Hello all.
I actually purchased a copy of FLIRT in a used bookstore a few days ago- don't ask me how it got there- and slapped together a quick review if anyone's interested...
Let me first say that I have never read an Anita Blake novel before this; my experience with LKH’s writing is all Meredith Gentry. I have no true- or troo- context to put things in, but after reading it, I don’t really think I needed to.
The story almost feels like a stand alone. Granted, there are references and sub-texts from past stories to draw upon, but none really impacted the story. Which would have been hard to do, given what story there was.
This novel/novella/novelette is only 158 pages long, comprised of the too-familiar large, double-spaced type. There’s also quite a bit of padding before and after the story, which is kind of interesting- not so much what it is as to why it might be there.
**SPOILER ALERTS**
As indicated in the blurbs, a rich man wants Anita to resurrect his dead wife. She refuses, mostly on ethical grounds as it seems the man wants to resume their marriage, which she tries to explain is impossible. He leaves unsatisfied, and Anita and a few boytoys- Nathaniel, Jason and Micah- head off to lunch together.
Lunch is all about the science and skill of flirting: touching, eye contact, double entendres, flattery… To emphasize this, the waiter that comes to take their orders is completely flustered by Nathaniel; Anita rises to the challenge and makes her own lasting impression upon him.
Back at the office a wealthy woman wants Anita to resurrect her dead husband so she can exact a terrible vengeance upon him; Anita refuses this time on moral grounds- how’s that for symmetrical…
Anita returns to the same restaurant for another lunch; the same waiter comes to her, hoping for more than just flirting. During the encounter Anita senses another shapeshifter- a were-lion named Jacob- and the lioness in her responds eagerly, despite the danger. Another lion- Nick- joins them, boxing her into their trap, and they threaten mayhem if she doesn’t comply. All three flex their powers, testing and reacting to each other, with plenty of angst and emoting thrown in to drag things out waaaay toooo long.
Anita thinks she knows who’s bankrolling all this, but the too-obvious attempt at a twist falls short. The meeting with the previously-spurned client is ridiculous: they talk about the situation, Anita gets angry, Jacob and Nick try to soothe the savage beast while the client stands there. Repeat as (not) needed.
The client needs something extra to resurrect their spouse, something sinister. Anita realizes what it is, which brings up the lioness- but she’s in heat, having never been with a Rex before. Both males want her; she uses this against them and tries to escape but is stopped by Silas- another lion- and they both suffer for it.
She awakes in a graveyard shed, her contact with her men blocked by the spell of a lioness witch who belongs to Jacob’s pride. Isolated and weakened, she needs to feed; now past the point of normal food, she must use the ardeur and Nick offers himself willingly. Given the choice between flesh and sex, Anita chooses sex, “rolling him like a vampire” and even taking his free will, since she’ll need some help to escape the situation.
Nick and Jacob both realize what she’s done, with Jacob blaming himself for not anticipating it. Silas, the were-lion Anita fought before, tries to kill her but is fatally wounded and becomes fodder to help fuel the spell. Anita discovers that a lycanthrope sacrifice is infinitely more powerful than a normal human; after resurrecting the client’s spouse, she channels the excess energy into the rest of the graveyard, raising them all up. The power shatters the witch’s spell returning Anita’s contact with her men, who are closing in. Anita recognizes the danger the client still presents to them all, and with a little help from her newly revived friends, settles the matter. Micah and the fellas arrive and everyone goes home, with Nick the New Guy in tow.
** END SPOILERS**
Being new to all this I thought the overall setting was interesting, but Anita’s powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men kept hitting me over the head; what exactly can’t she do- windows? I see what people mean about Anita and Merry being almost interchangeable- it didn’t feel like there was much difference between them. The lone sex scene was ok, I suppose; I never put much stock into them per se, instead waiting to see what the new developments are.
It was intriguing the way lycanthropes visualize themselves within their minds and the way they can read each other’s body language, but I thought at times it killed potential scenarios: Jacob & Nick were constantly sizing Anita up and warning her not to try anything. There was also this lame attempt at humor by quoting movie one-liners, not as jokes but metaphors: one of the were-lions would say something and Anita would respond “Did you just quote…?” First one was ok, the rest were lame. Or maybe she was trying to establish some character quirks for them.
The graveyard scene is rife with potential. After the zombies finish their dirty work, there’s something else to them that wasn’t there before, something’s infused within them. Anita realizes what’s happened, and is momentarily seduced by it. Trust me; you’re gonna see this scenario pop up again.
The title FLIRT should be taken literally, as that’s the focus of the novel. Every Anita encounter with the were-lions- which take up the bulk of the story- is about the male/female ritual and establishing dominance. This is clearly stated in the Afterword, where LKH pontificates for thirteen pages about her writing process. Here you get a blow by blow description of a real-life encounter with a waiter that inspired the novel, which is repeated almost verbatim in the lunch scene. LKH admits that writing Divine Misdemeanors was hindered by the overwhelming, looming presence of the idea for this story.
