as the Anita in the earlier books and not as the sex crazed man in bad relationships you turned into. Yes I said "Man." The only thing female about her is her name. Even the girl on girl scenes are a bit manly. Skip this book. Nothing new to learn from. No character development or interesting plot. Sorry.

I've been thinking for several days as to how I should review this book. I'm not an LKH-basher, even though I've been pretty tough on several of the last published novels. But in the end, I just have to go with how I feel.

Truth: I gagged my way through the first three chapters of BULLET, skimmed through a few more, and finally gave up. Some may say that reading only a few chapters of a book makes me incapable of writing a review, but I beg to differ. Let's begin....

The first chapter starts with Anita doing a favor for someone we've never heard of before. Said someone doesn't like Anita, Anita doesn't like her, and the only thing bringing them together is the need for a little boy's costume hat. Could have worked, except said five-year-old little boy wants to kiss Anita on the lips, like "all of the big boys do." The point? Even a little kid knows Anita is a wh**e. I apologize for the rough language, but please, let's call a spade a spade. It's gotten to the point where even CHILDREN in this series recognize that Anita Blake is nothing but a sex machine.

When the entire "ardeur" thing began, I went with it. I even understood the concept and reasoning behind it. But face it people - we've moved beyond Anita needing sex for power. She's now nothing more than a walking va***a. Anita Blake has sex because there's absolutely nothing else for her to do with ANY of the characters in this series! I've never met a character with such sex appeal. However Anita's doing it - making every single male and female (living or undead), want to have sex with her - she needs to bottle that up and sell it for a profit. She could not only have a "puppy pile," she could BUY a d**n kennel!

And the sex? Puhleeease. Richard getting it on with Asher? Hello? Is this the same Richard who two books ago couldn't even stand to see Anita look at another guy, never mind know that she would no doubt end up having sex with them? I'm all for the male-male sex scene when the story calls for it, but there is no way in h-e-double-hockey-sticks that the REAL Richard would ever bring his naked body anywhere NEAR that of the scarred but deeply emotional Asher.

I could go on, but is there really a point? You're probably asking yourself why, if I'm so disgusted with the series, I continue to read it. And you would have a wonderful point, one that I've finally taken to heart. I WON'T be reading this series any longer. I've spent too much time waiting for it to get better - to be as good as the first four or five books - and realize now that my wait is pointless. It's not going to get better, ladies and gents. The downhill slide started a long time ago, and there is no hope for redemption as long as LKH continues to live out her Mary Sue fantasies through Anita Blake.

So, au revoir, Anita. It's been one heck of a ride, but this reader has finally come to her senses. After all, there are too many other decent books out there just waiting for me to read them. And just about anything else has got to be better than this.

SPOILER ALERT.


Do not buy this book.

Despite the tedious ramblings of the previous seven or eight novels (a term used loosely), the reviews on the cover of Bullet looked promising: Anita Blake is back to doing what she does best - raising zombies. I dared to dream. This one might be different. It was worth a try, surely. My only hope now is that you do not make the same mistake.

This novel holds all the flaws of the previous ones and more.

Yet AGAIN the reader is treated to a cracked up trip into a fantasy universe wherein:

1. The main character is, despite being a woman in her mid-twenties living in America, unable to write a text message. This is neither endearing nor quirky. Anita is not portrayed as a technophobe. She did not grow up among the Amish. The only thing this oddity accomplishes is to go some small way to explaining why Anita has no friends.

2. The main character expresses the opinion, unchallenged or questioned, that she stands out from the other women at a dance recital due to the fact that she is not blonde. The uninitiated might be interested to know that Anita is not a redhead, and has not dyed her hair an unusual shade of blue. She has black hair. Like the majority of the population of the world.

3. Dead bodies are apparently not a problem, despite the fact that vampires and werewolves do not burst into dust upon death.

4. Plots are not necessary.

I'm frankly tired of Anita Blake. I'm tired of her solving problem after problem with metaphysical powers. I'm tired of her picking up abilities like most people pick up the daily papers. I'm tired of Anita being either loved unconditionally or hated unreasonably.

Laurell needs to change her attitude to Anita before the series can progress. Anita has become the embodiment of the phrase "anything you can do, I can do better". It's dull. The concept of different vampire lines having different powers was interesting, but Laurell has carefully ensured that Anita's powers so thoroughly trump them all that it's barely worth reading about them. In 'Guilty Pleasures' the vampires were elusive, intimidating and otherworldly; by 'Bullet' they've been reduced to toothless kittens.

If I have to read about Anita 'pushing power into someone' or 'feeling her beast pad down the metaphysical path within her' one more time, I'm going to apply to have the sentences copyrighted. Her 'power' solves EVERYTHING. It's no fun. I want to read about characters losing, and being really hurt, and making mistakes. Anita never does. Hell, I want to read about someone ELSE'S power solving something for once. I couldn't even get excited when the idea of a Master of Tigers was introduced in 'Bullet'. I knew it would be Anita. In that, at least, I wasn't disappointed.

Congratulations, Laurell. If Anita was a character in a RPG, then hell yes, I'd want her on my team. She's got more modifications than Inspector Gadget and Batman combined. As a character in a novel, though? She leaves me, at least, completely cold.

I've gone from excitedly purchasing the first 11 volumes in hardback as they were released, to picking up the subsequent books from the library, to today reading 'Bullet' in Barnes and Nobles. My local library doesn't have any plans on ordering a copy and I decided putting a request in for an inter-library loan was just too much of an effort.

It took me five hours, and three large cups of coffee, in order to finish it. It began with a squicky dance recital (Anita Blake should stay far away from children!!) and went downhill from there. The book was indeed, as others have reported, just boring. The promised plot was once again absent. Ninety-Five percent of the action occurred 'off screen' and the reader just read about it later. When this series began, the reader was fully engaged and present for every action scene. If there was a threat, Anita Blake stepped forward and met the challenge head on. In this book, she makes a phone call. There was a death in the book, but it was such an insignificant character that I couldn't immediately recall who he was or when he had last appeared. I even had to put the book down, walk around B&N, and get a fresh cup coffee as I was reading through an 'orgy' because I was practically falling asleep. I couldn't recommend that anyone plunk down hard earned money for this... book. After slogging my way through it, however, I felt compelled to post a review as warning to any other potential reader. :)

Where has Anita gone? I used to count the days until a new book dropped. Now, I regret purchasing the book. I want Anita back. I love this series. But, in my opinion this series is off the rails. Anita needs to get her necromancing rear end back to the cemetary and start raising some zombies, interact with clients and leave the boys at home for awhile.

Believe me when I first read the character of Jean Claude I thought no sexier vampire could exist. Richard super duper sexy and someone who was relatable. Even the vampires were relatable. They are no longer so. I think the metaphysical stuff is totally overboard. Really did we learn anything in this book? Other than Richard changing his entire personality, seriously, Richard cooperative and sexually fooling around with men? Jean Claude has basically become a lap dog. He needs to throw down, be that tough sexy vampire he was before. He's Master of the City he needs to start biting people and taking names. Opening the book with Anita at a recital with children, are you kidding. Anita Blake doesn't want to be around children that's so not her. She needs to mix it up with the "others" in St. Louis not some mind bending nonsense from a distance. She needs to pull her gun and get to business.

If Edward met her today he'd probably shoot her!

Give us Anita back please. The vampires need her, the werewolves need her, the rats and her readers need and miss her desperately.