The Killing Dance: An Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Novel (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, #6)

by Laurell K. Hamilton

In the sixth adventure in the #1 New York Times bestselling series, Anita Blake’s unique skills make her a wanted woman—by vampire, by werewolf, and by a hit man...
 
Though she’s dating a vampire and a werewolf, Anita is keeping them at arm’s length. Which isn’t easy considering that Jean-Claude is the master vampire of St. Louis and Richard Zeeman is the sexiest junior high school teacher she’s ever seen.
 
Just to complicate Anita’s already messy life, someone has put a price on her head. Love cannot save her this time, so she turns to Edward, hit man extraordinaire for help. But finding the person behind it won’t be easy, because she’s made a lot of enemies—human and otherwise.

• ISBN10: 0515134511
• ISBN13: 9780515134513
• Publish Date: 24 September 2002 (first published 1 June 1997)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Penguin Putnam Inc
• Imprint: Berkley Publishing Corporation,U.S.
• Format: Paperback (US Mass Market)
• Pages: 400
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780515134513

Reviews

[Chelsea]

I can't wait to see more Edward! I especially loved him in this book! Definitely one of the better books I found.

[Nany]

In the past books I tolerate Richard, but in this one he was beyond annoying that If it hadn't been for the end I would have given this book a lower rating.

[celinenyx]

The Killing Dance is the sixth book in the controversial Anita Blake series. There are different camps in the ongoing discussion whether the books get better later on, or complete crap. I'm not sure yet which side I'm on.

What I do know is that I had a great time reading The Killing Dance. In this book Anita is in danger. That's nothing new. But now someone is hiring professionals to kill her. She has a price of about half a million above her head. It's just a matter of time until someone takes his chance.

In order to keep safe she has to hide in the notorious Circus of the Damned, where the daytime hiding place of the vamps is. This puts a strain on her fragile balancing act, the love triangle with vampire Jean-Claude and alpha were Richard.

These books are my guilty pleasure. They are certainly not literary prize winners, and you can't really identify yourself with the main character (if you are as gun happy as Anita, you do have a problem), but the story is engrossing and fast-moving. There are always tons of troubles and dangerous situations Anita has to overcome, and I like to see how she escapes death this time.

It's getting clearer and clearer that Anita isn't the straightforward good guy any more. She's dating the enemy. She doesn't think twice about killing. But it's nice to see that even the Executioner can get downright scared at times.

She's quite good at shooting moving targets, but in the relational department she can use some training. I though it was rather funny to see how she's struggling to keep everything from falling apart. There was some great JC/Richard interaction in The Killing Dance. I enjoy their jealous fighting over Anita. That being said, I have to admit that after reading this book I'm completely partial to Jean-Claude. He shows once again that deep down in his corpse-body there is still a heart somewhere. He truly wants Anita to be happy. Opposed to Richard, who just can't get past his jealousy. I already know a bit of how their relationships are going to evolve, but I'm still curious to how they become that way.

Maybe it's important to keep enough time between reading the Anita Blake books. I can understand how you get sick of Hamilton's repetitiveness when you read them all after each other. I thought the repetition of phrases wasn't as prominent in this book as in the others. The excessive use of the word "power" was slightly annoying, but I couldn't really come up with an alternative, so I don't blame the author.

I'm going to keep reading this series. I still find the books enjoyable, even though I can see them changing. I won't rush into buying book seven, Burnt Offerings, but when I'm looking for some fast-paced killing with sexy vampires and a lot of tension between the characters, I'll pick one up again.

[Melanie]

This is a great story, probably the best so far in the series. Richard continues to drive everyone crazy. We meet Damian for the first time. We get to spend some time with Willie. Also, Edward joins the party and eventually brings a friend, it is the first time we realize that Edward might actually have friends.

No matter how many times I read/listen to this particular book of the series, it never gets old.