"You can survive this. Talk to others that have"

tryingagain74 posted 1/21/2013 20:17 PM

Okay, so I just read the first book of her Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series (Guilty Pleasures).

I thought it was okay. I wasn't blown away by it. Anyone read this series? Should I try the second book? Do they get better?

Kajem posted 1/21/2013 22:53 PM

I've read the series.

The characters get more and more developed as the series goes on.

For me the series shows how one person can rationalize each individual step away from who they were.

It's a fun read... the characters are complex... and the way they are developed is good. be prepared for a lot of sex and toward the end of the series some BDSM.

I liked the writing better than the 50 shades series.

tryingagain74 posted 1/22/2013 19:45 PM

Wow! That's not what I expected. Right now, it's all about her investigations and hunting.

Thanks for the input. I'll keep reading and see where it takes me!

Kajem posted 1/22/2013 20:15 PM

You'll find her investigating thru out all the books. And a bunch of other stuff as well...

GabyBaby posted 1/22/2013 20:17 PM

I loved the first 4-5 books, but it got progressively more pornographic.
I enjoyed the series because of the vampires, etc and the investigations. The books went from 90% story and 10% sex to (in my view) more of a 30% story line and 70% sex ratio.
I can only skim over so much before the book becomes unreadable....

WakingFromADream posted 1/23/2013 09:39 AM

I agree with GabyBaby. I've read all of them except for the last two or three. I felt that the characters and the story lines were becoming stagnant and seemingly repetitive. The last few seemed to be a few orgy scenes with killing a vampire scene or two thrown in to loosely connect them together. For contemporary fantasy I much prefer the Harry Dresden series.

[This message edited by WakingFromADream at 9:40 AM, January 23rd (Wednesday)]

tryingagain74 posted 1/23/2013 13:02 PM

Thanks again-- I got a couple of them at a used bookstore and plan on getting library copies for the rest. I don't enjoy it when the sex scenes dominate the book (and are often horridly recycled). I started the second one and am really enjoying the investigation (though it's very grisly) and the discussion about voodoo. I'll probably quit when they start getting all 50 Shades of Poorly Written and Trite.

Rebreather posted 1/23/2013 13:26 PM

Same here. I really enjoyed the first 5ish, then it got too out there for me.

Issaquah posted 1/23/2013 14:49 PM

I didn't love her, but I do love that genre. I think there are some better urban fantasy out there. Here are some I like(and now I'm kinda embarrassed to admit I've read all of these):
-Sookie Stackhouse Mysteries by Charlaine Harris - this series is almost done. My very favorite!
-The Black Dagger Brotherhood by J R Ward.
-Sucubus Series by Georgia Kincaid - another easy read. I didn't really love the love interest, but the series was fun.
-Fever series by Karen Marie Moning. This one is SO hot, OMG!
- The Chicagoland Vampires series by Chloe Neill
- The Mercedes Thompson Series by Patricia Briggs
- The Night Huntress series by Jeaniene Frost. I love this one too - but they are easy reads.

SilverRose13 posted 1/23/2013 16:43 PM

The Anita series gets a little.....repetitive and unbelievable after book 5. However I adore her Merry Gentry series. I also love the Mercedes Thompson series by Patricia Briggs, anything by Kelley Armstrong, and Kim Harrison.

Kajem posted 1/23/2013 19:46 PM

I was wondering about the Merry Gentry series... will see if that is in the library.

Thanks for the other suggestions.

K

tryingagain74 posted 1/23/2013 20:42 PM

Thanks for the further suggestions! I have read all of the Sookie Stackhouse novels; does anyone know how many novels are left?

I also love the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon (time travel, nothing with vampires or other things that go bump in the night) and am thinking about re-reading the first three. I stopped during book four; I'm not sure why.

WakingFromADream posted 1/23/2013 23:17 PM

I like the Mercedes Thompson too. I'm pretty sure I have the most recent one sitting around here somewhere. Just haven't gotten to it yet.

Issaquah posted 1/24/2013 07:21 AM

I have read all of the Sookie Stackhouse novels; does anyone know how many novels are left?

The last Sookie book comes out this May. I believe the title is Dead Ever After. I read that the author has started a new series and the character Quinn from the Sookie series will be in it.

GabyBaby posted 1/24/2013 11:25 AM

The Merry Gentry series (Laurell K. Hamilton) is pretty good, but again, by the third book the sex scenes start to get a little...repetitive and over the top. The rest of the story line still holds my attention though.

Love, love, LOVE the Sookie Stackhouse series. I was, however, disappointed that the price on the ebooks went from $7.99 to $11.99 with the last book...

