Crimson Death (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, #25)

by Laurell K. Hamilton

In Crimson Death, the twenty-fifth Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, adventure by Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling author Laurell K. Hamilton, Anita is tested like never before in a showdown that will delight readers of Charlaine Harris and Anne Rice.

'Hamilton is still thrilling fans...with her amazing multifaceted characters and intricate multilayered world, a mix of erotic romance, crime-drama, and paranormal/fantasy fiction' Library Journal

My name is Anita Blake. I'm a vampire hunter and necromancer, and I'm about to learn that evil is in the eye of the beholder...

I've never seen Damian, my vampire servant, in such a state. The rising sun doesn't usher in the peaceful death that he desperately needs. Instead, he's being bombarded with violent nightmares and blood sweats.

Damian is at his most vulnerable, but now is the time I need him most. The vampire who created him, who subjected him to centuries of torture, might be losing control, allowing rogue vampires to run wild and break one of their kind's few strict taboos.

Some say love is a great motivator, but hatred gets the job done, too. I'm joining forces with my friend Edward to stop the carnage, and Damian will be at our side, even if it means travelling back to the land where all his nightmares spring from... a place that couldn't be less welcoming to a vampire, an assassin and a necromancer.

Ireland.

• ISBN10: 1472241746
• ISBN13: 9781472241740
• Publish Date: 11 October 2016
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 1 March 2017
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Headline Publishing Group
• Imprint: Headline Book Publishing
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 720
• Language: English

Reviews

[Nany]

After 25 books it's impossible for me not to love most of the guys and girls in this series, but I didn't like the reappearance of 2 two of them. But I still enjoyed the majority of the story, even though at the beginning was slow and some parts were unnecessary.

[Silvara]

Check out my other reviews, discussions and link ups at Fantasy of the Silver Dragon.

I received this book for free from Berkley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Like the last book, Anita is finally getting back into police work and crime scene investigation more. There is still sex in the book, at least 3 different scenes (I didn't count, but there were that many minimum.) Which when compared to the length of the book, and the amount of time spent on other things? Not really an issue for me. There are also a number of gory or gross things mentioned in the book. But if you've read the early books in the series, it won't bother you much as the scenes are less bad than some of the early crime scenes Anita went through.

I loved that this book was focused on the triumvirate interactions between Anita, Nathaniel and Damian. There were some really interesting twists in there, and I like that even with how much Nathaniel has already grown, he is still growing and evolving as a character. They all are. Damian had a bigger part in this book than he has had in quite a while, and I liked the way the relationships worked. Mostly.

Two different characters came to Anita's attention as possibly needing help because of the way they acted, or the fact they seemed to have lost weight. But other than her noting that she needed to talk to someone about them, or check something out, nothing else happened. Not sure if it will be a plot point in another book, or if it was accidentally forgotten about. It also was distracting, that instead of calling them her animals to call like she has in all the other books, they're now using "moitié bête". But those were really my only major quibbles.

I liked the way magic worked in Ireland. It was interesting to see Anita without the use of her necromancy for most of the book. The Irish cops however were fairly irritating in the whole "doing everything possible to not kill/harm anyone, even when the person had just killed two of their own." (And no, that's not a quote, just a summation of the roadblocks in the book.)

We got to see a different side of Edward in the book. We've seen him as Death, we've seen him as Ted. But there was a completely new facet of his personality in here that even surprised Anita. This was definitely a suck you in and keep reading until the book is over book. There were a few minor slow spots, but overall I really enjoyed it.

This review was originally posted on Fantasy of the Silver Dragon