OBSIDIAN BUTTERFLY [Hardcover]

Laurell K. Hamilton (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Unknown (2000)
• ASIN: B0028Q4N0M
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (361 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,090,501 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

71 of 75 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Anita returns....and while we love it..we worry......, January 16, 2000

By 

Andrew P. Lawler (Charlotte, NC United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Obsidian Butterfly (An Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 9) (Hardcover)

Anita Blake, Vampire Executioner and Animator, travels to New Mexico at the behest of super-assassin Edward (or Death as we're continually reminded) to investigate a series of brutal (what else) and inexplicable murders.

First of all, it's an enjoyable book. It sheds light on Edward (someone we've all wanted to know more about) and manages to extricate Anita from the tangled morass of her personal life in St. Louis. As always the story is fast-moving, evocatively written, and makes us care deeply about the fate of the protagonists..

Yet for those who have read the previous books, the old problems remain...

1. Anita MUST intimidate everyone she meets or die trying.

2. Anita MUST bemoan her status as a monster without actually doing anything about it.

3. Anita MUST threaten to kill both friend and foe with equal frequency.

And she does..it seems sometimes that Anita doesn't have conversations. she can only have confrontations. And sometimes I confess, it grows a bit tiresome. As does the constant threat of rape.

Yet still I and so many others read. Why? because in spite of everything, Hamilton tells a great story, creates a great world, and continues to top herself with action each time. Obsidian Butterfly is no different.

But Anita needs a vacation.

118 of 136 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Laurell K. Hamilton is the best, January 5, 2000

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Obsidian Butterfly (An Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 9) (Hardcover)

On an alternate Earth, preternatural beings live along side humans who fear and loathe them. Human Anita Blake is a renowned vampire hunter, needed by law enforcement but loathed by many nosferatu who believe she is a genocide executioner. Anita loves both a werewolf and a vampire. However, she obstinately has refused to see either one of them for over the past year. Because of their species, she is terrified of giving herself to either of them.

The only person capable of killing as well as Anita happens to be Edward, better known as Death. He has saved her life on several occasions and she owes him for killing one of his cohorts. Edward calls in his marker, asking for her help with a preternatural creature like none he has ever encountered before. Anita comes to Santa Fe to meet an Edward totally different then Death. Edward is engaged to a woman with children and he seems to cherish all of them. As she works with Edward to defeat this seemingly invincible creature, Anita now knows she cannot hide from her own nature.

The newest Anita Blake novel, OBSIDIAN BUTTERFLY, is a great tale that is the best story in a wonderful alternate earth series. Part of the reason the story line is so good is that the enigmatic avenging angel Edward plays a starring role that makes him more complete and human. Anita retains her take no prisoners attitude, but is beginning to show signs of doubt and the need to choose that makes her even more complex of a character than before. This heart stopping, mesmerizing tale captures the audience's attention from the very first sentence and gives them a reading experience like no other. First time readers of this novel will scamper for this talented author's previous books.

Harriet Klausner

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The life of Anita Blake, January 21, 2000

By 

MJosephB (Corpus Christi, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Obsidian Butterfly (An Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 9) (Hardcover)

As expected this was an excellent book. For first-time Anita readers I would recommend starting with the first book before reading this or any of the other Anita books. Not because I don't think they won't be able to understand the story, but because this is a series and there is no other way to read it and really "see" the world through Anita Blake's eyes. Some reviews have said that this book doesn't further the storyline or Anita's character doesn't grow and I disagree on both counts. There are characteristics that are constant in all the books that Anita will probably always have, but the Anita in this book is still very different from the Anita in Guilty Pleasures. I actually found it a welcomed change of pace to have Anita not in her hometown surrounded by familiar places, or faces, focusing more on her and doing the job, as well as learning more about Edward, we --the readers-- finding out the same time she does. In a way, it seems she takes a closer look into herself being away from everyone she really knows and finds out more about herself, and... just maybe... that was the real purpose of this story.