Zombies and Vampires and Weres Oh My!

For those of you who haven’t discovered the fabulous Anita Blake Vampire Hunter book series by Laurell K Hamilton you are in for a treat.

I had heard the name bandied about but every time I looked at a cover there was always something about them being romance books so I put off reading them. Whoever put that blurb on the covers really did them an injustice. Yes, there is romance of a sort but not the sparkly Twilight type romance and none at all to speak of in the first three or so books. The romance is more pure unadulterated lust. Not only that, I think the subtitle of ‘Vampire Hunter’ also does the series an injustice because these books are so much more.

Anita Blake is like Buffy on acid. This is one kick-ass woman. Not only is she a licensed vampire executioner that isn’t even her main role. She is an Animator – a raiser of zombies who just happens to slay vampires as well.

The books are teeming with the undead and supes. There are vampires, zombies, weres of every description, shapeshifters, faeries, witches, necromancers and demons from the depths of hell itself. The books are violent, gory – savage even – but with some good old fashioned lust and supernatural sex and a good dash of humour. Oh and there is blood, buckets of blood, just like a good vampire story should have. Once I started the series I was hooked.

In a similar vein (no pun intended) to True Blood, in the world of Anita Blake vampires are out of the coffin and now legal. Hers is very much a parallel world to our own. All of the countries and cities are real but in this universe the supernatural beings have always been known and have lived amongst the humans. For a long time they were hunted because of their differences but zombie raising is a common practice, vampires live uneasily amongst the humans and the weres are thought of as people who have a disease and are protected by anti-discrimination laws. To kill any of them without an order of execution is a murder just like that of humans although of course that does not sit well with many of the humans.

But as in all good vampire and supernatural stories the lines of good and evil are  blurred, sometimes the bad guys are the good guys and the humans can be worse than any monster.

Some of the best moments come from the juxtaposition of Anita’s Christian beliefs and the dilemmas she finds herself in – the killings and the raising of the dead and her sexual responses to the beasties, both vampires and weres. This pocket dynamo killing machine who is a master of martial arts, weaponry and possesses supernatural abilities of her own also has a strong belief in God and powerful morals. Her belief in no pre-marital sex comes undone at the seams as she falls for both an enigmatic master vampire and a super-sexy werewolf; both gorgeous and both in love with her. What’s a good girl to do? That’s the fun part.

The men in Anita’s life are described in very intimate detail and conjure up images of being gorgeous, lusty, dead sexy and very dangerous. If the men in the books look anything like the images I have conjured in my head from the descriptions this page would melt.

Anita is first and foremost Animator, using her powers and sacrificing anything from chickens to much larger and cuter animals, she temporarily raises the dead for legal reasons. If someone hasn’t left a will they can be raised to find out their wishes, she can question them about who murdered them and even to find ownership of land. This is her main job,  she makes a living by raising the dead – irony at its best. She is also a vampire hunter and executioner for those vamps that have gone rogue or to stake those who have a living will that if they are attacked by a vampire but do not want to rise as one. Added to this she works as a liaison with the police Preternatural Crime Squad who investigate crimes of a supernatural nature. She is one busy woman who always seems to be hunting or being hunted herself.

I love that she is tiny, tough, carries an arsenal of weapons that would make Rambo proud but collects stuffed penguins and is addicted to coffee. She has a tough and smart mouth which constantly gets her into trouble but she is loyal to her core.

It’s great to see her character develop through the series. Not only are the books action packed we get to see her powers develop, abilities she didn’t even know she had come to the fore and her constant struggle with her faith and her fears her humanity is slipping away as she finds the killing easier as she goes along. She is a character that you can identify with, empathise with and cheer on. Her dialogue is witty and roguish and her strength and toughness are tempered by her morality and loyalty.

Anita is of mixed race and faith. Her mother was Hispanic and her father German. She was raised as a Catholic but on her mother’s side the religion is Vaudoun. She was born with the ability to raise the dead, it is only later in the series she finds she is also a Necromancer and combined with the powers she attains through her contact with vampires and werewolves she, and we as the reader, are constantly surprised by her growing abilities.

If you like your vampires and weres sanitised and romanticised as in the Twilight series these books may not be your cup of tea but if it’s action, the undead and supernatural with a large splash of blood and some very sexy moments then I highly recommend them.

These are not books I would recommend to the faint-hearted as there is gore galore. Also the eroticism may be mild in the first few books it gets very explicit, down and dirty. It also contains a combination of sex and violence together so it would not really be a set of books suitable for a young teen audience. Although, that said, had I discovered books like these in my  teens I would have devoured them…but then again I am one sick little puppy

Just make sure you read them in order or you will lose much of Anita’s development; her powers, her lust, her rage and her incredibly interesting moral dilemmas.

There are now more than 6 million copies of Anita in print worldwide, in 16 languages.

The books in order are:

1    Guilty Pleasures

2    The Laughing Corpse

3    Circus of the Damned

4    The Lunatic Cafe

5    Bloody Bones

6    The Killing Dance

7    Burnt Offerings

8    Blue Moon

9    Obsidian Butterfly

10  Narcissus In Chains

11  Cerulean Sins

12  Incubus Dreams

13  Micah

14  Danse Macabre

15  The Harlequin

16  Blood Noir

17  Skin Trade

There is now also a comic book range featuring Anita Blake. For more about these, the Anita Blake series and other books by Laurell K Hamilton visit http://www.laurellkhamilton.org/

Image copyright belongs to Marvel Comics. No copyright infringement intended.

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