Cerulean Sins (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, #11)

by Laurell K. Hamilton

Anita Blake is back! When Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, is asked to reanimate the body of a long-dead corpse it seems like just another case. But the corpse may hold the secret to an ancient crime that not everyone wants to be remembered . Now an unknown and terrifying menace moves to stop her investigation. Anita must employ all her deadly skill if she is to find the answers she needs and strike her enemies down. Find out more about this title and others at www.orbitbooks.co.uk

• ISBN10: 0425188361
• ISBN13: 9780425188361
• Publish Date: 27 May 2003 (first published 1 March 2003)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 3 December 2011
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Penguin Putnam Inc
• Imprint: Berkley Publishing Corporation,U.S.
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 405
• Language: English

Reviews

[FranJessca @ A Book Lovin' Mama's Blog]

I was binge-reading Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series back in 2009, so this was my second time reading Cerulean Sins. It’s my first time reviewing the book, though. It’s been so long since I read this series that it feels like I’m reading it for the first time. 🙂 

Storyline/My Thoughts: Anita Blake is trying to get her life back to normal, as much as she can, with a vampire boyfriend and a leopard shifter as her Nimar-Raj. Her werewolf boyfriend broke up with her because he couldn’t stand what she could accept, and he couldn’t. (If you read the previous books, then you’ll understand when I say this, I was not a fan of Richard, her werewolf boyfriend. He got on my nerves.) I’m glad Anita is no longer with him. This book also made me realize that Anita is better off without Richard, but she has further lover drama in this book. Poor Anita! She went from not having a love life to having too much.

Cerulean Sins has Anita dealing with vampire politics, something she never wanted to be a part of, but dating the Master of the City is inevitable. Musette, who is a part of the European Vampire Council, has come three months early to St. Louis, so now Jean Claude, Anita, Asher, etc., have to cater to her. Unfortunately, Musette has something up her sleeve thanks to Belle Morte (Jean Claude’s maker). It’s not a friendly visit, and poor Anita is caught in the crossfire of it all. Anita will find out right away that Belle Morte is not someone to mess with, and she is up to something horrible. 

On top of the vampire politics, Anita has to solve some gruesome murders. You would think Anita would be used to looking over gruesome cases, but these take a lot out of her. Laurell K. Hamilton had me cringing with the details to understand why Anita was bothered by the scenes. One of many reasons I love Laurel K. Hamilton is how detailed she gets with scenes. I love her writing style, even if she has me cringing due to the gruesome scenes. 🙂

This book has quite a bit of steamy moments between Anita and Jean Claude and several other characters. Anita’s ardeur shows up several times in this book, and some of it due to Belle Morte. If you are not a fan of a lot of steamy menage-a-trois moments, then this book may bother you.

The one thing that bothered me was how some scenes dragged on that could’ve been shorter. The first time I read this book, it didn’t bother me because I was binge-reading the series. This time though, I’m trying to read the series slowly and savor the storylines. It’s been so long since I read this series, so it’s like I’m reading it for the first time. Some of the steamy moments could have been shorter. Don’t get me wrong; I loved the steamy scenes. One particular scene was when Jason was involved. He finally didn’t feel left out. There were also scenes with Richard that drove me crazy. I know we needed drama, and he definitely brings it. (He drives me crazy.)

Overall, this book gets four stars from me, and I can’t wait to dive back into the next book. I know the books are going to get steamier because LKH knows how to write steamy scenes. 🙂 I know more drama is coming for Anita, Jean Claude, Asher, Micah, etc. It’s going to be crazy, but I’m looking forward to rereading it.

Standalone or Part of Series: It’s part of the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series, and I would recommend reading in order.

Steaminess: Hot! Laurell K. Hamilton writes some very steamy scenes.

Would I recommend this book? Yes. If you are a fan of PNR/UF that has vampires, shifters, necromancy, steamy scenes, and suspense, then you’ll enjoy this book/series.

[Chelsea]

This is the first book in the series where the sex scene are REALLY common. I mean like not just with the usual people. I also found all the Belle Mort stuff REALLY confusing and I feel lost now. I don't understand all the vampire politics and they're starting to get really annoying. I miss the days when Anita just killed everyone. Even though it caused a lot of problems at least it was interesting. This book got 3 start from me because I thought it was too boring and I didn't understand what was happening most of the time. (Though I am happy with Asher's story in this book. Finally.)

[ibeforem]

I still like these books, but like I said about the last ones, they’re starting to contain a bit too much sex. With this book, it seemed like the first 100 pages or so was Anita moving from one sexual scene to another. I think the series lost something when Hamilton saddled Anita with this supernatural sexual appetite that has to be satisfied (or what, I don’t really know).

Maybe I’ll understand more when I read the one I’ve skipped, Narcissus in Chains. Don’t have that one yet. I also skipped over book #9, but that was actually the first one in the series that I read, which happened to take place during a time when she’s not really having *any* sex at all.

I’ll continue to read the series, I just hope that Hamilton recaptures some of the formula that made the first 6 books or so of the series so great.