Cerulean Sins / Laurell K. Hamilton

Cerulean Sins by Laurell K. Hamilton
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

🎃🎃🎃
Another book moved off my shelves! Yay!

I'm kind of unsure why I'm still reading this series, as it has become rather ridiculously complex (except because the books are sitting on my shelves and I feel a strange obligation to read them). There doesn't seem to a supernatural community that Anita Blake doesn't seem to have significant ties to and she seems to be everyone's housemother. One of the things that keeps me going is Anita's admission that she isn't comfortable with her situation and that she's concerned that she might get to that point. Quite a change from the first book when she her biggest worry seemed to be that someone might see her underwear.

Hamilton gives her vampires interesting powers and limitations. The villain of this story is Belle Morte, an extremely old, powerful vampire with a taste for sex and torture. She's determined to show Anita who is boss, exactly the wrong approach to our Vampire Executioner heroine. We also become aware of the source of vampirism, the Gentle Mother, regaining some consciousness and looming in the future as something to be dealt with. Maybe its just me, but I think Belle will meet her comeuppance thinking that she will be able to manipulate the Mother. (Shades of Anne Rice's The Queen of the Damned).

I think the author is also pointing out how prudish & straight-laced North American culture is and that it is possible to love multiple people. Anita started out with those standards and has changed a lot in 11 books, although she still has her hang-ups. At least she recognizes her issues for what they are and is reconsidering her position.

Despite Hamilton's interest in sexual politics, I feel she writes best when pursuing Anita's work life. One of the best aspects of this installment is that Anita has returned to work, once again raising zombies and consulting for the police on supernatural crime scenes. Those are the more interesting aspects of her life in my opinion, so I'm glad to see Dolph & Zerbrowski again, even if Dolph seems to have gone off the deep end. I would definitely prefer more zombies and murder investigations, things that make Anita use her brains & talents plus show her as a competent professional.