Micah
13th book in the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter Series
by Laurell K. Hamilton

Poor Micah, he deserved so much more. What I mean is, if a book is named after a character and places that one character along with another on their own then one would expect to get to know more about the character in question. Right? Really all we learned was how Micah became a lycanthrope and that his feelings for Anita run deeper than that what she believes. I’m simplifying a bit here, but not by much. We did learn an interesting little tid bit about Anita’s genetic makeup now that she’s had several supernatural forces wreck havoc on her.

I got to admit, over all I felt cheated. The book’s story really didn’t need to be published as a novel on it’s own, it’s more of a novella and could have been easily condensed and published in an anthology with other Anita Blake-verse stories or in an anthology along the lines of Dates from Hell and Bite. There really was no reason it should have been published as a novel. And since the author and publishers felt the need to skip an entire page in between every chapter and then start the next chapter half-way down the next page the belief that this was never meant to be a stand alone novel is further justified. And did I mention the text is largely spaced apart as well? I’m a college student for crying out loud! I know all the tricks to employ to make a paper stretch to reach the minimum page requirement. Do you honestly think I wouldn’t pick up on what you were doing LKH?

Unlike her previous disaters, aka Incubus Dreams, Hamilton seems to be getting back into the swing of things. Her storyline flowed and was reminiscent of the old Anita Blake books. This reader was pleased to see this return. However, if you’re looking for some actual action you’d be better off looking elsewhere. Despite being 280 pages long not much happens. Anita, Micah, and Nathaniel are rudely awakened in the middle of the night, just an hour after they went to bed, by a phone call from Larry. Unable to make it to a scheduled raising for an FBI case he asks Anita to cover for him. She agrees and her and Micah, since someone must feed the ardeur, head off. They meet up with two FBI agents, check into a swanky hotel (curtosy of Micah), have sex and then head to the graveyard to raise the dead. A little scuffle ensues at the graveyard (and a lawyer dies yea!) Anita winds up in the hospital for a bit and the revelation of her genetic makeup is revealed. The end.

Yes I left out some fine details so as not to completely spoil the book for you, but that’s the gist of it. Why this was published as a separate novel is beyond me. While this book flowed much better and was generally more enjoyable than previous ones the lack of any significant events, action, and the altogether briefness of it will leave readers glad the book was offered in paperback instead of hardback [they weren't swindled too badly!].

Joana’s rating: