Product Description

As consultant to the Regional Preternatural Crime Investigation Unit, Anita Blake is called in on what appears to be a case involving a serial killer - a vampire serial killer - who may be preying on strippers. She's sure that none of the local vamps are responsible, but her judgement may be clouded by a conflict of interests. For she is, after all, the consort of Jean-Claude, the ever-intoxicating Master Vampire of the City - something both her human friends and her ex, the alpha werewolf Richard, are quick to point out. Surrounded by suspicion and overwhelmed by her attempts to control her own primal lusts for vampire, werewolf and shapeshifter, Anita is about to be pushed to her limits - and beyond.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11430 in Books
• Published on: 2005-09-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 736 pages

Review
'Death and gore galore ... Hamilton writes with ease and vigour ... Great fun' SHIVERS 'I was enthralled - a departure from the usual type of vampire tale which will have a wide appeal to any reader hunting for both chills and fun' Andre Norton 'The fights are fast and furious, with guns roaring, claws rending and wisecracks by the dozen.' OUTLAND

About the Author
Laurell K. Hamilton lives near St. Louis with her husband, daughter, two pug and two part-pug dogs and an ever- fluctuating number of fish.

Customer Reviews

A lack luster story and far too much sex.
There's a gang of vampire serial killers on the loose, so the Executioner gets called in to deal with them.
That's about it, really. Except that the first murder happens on page 15, the second one not until about 400 pages later. In between there's a lot of sex, Anita helping calm a riot, sex, Anita raising a zombie, sex, Anita fighting a few other battles, and, oh yeah, sex. Plus, of course, the obligatory agonising about it afterwards. So, like Narcissus in Chains, way too much sex; unlike it, the vampire-fighting action isn't that good when it finally does happen. Hmm. This may be the one when I have to finally admit that the stories I started reading with enjoyment have moved off in a completely different direction, never to return.

Bring back Anita Blake
I’ve been a fan of LKH’s Anita Blake series since Guilty Pleasures first arrived in the UK.

The series has had it’s high points (Guilty Pleasures, Lunatic Café, Obsidian Butterfly) and it’s lows (Narcissus in Chains, Cerulean Sins, Burnt Offerings), but I’ve stuck with it.

But - and it pains me, and brings no pleasure to, to say this - Incubus Dreams is the worst book of the series.

In fact, it’s one of the worst books I’ve ever read.

The Anita Blake started off as action/thriller/horror detective stories, but now they are thinly disguised porn.

If you’ve read the synopsis, that’s not the story. The story runs like this:
Anita Blake whines.
She has sex.
She develops a new and mysterious magical power.
She whines.
She has sex with someone different.
She develops a new and mysterious magical power.
She whines.
She has sex with a few randomly selected male characters different.
She develops a new and mysterious magical power.
She whines.
One or more of her seven official lovers whine.
She has sex with someone new.
She develops a new and mysterious magical power.
She whines.
Repeat for 700 pages. And that’s a day - one day, in Anita Blake’s life.

It’s not the sex that makes this book bad (I like erotic fiction). Neither is it the amount (every 2-3 chapters - bear in mind the chapters are very short - Anita’s panties are off). It’s just that all the shagging serves no purpose.

Like a good porno movie, events in the story are only there to give a reason for Anita Blake to have sex with random - and I do mean random - men she meets. Characters you’ve never heard of appear, seemingly with the only reason to give Anita someone new to have… well… to have.

Reading this you feel like you’ve been sold an anthology of trashy erotic fiction, after being told it’s an action/detective/horror novel.

On the other hand, the blurb could have something to do with the story. I’m about 500 pages into this 724 page tome and there have been two scenes which might - MIGHT - be relevant to the serial killer of vampire storyline (a plot that’s a throwback to the first Anita Blake book, Guilty Pleasures). That’s a trick that LKH has used in Cerulean Sins and Narcissus in Chains - realised she’s 200 pages from the end of the novel, and thought "Damn. Better pack the plot in here."

I’m say this as a big, and loyal, fan of Anita Blake: I wish I hadn’t have bought this book. Cerulean Sins and Narcissus in Chains were bad, but this…

I hope that LKH brings back the Anita Blake I know and love. Until then, I’m staying away from this series.

Don't read this!
I've read all the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter books, and until Narcissus in Chains really enjoyed the whole series. I thought Narcissus and Cerulean Sins showed a downturn in quality but they are absolute masterpieces when compared to Incubus Dreams. This book is just one sex scene after another with little plot and no real direction, what story there is is dealt with in about 4-5 chapters and the rest of the book is dedicated to exploring the dreaded 'arduer'. I'm not a prude about sex scenes at all, but there are so many in this book that it just gets boring! All the characters you loved in the previous books have either been sidelined: Stephen is no where to be found, Gregory is just annoying, or have changed beyond recognition: Nathaniel is whiny as hell and Jason has gone from a cute joker to a sage old man giving Anita love-life advice. Anita herself is completely unrecognisable as the Anita of the earlier, better books, and due to the lack of any real monster hunting in the book i think the 'vampire hunter' tag is now a bit of a misonomer. Maybe Anita Blake: Vampire Hussy, would be more fitting.