I was originally going to write this review solely about the most recent Anita Blake novel I had read. However, I found myself wanting to re-read the entire series. Therefore, I am earmarking this series for review. The problem with that is that reading this book and reviewing it followed by reviews of earlier books later would be confusing. I don't want people thinking I'm jumping through time! So, when I have re-read all of the books, I'll do an all encompassing review. Until then, I'll take plenty of notes.
UPDATE!
So, it turns out I was wrong. I am incapable of re-reading the entire series before writing this review. As I'm reading the early books again, I am constantly having random outbursts. For this review, I am going to start at the beginning though.
Where I lived growing up was in the middle of nowhere. We weren't in the city limits, so we didn't get a library card for free. My grandmother, who didn't really use hers, let us use it. We would go to the library, and mom would let me pick out as many books as I wanted. After moving on from books more appropriate to my age, I started combing the Sci Fi/Fantasty paperback shelves for interesting reads. I know you're not supposed to judge a book by its over, but that's what I did. I never really found the books with humanoid animals on them interesting.*
One day, while sitting on the floor, perusing the lower shelves, I found a book called the Lunatic Cafe. It was about a woman by the name of Anita Blake. She was a vampire executioner who also raises the dead for a living. It takes place in a world where vampires and werewolves are well known. At that time, it was the first book I had found like that. Now, that's a pretty standard idea for a book. For me, a good sixteen years ago or so, that was new. I had read the original Dracula. I had read quite a few Anne Rice novels. This was new to me, and it was really interesting.
I'm a pretty boring person, and I was an incredibly dull high school kid. I didn't dink, didn't smoke, didn't do drugs. I didn't date all that much. I guess you could say I was straight-laced. Anita Blake, the main character in the new books I found, was also pretty clean, so to speak. She didn't do any of those things. She was a bad ass who did what she thought was right. As you can imagine, that appealed to me.
Anita Blake, when I was getting to know her, was a good person. She sometimes had to make hard decisions and things didn't always work out, but she did what she had to in order to protect others. There is a book where she ends up torturing someone. It's not a drawn out scene. It's not overly horrible, but it's not glorifying torture either. I'm not talking torture like they do in torture porn movies, either. What is important to realize, even though I didn't like what she did, I understood why. It made sense and was an organic change for the character. Furthermore, she didn't start torturing everyone after she had one experience. She recognized it as a necessary evil, something she never wanted to do again.
The early books are littered with interesting characters that don't really have much to do with the main story-lines. They are people that just add detail to the books, her neighbors, co-workers, and the like. Re-reading the early books just reminds me of the little touches that made Anita who she was. I had completely forgotten that she collected penguins. She had characteristics and quirks in the beginning.
Now, Anita Blake is a whore. I know that sounds harsh, but that's what she has become. Mark and I had a running joke that you could open any random page in the more recent books and find a sex scene. We were right more often than I like.
One of the biggest problems with this change of character is that it's not organic; it doesn't really make sense. Anita is afflicted by the "ardeur". It essentially makes her a succubus; she has to have sex and "feed" off of it to survive. Yeah, go ahead and re-read that. That's really what has happened to this once interesting character.
Because of this change, there is less time spent interacting with bit characters, less time fighting evil. There is a whole lot more time spent having sex with most of the men in the series. When they run out, more are written in. She has sex with people she doesn't even know. In the most recent book I read, they actually allowed her to be possessed so she could take part in an orgy with no real repercussions Oh wait, there is one. She apparently slept with a sixteen year old. Instead of the books being about some new evil she has to defeat, there is an equal amount of time spent on who she is sleeping with. It's just plain sad to see such an amazing character reduced to smut.**
In the most recent book that I read, there was no sex until page 378.*** I was amazed. I actually thought I was going to get through a whole book with no gratuitous and meaningless sex scenes. It turns out that I was wrong. Heck, she beats the bad guy using sex. As I try to keep my reviews more on the PG side, I'm not going to explain how. Let's just say it's just not right. Anita started out as a strong character, and she has devolved into a character that has sex with everyone. She went from being strong to being slutty. I don't care how you justify it, it doesn't make sense for the character; it changes one of her core values and adds nothing to the story. It actually detracts from what used to be a rich environment.
If you haven't read the Anita Blake books, I would strongly caution you against doing so. I grew attached to that character and felt betrayed when she stopped being who she was. It may be silly to feel betrayed, as that obviously wasn't the author's intent, but that's how it was. Now, it just makes me angry. I honestly don't know if I'll read any more of the books. I only picked up the most recent one I read because it was a hardback book on clearance for $5.
*Sorry, furries.
**Just so you know, I have no problem with smut. You want to write dirty books, knock yourself out. I've read the Merry Gentry series which features some weird sex, but I don't really have a problem with that. If it seems hypocritical let me explain why. Anita Blake started out as a sexless story. Yeah, there was tension and strippers and what not, but she was pure. She wasn't banging everyone. That series didn't start out that way and shouldn't have gone that way. I'm not saying no nookie for her, but the way it has been handled doesn't fit with how the series started out.
***I think that was the page number. I remember because I was so shocked.
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