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lkh_lashoutsHello, everyone. I'm very glad I found a community where I get to express how disappointed I've become with the Anita Blak series without being called an elitist bitch, a prude, or mean, or all the other colorful names I'm sure most of you have been called at some point or other.
I first found two used copies of Guilty Pleasures and Narcissus in Chains in a giveaway in my local library, so I'd figure I'd give the series a try. I actually began reading Narciassus in Chains first because I found the title more interesting. I stopped reading by the time that Anita got it on with Jean-Claude and Richard in the club, not because it bothered me or anything, but because I didn't know what the hell was going on. For some reason, I decided to give the series a chance and stopped reading Narcissus in Chains to read Guilty Pleasures first in hopes of understanding the series a a bit more. Imagine my suprise when Guilty Pleasures had and actual plot, instead of rushed sex scenes that didn't seem to have anything to do with whatever the hell was supposed to be going on in the actual the story.
I apologize for lenght, but I just needed to get this off my chest.
I first found two used copies of Guilty Pleasures and Narcissus in Chains in a giveaway in my local library, so I'd figure I'd give the series a try. I actually began reading Narciassus in Chains first because I found the title more interesting. I stopped reading by the time that Anita got it on with Jean-Claude and Richard in the club, not because it bothered me or anything, but because I didn't know what the hell was going on. For some reason, I decided to give the series a chance and stopped reading Narcissus in Chains to read Guilty Pleasures first in hopes of understanding the series a a bit more. Imagine my suprise when Guilty Pleasures had and actual plot, instead of rushed sex scenes that didn't seem to have anything to do with whatever the hell was supposed to be going on in the actual the story.
1) Guilty Pleasures
I never really liked Anita, not even in Guilty Pleasures. She always came off as condescending, and full of herself. Nervertheless, LKH actually managed to create a compelling, dark, universe with an interesting cast of characters. There were subplots going on, (the vampire junkie guy, the dreams with JC, the church of eternal life, and Anita actually described what was happening in the world aside from SEX, SEX, SEX) and the villain was actually entertaining despite being a complete rip off of Anne Rice's concept with Claudia. And Nikolaos was never afraid of Anita at all; it was actually the other way around. After reading some of the later books, I find it shocking that there were only two sex scenes in Guilty Pleasures and neither of them included wetness, tightness, writhing, trapped pulses, screaming orgasms, or "metaphysical" bullshit. The first person narration was a turn off because we only got Anita's point of view on things, so in my opinion, it's hard to get a complete feel of the characters who aren't Anita herself. Regardless, it was a legible book with its share of flaws but entertaining enough that I decided to give Narcissus in Chains another try.
2) Narcissus in Chains
Let me start by saying that I didn't absolutely hate Narcissus in Chains. I had to skip some of the sex scenes (the book actually gets shorter if you do that) because they were so repetitive and Micah made me want to stab my eyes with a pencil so I wouldn't have to read about him, but the stuuf about the Chimera was interesting. Now that i think about it, Chimera is probably the last villain in the series to be an actual villain instead of another boogeyman for Anita to pwn like she's a comic book heroine drawn by an amateur artist. Narcissus in Chains was much worst than Guilty Pleasures, but I wasn't invested with the characters and had no real knowledge of the books in between these two, so I dismissed the series as slightly spoiling candy for the brain and left it a that.
I will say that I began actively hating Anita when she started bitching about Richard not allowing her to feed the ardeur (ardor?, ardur?, LHK doesn't seem to have decided how to spell this word yet) when she herself has the same rule with Jean-Claude. LHK goes on and on for pages, no--whole chapters about how MEAN Richard is being for not helping her with the lust thing, when she has practucally castrated Jean-Claude and wont let him feed of her and objects to him feeding from other people. It's probably the most hypocratical thing the bitch has done. And the she gets the nerve to have her feelings hurt when Richard dumps her because she has slept with four other men. All of which is still self-contradicting; she demands her lovers to be be monogamous to her but she has a harem. I don't know what the opposite of chauvinism is, but LHK is suffering from it; her female characters (oh, who the hel am I kidding--Anita) gets to be exempted from all the rules while the men are treated like dildoes with names.
I never really liked Anita, not even in Guilty Pleasures. She always came off as condescending, and full of herself. Nervertheless, LKH actually managed to create a compelling, dark, universe with an interesting cast of characters. There were subplots going on, (the vampire junkie guy, the dreams with JC, the church of eternal life, and Anita actually described what was happening in the world aside from SEX, SEX, SEX) and the villain was actually entertaining despite being a complete rip off of Anne Rice's concept with Claudia. And Nikolaos was never afraid of Anita at all; it was actually the other way around. After reading some of the later books, I find it shocking that there were only two sex scenes in Guilty Pleasures and neither of them included wetness, tightness, writhing, trapped pulses, screaming orgasms, or "metaphysical" bullshit. The first person narration was a turn off because we only got Anita's point of view on things, so in my opinion, it's hard to get a complete feel of the characters who aren't Anita herself. Regardless, it was a legible book with its share of flaws but entertaining enough that I decided to give Narcissus in Chains another try.
