The Harlequin (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter) Review

Manufacturer: Jove
Author(s): Laurell K. Hamilton

ISBN: 0515144614 EAN: 9780515144611
Binding: Paperback
Pages: 448

Average Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars

Retail Price: ~~$7.99~~
Online Sale Price: $7.99
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The 15th Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter novel— now in paperback

Into Anita Blake’s world—a world already overflowing with power— come creatures so feared that centuries-old vampires refuse to mention their names.

User Submitted The Harlequin (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter) Reviews

October 19, 2008
One of the series' best
The Harlequin starts off like Burnt Offerings, with a harbinger of vampiric doom; this time it isn't the Council itself coming to visit, but rather the long arm of vampire law: the Harlequin. These are the silent assassins of vampiredom -- the Justicars, for those who know White Wolf, and that was immediately how I thought of them -- who enforce the Council's law, observing and eliminating vampires who break the rules. I read another book not long ago that used Harlequins as a name for a group; in that book, the use of the name was, well, lame, but in this book, the use of "Harlequin" worked, mainly because the name itself was not supposed to project their uncompromising deadliness: it was more a reflection of the vampire love for melodrama, and for that, the references to Commedia dell'Arte worked. They use masks to communicate -- if you get a white mask they are observing, a red mask means they're going to hurt you, and a black mask means they're going to bake you brownies. No, not really. -- and they wear costumes and use the names of the original characters of the Commedia, Columbine and Pantaleon and so on. And since these vamps come from the founder of the council, the MOAD, it seems very likely that the ancient Italian characters came from these folk, not the other way around, and that's just cool.

Anyway, the Harlequin come to town (and ruin Anita and Nathaniel's anniversary date night, which is too bad because the date has implications for their future relationship, and also too bad because the thread of Nathaniel and Anita's relationship gets lost in the events that follow, which probably has further implications for their relationship) and then immediately start screwing with Jean-Claude's power base, by going after the weak link in the St. Louis vampire world: Malcolm and all of the un-blood-oathed vampires of the Church. Anita is understandably freaked out by these things, and she calls in the big guns: Edward. Who brings not only Olaf, but also his newest back-up: Peter.

So here's the thing with these books. The characters are so real, and so honestly multi-layered, that they do unpredictable things, and they do things that have serious repercussions, repercussions that may very well keep on echoing again and again. What's more, since the series is as long as it is, there have come to be many, many characters who are like this. Peter and Olaf are prime examples of that. When Edward brings these two, all Hamilton has to do is write down their names, have Anita see them just once; we immediately understand several things about this. We know that Olaf is going to cause real problems for Anita, since he wants to hunt and kill her, and we know that Peter's coming is not only dangerous for Peter, but also for Edward, and for Donna, Peter's mother, and we already have ideas and opinions on all of these things. We also wonder if this means that Edward has gone soft, since he had to have given in to sentiment in bringing his 16-year-old semi-adopted son, and the old Edward didn't have that sentiment; then we have to wonder if his softening will be a strength, as it is for Anita, or a weakness. Then we just have to wonder what will happen when a 16-year-old assassin-in-training is brought into this world. And then, when Edward reveals a few things about how Peter has been affected by his experiences -- mainly his sexual abuse from two years before, in Obsidian Butterfly -- we have to wonder about the implications of those factors, and how they will affect Anita, and Edward, and Peter, and Donna, and so on, so on.

The complexities just keep multiplying until it's almost dizzying. It was getting hard for me to remember all of the characters I was supposed to remember -- there's a moment at the end of this book when something is revealed about one of the bodyguards, and when it was revealed, I couldn't remember any details about that bodyguard's character in the first place, so I was confused -- but that's been taken care of: two of the bodyguards have died, and one other person, Sampson, the would-be siren, has gone back where he came from. The issue with Malcolm's church has been mostly resolved, and we've seen what deadly warriors Wicked and Truth are -- which was totally sweet -- and Haven, aka Cookie Monster, has returned to take over the lion pride, which will probably be helpful in the long run but will certainly add complications to Anita's life. Along with a new character for us to try to fathom.

And, I was glad to see, Richard may just have broken his last straw. Oh, happy day. But whether this ends the Richard saga or not, there were several threads that got taken care of, either by weaving them solidly into place in the overall story, or just by cutting them off. This book definitely made up for the problems of the last one, which focused a bit too much on the ardeur, to the detriment of the plot; although there are ardeur issues in this one, they offer new insights, not just repetitions, and the final revelation about the ardeur and its uses for Anita and Jean-Claude was truly excellent. Maybe I liked it more than others would because it ends up flipping the bird to Richard, in a way -- but it was cool, no matter what.

October 15, 2008
Getting worried about this series.
Getting worried about this series.

As a reviewer, I try to give a brief rundown of the book so that those who read the review who plan on reading the book get a small inkling of what's going on, to explain what I liked, disliked, etc...

