Book #65

Blue Moon
by Laurell K. Hamilton

Having spent the last book almost exclusively on vampires, after the visit from the council, this book moves more to the lycanthrope side, which was nice. I enjoy the three main influences on Anita, her human life, the vampires, and the wereanimals; it's good to see the interplay between them. I'll bet the next book focuses on the human aspects more than either of the supernaturals.

I liked that this one left St. Louis, though honestly, I thought the reason Anita was drawn to Tennessee was a little bit lame. I mean, Richard's in trouble, she has to go help; I had no problem with that, especially since the reason Richard needs her help made perfect sense with his character -- the truth will set you free, yeah right; he already knew the cops were corrupt, the big dumb knight-in-shining-armor -- and I liked that the Master of the City told Anita no, and wouldn't back down from that, and tried to fight her off when she came and came pretty close to succeeding before she kicked his butt. I liked the vampire politics and such here; it seemed real, that Colin would be so afraid of people who managed to cow the Council, and who would, logically, be looking to expand into a territory they thought they could take over -- and why not his, since Richard has been spending so much time there getting in good with the local werewolves who resent Colin's control, anyway. I liked Richard's family, especially their relationship with their mother -- she was a great character -- and I liked the way Anita handled it all.

My problem was with the conservationist aspect. As much as I love nature and believe that it should be preserved and kept safe from human depredations, I am not willing to take up arms and fight people who are more careless and cold-hearted than necessarily evil, in my eyes. I mean, poachers are one thing, but the bad guys here were not after the trolls that Richard wanted to protect, and while I thought Niley should definitely be kept away from the land and richly deserved what he got in the end, I just don't agree with fighting quite that hard for it. So I thought Richard shouldn't have gone to the lengths he did, nor forced Anita and company to the lengths they had to go to, just to protect trolls from someone who, while evil, wasn't really a threat to them. Basically I thought Niley should have shown up as evil earlier than he did, because there wasn't enough motivation for everyone to stay in town and fight Colin until we discover who nasty Niley was -- and then, when we found out the truth about Niley's treasure hunt, it all got pointless again. So I didn't like that.

But thank God, Richard and Anita had sex. I prefer Jean-Claude as a character and as a boyfriend for Anita, because Richard is way too goddamned petty and arrogant, but I'm so very glad we got past that sexual tension crap. I know, I know, it won't ever go away, especially not since Richard insists on banging other women who then feel the need to come after Anita to fight her for Richard's love -- and if one more goddamned supercreature tells Anita she wouldn't be so tough without her guns, I'm gonna start screaming -- but at least Anita and Richard should be able to cool their ardor, I hope. Maybe they can move towards some kind of resolution now.

I hate the munin, which means it is a very good subplot because I'm supposed to hate them and what they do to Anita, and I liked all of the interplay with the lycanthropes, especially between Anita and the wereleopards. It made them more fully-fleshed characters, and I like that. I liked that Jason got to kick a little redneck ass, and I hope to see more of Shang-Da and Jamil; both strong characters, I think. An excellent book.