This was on my wishlist and I could not resist it one day at the bookstore. I think I will turn this into a RABCK or ray when I get it read.

From the back:

"RAISING THE DEAD WAS EASY; LOVE WAS HARD..."

There are lots of reasons to raise the dead -- some private, some public. In this case, the Feds have a witness who died before he could speak on the record. They want him raised so his testiony can be taken. So here I am, on a plan to Philadelphia, flying off to do my job.

But I'm not alone. Micah is with me. Micah, head of the St. Louis wereleopard pard. King to my Queen. The only one of my loers who can stir my blood with just a glance from his chartreuse cat's eyes. I was happy to have him at my side.

Until he mentioned that this will be our first time alone together. No master vampire. No alpha werewolf. Just me and Micah. And all my fears and doubts...

This book is not like the other Anita Blake novels. Or, perhaps, it epitomizes what some of the Anita Blake fans turned detractors say about what has happened: the thriller aspect is gone, it is all about sex and men falling all over themselves for Anita.

If this had been one of Hamilton's early AB novels, this entire book would have been two chapters. There was nothing poor about the writing, but the story was entirely AB whining and alternating pissy and lovey. Her personality was not remaining constant. I was hoping to actually learn something about Micah, but he talks for a few paragraphs about himself and how he became a wereleopard, and that is about it. There really was not much else. I don't think we even learned more about AB and Micah's relationship, nor did the relationship deepen.

Perhaps I have heard too much about the downturn of the style of AB books, and am just becoming one of them. I don't mind sex in novels, even if it is superfluous and not pertinent to the plot (I rarely see sex pertinent to the plot in any novel). But, some plot and story should be thrown in as more than filler. I actually disagreed with all the noise about how terrible the AB novels had become through Incubus Dreams. If she returns closer to that style, then I look forward to Danse Macabre.

Bookray!

Bookray Information:

The names of the Bookcrossers who are in this ray are listed below. If you are interested please PM me with your location and shipping preference.

adrienne10 [Nebraska, USA]
yvensong [USA]
Rillaith [UK]
raeliz64 [UK]
mikime [Italy]

Some guidelines to help the book on its journey:

1 On receiving the book write a journal entry so we can all keep track of where it is. Please also journal a note, either edit your same one or make a second, that tells us what you thought of it.
2 I will note people who already have had the book and its current location in colored type.
3 The person with the book PMs the next one on the list for their address and sends it on.
4 This is a relaxed ray. Don't worry about how long you have the book, but do try to read it before tackling non-obligated books on your Mt. TBR.

Thank you so much for participating!

Woohoo! This has made it! Looks like it must have loped from Nebraska to Nevada!

I have another book to finish reading, but should be able to get to this pretty soon.

This was a very quick read. Once I picked it up I was done in 3 days.

This story had very little depth, unfortunately. I had hoped for a closer look at Micah, which as pointed out by Adrienne10, doesn't happen. This felt like it was a short story or a part of a book that was stretched with several whiny scenes and scenes with men doing their dance around Anita.

There is a minor plot being played out behind Micah and Anita, which looks like it could have been more interesting if filled out more. Leaving the plot in the background made it feel more like this was LK's attempt at a Romance/Sex novella.

This being said, (and not wanting to say too much more to spoil the book for others), I do enjoy LK's ability to write well and this quick read was just what I needed after reading Henry Miller's Black Spring.

6/24 - This is on its was to Rillaith by Airmail

Arrived safe and sound over the weekend, and will be read very shortly!

I feel cheated! Too short by far - I'd finished it in under an hour and a half. It's the shortest thing I've read in months (and I thought I'd read some short books)!

I liked the story, but it felt like this was a preview - the first few chapters of the next novel or something, maybe a long short story for an anthology. It doesn't fit with the other books in the same way - the whole plot is very short, there's only one zombie raising, none of the major secondary characters other than Micah qand Nathaniel show up, and about the only progress of the overlying storylines is the continuance of the ongoing development of Anita's powers. You could read the series and not notice you'd skipped Micah.

I'm now hankering after more, much more, and may well have to check Waterstones on the way home to look for the next one! D'oh...

I've got the address for raeliz64 already, and will post it tonight or tomorrow.

Ahah - worth noting to prevent anyone else being disappointed by having the wrong expectations...

Officially, Micah is intended as a novella in the series (number 13, incidentally), with Danse Macabre being the next "proper" follow-on book. As a novella, it was just about right - but I wish I'd known that beforehand!


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Edit to add: I keep leaving this at home, gah! Will have to be posted early next week now, sorry :(

RELEASE NOTES:

Posting to raeliz64 shortly.

Received today. Thanks.

The best bit of this book was the zombie raising and how Anita's powers are changing/growing. As for the rest, I'm not really a Micah fan and wasn't particularly interested in the sex scenes. I've said it before, but I really wish Laurell K. Hamilton would go back to the style of her earlier books.

Posted to Mikime today.

It arrived safely a couple of days ago. I still haven't read a few earlier ones of the Anita Blake series, so I'm afraid this will have to wait a bit...

I've finally managed to read this. I liked it, though I do agree about the inconsistencies in Anita's moods...she seems to be always falling apart at any effectively romantic word or gesture. That seems a bit too much sometimes. But I was definitely happy to know a bit more about Micah, who instead keeps consistent enough, luckily. :)
(WARNING: there might be spoilers in the following bit: jump down below if you prefer!)

But what most disappointed me in this short novel (too short?) is that just in the middle of the action, when things were getting rough and dangerous and Anita's skills and magic were most needed and could prove stronger than ever, she just blanked out. And it all ends up at the hospital, and the "happy ending" is just a reported story. It's almost as if there wasn't enough time or willingness to think a properly interesting way out for that situation.

(end of spoilers!)

So....not one of my Anita Blake favourites! Thanks anyway for letting me read it! It's still unmissable, for an Anita Blake's fan.

This is going as a surprise to someone who's wishing for it.
Enjoy it!! :)

Miki

Received in the mail today.
Looking forward to reading this wishlist book soon.
Thank you very much for sending it to me.