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A review by pulpfan
Serpentine by Laurell K. Hamilton
Did not finish book.
I read the Anita Blake books many years ago and enjoyed them to a point, so when I saw this at the library I thought the monster premise was interesting and checked it out.
I still think the hook about people partly shifting (or whatever) into masses of snakes is incredibly interesting. Unfortunately, she lost me about 2 chapters in because the level of relationship infodumping is ridiculous. I read some reviews and it sounds like the hook doesn't get picked up until about chapter 30, and isn't explored in enough depth, so DNF.
I understand the character has complex interpersonal relationships with complicated people, but the opening phone conversation with Micah is just exhausting. A ton of relationship stuff is dumped in the reader's lap. Then we start in on the play-by-play of Anita's scars, which is something that routinely occurs in the early books I'd forgotten about. THEN we have a female character acting snitty towards Anita for no reason, and this is a hallmark of the older books as well. Other female characters are routinely characterized as tolerable-yet-alienatingly-feminine at best, and horrible and catty at worst. Nobody respects how short Anita is. Nobody respects how curvy she is. Anita has to tolerate annoying female rituals she doesn't understand because she's not like other women. And so on.
I guess my big gripe is I feel like the author really hasn't grown as a storyteller despite writing these books for decades. I appreciate those early books were heavily workshopped, edited, and rewritten, and by necessity on some level these aren't.
I also appreciate this is a 20-something book series and readers need to be able to grasp the exasperatingly complex interpersonal relationships. But the massive infodumping, the obsession with inventorying injuries and relationships from past books, the paper-thin characterization... it's tedious. These books should be fast-paced and fun. That's the premise.
Or at least... it was! These books have many ratings on GR and elsewhere, so the fandom clearly enjoys the book as paced, and the complexities of the polyamorous relationship and how much space it takes up in the narrative. It's simply a different kind of book now, I would classify it as paranormal erotic romance rather than urban fantasy at this point because of the emphasis on romance over plot. The mystery appears to be more of a subplot, or window dressing, to the poly relationship.
I still think the hook about people partly shifting (or whatever) into masses of snakes is incredibly interesting. Unfortunately, she lost me about 2 chapters in because the level of relationship infodumping is ridiculous. I read some reviews and it sounds like the hook doesn't get picked up until about chapter 30, and isn't explored in enough depth, so DNF.
I understand the character has complex interpersonal relationships with complicated people, but the opening phone conversation with Micah is just exhausting. A ton of relationship stuff is dumped in the reader's lap. Then we start in on the play-by-play of Anita's scars, which is something that routinely occurs in the early books I'd forgotten about. THEN we have a female character acting snitty towards Anita for no reason, and this is a hallmark of the older books as well. Other female characters are routinely characterized as tolerable-yet-alienatingly-feminine at best, and horrible and catty at worst. Nobody respects how short Anita is. Nobody respects how curvy she is. Anita has to tolerate annoying female rituals she doesn't understand because she's not like other women. And so on.
I guess my big gripe is I feel like the author really hasn't grown as a storyteller despite writing these books for decades. I appreciate those early books were heavily workshopped, edited, and rewritten, and by necessity on some level these aren't.
I also appreciate this is a 20-something book series and readers need to be able to grasp the exasperatingly complex interpersonal relationships. But the massive infodumping, the obsession with inventorying injuries and relationships from past books, the paper-thin characterization... it's tedious. These books should be fast-paced and fun. That's the premise.
Or at least... it was! These books have many ratings on GR and elsewhere, so the fandom clearly enjoys the book as paced, and the complexities of the polyamorous relationship and how much space it takes up in the narrative. It's simply a different kind of book now, I would classify it as paranormal erotic romance rather than urban fantasy at this point because of the emphasis on romance over plot. The mystery appears to be more of a subplot, or window dressing, to the poly relationship.