Polite Dissent

One of my guiltiest reading pleasures is Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series. These stories take place is a world nearly identical to ours except that vampires, werewolves, and other such creatures exist and have their full share of legal rights. In her day job (or night job in her case), Anita is an Animator – someone who can raise the dead. This is mostly done for legal reasons (contested wills, for instance), but some of her clients have more nefarious purposes. In addition, she is also one of the few legally sanctioned vampire hunters, and she has killed more vampires than any other hunter. She frequently works for the police on supernatural crimes. Ironically, she finds herself taking the vampire’s side more often than not. Recently, Anita has found herself siding with the vampire Master of the City in certain political intrigues. This has ultimately led to a romantic relationship with the city’s head vampire. She also finds herself in a relationship with the alpha-male of the local werewolf pack (who just happens to be a high school teacher by day). Who said romance was dead?

The series took a few books to get started, but by the third book (Circus of the Damned) it was in full swing. Unfortunately, the last several books (Obsidian Butterfly, Narcissus in Chains, and Cerulean Blue) have veered too much toward soap opera and cheap thrills while ignoring the best aspects of the stories.

One of my favorite aspects of the books is that they mostly take place in St. Louis, a city I am intimately familiar with, having attended both college and medical school there.