Laurell K. Hamilton Boxed Set - Guilty Pleasures, The Laughing Corpse, Circus of the Damned and The Lunatic Cafe [Box set] [Paperback]

Laurell K. Hamilton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 25, 2003

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Product Details

• Paperback: 1256 pages
• Publisher: Jove (February 25, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0515136174
• ISBN-13: 978-0515136173
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 4.3 x 4.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (51 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #552,420 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Laurell K. Hamilton is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of two series that mix mystery, fantasy, magic, horror and romance. Her Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter novels from Berkley Books began with GUILTY PLEASURES (now a hugely successful graphic novel from Marvel - the first sexy paranormal comic ever!) and continues with the SKIN TRADE, number seventeen in the series, in which Anita's complex personal and professional relationships with a master vampire and an alpha werewolf continue to evolve. There are now more than 6 million copies of Anita in print worldwide, in 16 languages. Hamilton's Ballantine series features Fey princess and private investigator, Merry Gentry and there are now six novels exceeding one million copies in print. Divine Misdemeanors, the eighth in the series will debut Octobe 29, 2009. She lives in St. Louis County Missouri with her husband Jonathon Green, daughter, one pug dog and one boxer/pug dog.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars the best of Blake, April 22, 2004

By 

Charles P. Dyer (West Palm Beach) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Laurell K. Hamilton Boxed Set - Guilty Pleasures, The Laughing Corpse, Circus of the Damned and The Lunatic Cafe (Paperback)

These are the first four Anita Blake books, before Hamilton went off the rails with the S&M stuff. (One of the later books is titled Narcissus In Chains. There is a reason why.) Anita isn't the unstoppable ubermonster she later becomes. She changes during the course of the books, positively in some ways, negatively in others. (Mostly, she starts on a trip down a certain river in Egypt wrt her two boyfriends. The last line of Circus of the Damned: "Most women complain that there are no single, straight men left. I'd just like to meet one who's human." Nor is her sex life the only thng she's in denial about.) Character development is _not_ in short supply. Not only does Anita change, but so do most of the supporting characters. (Except, of course, for those who get killed off. And as this is a series of books about vapmires, werewolves, and zombies, being dead doesn't necessarily mean you're written out of the series.)

In these books Anita starts as an ordinary zombie queen (she prefers 'animator') who's a consultant for the St. Louis police as well. Except that it's established in the very first chapter of the very first book that she's not quite as ordinary as she thinks she is. Think of that chapter as the headwaters of the Nile. By the end of The Lunatic Cafe it's clear to all (except her) that she's _way_ more than ordinary. An ordinary zombie queen would have been long since dead. Permenently.

In addition to vampires, ghouls, flesh-eating revanant zombies, hostile zombie queens, werewolves, wereleopards, wererats and other weres, and necormancers, Anita has her problems with just plain humans with guns. Anita's got guns of her own and knows the Master (vampire) of the City and the local alpha werewolf very well indeed (see that last line of Circus of the Damned) and has friends in the local police and another, well, 'friend' may be too strong a word, who likes to give her UZI submachineguns as gifts. There is a _lot_ of action to go with the character development. Those who don't like blood should stay clear. (Those who don't like kinky sex should avoid the last two books...)

45 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Earlier Blakes Better, October 21, 2003

By 

mothpoet, nocturnal fantasy reader and writer (american suburbia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Laurell K. Hamilton Boxed Set - Guilty Pleasures, The Laughing Corpse, Circus of the Damned and The Lunatic Cafe (Paperback)

These first four Anita Blakes were the best in the series, so putting these for a group sale together was good thinking from an author going bad. Most people read vampire novels to read about vampires, not about the extreme sexuality that plagues the later novels and rid's them of an even relatively good plot line. The beginning 4 novels in the series are filled with intense character's who almost always draw you in, even the heroine Blake does a relatively good job in these books of maintaining her renowned status. The best part about these installments in the Blake books are the muder mysteries that are incorporated with her police identity. Hamilton does a good job of pulling the reader's in with intense and interesting stories filled with supernatural politics, character's past lives, and the old fashioned plotline, will Anita save the day again? WARNING: not for the faint of heart or those who can't stomach some serious gore.

32 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Value for money, May 12, 2004

By 

Sean Sweetser "Seneschal" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Laurell K. Hamilton Boxed Set - Guilty Pleasures, The Laughing Corpse, Circus of the Damned and The Lunatic Cafe (Paperback)

Pound for Pound this set is going to entertain as well as any.

Anita Blake is as quick with her gun as she is with her mouth, she never takes a step backward against ancient powerful vampires or the local detectives ribbing her. These first four books are argueably the best in the Anita Blake series where LKH's imagination and world are brought to life.

If you enjoy murder mystery, action and intrigue in large quantities you will love this series. Be warned if you do start reading these books there are seven more at the time of this review and you will not be able to resist reading them all once you start.