Review: Danse Macabre

Allison's comment reminded me that I never posted my thoughts here on Danse Macabre. I shouldn't have even linked it, because I don't think anyone should spend $25.95 on this book in hardcover. If we hadn't had a gift certificate, I don't think I would have done it.

Warning: if you actually intend to read this book, there are spoilers ahead.



The beginning of the book shows a lot of promise. It's why I bought it, really, I read the first two chapters sitting in Borders. Anita and Ronnie and discussing their man troubles, and Anita confides in her that her period is two weeks late. The dialogue is reminiscent of early Anita Blake novels. Ronnie is worried because she's moving in with her long-time boyfriend, Louis. They discuss the possible repercussions of adding a baby to Anita's violent life, and who the possible father could be. Despite being sexually active with half the supernaturals in St. Louis, the two most likely candidates are Nathaniel, one of the wereleopards that lives with her, and her ex-fiancee, Richard, the leader of the local werewolf pack. Ronnie and Anita begin fighting again after Ronnie makes some nasty comments about Nathaniel being a father. It comes out that Ronnie is jealous of all of Anita's men, and she's been saying very mean things to Nathaniel behind Anita's back. In all this arguing, Ronnie reveals to Micah and Nathaniel that Anita might be having a baby.

From here, the book starts to go downhill, because of the same problems I've had with previous books. Rather than dealing with the immediate problem of a possible pregnancy, Anita, Micah and Nathaniel have to head to the Circus of the Damned, the Master of the City and one of Anita's other lover's headquarters, for a vampire meet and greet. Here we get introduced to 4 more characters that Anita will have sexual encounters with, none of whom are introduced enough for me to care about, and 3 of whch are barely mentioned through the rest of the book.

Now, for anyone reading this who doesn't know me, (does anyone read this who doesn't know me?) I like sex. I like reading about sex. I have no problems with reading about sex. But this isn't supposed to be a work of supernatural erotica. It's categorized as part of the horror genre.

From this point, the book degenerates into a lot of sex and a lot of people whining about their issues. The problem is now this series has too many characters, mostly males vying for one of the top spots in Anita's feeding schedule. With so many characters, I can't seem to care about any of them. The characters I used to really like are barely seen, or have been reduced to a stereotype of one kind or another. Richard is a typical chauvinistic male who acts like everything would be all baby booties and white picket fences if Anita is pregnant. Plus, he expresses a complete double standard for sex. It's okay if he messes around looking for a replacement for Anita, but he wants her to be able to give up all the others for him at the drop of a hat. Anita loves Jean-Claude, but all we ever see him do anymore is reveal unpleasant facts about her new powers and lie to avoid doing so. The more powerful she becomes, the less he gets to have of her. I like Nathaniel, as he was becoming more of a main character before the ardeur, but I don't like Micah that much. "Just keep being perfect," Richard says to him, several times throughout the book. Everybody loves him. He never fights with Anita. He's like a blow-up doll. I might like him more if there was a little more to him. Even Nathaniel is less submissive than him now, and Nathaniel started off in the series as a pain whore who didn't know how to say no. And we also have about half a dozen pathetic vampires and shapeshifters trying desperately to be the new man in Anita's rotating door of a vagina. In this book, a very big deal is made about the pleasure of the ardeur being addictive and some people are willing to do anything to feed Jean-Claude and Anita's hunger. This just seems like an excuse for Laurell K. Hamilton to write about more sex in more combinations with more preternaturally beautiful people. I want to read a novel, not her sexual fantasies.

Do you know how many books it's been since there was more than single chapter with Dolph and Zerbrowski? Remember them? They are the police officers Anita used to work with in every book. This book had absolutely no mention of them at all. When they are talking about the problems Anita would have raising a child, they mention how busy Anita is with her job as an animator and now as a federal marshal. (all vampire executioners were given federal marshal status a couple books ago) But we haven't seen Anita actually do work for at least 6 novels. I can't remember right now if she actually did police work in Narcissus and Chains or not, which was the start of this whole ardeur debacle.

Oh, and Anita's not pregnant. She's just got 4 different kinds of lycanthropy in her blood, and next full moon she may just become a lycanthrope for real this time! They think she may be a panwere like Narcissus. So maybe next book, we'll get furry on furry action too!

The only other interesting thing mentioned in this book was that The Mother of All Darkness, the first vampire, is waking up. All the vampires are really afraid of her. And because of how powerful Anita is, she keeps having dreams and visions of her. Maybe in a 3 or 4 books after mentioning it some more, Hamilton will actually know what her big bad is going to do and give us a decent novel. I'm not holding my breath.


Merry Part and Blessed Be!