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Whistle Stopper - The Harlequin (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 15)
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List Price: $25.95
Our Price: $5.95
Your Save: $ 20.00 ( 77% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Berkley Hardcover
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Average Customer Rating:   
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780425217245
ISBN: 0425217248
Label: Berkley Hardcover
Manufacturer: Berkley Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 432
Publication Date: 2007-06-05
Publisher: Berkley Hardcover
Studio: Berkley Hardcover
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Enjoying it for the very reasons critics whine - LKH offers us mirrors and possibilities
Comment: Goodness, all the whining and complaining, combined with all the hyperboloid praise, would turn any author's head ... into mush. Good thing LKH doesn't read reviews. Frankly, for me, and for many of us quietly enjoying her artistry, the very plot devices and dialogue qualities that people alternately whine and glow about are what simply please us the most.
What if the criticized and beloved characters and plot lines are actually imperfect and growing, on purpose, and neither mistakes nor genre-typical simplistic devices machined to keep the dough rolling in? What if we are invited to grow, too, through the seeming imperfections?
As a human development specialist, I've felt relieved to read LKH's style, to see the ludicrously predictable hyper-drek of this genre meet the deeper, less-attractive qualities of the real human spirit. Oh yes, our favorite characters (and there are many!) are bull-headed, inane, cruel, surprising, narcissistic, passionate, bellicose, stupid, grandiose, ridiculous, insightful, incomplete, cheesy, shallow, tender, and confused. *But then again, so are we all.* And THIS is where LKH shines above and beyond the usual drek of this genre, which I normally dislike intensely. The author gives us more than what we expect - through fantasy, she gives us a detailed mirror of our own selves, warts and all.
Frankly, unlike some of LKH's critics, after the first few novels, I never wanted to read about exploding guts and impossibly studly Anita's many, beloved, penis-oid guns, ever, ever again. Freud, save me from the boredom. But then LKH began developing Anita and some of her relationships. And then more of her relationships, and the relationships between the relationships, aka politics. And despite the surreal surface complexities, the deeper issues that each character faces are surprisingly realistic, in that the politics and politicians are also just as desperate, stupid, pathetic, surprising, smart, defensive, and inconsistent as we and ours are in real life. Again, LKH holds up the mirror for us to consider.
And the rampant sexuality, I find fascinating. Overdone, certainly. But still beneficial, in that the author offers a relatively mainstream readership in repressed/overwrought American society further insights into the variety and possibilities of the human sexual-relational experience. She offers us possibility - we could, if we wanted to, give ourselves permission to be even a little more open, exploratory, and creative with our hearts, minds, beliefs, and bodies. Furthermore, for those whining about what LKH has done so far with the ardeur, notice that it's no different than what *we've already done in our society* - superficially hypersexualized the experience, and wrapped it in a shiny, neurotic bow. So if you don't like what LKH is showing you in the mirror, change the image you offer her.
Blessedly, though, in this novel, the author takes the ardeur one giant step beyond where we are as a society and points to another possibility.... without spoiling the plot, I'll just ask readers to see what happens next.... could it be a growing maturity? A tentative step into a new direction? Can you stand the possibility?
As for the accusation of underdeveloped plotlines, all I can say is, Of Course! Keep us coming back for more - how does character X (whether it's Harlequin, Nathaniel, or anyone/thing else) handle life after getting lucky, or acting stupid, or missing the point, etc? What if not-knowing in one book becomes knowledge-gained in another?
I've read reviews of her next book that suggest that, among other surprises, Jean-Claude gets insecure. I cannot *wait* to see what LKH does to develop this. His impossibly smooth competence was getting on my nerves, and I've been hoping that he'd learn to be human again.
I wonder what would happen if fantasy as a genre became beautifully, imperfectly human again? I know I'll stick around to find out.......
Customer Rating:
Summary: The library is your friend...
Comment: Remember that and don't waste your money buying this book. I wasn't able to finish TH as I was seriously afraid it would turn me off reading altogether. When will LKH learn that stories need a plot and that sex is NOT a plot. If the sex was well written and erotic then I could almost forgive the weak plots in the past 5 or so books. But it isn't. It's simply bad porn - repetitive and boring. At least TH was consistent to her past few AB books as they have been: 1) consistently bad and 2) consistently inconsistent regarding characterizations and Anitaverse rules.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Have I read this book before?
Comment: Okay - number 15 - running out of plot ideas, are we? A few name changes and such, and !poof! you have "The Harlequin", a book that eerily seems familiar to all the other Anita Blake books, and not to far off from anything written by Laurell K Hamilton. If you liked her other books enough to read them again, go ahead and read this one. For everyone else, there are enough books out there that don't have that deja vu feeling to waste your time with repeat #15.
Customer Rating:
Summary: About time the girl woke up and got back to kicking butts giving out sass.
Comment: I missed the tough skinned Anita, and now we got her back. The past few books have been to sappy and over sexed to the point of boredom. I cherished that some of my favorites have returned and LOVE the fact Anita is finally getting her backbone and smart-mouth self back in the picture for readers to enjoy. The helpless maiden bit was getting old. If I wanted to deal with over emotional whiney women I would go spend thanksgiving with my family. I cannot wait for the next book.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Whew...got through another one
Comment: I agree with a previous reviewer. I think I got through this book alot easier by deciding the story has turned into a sort of comedy...though un-intentional. Seriously...I laughed alot. I woke my husband when I bust out laughing about the condom apparently falling off the swan king. Are you kidding? But then I forgot how much she enjoys watching all her men *work* if you know what I mean. Of course that would be the only place she would be looking after the guy turns into a swan! I thought I was crazy when I connected the red shirts to Star Trek...haha..glad I'm not the only one. The ENDLESS dialog about Anita thinking everyone is picking on her, and snoozer sex scenes (oh add some additional whinney dialog there too)....wait....wasn't some/most of that passed off as the Harlequin *messing* with them?
Regardless, there are only so many times I can tolerate Anita or any of her men saying what "flat does it for them". I get it...just about anything flat does it for her. When I read that term "mommie dearest" for the Mother of All Darkness, I always want to cry out "no wire hangers EVER!!" I'll probably read the next one. It's like driving and watching a major car crash in slow motion. You know you really need to move on and you can't help but stick around to see how bad it can get.
I guess I can say at least she spent a couple hours at the office this time, Dolph, Zabrowski, and Edward make shadow appearances. I know I won't need to wait for long on the library list to check it out. Stay tuned!!
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Editorial Reviews:
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Readers haven't seen anything yet-new in the "fabulously imagined series" (Publishers Weekly) from the #1 New York Times bestselling author. Anita Blake is about to face the challenge of her life. Into her world-a world already overflowing with power-have come creatures so feared that powerful, centuries-old vampires refuse to mention their names. It is forbidden to speak of The Harlequin unless you've been contacted. And to be contacted by The Harlequin is to be under sentence of death. Long-time rivals for Anita's affections, Jean-Claude, Master Vampire of the City, and Richard, alpha-werewolf, will need to become allies. Shapeshifters Nathaniel and Micah will have to step up their support. And then there's Edward. In this situation, Anita knows that she needs to call the one man who has always been there for her...
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