Before I recommend reading any of Laurell K. Hamilton's series about vampire hunter Anita Blake I have to include this caveat. These books are gory. Not just a little gory, but very, very gory. There are scenes in some of these books that would make Stephen King queasy. If you have a weak stomach or hate explicit gore in your entertainment material avoid these books the way Jesse Helms would avoid a dinner party hosted by Spike Lee and vice versa.That being said Ms. Hamilton's books are the best fantasy/horror series going today. Anita Blake lives in a world where magic works and vampires and werewolves not only exist; they are a constitutionally protected minority. That in itself would make life difficult enough, but Ms. Blake's life is even more complicated then that. For one thing she holds down three jobs. She is a Necromancer, someone with the power to raise the dead as zombies, and works for a St. Louis company that will raise the dead, for a fee, so you can speak with them. Second, she works as a licensed vampire hunter who tracks down and kills vampires who have gone 'rogue' and begin attacking unwilling humans. No small task given the powers and pre-natural strength the vampires possess as opposed to Ms. Blake being a petite, physically normal woman. Fortunately since tough doesn't even begin to describe Ms. Blake she is good enough at her job that the vampires fear her and have christened her, The Executioner. Third, she works as a consultant for RPIT, Regional Paranormal Investigative Team, the branch of the police that deals with all supernatural crimes. To make matters worse Ms. Blake has managed to complicate her personal life even more then her professional one by being part of a very intense and unusual love triangle. Ms. Blake is in love with, and loved by, both the Master of the City, the powerful and erotic lord of all vampires in the St. Louis area and by a sweet, gentle, drop dead handsome school teacher who also happens to be the leader of all the city's werewolves. And you thought your life was stressful.
Burnt Offerings follows Anita Blake as she assists Jean-Claude, the Master of the City, while he tries to survive an assault by the supremely powerful group who rule all vampires, the Vampire Council. In a previous book Ms. Blake and Jean-Claude killed a member of the Vampire Council in a duel in order to protect the city of St. Louis from a mass slaughter and the Vampire Council is not amused. She also becomes involved in protecting a pack of wereleopards, dealing with assassins sent by an anti vampire terrorist group who resent her romance with Jean-Claude, avenging the rape of a friend and in helping RPIT uncover and stop a supernatural arsonist all while wearing the high heel shoes she wore to last night's formal dinner. Hey, a girl's got to do what a girl's got to do.
What makes these books so good is that Ms. Hamilton has taken a weird and fantastic premise and filled it with characters and events so realistic that it all seems believable. The writing itself is simply amazing. One example of a touch I truly liked is that in legend vampires have traditionally had the ability to control differing animals. One vampire may control bats, another wolves or a third rats. In Burnt Offerings Ms. Hamilton introduces a vampire who controls butterflies. Yet, as silly as that sounds on its face, she manages to make this truly spooky in one moment while gently sweet in another. In addition, the characterization is wonderful. Each individual in the story, human and non human, comes across as a real person even when some of them are sinking fangs into someone else or turning furry and feral. The only weakness to these books is the amount of gore that I mentioned earlier. I use to wonder if some of that was not gratuitous, but I've decided that while unpleasant it is necessary to keep the story real. If supernatural monsters did exist then fighting them would certainly be a gross and nasty job the depiction of which Ms. Hamilton does not flinch from. So if you like your stakes wooden instead of rare or well done give this series a try. It'll be worth it.
Average Grade: A+
