Burnt Offerings

When the vampire Master of St Louis starts an affair with the city's most notorious necromancer and executioner of vampires, it was bound to cause comment.

Anita Blake finds out, in Burnt Offerings, that there is something even her lover Jean-Claude fears--and that is the Council, the body of old and magically powerful vampires who decide policy and can condemn those who question their authority to a lingering undeath of supernatural torture. Among their servants is Jean-Claude's ex Asher, who blames him for his disfigurement at the hands of the Inquisition and for the death of the woman they both loved--and Asher has a perfect vengeance in mind.

As Laurel K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series proceeds, Anita becomes ever more powerful in her magics and her capacity to control supernatural entities; she also becomes ever more sexually magnetic, and the books more erotic, as she learns to cope with life as boss of a pack of were-leopards with a taste for SM and snuggling. And as the books proceed, the stakes get higher and higher--Laurell K. Hamilton does a nice line in sheer terror, whether fear of decay or fear of the preternaturally hot fire a pyrokineticist can throw at those who offend him. --Roz Kaveney

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Judgment Time - Rated
"I usually have to meet someone at least once before threatening to kill them, but I was about to make an exception."
A few books back Anita Blake killed Mr. Oliver, a powerful member of the vampire Council. Now the council has come to town, suspicious of why Jean-Claude won't take his seat with them, the seat that Anita unknowingly won for him. They put Jean-Claude and his human servant Anita through a series of gruesome trials, partly to determine the truth, partly for their own sadistic pleasures. And there's a firebug on the loose, too.
Very little of the original police procedural format, of Anita battling the monsters on behalf of the police, remains. Now she mainly battles monsters on behalf of other monsters, who are seemingly less monstrous -- maybe more 'human', certainly more complex -- as she gets to know them better. And that's straining her relationship with the police, too.
The changes in Anita herself through the series continue here. Her attitude to her scars has reversed: she used to cover them up, now she aggressively displays them. And initially pretty much a loner, she has taken on personal responsibility for Jean-Claude's vampires, Richard's werewolf pack, and now a pack of wereleopards, too. And her relationship with Richard and Jean-Claude is threatening to tear her up.

A much better book than books 5 or 6 in the series. - Rated
This was a much better book than anything I've read by Laurell K. Hamilton in a while.

In this book, Hamilton's lead character has to investigate a series of fires that seem be being set by someone and deal with the "Vampire Council" (who sort of oversee Vampiric affairs worldwide), who have come into the area, generally looking to assert their influence over the vampires in the area.

When I state the plot as badly as that, it might sound a little daft (if I'm honest it is a little daft) but compared to the immediate predecessor books in this series, it makes for a much better read, because it focuses on the story more.

ReadaHolick, - Rated
this book brings us some different characters. plus the ones we know and love already. the vampire council has arrived in town and taken over the circus of the damned. anita and jean-claude have a very nasty fight on there hands. they have to try and keep all there people safe or at least alive while they sort out the problem with the council, which is to explain the death of Mr Oliver, a council member who anita and co killed in the 3rd book circus of the damned.

The Triumvirate vs. The Council - Best Blake Book Yet!! - Rated
Anita Blake, Executioner, necromancer, human servant to a Master Vampire, lupa, acting-Alpha of a pack of werewolves, and leoparde-lionee to a pard of leopard lycanthropes, is changing...more so all the time. When Laurell Hamilton introduced her to us in "Guilty Pleasures," Book One of the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series, Anita was a 24 year-old dynamo - smart, attractive, feisty, super-independent - who raised the dead for a living. She was almost a normal 21st century career girl. Of course she staked rogue vampires as a sideline, but we all have our quirks. Anita's preternatural powers have been steadily increasing, and in "Burnt Offerings" the lines are really beginning to blur between her humanity and the supernatural. Always an uncompromising and tough lady, she's is developing a hardness, a detachment, that frightens even herself. In this novel she is ready to kill a werewolf who had betrayed the pack, even though murder is not necessary to punish the shapeshifter. She is indifferent about whether or not to pull the trigger. Killing means nothing to her, she realizes. Anita thinks, "I didn't want to kill anyone that coldly. Killing doesn't bother me, but it should mean something." Sergeant Rudolph Storr, the detective in charge of the Regional Preternatural Investigation Team, which Anita is a member of, tells her, "You just spend too much time with the damn monsters, Anita. You've played by their rules for so long, sometimes you forget what it's like to be normal."

Ms. Hamilton's plots are extraordinary, but the reason I am so addicted to the Anita Blake books is because of the characters. Anita is not the only one who has developed in a major three-dimensional way through seven novels. The other main characters: Vampire Master Jean-Claude; Werewolf Ulfric, Richard Zeeman; Larry Kirkland, vampire executioner trainee; Ronnie, Anita's best friend, and several minor personages have also grown, as have their relationships with Ms. Blake and each other. As exciting as the storylines are, I am constantly drawn back to the folks who people these novels. And the characters are what makes the series so unique and special.

"Burnt Offerings" has Sergeant Storr asking Anita for assistance with an outbreak of serious fires throughout St. Louis. Both Storr and Anita think the culprit may be a "firebug," a being who uses supernatural power to cause conflagrations. In the previous book, Anita, Richard, (her old boyfriend), and Jean-Claude, (her present lover), had formed a Triumvirate of power. In other words, when the three connect, they exude tremendous force and are able to do much more magic than any one or two can do alone. The three are still bound to each other, even though Richard is furious with Anita for dumping him, and jealous of Jean-Claude for obvious reasons.

Their Triumvirate has attracted the attention of the Vampire Council. This body of old and magically powerful vampires decide policy, and will condemn those who question their authority to a terrible undeath. They travel to St. Louis to investigate Jean-Claude, Richard and Anita, whom they view as a threat to their power. Some of these ancient beings have hidden agendas which make it almost impossible for our gang of three to survive the trials and tribulations before them. Anita is put in a position where she is forced to rescue not only friends, but enemies as well.

Ms. Blake's narrative is written with much flair and pizzazz, mixing fantasy with mystery, romance and dark humor. Her take on this derivative genre is a most unusual one. As I mentioned before, the characters and their relationships take precedence over the plot - which certainly doesn't suffer. The novel is chock-full of action, suspense and adventure, of the intelligent sort. Big pluses: introduced here are the Traveler, a Master Vampire who does not inhabit a body of his own, but moves from vampire to vampire, and Asher, someone from Jean Claude's past. The humor, dark as always, adds much to the novel....and there are plenty of laughs to counteract the violence. Overall, I cannot recommend this series enough. "Burnt Offerings" is the most complex novel yet.
JANA

In my opinion - anita at her best! - Rated
This book has a special place on my book shelf because it was the first Anita Blake book i read, and has fuled in me the need to read everthing else Larral k Hamalton has ever writen.
This is one of the best Anta books, its got everthing! Monsters, lovers, revenge, and sexual tention.
Amust read for anita fans - and if anyone is just starting out, this one should be recomended.