I discovered Anita while browsing Barnes & Noble during a stop-over in New York. I bought the first book of the series - Guilty Pleasures - and got immediately hooked. It took me about three days to finish the book. Then I stormed the next bookstore I could find to get all the sequels available. :-) Yes, I like Anita Blake that much! :-) I had to read all the following novels because I just NEEDED to know what's happening in Anita's life! :-) And it got juicier and juicier with every book...

Despite what a lot of people say, I still love this book. To sum it up very shortly in my own words: FINALLY Anita gets to shag Jean-Claude! ;-)
And hell yes I love the sex in these books! :-)

A more detailed description and review from amazon.com:
""She is the Executioner and has more vampire kills than any other human. She is a necromancer of such power that you have traveled halfway around the world to consult her. She is my human servant, without a mark to hold her to me. She dates me without vampire glamour." So speaks Jean Claude, Master Vampire of St. Louis, as he describes the love of his very long life, Anita Blake, to a perspective client - one of the undead. And Anita is back, in Book 6 of Laurell Hamilton's Anita Blake Vampire Hunter novels, as feisty, savvy, sexy and talented as ever!

Anita's preternatural powers are increasing, and in "The Killing Dance" the lines begin to blur between her humanity and the supernatural. Always an uncompromising and tough lady, she's is developing a hardness, a detachment, that frightens even herself. An assassin has been hired to murder Anita. There's a $500,000 price on her head...and she's only a human! No one knows who, or what, is responsible for contracting the killer. Anita's friend, of dubious nature, bounty hunter Edward, alias Ted Forrester, has volunteered his services as detective and bodyguard. Her two love interests, Alpha werewolf and wannabe "leader of the pack," Richard Zeeman, and the aforementioned Jean Claude, are the ones most capable of protecting her. They attempt to put rivalry and jealousy on hold until the emergency is over. Meanwhile, the brutal werewolf king Marcus and his sadistic lupa Raina, producer of S&M porn movies between shapeshifters and humans, are determined to fight Richard and Anita to the death - although Raina would like to film them first. Ha! An extremely powerful, unpredictable new vampire enters the picture. Centuries-old Sabin is dying of an illness lethal to vampires and needs Anita's skill to help cure him. Dominic Dumare, Sabin's human servant and necromancer extraordinaire, accompanies his master to St. Louis. The pair have a malevolent air about them. Could their intentions be equally so?

There are major pluses in "The Killing Dance, and a few minuses also. The best of the best: Anita is inducted as a lukoi, (pack member) and Richard's mate; she also sees Richard "change", an event which alters their relationship significantly; a triumvirate of power is formed with unlikely members; a gala opening of "Dance Macabre," Jean Claude's newest enterprise, is held and the costumes are even wilder than the guests and the entertainment. On the downside, after five episodes of struggling through relationship problems with Ms. Blake, I think the resolution here is a bit facile. And there is a major and surprising denouement in "The Killing Dance" which may disappoint readers.

Ms. Hamilton is an excellent writer who, with much flair and pizzazz, mixes fantasy with mystery, romance and dark humor. Her take on this derivative genre is a most unusual one. Unlike the other novels in the series, the characters and their relationships take precedence here over the mystery. The humor, as always, adds much to the novel....and there are plenty of laughs to counteract the violence. Ms. Hamilton's descriptive prose is outstanding, whether depicting room decor, landscapes, unlikely beings and characters, or the results of Jean Claude's outrageous penchant for designing clothes. These novels are addictive and will rivet the reader. I suggest reading them in order for maximum reading pleasure."

Books #5 - #13 in the series will be made into a book spiral.

Bloody Bones (Anita Blake #5)
The Killing Dance (Anita Blake #6)
Burnt Offerings (Anita Blake #7)
Blue Moon (Anita Blake #8)
Obsidian Butterfly (Anita Blake #9)
Narcissus in Chains (Anita Blake #10)
Cerulean Sins (Anita Blake #11)
Incubus Dreams (Anita Blake #12)
Micah (Anita Blake #13)

Some guidelines:
1. Please journal the book when it arrives (so we know it's safe and sound with you), once you read it (to let us know how you liked it) and when you ship it off (so we know it's on its way to the next reader).