I can't do it this time around. That's how disappointed I am.

While I admit this one was better than Danse Macabre, it wasn't by much. At the beginning, it seems like we're back to the basic form of Anita and her job, Federal Marshall Anita Blake with one, soon to be two, orders of execution. Didn't last long, very much to my dismay.

While I admit I liked the whole `Harlequin' angle, I thought it original enough, it just turned into the same old-same old. Dull to the point of not wanting to continue. Very little in the way of investigation or fact finding. More explanations that could have used fewer words to get to the point. And while I praise that the sex didn't overrule the entire book like it did in Dance Macabre, there was still too much of it, especially the last third of the book. There's got to be a way of feeding the `ardeur' in as close as a manner but not everytime! Good grief! The repetitiveness of it is getting to be too much. I read a discussion earlier where someone posted, and I quote: "I was reading on her blog recently that she no longer was going to feel guilty about so much sex in the stories because some other author pointed out to her that it could be used to progress the story or define the character's relationships with one another." Okay, I'm sorry, but I didn't see any definement between characters. And Richard's same old-same old "unable to accept it" is getting very, very stale. Constantly running away instead of talking it out, of getting anything more out of it, he high-tails it, no pun intended. It's getting old, boring, and repetitive ~ I wanted to jump in the book and give Richard a good thrashing, even if only to ease my frustration.

I do, however, really like how the end of the book came about. More action, something new to think about. *sigh* I guess I'll have to wait and see what happens in Blood Noir. While this novel gives me hope after Danse Macabre, I want to see if the series is headed on a downslide. *shrug*

August 9, 2008
Don't bother reading this LAZY AUTHOR!
I wrote one review for this book but I don't think I successfully got the review inserted correctly...--and I feel so strongly about this review, because this book was so terrible I want readers to be warned .

SAVE your MONEY!! Don't waste it on this book, it is dreadful, trashy, obscene, gross...garbage storytelling.

Do read the first several books in this series but it is downhill from there. I read the first four books in this series and the heroine in the series, Anita Baker is a tough, savvy, independent, intelligent feminist Vampire Executioner--- this book is the 14th or 15th in the series and was just polar opposites in camparison to the heroine in the start of this series.

The heroine in this book is a whore to the vampires, werewolfs, wererats, 20 year old stripper boyfriend who is into S & M etc. she has the heroine living with two of her boyfriends--the author has made the heroine into a sex junky fool. She has the heroine screwing them all --the author has turned this promising heroine into a, porn, energizer-whore-bunny. And what I think is so funny, I think that the author took her personal physical characteristics and created the heroine Anita Blake to resemble herself--(look at early covers of Circus of the Damned and then look at the backcover photo of the author on this book note the likenss to herself)...so maybe this is Ms. Hamilton's twisted, sick fantasies in print but Ms. Hamilton spare the public please and readers save your money.

It is dreadful writing--if I could give this book no stars for a rating then that is what I would choose...or a 1/4 of a star just for accomplishing spelling.

The author needs to quit writing this series as she has lost her 'voice' in this series --what was a promising, satisfying series is now a gross, porn-slop story with no vision.

I will not be reading anymore in this series, my time is more valueable to waste reading a writer who is lazy --she wants to get a book publish and make a quick profit.

Happily, I did not purchase this book I got it from the library.

July 24, 2008
loved it
Many reader's of this series have become disappointed in the track/ path that series has taken. I have not. If one looks at Anita Blake's "abilities" and considers those, then the series had no choice but take this path. I for one still enjoy it throughly.

July 24, 2008
Done
When I first started reading the Anita series I loved it. I liked that Anita was independent, had a career, kicked butt and had tension with the bad boys of the city. I am so sad that she has turned into a whore who just sleeps with the whole city. Gone is the career she had, how she kicked butt and was independent and how she interacted with the police and the people that worked there. I'm not a prude and don't mind good, fun sex in a book, but this is just porn at this point with little plot to drive it. And now, we are back to considering dating Jean Claude and Richard again? (blood noir) Seriously?? Now it's just a re-hash of old plots and some porn. Boring. After 15 books, I'm done with this series. I recommend turning to Patricia Briggs and the Mercy Thompson series or Carrie Vaughn and the Kitty series, who both offer strong, independent women, some romance, a whole lotta trouble and a PLOT!

July 13, 2008
I think it's time to admit defeat.....
And stop reading this series....

When you find that you HATE all of the characters in a book....it might be time to let it go.

I really wanted Richard to die....
I wanted Jean-Claude to shut up or just never wake....
And Anita to keep her clothes on or atleast tell atleast one creature/man no thanks...

Will this series ever get back to good old fashion kick butt vampire hunting and killing....nope. It seems the author is a bit kinky and wants to prove just how kinky by messing up one of the most dynamic characters to hit the literary scenes in recent years....

