Category: Reviews

Anita Blake Vampire Hunter: Circus of the Damned – Book One: The Charmer (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter: Circus of the Damned #1) by Laurell K. Hamilton, Jessica Ruffner, Ron Lim (Illustrator)

BEST-SELLING AUTHOR LAURELL K. HAMILTON’S FAN-FAVORITE VAMPIRE HUNTER RETURNS! Anita Blake walked away from her last case with more than a few bruises–but those wounds are nothing compared to the scrapes that lie ahead in this blood-soaked adaptation of Hamilton’s third erotic thriller. To find a killer targeting the undead, Anita must descend into the dangerous, supernatural demimonde operated by the master vampire Jean-Claude. It will take all of Anita’s wits to survive

Hardcover, Graphic Novel, 120 pages Published February 9th 2011 by Marvel (first published January 19th 2011) ISBN 0785146881 (ISBN13: 9780785146889)

A new body is found that has several bites from different vampires. This leads Anita to believe there is a new group of vampires in town. She feels no choice but to turn to Jean-Claude, master vampire, to see if he knows who could be killing the victims.

Jean Claude thinks it’s time to have a little fun and games before helping her. While on a visit to his new club, The Circus of the Damned, Anita is put in the  middle of a little game of jealousy between the vampire Yasmeen and her human slave. It seems that Yasmeen likes watching the human slaves fight each other, of course Anita has the upper hand, but when a shifter joins in the fun, someone is bound to get hurt. Luckily, a mutated giant snake has started attacking people. The group decides to end their games and work together to kill the snake.

Anita makes a new enemy of the Humans First group who’re out to kill the master vampire – the
same master vampire that Anita currently has ties to. and those ties that are getting more intense by the day. Anita shows the same stubborn ability to piss off a new group of people, and protect those she believes have not done anything wrong.

We finally get a hint at a romance in this one. But how is Anita going to be able to fit a romance into her already hectic lifestyle? I’m pleased to say that Anita stays true to form; a lot of bad assery and very little complaining.

Great visuals along with equal amounts of dialogue; full colored glossy pages, gore, and some language and nudity.

Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter: The Laughing Corpse, Volume 1: Animator (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter: The Laughing Corpse #1) by Laurell K. Hamilton, Ron Lim (Illustrator)

Anita Blake is back in the second volume of Marvel’s comic adaptation of Laurell K. Hamilton’s bestselling series of novels. What would you do for a million dollars? Would you resurrect a two-and-one-half-century old corpse? Harold Gaynor poses just that question to Animator and part-time vampire hunter, Anita Blake… Plus, some crime scenes are even too horrible for a vampire slayer, and the worse they are, the more questions they raise.

Anita Blake: The Laughing Corpse – Book One #1-5  Hardcover, Graphic Novel, 120 pages Published May 13th 2009 by Marvel Comics (first published January 1st 2008)

ISBN  0785136320 (ISBN13: 9780785136323)

In one of her more intense and gory stories, The Laughing Corpse, Anita Blake is offered millions of dollars to raise a very old zombie from the dead. She (being her stubborn self) turns down the job. By in doing so, she puts into motion several different events that eventually lead to a tough choice; give in and accept the job, or lose her life. The longer the person is dead, the more blood it takes to awaken them. As the person in question here is 283 years dead, she must sacrifice a human to be able to raise the zombie. This she refuses to do. Although she has killed humans before, it has always been in self defense. She sticks to her decision and is rather adamant and threatening when pushed.

After refusing the job, she begins to have unwelcome visitors at her house. Not only that, but as she is on retainer with the local police department, she’s pulled into an unusual murder that has taken place not far from town. There is a creature killing innocent people and a 3 year old has gone missing.

This series of books (The Laughing Corpse, Animator, Executioner, Necromancer) is more gory and intense than others in the series. Anita is pushed to her limits with no sign of a vacation in sight. With a full time job raising zombies for clients through Animator’s Inc, and her investigative work finding the creatures killing innocent people for the police, she rarely sleeps or eats. We don’t seen her in any type of type of normal relationship. It’s all business with her.

After turning down another offer from the Vodun priestess, Anita gets in deeper than ever and she starts sleeping with a gun by her side. Anita seems to have so much on her plate already, then the new master of the city (Vampire master, that is!) Jean-Claude, enters. Anita and Jean-Claude have a history together. He has marked her twice already and is planning on making her his human slave. They have a deep connection from the previous bites and Anita is bitter and incredibly anxious to disconnect their newly made mind bond. She tries to escape him and his games but no matter how hard she tries, he will not let her.

The graphic novels maintain a good balance between dialogue and illustrations and the story keeps up an intense pace.

Reviewed by Cels Jansink

When the body of a famous Hollywood director is found covered in an occult tattoo and embalmed in the cement floor of his own film set, N.T.A trainee Kannon Dupree is hired to return to 1939 to find out just who put him there. Unfortunately, this particular director had a habit of making enemies where ever he went and the list of suspects is long and Kannon’s time short. While on the set of “Gone with the Wind” and mixing with Hollywood’s elite, she stumbles across a disturbing mystery with its roots stretching all the way back to the Civil War. Among the bright lights and superstars, Kannon must decipher the truth before its too late, after all, time travel can be murder, as any time-travelling detective knows only too well.

“Hoodwink” is the second in the “Kannon Dupree- Timestalker” series and has certainly taken the drama to a whole new level.  This series combines the best of the mystery genre with an added dash of sci-fi and the supernatural to constantly keep your heart racing and mind puzzling.

The plot is an absolute twisting and turning delight and the cast of characters so diverse and realistic, you’ll feel you’ve jumped the portal right along with Kannon. I found myself so deeply immersed in the action and unwinding mystery that I had a hard time putting it down. I could have quite happily climbed into the pages and given Kannon a helping hand myself; I was on tenterhooks the whole journey. Not only is this so vividly rich and high- octane level drama, there was just something so deeply compelling about the playground Roberts’ has created, I wanted in on grilling those suspects too.

Roberts’ has paid great attention to detail of not only the Civil War but Gone with the Wind as well. Even if you have no idea about that period or the story, details have been interwoven with such skill that you will emerge from the story feeling enlightened and impressed by the realism it adds to the plot.

Gone with the Wind is still such an iconic film and literary creation and the array of stars from the period such as Gable, Leigh and Lombard are still names that are recognised today. I was a little apprehensive that the central mystery would get a little lost behind all the glitz and glamour. I worried about absolutely nothing. Roberts’ has created not only a striking and strong “voiced” lead who grabs a hold of the reader’s attention and keeps you thick of the action right from the beginning, but she has woven the golden age of Hollywood into a stunning setting without overshadowing our quest one bit.

This truly is mystery at its finest and Kannon a fresh new breed of P.I. I would ideally recommended you read the first of Kannon’s adventures- “Gladiatrix” for Kannon’s full backstory and to understand our lead’s motives all the more, but at the same time they both stand on their own as independent reads.

Hoodwink is a definite 5/5 star read and I can’t wait to see where Kannon leads us next.

Hoodwink- Rhonda Roberts

Harper Voyager

ISBN:978-0-7322-8856-3

562 Pages