Ratings9
Average rating2.9
Anita Blake is back in St. Louis and trying to live a normal life-as normal as possible for someone who is a legal vampire executioner and a U. S. Marshal. There are lovers, friends and their children, school programs to attend. In the midst of all the ordinary happiness a vampire from Anita's past reaches out. She was supposed to be dead, killed in an explosion, but the Mother of All Darkness is the first vampire, their dark creator. It's hard to kill a god. This dark goddess has reached out to her here-in St. Louis, home of everyone Anita loves most. The Mother of All Darkness has decided she has to act now or never, to control Anita, and all the vampires in America.
The Mother of All Darkness believes that the triumvirate created by master vampire Jean-Claude with Anita and the werewolf Richard Zeeman has enough power for her to regain a body and to immigrate to the New World. But the body she wants to possess is already taken. Anita is about to learn a whole new meaning to sharing her body, one that has nothing to do with the bedroom. And if the Mother of All Darkness can't succeed in taking over Anita's body for herself, she means to see that no one else has the use of it, ever again. Even Belle Morte, not always a friend to Anita, has sent word: "Run if you can.
Reviews with the most likes.
Again, that's a relative ★★★, not an absolute ★★★. The two stars added to the first are earned by (as another Goodreader said) flashes of brilliance (in the storytelling, never the writing; never, ever the writing) and flashes of the old Anita.
This book is only a two star for many reasons, first of all being that it took way too long for the plot to actually develop. I loved how the book picked up pace with the bad guys surfacing and all, but then it just plain stopped. There was too much extra in this book. Between each major action in the plot there was a myriad of filler that just didn't need to be there, almost like Hamilton was going for quantity over quality with this book. There was also a story error when Anita calls Claudia powerful for healing quickly when in fact chapters before Anita was the one who healed her. A major event in chapter 48 that was only briefly mentioned once upset me. I would have much rather seen a full detail if it instead if the amount of fluff in this book. I had hopes for Hamilton having read Skin Trade but she's just lost her touch.
Featured Series
30 primary books38 released booksAnita Blake, Vampire Hunter is a 38-book series with 30 primary works first released in 1988 with contributions by Laurell K. Hamilton, Alessandro Zabini, and 8 others.