The Harlequin (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter) | 
 enlarge | Author: Laurell K. Hamilton
Publisher: Jove
Category: Book
List Price: $7.99
Buy New: $3.19
You Save: $4.80 (60%)
New (49) from $3.19
Avg. Customer Rating:  14 reviews
Sales Rank: 17879
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 448
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 6.6 x 4 x 1.3
ISBN: 0515144614
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780515144611
ASIN: 0515144614
Publication Date: April 29, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: New, Unread & Unused. 1st Edition. Gift Quality - No Marks!
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Product Description
The 15th Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter novel now in paperback
Into Anita Blakes worlda world already overflowing with power come creatures so feared that centuries-old vampires refuse to mention their names.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 9 more reviews...
 I think it's time to admit defeat..... July 13, 2008
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
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.
 She's running out of story ideas... July 4, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
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.
Why the hell do I bother? June 30, 2008
7 out of 11 found this review helpful
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.
 a voice teacher and early music fan June 23, 2008
4 out of 7 found this review helpful
'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'.
 Another winner June 10, 2008
5 out of 8 found this review helpful
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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