Book Review – The Harlequin

Author: Laurell K. Hamilton
Publisher: Berkley Trade
Binding: Hardcover
Publication Date: June 2007

Let me begin this review by admitting that this is the first of Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake series I’ve read. In fact, it is the first book by Laurell K. Hamilton I’ve ever read. Now, I generally do not read reviews of a book that I plan on reviewing. However, I was not aware at first that I would be reviewing it so I happened upon several reviews and comments online regarding the series as a whole and this book in particular. With that established, let me say that I don’t quite agree with anyone else about the book’s merits or lack thereof. There seem to be three separate schools of thought regarding Harlequin. The first group is comprised of the hardcore fans of the series that love it and this particular book and will eviscerate anyone who says anything unflattering about it. The second is made up of those that used to be fans of the series and recently decided that it has gone so far downhill that they had to abandon it. The third group is so in hate with the series, this particular sub-genre and Hamilton as an author that they have created an actual online un-fan club. As I said, I don’t fall into any of those groups as I both enjoyed the read and was annoyed by it at the same time.

Anita Blake, the heroine of the book is a necromancer, a US Marshall, vampire hunter, a potential were-animal, lover of the vampire Master of the City, Queen of the local were-leopard pack, lover of the leader of the local werewolf pack and so forth and so on. Because of her status, she comes under the investigative eye of the most feared of the vampires, their own police force, the Harlequin. At the same time, however, members of the local vampire church group have been framed for murder. Dealing with all of this, a sexually insatiable power force called the ardor, a lover that wants more than she can give, another lover who does not want to share her with the others, a mercenary’s teenaged son who seems to want to follow in his father’s footsteps and the difficulties of carrying a gun when you want to dress like a lady. Even the description is a bit annoying. There is way too much going on and not enough at the same time. Throughout the whole book, only a few days pass. Each day seemed to last for two or three and it all seemed a bit crazy and I lost track of what day it was supposed to be according to the story.

There is no doubt in my mind that Hamilton has talent as a storyteller. Even though Anita Blake had too many lovers, too much power, and not enough self-will and spent way too much time obsessing about her gun, I still enjoyed the story. Though too much sex is stated by many as one of the reasons that this book is bad, there were only two actual sex scenes, and both were rather mechanical and not erotic at all. Though the book is packed with references to the number of lovers she has, what each is like, in bed and out, and how they all get along together, this is not really the bordello tale I expected from all the comments I had read beforehand. I got the feeling that the author had let the series run for far too long and it had gotten out of hand but her editors and/or publishers kept asking for more because they sell. If this is the case, she needs to put her foot down, dig out a new character and create something completely different because I feel that she is a good storyteller who has lost her story.

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