2. Please PM the next person in line before shipping the book off, not only for the adress, but also to ask if they are still interested in the ring! (please do that ALWAYS before shipping anything off, even if it's a book spiral!)

3. Try not to take longer than four to six weeks to read the book. But we all understand that sometimes life (and bookrings...) just happens. :-) In that case, please make another journal entry to let us know that the book is not forgotten.

4. Surface shipping is perfectly acceptable.

5. And the most important thing: Have fun!


Here are the participants so far:

1.cathepsut (Egypt) / Intl.
2.Rianonne (AT) / Europe
3.sunlightbub (UK) / ???
4.sweetf (UK) / Europe
5.mikime (IT) / Intl.
6.CandyDarling FI / intl.
7. adeps (SE) / ???
8. joasik (NL)



... and back to me, Morgaine77

RELEASE NOTES:

Travelling - together with "Burnt Offerings" - to Egypt...

Dang, not fair, I just started another book!!!! Will get to this straight after! Cute monkey postcard.

FINALLY Anita gets to shag Jean-Claude! ;-)
Oh noooooo, bad Morgaine! How could you give that away! How will I ever manage to finish that other book first now! Yargh! What ever happened to NO SEX BEFORE MARRIAGE???

Amazon.co.uk Review:
"Even vampires get ill. In the sixth outing of Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake, The Killing Dance, Anita's occasional boyfriend Jean-Claude, vampire Master of St. Louis, is asked to help another Master who is rotting where he stands. Anita's necromantic powers may be enough to help Sabin, in conjunction with those of Jean-Claude and of Richard, the werewolf whom she is thinking of marrying. Anita, though, has problems of her own--there is a contract out on her life and the politics of the city's were-beings are even more complicated than those of its vampires. Richard has refused to take leadership of the city's werewolf pack, because he refuses to kill its current Alpha; just by existing and having defeated them in combat, he is a threat to the authority of Marcus and Raina, the wolves' current rulers. And it makes things worse that he is trusted by the wererats, say, and the various independent were-creatures."

Finally there is a resolution to the dating drama. Werewolf or vampire? Considering that Anita forms a triumvirate of magical power with Richard and Jean-Claude, I think a threesome would have been a nice outcome! But no, instead we are having big relationship troubles and jealousy. We'll see how that'll work out. Very hot sex scene. I will never look at my bathtub the same way again. The main goal of this book was to resolve the Richard / Jean-Claude situation, and that it did.

9/10: Great book - just a nitpick stands between it and a 10.
My book #35 in 2006, first published in 1997; 387 pages.

Off to Austria!

Arrived safe and sound in Vienna!

As I have a couple of other rings and rays ahead of this one, it will take some time till I come around to reading it. But I will give my best that it will be as soon as possible!

Well, I enjoyed this book because of the fact that the three formed a triumvirate of magical power and I loved this new idea. On the other hand there are way too many relationship troubles and jealousy and not enough of the "monsters". Luckily the end speeds up nicely and I got what I want LOL
I agree with cathepsut that the main goal of this book was to resolve the relationship problems!

Received today..Thanks xxx

Another good read, but agree with some of the other ocmments that there was just too much relationship bother going on and the monster storylines do seem to be getting a little repetitive.

The Killing Dance and Burnt Offerings arrived in the mail yesterday. I can't wait to read these, but I have other bookrings ahead in my reading queue. Argh! :)

I'll edit this entry and add my review here later.

I'm finally sending this to adeps tomorrow. Sorry for the delay!

Found this book and the next one in the mail when I got back from vacation yesterday. Thanks a lot!

I agree with the previous readers:
Too much relationship problems, too little monsters.
Finally, the relationship problem got solved.
Finally, Anita got to shag Jean-Claude.

I, on the other hand, didn't find the sex scene very hot, though...
A threesome would have been a better solution to the who-will-I-choose-problem combined with the triumvirante.

Sending to joasik tomorrow. Enjoy!

I'm so late registering this one. Sorry about that - was a bit of a hectic time. Reading it right now.

RELEASE NOTES:

Sent it back yesterday. Thanks!

Arrived safely back home already some time ago. Thanks all!