The Killing Dance (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 6)

Author: Laurell K. Hamilton
Published: 2006-04-04

List price: $24.95
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As of: January 08th, 2009 07:32:20 AM

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The Killing Dance
The book is as good as its predecessors in the series. The company I ordered from is great. The delivery was ahead of schedule and the book was in better shape than stated in the ad. Thanks for great service. I will be ordering from them again!

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do your homework & start from the beginning
Don't make the mistake that I did and take a break of any length from this series! It's no understatement that the Anita books need to be read IN ORDER. LKH makes so many references to the previous books -- mild enough that they don't do much to jog the memory -- that the plethora of characters can leave you scratching your head. I'm truly beginning to need a scorecard.

Is this a flaw in the series? Probably not, but there is a neverending flow of satellite characters, and to understand the plot of one book, you have to know what happened with the character in previous books.

In any case, LKH continues to unfold the Anitaverse with this latest installment ... the first with a title that's not named after a eating or entertainment establishment. Readers dying to find out who gets the girl -- Richard or Jean-Claude -- will be pleased that the answer is finally revealed ... and it's luscious. The plot is fairly simple: there's a bounty out on Anita (which brings the psychopathic gun for hire Edward back into the story), while Richard is fighting to assert his alpha leadership of the werewolf pack. There's some fascinating synergy between Anita, Richard & Jean-Claude that will obviously re-appear in subsequent stories.

I still don't rate the Anita books a 5, because there are some things I can't get past. For one thing, I don't like Anita, particularly. I'm fairly dispassionate about what happens to her. Instead, I want to know about Jean-Claude, Edward, Richard & some of the other characters. I get weary of reading ad nauseum about how much blade & heat Anita's packing and how smart & invincible she is. She is definitely becoming more & more paranoid -- not to mention more revengeful,callous & somewhat cavalier towards her killings, but who wouldn't, given what she's gone through so far? Her continuous touting -- both in narrative and conversation -- about how oh soooooo tough she is creates a pompous, self-centered character who really doesn't deserve the attentions of either Jean-Claude or Richard. Yet, there is certainly character development as Anita continues to move further away from humanness and closer to the monsters. And she knows it.

I'm hoping, too, to see LKH's writing mature over the next novels. While her stories are spellbounding, her writing is careless and somewhat lazy. She's terribly uncreative in avoiding the annoying pitfall of repeating words -- especially verbs & adjectives -- not just in the same paragraph but in the same sentence. This drives me personally nuts.

But that's just me. If you like Anita, and don't get bogged down in stylistic issues, you will love Book #6.

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New fan
I NEVER READ A SINGLE PAGE OF ANY LAURELL HAMILTONS BOOKS. I HAPPEN TO STUMBLE ON "THE KILLING DANCE" (UNAWARE IT WAS BOOK 6 OF A SERIES)

I RANDOMLY PICKED THIS BOOK TO DO A PROJECT. I NEEDED 2 DIFFERENT (AUTHORS AND STORY LINE HAD TO BE DIFFERENT) THRILLERS, 2 DIFFERENT ROMANCE NOVELS, 2 DIFFERENT HORROR AND 2 DIFFERENT YOUNG ADULT AUTHORS AS WELL.

I HAPPEND TO GRAB HER BOOK AND I MUST ADMIT, I COULDN'T PUT THE BOOK DOWN. THIS BOOK REMINDS ME OF "INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE" MEETS "BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER". AFTER READING IT... THE OTHER BOOKS JUST BORED ME. I AM QUICKLY FINISHING THIS PROJECT SO I CAN GET THE NEXT BOOK OF HAMILTONS AND READ IT! I LOVE HER ATTENTION TO DETAIL, HER STYLE OF WRITING AND HER IMAGINATION THAT IS INVOLVED. AND I REALLY ENJOYED HER CHOICE OF THE BARBIE LIKE BAD A** SHE CREATED.

TWO THUMBS UP!
GOOD FUN!

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An awesome read, as always...
Laurell K. Hamilton never disapoints and this book in the Anita Blake series is no exception.

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Great story in a great series
This one went a different way for me than the last few have, which I think was the author's intention. In the last few books, the best part has been the character development and the memorably written scenes -- usually of gore and horror. This one had both, but the part I liked best was actually the plot: I liked that the danger Anita faced this time came from humans, rather than from monsters, and that it almost got her, twice. It was a nice reminder that as deadly and horrifying and brutal as the vampires and everyone are made out to be, they're a sight less so than good ol' humankind, which is neither one, as the bumpersticker says. I also thought the final villain showdown was wonderfully well set up; I had no idea it was going to go the way it did, neither the person behind the contract on Anita's life nor the surprise that comes after it, though I suspected the vampire. After the scene with Damian, in which yet another newly introduced vamp takes advantage of humans and tries to add an element of cruelty and manipulation to his encounter with a person, I find myself always suspecting the vampires. They're so often guilty.

I was also glad to see the romantic plot come to some kind of . . . well, "climax" seems both appropriate and highly inappropriate, so we'll go with "resolution," instead. I'm also intrigued by the possibilities of the triumvirate, especially now that the romantic story has gone where it has. And may I just say: oh, my. My, my, my, that was quite a scene. Yes indeed, quite a scene. I was also gratified to see the explanation of the vampires' fear of necromancers, and the power that Anita has over them; that is an incredibly clever idea of Ms. Hamilton's. Finally, I can't wait to find out how the promise Anita gives to Edward will play out. Lot of possibilities there, though I was sorry to see Harley go. He seemed a promising chap.

These books are now standouts in my mind not only because they are more entertaining than most other books -- especially horror books, a traditionally dry genre in my opinion -- but interesting as well. I just keep getting happier and happier with them.

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