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Book Review of Cerulean Sins (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Bk 11)

Cerulean Sins (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Bk 11)
reviewed on + 242 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 8


Between Anita's sex life with several lovers, her self-defense battles with supernatural creatures - in this case Belle Morte and Musette -, her fight to save the lives of were creatures and "good" vampires, I don't know where Anita finds the time to do her job of raising the dead. Oh, then there's her on-call job with the police when a crime appears to be supernaturally committed. In this book, there is indeed some horrendous crimes that seem to be the work of a serial killer. All of the victims have been torn apart and some crucified. Is it the work of one of the werewolves? Or of something different? Read and find out.

As for her love life which is, at times, separate from her sex life, Anita is on the outs with her werewolf lover which causes several problems for Anita. Then she has 2 or 3 - I lost count - men who she "feeds" from sexually to keep the ardeur from overtaking her. As for her lovers, they include Jean-Claude, Nathaniel and Micah. They also "feed" the ardeur but have more of a "love" relationship with Anita.

Asher, Jean-Claudes ex-lover centuries ago, appears more in this book and I got to know him better. I found him to be an interesting character and am glad Ms Blake has included more of him in this book. It appears Asher become another one of her lovers by the end of the book.

Belle Morte and her vampire spokeswoman, Musette, both come along to confront Anita in that underhanded, manipulative way that vampires have. There's one point where it gets all intricately metaphysical. I don't think I'm giving part of the plot away by stating that Anita gains the upper hand over these two vicious beings. After all, there are other books that appear after this one featuring Anita Blake. But I usually find the parts where Anita suddenly winning against these malevolent creatures in all the books pretty unbelievable. Especially as it's explained in some kind of made-up metaphysical context that doesn't make much sense to me.

I liked Anita Blake in the earlier books. But lately, in these later books, I'm getting annoyed by Anita. The more power she gains, the more annoying she's becoming. Yet I continue to read Ms Hamilton's books since I like the other characters and look forward to seeing how they're doing with each subsequent book. I find it strange that the only heroic female in these books is Anita. Maybe because Anita spends lots of time having sex with them though this book has less sex than Danse Macabre. I prefer the Feehan books. Her stories feature a lot of love along with the lust. The Carpathanian men, though dominating, are very loving men. Their lifemates know how to tame them though and there are quite a few of these women who are heroic. Unlike Anita, they've retained their femininity and their own power. They don't spend all their time being angry at the slightest perceived offense and they're not power seeking, since first they seek the continuation of their race. Though, I must say, the one part of Anita that's still alive is her defense of the weak. That's the best time for her to hold on to her anger and fight for justice.