My first AB book in three years... oh dear.

[pandorasblog]

The last book I read was Incubus Dreams, and that was more than three years ago. Even it was more fun than Danse Macabre, which I just journalled on BookCrossing when I got the book as part of a bookring (better than giving royalties to LKH)... this is my review:

Ah, the ardeur. It was trouble when it first appeared, but for a couple of books it managed to sit uneasily alongside the plot. Ah, the plot. That hasn't been seen in a while; not since before Incubus Dreams, the last Anita Blake book I read, and the first one to disappoint in a major way.

But this... for the first quarter of the book I actually thought about putting it down, which is most unlike me. I kept asking myself whether the grandstanding between vampire dignitaries had always been this elongated (I think the whole introduction to the visitors takes up two chapters, yet would be maybe ten minutes of realtime action at MOST), and whether there'd always been so many boring descriptions of hair and eyes.

Then there's the author's apparent belief that we need to have her stock phrases repeated all the time, because we can't remember the contexts of the characters' little habits. If I ever see the phrase "Gallic shrug that meant everything and nothing" again, I'm afraid that I'll be forced to stake Jean-Claude if only to stop him from shrugging, so that Anita will stop describing it.

And staking Jean-Claude would be a pity, because he's one of the two characters who actually manage to develop here, in that he finally gives Anita grief about how he has feelings too. The other character who advances a little in my estimation is Richard, because at least he's trying in the good sense of the word, for a change. As for what happens with Asher, I'm not sure I'd call that development on his part...

What it boils down to is that there's no longer any danger. At no point did I think, "Oh crumbs, how's she going to get out of this one?" It was just one "metaphysical emergency" after another, where sex was, to borrow from Homer Simpson's opinion on beer, both the cause of and solution to all of life's problems. I miss the days when the preternatural politics had a point: that Anita was going to use either her gun or her mouth (not like that) to get out of a room alive, and always had to balance her natural flippancy with the ancient immutable laws of vampire interaction.

I picked up a few of the Guilty Pleasures comics the other day, and while the art is far from perfect, it was nice to be reminded that these used to be adventure stories with ambiguity and a tough-as-nails heroine. I remain very puzzled about what Laurell K. Hamilton thinks she's doing...

Comments

[brightlotusmoon.livejournal.com]

You think that looks ridiculous? Look at this hands-free version:


(http://hicsuntdracones.files.wordpress.com/2007/06/wwwtelegraphcouk_french-rude-gesture_the-gallic-shrug.jpg)

[shalanar.livejournal.com]

See, without the pouty lip it would be ok...the pouty lip really takes away from it. I never pictured JC pouting when he "gallic-ly" shrugged...but actually it makes so much sense, given how whipped of a character he's become...

[brightlotusmoon.livejournal.com]

Apparently, the pout is very specific to the Gallic shrug. Not sure why.

[slayra.livejournal.com]

I think it's because the person doing it is aiming to look innocent, like "who me? I don't know anything". Actually, I do it a lot when I don't know what people are talking about... I shrug, pout (thoughtfully for a moment) and at the same time raise my hands up. I never knew this was called "gallic shrug" but it's a gesture done when people simply don't know something or just plainly don't care. LOL.