Too bad....I give up.

July 4, 2008
She's running out of story ideas...
What can you expect after 16 books? Her story line has become so thin, she can barely flesh it out with sex. She needs to end this series and turn her talents to another.

June 30, 2008
Why the hell do I bother?
From "The Harlequin" hardback page.

I guess we can't give zero stars. There should be a warning label on any new book LKH writes. And that warning should be: may cause loss of braincells and momentary blindness. I honestly think I got dumber just reading this.

Aside from the profuse amount of grammatical errors I find extremely hard to believe a professional editor could NOT find, it's a trite piece of literary vomit which reduces plot to nothing more than meaningless and unflattering sex scenes. The characters are flat, uninteresting morons who talk too much about insignificant dramas unimportant to the feeble attempts at plot.

LKH has reduced a strong, independent woman who had human inadequacies to a stretchy vagina which sucks the life out of those around her. She managed to mutilate the character of the vampire who dared to love her and instead made him a background fan boy with repetitive and meaningless one liners. And Richard has spent the last five books as nothing more than a sniveling idiot who annoys the reader whenever he is introduced into a scene. Every background character from previous books who were amazing and had personalities of their own, like Asher and Damian, are nonexistent. Meanwhile old friends like Ronnie and Dolph are made out to be enemies because they don't approve of Anita's rapid character change. If LKH continues to be under the fervent belief that her characters actually speak to her--are real to her to the point where she actually considers buying them Christmas presents--she might want to listen to the minor ones who went from good friends to enemies because they don't praise Anita's preachy monologues and are not willing to stand in the background and let her save them.

I will never be able to sympathize with Anita Blake's character again. I can't sympathize with a character who is so powerful that she doesn't have any vulnerabilities. What makes a good series author is one who understands that killing off characters makes readers realize their mortality, their fragility. Kim Harrison, for example, showed her understanding of this concept when she killed off a main character and love interest in her book For a Few Demons More (Rachel Morgan, Book 5). Harrison did it because it was necessary to plot development. LKH hasn't made the sacrifice of a good main character since book 1. Flash forward to book 15, The Harlequin. These characters have lost their voices, their individuality, to the point where in a group discussion, I can hardly even tell who's speaking. And the sheer amount of characters over the course of a 15 book series, with no one dead and hardly any leaving, makes each group scene simply painful to read. I don't connect to these characters anymore. I can't connect to characters who are invulnerable and who rely on a superhuman woman who is more villain than hero.

LKH wrote in her blog that she thinks those of us who hate her current literary efforts are prudes who don't like to read books which push the envelope. Bad furry sex and lesbian dream sex isn't pushing the envelope; it's absolutely shudder worthy and the writing alone makes me feel physically ill and clutch my head in extreme mental anguish. Someone, ANYONE, tell this woman to stop writing.

June 23, 2008
a voice teacher and early music fan
'IF AT FIRST YOU DON'T SUCCEED, TRY TRY AGAIN'.
So said my Mother some 50 years ago, and so I applied this to Hamilton's recent book 'The Harlequin'. Finally last evening in utter disgust (after getting two-thirds of the way through the book) I threw it across the room and gave up and I will not try reading it again. What a pity that the 'muse' has apparently deserted Laurell!!Her series about Anita Blake was so well-done, full of interest and creativity; perhaps she should create a new character completely different from Anita. I don't know, but she is now relying on REALLY far-out sexual activity and filling Anita with so many animals to call, that it makes one dizzy trying to keep track of 'who's who'. I have to compare it to a composer of music that has run out of ideas,so that every so-called new work is entirely predictable. BORING!

Although I read a lot of Fantasy, this book left me frustrated and bereft of any excitement. Oh well, 'c'est la vie'.

June 10, 2008
Another winner
While I agree with other reviewers that the series has gone in a different direction than when it started, I don't see this as a bad thing. Isn't that the point of a series? To see where it can go and how the characters develop?

If it had stayed the same as the first 5-8 books it would become static and then everyone would complain that there is nothing new in her writing, just a rehash of the first books with different characters. That is why I stopped reading Feehan. Three of her series started out very intriguing and then it was all the same scenario with different people in a different place. If I want to read the same storyline I'll reread the first of the books.

I enjoyed this book as much as the others with one exception and that's why it got a 4 rating instead of a 5. There were some editing errors that while small things, really irritated me. Some references were made to some of the previous characters that were inacurate. (Example: They refer to Willy's girlfriend as Candy, her name is Hannah. Sylvie makes a comment about not being into women and she was introduced as a lesbian with a live in girlfriend. Plus a couple of other nit picky things like these.) When you are involved with the characters and know who they are, then there is a drastic change it throws everything off kilter for me. Other than that, the book is full of action, sex, character insight, and an all around good read as far as I am concerned and I will continue to read LKH and see where Anita goes next.

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