Crimson Death (Anita Blake, #25) by Laurell K. Hamilton and a Giveaway

Crimson Death by Laurell K. Hamilton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Review to follow.

But, wow. WOW!

UPDATED ON 10/9/2016

Title: Crimson Death
Author: Laurell K. Hamilton
Series: Anita Blake, #25
Pages: 576
Publisher: Berkley
Date: October 11, 2016

Summary:

Now, in her twenty-fifth adventure, vampire hunter and zombie raiser Anita Blake learns how far she’ll go to save someone she loves…

When Damian—Anita’s sometimes lover, servant, and friend—is kidnapped, Anita heads to Ireland. There she must face off against the vampire who created him. M’Lady, Moroven, Nemhain…under every name she brings terror and destruction. But Anita brings her own weapon to the party: Edward, the man known as Death itself…

Review:

I read this book the first time (Yes, I know. It’s not even out yet and I’ve already read it twice. That should tell you something.) in August. Because I didn’t review it then AND I enjoyed it so much the first time, I decided it deserved a re-read before a formal review. However, I did post to Goodreads my original reaction.

“Review to follow.

But, wow. WOW!”

After a second reading, I have to add Oh, wow!

It’s really that good. Are there things that happen that I don’t like?

Yes! Definitely. However, the one that bothers me the most really worked in the scene. And no, I’m not telling. Spoilers, people. Spoilers.

The main plot is Anita and a lot of her extended group go to Ireland to help them with a vampire problem. Ireland has never had vampires before or at least so they thought. Damian lived in Ireland for centuries although I had forgotten about that.

To me, the real plot is Anita’s triumvirate with Nathaniel and Damian. They are still learning how it works. The only one Anita has any experience with is the one she shares with Richard and Jean Claude and that one does not work well due to Richard’s issues. Longtime readers of this series know exactly what I am talking about.
Again, to me, it looks like the one she shares with Damian and Nathaniel is going to give her even more power than the one she shares with Jean Claude and Richard.

The main problem I had with the book is there are too many characters. I can’t keep everyone straight. I feel like I need an annotated list of who is who. Even Anita feels overwhelmed at times with all the people she is responsible for. -grin-

Would I get rid of anyone? No! I am just struggling to keep everyone in the correct role.

All of my favorite characters are there: Jean Claude, Nathaniel, Micah (but not enough), even Jason shows up for awhile. There’s a hint that he may have a role in the next book as well. I miss Jason. Edward has a large part, although he is mostly in his Ted character.

Even Asher shows up who I could have done without. I do see though how he added to the main plotline.

There is nothing to dislike about this book. No, I didn’t like everything that happened, but everything was important.

Read it! You’ll understand.

I ALMOST FORGOT! The publisher has very nicely offered a free book from the series to a random commenter. You can comment here or on my Goodreads review. If you are selected, I will contact you for your mailing address.

This book was sent to me by NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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