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Review: Skin Trade by Laurell K. Hamilton (Anita Blake #17)

December 9th, 2009 | 3 Stars, Book Review, Contemporary, Crime and Protection, G-I, Lycanthrope, Necromancer, Paranormal, Rape/Abuse, Survival, United States of America, Urban Fantasy, Vampire 

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Ever start a series and just want to keep reading it even when parts of it make you want to abandon ship and never look back? Anita Blake is like that for me. It's very love-hate right now when earlier it was all love-love. There have been times when I was so disappointed in how the story was progressing that all I wanted to do was dump the books off my keeper shelf and lock them away forever in a silver chain wrapped coffin. Other times I was so giddy with glee over what was happening that I could hardly stand how much time it took to read a page and turn it!

I surprised myself by picking Skin Trade up in the library recently. I’m glad I did because the last few books bummed me out a lot. I have very definite opinions on this series and how exactly I want Hamilton to handle Anita Blake’s ardeur. She’s got lust and anger versions of it and I am still anxiously waiting for it to turn solidly into love because as Anita says she’s got too many men on her plate! (Of course I love 90% of them and would hate to see them go but the large cast makes it hard I feel to truly develop them into full fleshed out characters.)

Skin Trade starts with a head mailed to Anita at her Animators Inc. desk. The message in St. Louis and Las Vegas is clear: “Come and Get Me.” Vittorio is a serial killing master vampire with extraordinary powers and a penchant for strippers. Joining Anita are Marshals Otto Jefferies (Olaf), Ted Forrester (Edward), and Bernardo Spotted Horse giving Skin Trade a feel of Obsidian Butterfly.

Jean-Claude is upset to find Anita has run off again to solve crime without notifying him. He sends her a team of bodyguards that double as food: notably Wicked and Truth, the bad boy vampire brothers. They get to star in very yum scenes later in the novel.

If a serial killing vampire on the loose with an unheard of weapon wasn’t bad enough Marmee Noir makes a reappearance giving Anita all kind of trouble (and I suspect that though she seems to be taken care of that in fact won’t be the case.)

Beyond vampires, Anita is having trouble controlling her gifts such as keeping shields in place and is dealing with local cops attacking her sex and personal life every chance they get. It got to be very frustrating because every time you thought the trust and dislike issues were solved they cropped up again.

Overall it wasn’t a favorite of mine, but it wasn’t half bad. I can’t wait to get back to St. Louis and Jean-Claude.

Rating: 3 Stars

Buy: Skin Trade (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 17)

PS On one note as I was checking out the upcoming ABVH novels on LKH's site, I was surprised and as creeped out as LKH that a lot of readers like Olaf romantically. Say what?! He's not Edward. The man's an absolute crazy sociopath/serial killer! No. Bad reader. No cookie for you!

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Categories:

3 Stars, Book Review, Contemporary, Crime and Protection, G-I, Lycanthrope, Necromancer, Paranormal, Rape/Abuse, Survival, United States of America, Urban Fantasy, Vampire



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2 comments ↓
#1 Debbie Lester on 12.09.09 at 9:21 pm

I haven’t had the pleasure of reading any of the Anita Blake Vampire novels, but I can tell from your review that I would probably like them… (adds Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter #1 Guilty Pleasures, to the to-be-read list) lol… Great review!

#2 Keira on 12.09.09 at 11:40 pm

It’s a great book! :D Loved JC from the start. The author’s original intention had been to kill JC early in the series, but somehow he carved a spot for himself in her heart and the reader’s and the heroine’s! Thank goodness! lol

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