Laurell K. Hamilton is one of the leading writers of paranormal fiction. A #1 New York Times bestselling author, Hamilton writes the popular Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter novels and the Meredith Gentry series. She is also the creator of a bestselling comic book series based on her Anita Blake novels and published by Marvel Comics. Hamilton is a full-time writer and lives in the suburbs of St. Louis with her family.
These books don't fit well together it should have been 7,8 and 9. In succession and Narcissus in Chains as part of the following books trilogy/part in the story.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Nightshade Tavern is actually two books in the series put into one. Laurell K. Hamilton is a well-known fantasy writer and has a couple of ongoing series. The main character in this particular series is Anita Blake who is a preternatural expert and a necromancer (person who can raise the dead). She raises dead for a living, but she also helps the police out if they need her help on something preternatural in nature. I bought this book a while back, but I never got around to reading it. So I decided to read Narcissus in Chains, one of the books in the book. Narcissus in Chains follows Anita through the aftermath of her disappearing from her hometown for a bit. There are people to save, groups to be made, and love lives to be fixed, all on top of finding out why some shapeshifters are going missing. She is a very busy person which is constantly seen throughout the book. This fantasy/horror/supernatural series starts off as more of a murder mystery, but gets into more of the supernatural side as the series goes on. This series is also very adult-oriented having several explicit scenes between the main character, Anita and all the men in her life. Hamilton used tons of descriptive language in the book. She introduces all the characters by referencing their looks, smells, and even height and body shape. It really helps when you want to visualize the characters. Hamilton definitely takes character crafting very seriously. If you read from the beginning of the series, she is constantly re-describing the characters using similar words so they become familiar to you. In this way I feel like she uses character craft really well. The more you fall into the story, the more you become one with them sharing in their pain and happiness, as well as all the actions scenes involved. This is an adult book so I do not think I would ever use it to teach children. Mostly this is because certain scenes in the book are very explicit. I guess you could call this book a horror/murder mystery trashy romance novel...with not too much romance. If I could, I would take a excerpt that I have pre-read and found appropriate to talk about character crafting because I feel Hamilton does a good job. If you like horror/murder mystery with a dash of romance, you may like this book.
Not bad. As usual, it really needs editing. Does anyone else want to tell Anita to have a NEW conversation? The first 50 pages are skims; if you haven't read enough of these to get this stuff, you won't understand the references anyhow. Why we endlessly repeat is anyone's guess. We do not however seem to be spending the entire book in a bedroom, having repetitive conversations so that's good. There is a plot and there are new monsters and actual action. Thumbs up on that.