Blue Moon

 

Level: Explicit

Genre: Fantasy> Urban Fantasy > Vampire

Obtained: Purchased at Border's

Reviewed by: Nic Echo

Cover:

I've never been sure how I have felt about this cover. I certainly never found it awful, and the artwork and placement is nice. I even love the colour blue. However, I think what turns me off about it is that it is uninspired. As cliche as it is, I do understand choosing the colour blue for this. It turns people off if you have a colour in your title and your cover doesn't match it. Still the fact that they added a wolf and a moon in the cover just ... really? There was nothing else you could do? On the other hand, it does let the reader know that this is going to be a book that focuses a lot on the werewolves so that is the good. The unoriginality just makes it fall flat for me though.

About the Book:

Anita ends up getting a call that Richard is in jail. The problem is that he is a werewolf and a full moon is coming up. Of course, once there other problems arise. The Tennessee werewolf pack has its politics to dance around, and then there is Colin, the Master of the City, who believes that Jean-Claude is now trying to take over his territory. Add a few mutilated bodies and well... no one said Anita didn't have unusual problems.

Rating: 7/10

So many pointless politics. Okay, before I start, let me say that I usually enjoy reading about political manipulation. However, politics are not Hamilton's forte so when we do get them, they often feel trite. In fact, we get a lot of sexual situations and blood. Now, I will say that it makes sense to a point, bit when most of your book is little more than that, it starts to drag. Blue Moon ends up having a lot of scenes so that Anita can appear tough, sexy, and cool. I won't say it is as bad as the later books, but it is still pretty apparent.

"Well, Nic, you seemed to really dislike this book." Actually, no. Will it ever be a favourite? Will I ever highly recommend it? Not likely. Yet the story itself was quite entertaining. Yes, the "sexy", "dark", and "edgy" scenes dragged, but when Hamilton focused more on the story, I really wanted to keep reading. Sadly, most of this was in the last quarter of the book, but it was entertaining enough to warrant another point. Colin's attack and fear of Anita helped to created some tense situations also (I say some since after a while, they also started to drag). However, I would say the thing that upped the rating score the most was the demon. I'm sorry, but it was pretty cool. I really enjoyed how it started out half formed, and even when it had become fully formed, it had an otherworldlyness about it. Personally, I would have liked to have seen the demon do even more damage, but it was still fun.

Sadly, there was still a lot I disliked about Blue Moon. Like I mentioned, there were too many "politics" and look how tough Anita is scenes. Luckily, the tones of the book made it much easier to swallow except the rape/chase/sex scene. So there is a scene where Raina, the last werewolf queen, takes over Anita and sets something off so that all the male wolves want to sleep with her. Anita manages to make it back to her cabin, and soon after Richard gets there. Although Richard does ask and Anita does say yes, it is still very sketchy as she is very on edge with "hormones," and well, the only way to end the chase is to sleep with someone. Yeah... Okay so that may not bother everyone as Anita and Richard are both in love and in lust with each other, but the sex scene itself was just laughable. Seriously, I was giggling aloud at some of the phrases used, especially from "edgy" author Laurell K. Hamilton, who goes on and on about how daring she is with sex. So what sort of phrases came up during this "arousing" scene? "He kissed me there like he kissed my mouth, all tongue and exploring," or my favourite orgasm ever: "He pulled me into his mouth until the warmth spread from my groin upward in a golden rush that left the world hazy and edged with white guaze like I was seeing through a mist." Now, I am not one of those people who like excessive use of the word penis, dick, cunt, and pussy, but Hamilton can't even bring herself to use the word member. She used there for the vagina/clit for god's sake.  What's more is we don't even get a great mood for the scene like we did with Jean-Claude. Well, I guess all the sexual tension between Anita and Richard helped some, but Hamilton's writing certainly did not.

Okay, okay, maybe I am getting into it too much, especially since the sex scene is only a small part of the overall novel. Still, Blue Moon was definitely not without its faults, causing it to drag in many places. However, the tones and the ending certainly saved it and made it fairly enjoyable. It is middle of the road but still fun. Again, if you liked the other Anita Blake books, I would still suggest checking this one out.

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