Obsidian Butterfly is the ninth full-length novel in Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series. This was not the first time I read this book, but it will be the first time I review it. I first read this book back in 2009 and found this book was not my favorite in the series. Now in 2020, I still have that same opinion but gave it a higher rating after rereading it. I’ll share my thoughts why below in my review.
Storyline: Anita has been called to New Mexico on the favor that she owes Edward due to killing one of his back-ups in a previous story. Edward, though, is going by Ted Forrester and has another life that Anita was not aware of because Edward does not come off as friendly and family-oriented. Anita is to help Edward by being fresh eyes on the cases that he has been working on with the police in his town. This case is nothing that Anita has ever encountered, and she is on her own on figuring it out without Jean-Claude or Richard to help her. This is due to Anita taking a hiatus from them both. Unfortunately, she will find out the villain(s) in this book are something from nightmares. This is the case that will test Anita not only physically but mentally. Anita will also have to deal with Edward’s other back-ups in this case. One who thinks he’s a sex-god to women and the other who despises women. Anita has her hands full in all areas in this book.
My Thoughts: This book is not my favorite in the series. (so far that I’ve read in the series because I am playing catch-up later on in the series.) First off, this book is over 600+ pages long, and a lot of the pages were going into so much detail that it was overloading at times. I do enjoy a long book, but sometimes the scenes went on too long. It took forever to figure out who or what was behind the craziness. The characters were not only having to find out who was behind the hideous killings, but they also were dealing with a gang of human guys, the Master Vampire of the City and her minions, and several other evil characters that I won’t give away. This book will give you nightmares about what was happening. I know I had trouble sleeping the first time I read this book. I did enjoy seeing Anita without the guys (Jean-Claude and Richard). She was trying to find herself and get a break from them, but she’s going to find out that she needs them more than ever in this book. There was also the issue of a particular character named Olaf that freaked me out. Edward put Anita in danger when he asked Olaf to help him with the case. Don’t get me wrong; there were things I enjoyed about this book. I loved that it had a villain that was not like any other villain that Anita has encountered. This one is Ancient. There was also action-packed scenes in the book. Laurell K. Hamilton does a fantastic job on those kinds of scenes. It also helps when you have a female heroine who kicks butt all the time.
Forewarning because this book has triggers to it that will make readers uncomfortable. Most of it comes towards the end of the book, where it involves children and violence. This was a very awkward chapter(s) for me. I don’t like reading about children getting hurt, and these scenes made me so mad. There were sexual assault and violence towards children. There was also mention of rape, but Anita fights back in the book, which is one of many reasons why I love her character.
Would I recommend this book? Yes. If you are a fan of the Anita Blake series and have read the previous books in the series, you will enjoy it. If you have not read the series before, then you need to start from the beginning. This is not a series where you start reading in the middle. You will miss out on a lot.
Laurell K. Hamilton brings a lot to this book with the action-packed and scary scenes. I may need some time to re-read the next book. I need a book with some HEA because this book was dark. I love this series, though, and I look forward to diving into the next book.