And in case you still don’t get it, you’re treated to a five-page cartoon strip done by a good friend of hers spoofing the seminal moment. Combined with three pages of dedications and an intro that talks about said waiter encounter… that’s twenty pages of clutter around some OK reading. Overall, I’d say: 3 Stars for a new reading experience, -1 Star for the same old problem- too much fluff, not enough story.
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Date: 2010-01-23 07:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-23 07:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-23 07:33 am (UTC)I wonder how pissed off Cookie Monster is going to be when he finds out she finally sleeps with a werelion, and it isn't him. I bet that means Cookie Monster is the one that's going to die next book, if LKH goes through with killing someone off.
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Date: 2010-01-23 08:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-23 01:01 pm (UTC)"1 Star for the same old problem- too much fluff, not enough story."
Date: 2010-01-23 01:11 pm (UTC)I'm surprised you came across Flirt - is it an ARC? I thought it wasn't out yet.
I'm not sure if I'll ever buy another Anita , hell, another LKH book. Little bits of her old style keep popping up, and then being pushed down by all the t a l k i n g.....
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Date: 2010-01-23 02:28 pm (UTC)I would bet anything that every single thing said in these thirteen pages has been on the blog multiple times.
Also hahaha, this entire book was inspired by a waiter 'flirting' with LKH to get a bigger tip.
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Date: 2010-01-23 04:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-23 04:13 pm (UTC)For some reason I still find it funny that she was so excited by that she wrote a whole book around it.
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Date: 2010-01-23 04:21 pm (UTC)Placing my bet on Nick being the death in the book; would totally fit into LKH's lenience towards the overly-dramatic.
This is clearly stated in the Afterword, where LKH pontificates for thirteen pages about her writing process. Here you get a blow by blow description of a real-life encounter with a waiter that inspired the novel, which is repeated almost verbatim in the lunch scene.
I feel sorry for the waiter. D:
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Date: 2010-01-23 04:56 pm (UTC)The image in my head is of them stood there gurning and throwing bulldogs. *facepalm* But I suppose it's just metaphysical rubbish and lots of flowery nonsense about beasts and velvet and the smell of daft things.
God, how did I ever like these books, let alone look forward to them:(
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Date: 2010-01-23 05:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-23 05:40 pm (UTC)I can see through time.
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Date: 2010-01-23 07:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-23 07:38 pm (UTC)I'm not sure if this is an improvement over the recent books or not (haven't read those). It's nice to see animating coming back into the storyline but I think I realize now why she was side lining it. Anita's job doesn't make much sense.
In a world where zombies happen wanting to resurrect a loved one has to be a fairly well-traveled path in many people's grief process. One Anita is incapable of handling delicately, for sure, but still. Isn't this her job to raise zombies?
I'm unclear why Hamilton has her deny the man or the woman. Isn't raising *anyone* back from the dead going to be either unethical or immoral depending on how you look at it? It's a grisly business and I don't think any of the other reasons she's given in the series for raising the peaceful dead have been any better than a man dealing with grief or a woman wanting her final say.
And I wonder why the man turns out to be the villain? Was there ever a true nefarious reason he wanted his wife back or was it really him wanting to live with her as a zombie bride *that* badly? (And he might have changed his mind quickly once he'd seen his wife as a zombie... lol) And honestly... is Anita the gal that should be making the distinction of who and what a man should be in love with; or what makes a real relationship between a couple? lol
You don't have to answer these questions, lol. I'm just commenting on her plot. :)
I think again Hamilton raised some interesting ideas in this book... and then proceded to ignore all of them in leiu of getting another man for the harem and showing off Anita's powers. *sigh*
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Date: 2010-01-23 08:18 pm (UTC)The zombie question was raised in one of the Amazon forums: why she couldn't just explain the situation to him and instead offer him a last chance to say goodbye would've been counter-productive, as in "no story". Raising the dead per se has legal ramifications- imagine if cops asked someone who killed them; pretty hard to argue against that kind of compelling evidence. I think its even been brought up in the series.
Anita's power is such that when she focuses in on one zombie she can restore their appearance as well, but since they're dead it won't last. The man wanted to resume his marriage, so I can't really fault her on that one, but again- without that scenario there's no story.
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Date: 2010-01-23 08:33 pm (UTC)And even talked about some of the typical ones where the family says goodbye. I can see why she'd nix a long term one (as I recall they subsist off of blood and need to be fed over time), but there's no reason not to bring back the wife to say goodbye.
But then I'm just not fond of plots where the characters are forced. That was really why I stopped reading, it felt like Hamilton was raping Anita, coming up with excuses to make her do what she wanted her to do, rather than what the character wanted to do. I know, that sounds stupid since LKH is the author, but that's what it felt like reading CS.