Kim Harrison...omg...I'd forgotten her, but her books are really good. I'm going to have to jump back into her books since I'm sure there have been new ones since I last read her.

leapyearbaby posted 1/24/2013 12:54 PM

Anite Blake was really the 1st vampire series and I really like the beginning of the series. Then it seemed like the vampire lovefest began and the author tried to keep up with the Stephenie Meyer and all the rest.
I stopped reading them, then recently picked up one of her later ones and she seems to have returned to her roots of 90% story and some otherworld sex. But... Ilost a lot of the story line and will have read some of the "how many ways can one screw a vampire/werewolf" in order to catch up. Don't know that I can do it.

ladyvorkosigan posted 1/25/2013 10:58 AM

50 Shades of Poorly Written and Trite

You read Anita Blake after book 6 (except for Obsidian Butterfly which, hello, Edward) and you'll wish it was 50 Shades level.

I don't have any problem with 70% sex, 30% plot. I think of it kind of like with musical theatre. Pre-Oklahoma, musicals were segmented. Like, now we shall stop and sing! Now we shall dance! with no plot or character development going on in the actual musical parts of the musical, which is why so many old musicals center around show business, since that gave a reason for irrelevant musical numbers.

But Oklahoma, there the songs and the dances to move the plot/characters forward. Since then, that's the overwhelming norm for musical theatre.

So, I think even with 70% sex or sex-adjacent scenes, it's fairly easy to work in character and plot, since in reality, all the sex we have contains characters and plot. Sex is really just an action scene, and action scenes can either be gratuitous where nothing really happens or they can be much more.

However, the Anita Blake series is not 70% sex, 30% plot.

Now, let me say that I stopped paying attention to the AB series around #10 and then had stopped entirely by Narcissus in Chains, which I could not even finish, so this is based upon those books.

My breakdown of everything past #6 except OB is:

5%: Introduction of someone/thing villainous.

5%: Talking about having sex.

5%: Talking about who is/not going to have sex (because Anita is a cockblocker#).

5%: Arguing about who is/not going to have sex (because Anita is a cockblocker).

5%: Negotiating about who is/not going to have sex (because Anita is a cockblocker).

5%: Negotiating about where sex is going to be had (because Anita is a cockblocker).

5%: Inventing arcane rules about where people can place themselves relative to one another upon whatever surface they've agreed will be the location for the sex (because Anita is a cockblocker).

3%: Sex.

2%: Anita interrupting the sex to insist people reconfigure their positions relative to one another (because Anita isn't just a cockblocker, she's a buzzkill)

10%: Descriptions of what Anita is wearing, which will consist of either:

A. A red polo/t-shirt with matching socks/scrunchie and jorts (typically) or jeans (sometimes), or

B. Some black minidress that Jean Claude ordered from a Frederick's of Hollywood catalogue from 1985 and black heels/boots.

10%: Descriptions of the eye and hair color and hair length (which is always LONG) of the 15 or so guys being juggled at any given time. This suffices for characterization except in the following cases:

A. Huge penis haver.

B. The one with short hair who is the only male character in the series who doesn't want to have sex with Anita. He deserves to be rescued by Tuesday Next for that last bit. Maybe later in the series he started to want to have sex with her but nobody tell me, I can't stand it.

C. Jailbait with ankle-length hair who wanders around wearing satin bootie shorts with white stripes on the sides.

10%: LKH punishing characters based upon various IRL members of the St. Louis LARP and Rec Room BDSM Party scene (because LKH is butthurt)

5% Some sort of participation by one of the three female characters who are not Anita. One is evil, one is a jellus cow, and one literally wriggles on her tummy and kisses Anita's feet every time she sees her (because Anita is a cockblocker and LKH is butthurt)

10%: Dialogue in which Anita is neither clever nor funny nor incisive nor successfully cutting.

10%: Anita being told how clever or funny or incisive or successfully cutting she just was.

5%: Villain being defeated by another sexual superpower Anita just gained like 5, 10 minutes ago.

# Cockblocking, in this sense, can happen to anyone, even if they don't actually have a penis.

[This message edited by ladyvorkosigan at 11:03 AM, January 25th (Friday)]

GabyBaby posted 2/8/2013 11:11 AM

^^ Best. Breakdown. Ever.

Heavy Sigh posted 2/8/2013 12:26 PM

If this is the book where the vampire who turns good vampire must be fed and has lots of sex, then .. pun intended... it sucks.

All I could do is wonder if a heroin addict who is also a sex addict wrote the book, because the book is all about addictions that are "prettied up" with vampire mythology. Or if the author had known addicts in her time, because this is all about appetites for destruction.

[This message edited by Heavy Sigh at 12:59 PM, February 8th (Friday)]

confused82402 posted 2/8/2013 14:22 PM

I also was only able to get through the first 5. I felt like after that, they became all sex no real plot and I just couldn't do it anymore. But the first 5 were awesome!