Danse Macabre
Laurell K. Hamilton
Berkley Books
ISBN 0-425-20797-8

Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, returns in DANSE MACABRE, 14th in the series. A lot has happened since we first met Anita in GUILTY PLEASURES. By profession, Anita is an Animator--in other words, she's paid to re-animate the dead so they can testify in court, state their last wishes, or whatever the family/courts need of them, then she puts them back into the ground. She's also a Federal Marshal and part of the preternatural task force. Lastly, she's a licensed Vampire Executioner.

You wouldn't think that being an executioner, who's seen all kinds of bad things and had to put a lot of bad vamps down, she'd have several Vampire boyfriends, not to mention several Lycan boyfriends. Sex with just one person was taboo for her, being a good Catholic girl, back in the first story, but things change when you become the human servant of a vampire who's power is the ardeur--the ability to feed off lust and desire. If she doesn't "feed", the people linked to her die. Feeding means sex, and lots of it, which is why a good little Catholic girl like Anita finds herself with six boyfriends and several f#*kbuddies (her term, not mine).

In DANSE MACABRE, Jean Claude, Anita's #1 vamp boyfriend and master of the city, is throwing a big bash for the first ever mostly-vampire dance troop. It's the final show of the tour, which means the masters-of-the-cities from all over are going to be there to see the last show and to attend the after-party. That many master vampires in town can only mean trouble. Several of them are coming bringing candidates for Anita to interview. She needs a new pomme de sang. A vampire's pomme de sang donates blood; for Anita, they'd donate sex to feed the ardeur. Only the ardeur has become extremely complicated...it's getting more powerful, which means more feedings, and suddenly, she's discovered that it has the power to enslave. In other words, people she's fed off of have become addicted to the ardeur and will do anything to have her feed off them again. Not good. There's also the problem she has being a carrier for four different strains of lycanthropy, supposedly impossible, three of which are trying to burst out and force her to turn into either a werewolf, wereleopard, or werelion--which she's managed to control up until now; but it's getting difficult. On top of all this mess, she's missed a period. Definitely not good...she'd have no clue who the father is! She's a total mess, and it's starting to look like the most dangerous thing in town isn't all the visiting master vampires, it's her!

Erotica is all the rage apparently and sells quite well, so the erotica authors say. Apparently Laurell K. Hamilton agrees. The Anita Blake series started out as a gritty paranormal mystery/thriller/adventure, but since Anita encountered the ardeur through Jean Claude, each book since has become more and more erotic until the book seems like more sex than story. Don't get me wrong, the story is in there, and the sex is well-written (definitely the graphic kind you read in erotica), but Anita does seem to spend more time out of clothes than in them.

Still, the writing is good. Laurell K. Hamilton is an excellent writer. The relationships of the characters do build continually from one story to the next, and the characters themselves are consistent to what they were when the series first started. I do miss the heavy action plots that we used to see and the mysteries that had to be solved. Now it's more about the sex than anything else...disappointing at times, but it doesn't stop me from reading on--I like her style too much and have been hooked on the series for too long to give up on it. I'd ask that Anita finally get a handle on the ardeur so the stories can be more like they used to be and less about her having to "feed" for the better part of the book.

Indulge yourselves in a great, erotic paranormal story -- DANSE MACABRE by Laurell K. Hamilton, but keep it away from the kiddies. I know a lot of teenagers, including my own, who love the series. It's strictly adults only now, unless you want your kids to be very well-educated in what goes on between men and women. Better lock them up and hide the key--my kid has already tried to sneak away with my copy of MICAH... I think not!

Seriously, though, if you like a good paranormal with a well-drawn, very extensive preternatural society that blends perfectly and very interestingly into the world as we know it, and don't mind a lot of graphic sex scenes, definitely give the Anita Blake series, and DANSE MACABRE a read. You'll enjoy it. All grumbles aside, I can't wait for the next edition to come out!

Reviewed by Lisa Ramaglia

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