2) Narcissus in Chains
Let me start by saying that I didn't absolutely hate Narcissus in Chains. I had to skip some of the sex scenes (the book actually gets shorter if you do that) because they were so repetitive and Micah made me want to stab my eyes with a pencil so I wouldn't have to read about him, but the stuuf about the Chimera was interesting. Now that i think about it, Chimera is probably the last villain in the series to be an actual villain instead of another boogeyman for Anita to pwn like she's a comic book heroine drawn by an amateur artist. Narcissus in Chains was much worst than Guilty Pleasures, but I wasn't invested with the characters and had no real knowledge of the books in between these two, so I dismissed the series as slightly spoiling candy for the brain and left it a that.
I will say that I began actively hating Anita when she started bitching about Richard not allowing her to feed the ardeur (ardor?, ardur?, LHK doesn't seem to have decided how to spell this word yet) when she herself has the same rule with Jean-Claude. LHK goes on and on for pages, no--whole chapters about how MEAN Richard is being for not helping her with the lust thing, when she has practucally castrated Jean-Claude and wont let him feed of her and objects to him feeding from other people. It's probably the most hypocratical thing the bitch has done. And the she gets the nerve to have her feelings hurt when Richard dumps her because she has slept with four other men. All of which is still self-contradicting; she demands her lovers to be be monogamous to her but she has a harem. I don't know what the opposite of chauvinism is, but LHK is suffering from it; her female characters (oh, who the hel am I kidding--Anita) gets to be exempted from all the rules while the men are treated like dildoes with names.
3) Cerulean Sins, or Anita is the queen of the universe and the fountain of wisdom
If I start enumerating the many ways in which this book sucked, I would never finish so let me stick to the bigger points.
First, the "villain" that LHK spent about 200 pages building up to be the scariest thing that Anita ever faced turned out to be a stupid vampire cheerleader, french girl who was pwned by Anita's modern ways. Seriously, JC, Asher, and every other "strong" male character in the series were quaking in their boots at the mere mention of Mussete and the Anita shows up and completely destroys her the power of a knife. That moment topped all moments of Anita-sueism that I've read so far, and I'm counting the ardor (ardeur?, ardur? oh fuck it, if the author doesn't care how it's spelles, why should I?).
Second, the sex scenes were just awful. But that's rwally a given so let's move on to Anita's butting in JC and Asher's relationship. On any other situation, I would not be too angry about Anita not wanting her man to be with another man. I don't mind that Anita seems to be a little homophobic (God knows the woman needs flaws) but she doesn't get to bitch about her boyfriend's trouble with his other boyfriend when she spent hundreds of pages bitching about her other boyfriend. How can Anita seriously demand that JC not sleep around when she herself has fucked 95% of the men in the series (which is 965 of the cast anyway).
Third, Anita accusing her human "friends" of not understanding her and judging her when she is the one who aliniates them. For example, Anita's self-righteous behaivior when it comes to Dolph calling her a whore, to which I think "Anita, honey, you are a whore." How can she really blame them for thinking that sex with every supernatural man in her town is a bad thing? It all goes back to Anita'sLHK's screwy views on sex: Anita is wise and brave enough to screw anything with a penis (it's forced on her, just like ebol JC dragged her into the world of monsters against her will) and everyone else is only allowed to have sex with Anita, because she can take care of them.
Fourth, forget the emotional or moral repecursions of having twenty sex partners, wouldn't that be physically impossible? I mean, the average human has sex three-four times a week (at least according to that sex-ed book I read a few years back), but Anita can . . . er, accomodate about five diferent sexual encouters with five different men in a few hours (or at least two chapters). So, my question is, why hasn't LHK mentioned anything about Anita needing medicinal creme and having trouble walking? Or are we supposed to believe that Anita has a super vagina?
If I start enumerating the many ways in which this book sucked, I would never finish so let me stick to the bigger points.
First, the "villain" that LHK spent about 200 pages building up to be the scariest thing that Anita ever faced turned out to be a stupid vampire cheerleader, french girl who was pwned by Anita's modern ways. Seriously, JC, Asher, and every other "strong" male character in the series were quaking in their boots at the mere mention of Mussete and the Anita shows up and completely destroys her the power of a knife. That moment topped all moments of Anita-sueism that I've read so far, and I'm counting the ardor (ardeur?, ardur? oh fuck it, if the author doesn't care how it's spelles, why should I?).
Second, the sex scenes were just awful. But that's rwally a given so let's move on to Anita's butting in JC and Asher's relationship. On any other situation, I would not be too angry about Anita not wanting her man to be with another man. I don't mind that Anita seems to be a little homophobic (God knows the woman needs flaws) but she doesn't get to bitch about her boyfriend's trouble with his other boyfriend when she spent hundreds of pages bitching about her other boyfriend. How can Anita seriously demand that JC not sleep around when she herself has fucked 95% of the men in the series (which is 965 of the cast anyway).
Third, Anita accusing her human "friends" of not understanding her and judging her when she is the one who aliniates them. For example, Anita's self-righteous behaivior when it comes to Dolph calling her a whore, to which I think "Anita, honey, you are a whore." How can she really blame them for thinking that sex with every supernatural man in her town is a bad thing? It all goes back to Anita's
Fourth, forget the emotional or moral repecursions of having twenty sex partners, wouldn't that be physically impossible? I mean, the average human has sex three-four times a week (at least according to that sex-ed book I read a few years back), but Anita can . . . er, accomodate about five diferent sexual encouters with five different men in a few hours (or at least two chapters). So, my question is, why hasn't LHK mentioned anything about Anita needing medicinal creme and having trouble walking? Or are we supposed to believe that Anita has a super vagina?
I apologize for lenght, but I just needed to get this off my chest.
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