[adellana]

Alright, maybe i am just crazy, but is there anyone else out there who loves the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series as much as I do? It's so underrated in fantasy, but really, despite the name, it is so much more fantasy then horror. It's got shapeshifters and necromancers and voodooiennes and its basically set in this world. Just trying to start a discussion here. The last one I read was Obisidan Butterfly, and it was one of the best so far, but if anyone wants to start reading it (and I soooo recommend it) I say start with the Laughing Corpse. They are written by Laurell K. Hamilton.

[FitzChivalry]

Yeah, i love the Anita Blake series, good urban fantasy and Anita herself is a cool main character, wouldn't call it alternate history though...

But why start with The Laughing Corpse?
Start from the beginning, Guilty Pleasures.

[This message has been edited by FitzChivlary (edited March 24, 2001).]

[Lady Fox]

Definitely start at the beginning with Guilty Pleasures and work your way through the series. Each book builds upon the next.

[adellana]

No way! The Laughing Corpse is such a better novel. Better plot, better character developement, better style. I actually got turned OFF by Guilty Pleasures. It's a good prequel-sequel but for a reader getting a first impression, it is not Hamilton's best story. Start with Laughing Corpse, its a better read, then go back and catch the Anita Blake origins in Guilty Pleasures.

[adellana]

also, why wouldn't it be alternate history. Some people throw down opinions of what "alternate history" really is (i'm not sure myself)

[FitzChivalry]

Did you start reading the series with The Laughing Corpse?
Maybe that's why you think so, i think Guilty Pleasures is a better book, and anyway one should start from the start or he wouldn't understand fully what's going on.

I wouldn't call it alternate history because although it deals with a present time Earth that is different than our own, the history itself isn't really its main concern, the books aren't really about historical events and such.

[adellana]

Granted, I did start with the Laughing Corpse, but her style in Guilty Pleasures wasn't close the the same. It really FELT like a first novel, like a first try, and then with the next one, it seemed like she got her stuff right. For instance, Anita's melodrama over Nikolaus and Phillip, were a little on the verge. And the randomness of Jean Claude's marks...I'm sorry, there was just not enough history put into the book for me to understand why Jean Claude would a) waste a mark on a girl who might just as easily turn on him (which is possible if what Hamilton writes about human servants is really true) and b) care enough about Anita to save her life, given everythign she says about how cold-blooded he is. The first book was good but it just didn't work for me the way the Laughing Corpse did.
Of course, we are all entitled to our own opinions

[Lady Fox]

Adellana, have you read ALL the Anita Blake books? I see where you say you have read Obsidian Butterfly, but did you read the ones in between it and LC? From your comment concerning the Marks, I wonder if you have. You need to read the whole series to get the full effect of the marks. There is a very basic and understandable reason why J-C marked Anita.

Spoiler alert---------------Spoiler alert

He loves her!!! He thinks she is an awesome woman who can kick butt and take names while still being very attractive and sexually appealing to him. He doesn't like weak, dependent women. Also, he gains as much from marking someone like her as she gains from him. Their eventual triad with Richard makes him almost ultimately powerful once they begin to learn to work together. He was willing to take the risk because the final pay off was very attractive to him on both a private level and a vampire-power level. The books in between LC and OB reveal that J-C feeds off of sexual energy. This type of binding fuels his natural power/talent base.

[This message has been edited by Lady Fox (edited April 01, 2001).]

[adellana]

oh no i know all that. i've read all of them except Blue Moon which I am dying to read because I hear a bunch of stuff come together in it. i stand by my verdict of Guilty Pleasures, but I do LOVE all the rest of ht ebooks, especially Burnt Offerings (so far, I stil hear Blue Moon is one of the best).