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A review by octavia_cade
Burnt Offerings by Laurell K. Hamilton
3.0
"You can't trust anyone who sleeps with monsters." Or so Anita is hearing all the time, from the people around her who haven't developed the voluntary equivalent of Stockholm Syndrome, willfully convincing themselves that sleeping with monsters isn't that bad. It is, you stupid woman... but I think what saves it is that Anita's aware, even if she doesn't like to think about it, that what she's doing is monumentally foolish. For someone who's always been relatively clear-sighted about her own character, the sort-of conclusion to the love triangle that's plagued this series for the last few books undoes that. Scared off the werewolf boyfriend - admittedly, seeing him eat someone would give any sensible girl pause - she runs off to the bed of the vampire boyfriend, because apparently she can tell herself he's not a total monster because she hasn't seen him do something she can't excuse yet. I bet the day is coming, though, and I'm hoping for that day just because I find Jean-Claude as interesting as watching paint dry and any excuse to get shot of him is good enough. Seven books in, and I still think he's a total bore.
What I do find attractive, though, and what is for me hands-down the most appealing part of these books, is the political tension that having supernatural creatures as an accepted part of society results in. There's a constant pushing of boundaries, from just about every player and every species, and a constant jockeying for influence and control, back room dealings and legal maneuverings and sudden explosions of horrific violence, because the whole situation is a powder keg waiting for a fundamentalist of some stripe to blow. As happens in this volume, where the Vampire Council (or parts thereof) come to town. I find this part of the series so compelling; I just wish that Anita's love life didn't take up so much of the focus because it's not nearly as interesting. Still, fingers crossed the love triangle's over for the meantime, even if the choice between nice-but-boring and flat-out-boring is not exactly settled in the least irritating direction. (I am desperate for Edward to return and start cutting off body parts at every smarmy repetition of "ma petite," I really am.)
P.S. with all the fuss about hiding the gun under the dress and Anita flashing the room every time she has to retrieve it... for goodness sake, invest in an empire waist dress with fake pockets so you can just reach through the fabric. Make it a baby doll type thing if you're that concerned with looking sexy while carrying concealed arms, because what you're doing now just ain't practical. There. Problem solved.
What I do find attractive, though, and what is for me hands-down the most appealing part of these books, is the political tension that having supernatural creatures as an accepted part of society results in. There's a constant pushing of boundaries, from just about every player and every species, and a constant jockeying for influence and control, back room dealings and legal maneuverings and sudden explosions of horrific violence, because the whole situation is a powder keg waiting for a fundamentalist of some stripe to blow. As happens in this volume, where the Vampire Council (or parts thereof) come to town. I find this part of the series so compelling; I just wish that Anita's love life didn't take up so much of the focus because it's not nearly as interesting. Still, fingers crossed the love triangle's over for the meantime, even if the choice between nice-but-boring and flat-out-boring is not exactly settled in the least irritating direction. (I am desperate for Edward to return and start cutting off body parts at every smarmy repetition of "ma petite," I really am.)
P.S. with all the fuss about hiding the gun under the dress and Anita flashing the room every time she has to retrieve it... for goodness sake, invest in an empire waist dress with fake pockets so you can just reach through the fabric. Make it a baby doll type thing if you're that concerned with looking sexy while carrying concealed arms, because what you're doing now just ain't practical. There. Problem solved.