Affliction

Affliction by Laruell K. Hamilton

 This is the twenty something book in the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series. Ok here’s the thing I honestly love this series. I love how bad ass anita is and even though through the years she has waned a lot in her convictions since book six but I still like her loads. I love her supporting characters her myriad of lovers especially Jean-Claude and Nathaniel. I don’t always love the writing. I don’t always love the defensive stance Anita always takes whenever she goes to the cop station in whatever state Vampire politics or Zombie armies take her. I hate that she always makes it several chapters of “I’m still the scariest bitch in town and even though you think your tough because you’re a man, you’ll never be the biggest BITCH and im the all powerful necromancer. Sex goddess.” If she gave this speech maybe Hamilton could shorten the chapters. That being said, I have toiled through these books since I laid eyes on the twelfth book ‘Cerulean Sins’ and then started from book one and never looked back. Now you may ask whats been the downfall of the series and believe it or not its : SEX. The series started with everyone else having sex but Anita. Then she started having sex somewhere in book four but it still wasn’t that bad because she (Hamilton) was a newbie and therefore apprehensive on the subject of sex in her novels, however as Anita’s appetite grew so did Hamilton’s. In book six she finally gave in to Jean Claude’s advances. After six long fucking years they have sex. I wish that was the end of it almost immediately she is having sex with a whole bunch of people, Richard and .. ok honestly Ive forgotten most of them let me think about this: Jason (werewolf) Micah, Nathaniel (wereleopards) Nicky(werelion), Damien (vampire), Asher, Requiem, Wicked, Truth, (vampires) there was Cookie Monster (but she killed him) oh and Mephistophiles although I have forgotten what he is already. Honestly you know that’s quite a full bed and she has been collecting lovers for quite sometime but this is why sex makes a series a downfall. As an avid reader I start forgetting names and sex details because they happen as often as every other chapter eliminating and robbing time from what I am really after, VIOLENCE! After all I came to love the bad ass chick who wasn’t all powerful and who battled monsters at her human pace and still won. This chick with her powers coming from her vagina and killing monsters left to right easily is not my cup of tea. This is why after book fifteen ‘The Harlequin’ I was less enthused to keep going but I did, year after year I checked out the new books from the library and year after year I kept getting disappointed. The last two books Flirt and Bullet were pathetic attempts to keep the franchise going. Then she goes off and kills her number #1 nemesis. Call me crazy but that’s highly anti-climactic. Now who the fuck is she gonna beat up on? So excuse me for sounding all jaded when ‘Affliction’ plopped into my lap and I was skeptical about the quality of it. However I was happily appeased. The book was not terrible and not full of sex, in fact this one was downright romantic, a little to romantic for my tastes but nice change of pace. I’m sad that it took her too fucking long to fix the fuck out of the necromancer,  I mean Hamilton killed seven people while she figured out when the timing was right for Anita to kill the Marmee Noir human vessel (think Harry Potter as a horcrux). I mean I figured right as soon as she said rampaging zombies the thing to do was for Anita to raise an Army of the undead. Nothing about it was special except that it was a throwback to old Anita and I take it as a sign she is going to start writing more violence and less sex. My advice? Read it if you’ve read more than half the series, don’t bother if your still on book ten and under.. read until book ‘Incubus Dreams’ and send in your cease and desist letters.