Search - Micah (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Bk 13)

Laurell K. Hamilton started out about twelve books ago with a great premise. Have a strong female protagonist that lived in alternate reality St. Louis where supernatural creatures were part of society. Her character was a licensed vampire executioner (one of the best I might add), and a necromancer who used her talents to raise zombies for various purposes including clarifying wills, witness testimony and just saying goodbye to loved ones.

The first couple of books in the series focused on Anita Blake. How she handled her job as a re-animator, and how she dealt with reconciling her attraction to the vampire Jean-Claude with the knowledge that someday she might have to kill him or one of his clan. Later books saw her work through her misgivings and agree to a relationshp with him. Then Richard, the king of the werewolves, entered the picture and Anita was attracted to him. It was easier dating a human, even if he did turn furry, than a vampire. Then she saved the wereleopards from an evil overlord and ended up becoming Queen, even though she isn't a were. That added another couple of men into her life.

Then the ardeur struck, and suddenly Anita needs constant sex in order to feed the ardeur. The woman who couldn't bring herself to sleep with one man is now having relations with at least six different men, in various combinations, sometimes all at once.

I was extremely disappointed with this book. I don't have a problem with the soft-core porn, but I would like there to be more plot than sex. This was a short story that was stretched out into a novella, then it had 30 pages of previews for her next book added to make it long enough to publish as a stand alone. There wasn't any real character development, you find out a little about Micah's past and how he became a were. The middle section of the book the two are in bed. Then they go to raise the zombie, and Anita has difficulty with her power, then it ends rather abruptly, without coming to any sort of satisfactory conclusion.

I had low expectations of this book, since I have been consistently disappointed in the last three Anita Blake books. On the up side, Anita actually does some police work and raises a zombie, which hopefully means that LKH is moving back towards that aspect of the series. Also, she adds a bit of history for Micah, my least favorite character in the series, as I've always found him to be a bit cardboard.

On the down side, the background info on Micah is thin, the police case is pretty minimal and the book is actually a short story inflated into a novel sized paperback by the use of wide margins, large font and lots of blank pages. Oh, and a 30 page preview of Danse Macabre. I know it's been promoted as a novella, but charging $7.99 for this is ridiculous, when it could have fit nicely into an anthology. I don't trade books that I anticipate reading again - I'm trading this one.

Short and sweet, unlike Hamilton's recent offerings. Not as insightful as I'd hoped, though.

Not the best Laurell K book, but pretty good.

It is a much smaller book than the others in the series due to only one plotline going on. It was good though. We learn a bit more about Michah, Anita, and their relationship.

Of the series, this seems to be a "filler" book. It gives more insight on Micah, and Anita spends most of her time with him through the book (makes sense with the title and all...). It's a very quick read and follows along with the story with the normal witty banter as well as the romantic novel theme Hamilton had been moving towards throughout the series.
Also wouldn't be complete without the raising of a corpse, and this time with a judge and lawyers ready to question.