The Harlequin
15th book in the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter Series
by Laurell K Hamilton

It’s been a while since I could bring myself to read this series. I used to be a huge fan and an avid reader of the series, but after Incubus Dreams my interest in the series all but died. I even had a hard time reading old favorites in the series as the disapointment always returned with an abandon. However, reading Micah managed to draw me in again. Still, I remained leery of the series regardless and this book ended up sitting in my TBR (To Be Read) pile for many months after receiving it through Paperback Swap.

I have to say, this is more like the Anita Blake vampire hunter books that I read and fell in love with all those years ago. And yet, it’s still nowhere near the level that the previous books achieved; with Obsidian Butterfly being the truly last great one.

The Harlequin opens up with Anita in her office, a not unfamiliar beginning, and Malcolm, leader of the church of eternal life sitting across from her. Despite his strong dislike of her and Jean-Claude, Malcolm finds himself seeking their assistance to save his congregation. He knows Anita has a warrant of execution for one of his members but he suspects that they’re being framed. He cannot name who he thinks may be behind it, for it is taboo, so he leaves Anita with this ambiguous request to deliver to Jean-Claude.

That night, while at the cinema with Nathaniel celebrating their anniversary, Anita is the recipient of a strange gift that is not Nathaniel’s doing. The gift is an unpainted white mask, much like those seen during Mardi Gras. After a quick call to Jean-Claude the unnamed scary guys that Malcolm feared might be involved have been named, they are the Harlequin. The Harlequin are the vampire police and modeled, in a sense, after the legends of the Wild Hunt in order to drive fear into the hearts of vampires everywhere. Only Marmee Noir, the Mother of all Darkness, invokes more fear than these guys. Jean-Claude assures Anita that receiving a white mask is a good sign, it merely means that they’re there to observe, and not necessarily them. It’s the red and black masks you have to really fear.

What makes these guys so frightening is the fact that they’re powerful, their identities are unknown, and they are judge, jury, and executioner all in one. They have laws they have to abide by though, and unfortunately for Anita and her harem, it would appear that the rules have been thrown out the window. It sounds like a very promising plot, and really it would have been, but the problems of previous books bleeds over into this one as well sadly. When the book first started it seemed as though Hamilton was going to keep the attention where it really should be, the actual story. And since over a hundred pages pass before Hamilton feels the need to employ her deus ex machina (a.k.a the ardeur) it feels like the story itself will advance, characters will be fleshed out, and there will be some scintillating sex to spice things up. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

During Nathaniel and Anita’s outing Nathaniel brings up the fact that Anita isn’t meeting all of his needs. At first I thought it was great that, that scene was in there. A major point of growth for Nathaniel, who started off as nothing more than Reina and Gabrielle’s perfect submissive sex toy, and who would never have thought to voice his complaints and necessities in a relationship. Anita is uncomfortable with where he wants to take their sex life since she’s not comfortable with that part of her self. A bit hypocritical since she enjoys rough and bloody sex and all Nathaniel is asking her to do is tie him up, but okay, fine, whatever. A few pages later, Hamilton completely underscores the importance of the scene by bringing Byron and Requiem into the equation and making it more about who is having sex with Anita and who isn’t, but wants to.

The relationship between the were and vampire community is a tenuous one at best and the corner stone that apparently holds everything together is, you guessed it, who does and doesn’t get to have sex with Anita. Using the ardeur, Hamilton adds to Anita’s ever growing lists of conquests, and this time it’s characters you just never wanted to see Anita have sex with. After all, they’re characters you’ve come to respect and never expected or wanted to see end up as one of her many lovers - Raphael the rat king and Donovan Reece the swan king. Before that, Hamilton utilized the ardeur in order to work in a dream-sex sequence between Belle Morte and Anita as well. Something that was otherwise improbable given that Anita didn’t have any inclinations towards the fairer sex, gosh but that ardeur sure comes in handy!

The drama between Richard and Anita is still not resolved and honestly looks like it never will be. In fact, Richard’s anger, jealousy, resentment, bitterness, and rage is just old and reaching new heights of absurdity. He pretty much tried to kill Anita which winds up nearly killing all three of them along with Damien and Nathaniel, and yet still the two won’t move on. Yes, they are tied through Jean-Claude, but really, it’s obvious that it’s time they agree on friends and being tied and nothing more. After fifteen books in the series, at least ten of which I’ve actively disliked Richard, I still can’t fathom why they can’t just move on from each other. I will always think that Micah and Nathanial are the better matches for Anita on the shifter front. That said, every time Richard started posturing like a drama queen I found myself skimming over that portion. This is a character that has really just gotten out of control and kills the emotion and mood no matter what the situation.

Despite the good start that the book had, Anita and her harem spent the majority of The Harlequin either talking about the sex they had, sex in the future, who will and will not be having sex with Anita, who wants to have sex with her, and what the sex was like. In fact, it wasn’t until more than halfway through the book before Anita gets serious about the Harlequin. About a quarter of the book was left before Anita met up with Edward and his backup and went hunting. It was good seeing Edward again, and Olaf, even if they were shells of their former selves.

One thing that really did not sit well with me was deal with the lions. The Rex of the werelions is a married man and his wife doesn’t want to share him with Anita, period. Understandable, right? Apparently not in Anita and everyone else’s books. In this situation Anita just came off as a selfish bitch, especially when she attempted to bully the Rex over it towards the end.

Initially The Harlequin was a vast improvement over the last few installments in the series, but that progress was quickly halted as the book progressed. The actual story became bogged down with the endless prattle about sex with Anita and was shunted to the foreground. It’s readily apparent that the author’s focus is on sex and only sex when character introductions include lines that go along the lines of: “I slept with him when…” and “underneath those clothes is a body built like…..believe me, I know”. Between comments like that and her treatment of the werelion’s Rex, my respect for Anita has fallen significantly.

The Harlequin themselves, along with the appearance of Edward and Olaf, and the time spent with Anita’s wereleopard pard were the savings grace of the book for me. But over all I found this book to be only a slight improvement in quality. The first hundred pages or so of The Harlequin will suck you in and keep you hooked, but the story quickly drags and soon it becomes apparent that the story simply will not advance until we’ve had several back to back sexcapades and some pointless banter of who has and hasn’t had sex with Anita yet and what it’s done for them.

Joana’s Rating: (3 out of 5 stars)

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