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Date: 2010-01-23 10:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-24 02:23 pm (UTC)Stud-y XDDDDD
*makes me think of a biiiiig box where LKH keeps all her "darlings" untill Anita needs them*
When it comes to LKH everything is subtext to meXD
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Date: 2010-01-24 05:32 pm (UTC)I probably should have said "placing my bet on Nick being the death in the next book" to be clearer.
? ? ?? ? ? ? ? ?
Date: 2010-01-25 01:56 pm (UTC)Isn't Carri the one that cleans? Does lkh even know what a vacuum cleaner DOES?????
-,'-,'-,'--@
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Date: 2010-01-25 07:38 pm (UTC)Murder victims can't be raised, the zombies become horrificly violent and seek out their killer, repaying the favor before going all calm and passive again.
Anita, wonderful as she is, cannot control a murder victim raised as a zombie UNTIL the murderer has been killed by the zombie.
Nor can she control a zombie that used to be a necromancer when it was alive.
Or a zombie that was given specific orders by another necromancer that hasn't finished those orders yet, like "Kill Anita."
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Date: 2010-01-27 04:40 am (UTC)Thanks!
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Date: 2010-01-27 04:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-28 11:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-07 03:25 pm (UTC)Pokemonboyfriends, gains even more powers, has icky and boring sex with said Pokemon, saves the day, condescends, and whines. I'm constantly surprised by how far this series has fallen. I'm also surprised that it took Ms. Hamilton this long to write such a short book. Wasn't this book late?In a way, I don't blame LKH. If the author can continue to get to the #1 slot on the NYT bestseller's list by churning out this garbage, why should she try any harder? I do think that things are about to change for her, though. Most of her newer fans read her books for the porn, and that's gone for the most part, while her older fans read her books for the creativity and the interesting plots, which have been missing for years. Without the Gothy teenagers reading the books for the beastiality and faux BDSM and lonely housewives who read them because they're too embarrassed to buy real porn, she's dead in the water.
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Date: 2010-02-07 03:33 pm (UTC)I agree completely. I felt like the whole series became a rape of sorts. Of Anita, of her lovers, of the fans. It was a betrayal of everything that Anita and the series once stood for. As much as LKH loves to insist that her characters are their own people, Anita is not. Anita is LKH's avatar, her fantasy image in which she can do whatever she wants. And apparently, raping multiple attractive men using magical means is what she wants. I find it appalling. I wonder how many people would like the Anita Blake series if the roles were reversed, and Anita was a man with a harem of abused, subjugated women.
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Date: 2010-02-07 03:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-07 03:59 pm (UTC)The immorality of raising the dead is one of the things that I disliked about the AB series from the beginning. It's not the fact that Anita raises the dead so much as why she does it. She could have been doing it to solve actual crimes, like the federal marshal she's supposed to be. Or, to help people in some way. She doesn't, though.
The fact that Anita would be willing to create zombies for money made me dislike her from the first. Every time Anita has raised the dead for pay, it's been for a selfish or just plain ridiculous reason. How on Earth is forcing the soul of a loved one into their rotting body while sitting in their own grave a way to deal with their death? How vile and traumatic for the person raised, and for the person still living.
In one novel, Anita raises someone so that their family can get answers about their will. As though it's that important. In this one, she raises the dead wife of an obviously emotionally damaged man. To be honest, though, I think that anyone who wanted a loved one raised from the dead for ANY reason (other than perhaps to name their killer) has serious problems. It's also the way it's done. Why does the soul have to be forced into their dead body? Why can't she speak directly to them, rather than force the person to experience what could possibly be the most horrific thing to have happen to them? It just doesn't make much sense to me, other than for shock value. LKH creates moral and ethical questions, and then answers them in the worst possible and most immoral way. Or she doesn't bother to answer them at all. The necromancer/zombie aspect of the series has always been one of the weak points for me. In the beginning, when the books were still readable,
anyway.
And no, I don't think that Anita has any idea what love is, how one should love, and what makes a real couple. Anita has become the unrivaled queen of every man's life. Even Jean-Claude has become a card-carrying member of the "Anita keeps my balls in a jar on her nightstand" club. All of her relationships are completely one-sided, because the "ardeur" makes each man believe that he's happy with the way things are, and Anita abuses it to the Nth degree. She does what she wants with whomever she wants whenever she wants to, and all the men must be with her exclusively or be cut off from the "ardeur", which they are addicted to. It's much like getting a person hooked on heroin and using it to treat them however you want, while threatening to withhold the drug if they complain in the slightest. Apparently, this includes rape, adultery, and physical and emotional abuse for Anita's men.
I think again Hamilton raised some interesting ideas in this book... and then proceded to ignore all of them in leiu of getting another man for the harem and showing off Anita's powers. *sigh*
And that's the way it's always been, and I think will always be. Ms. Hamilton has good ideas, but has no ability to flesh them out. At this point, even her ideas have been recycled. She has nothing to offer now.