Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I've seen fans attacking others for having different points of view but as a reader who's been following every book released in this series I feel the right to express my opinion about it. If you don't like criticism, don't read it. If you insist, don't come nagging me because you didn't like what I said. I thought of writing a review purely about this book but I find it is impossible. I can't discard what's been happening in this series. Hamilton has completely lost herself, she has a huge universe she's created and doesn't know what to do with it, so she's been slowly ruining it. The point most people bring up when talking about Anita Blake is that the books started having too much sex. Well, I don't mind that. For me Laurell K. Hamilton can put in as much sex as she feels like, but she has to remember that even porn needs a story to be considered good (in books at least). She created an argument to introduce the sex scenes into the story and now everything falls into that excuse. Anita was a prude, thought everything was a sin, she was a one-guy kind of girl, then she thought better and decided she wanted to be a three-some kind of girl (Richard and Jean Claude) because she loved both (her idea of love is scary because she treated them both like garbage), then she got a power that forces her into a multiple partner relationship and she has to complain every step of the way even as we all know she enjoys it. Now, every time a sex scene comes it's always because of power necessity, be it to feed the ardeur or in need to gain more power or defend the power base. It can never be because she wants to be with the men she so eloquently says she loves. Sex became a tool and it's so mechanic, so the same thing all the time that it's just not interesting anymore. And honestly, it's so badly written in some parts that it's just too hard to understand who's where doing what. Then there are the two other sex problems. One, Hamilton had the absurd idea that introducing underage characters into Anita's orgies would be kinky. It's not kinky, it's sick. Two, it seems she has a need to include BDSM into the writing but doesn't know what she's talking about so it seems fake and she ends up "teaching" wrong concepts to her readers. If we can forget the whole sex problem, hard since it makes 99% of the series nowadays, there is the relationship itself. Anita is involved with how many men? I lost count by now but I'm also ok with that. What I can't take is that she's supposed to be the link between her guys, she's supposed to be the one that makes so much testosterone work together and instead she is the main problem in their relationship. She's so self-centered that they have to spell things out for her because either she can't deal with that right now (her favorite phrase) or she can't understand it. In some parts she's so slow to catch up that she sounds stupid. In this book, for instance, she takes forever to understand what Ash's problem is and it's been going on for several past installments. It was bound to happen and for a woman who prides herself in solving mysteries, she's very slow to catch people's moods and actions. You may say it was because Jean Claude didn't tell her. Honestly, would you? She snaps every time someone tries to talk to her about anything and I'm sorry but the whole anger excuse is not enough to justify her attitude. It's like she's in PMS 365 days a year. Every single man involved with her had to adapt to her way, so much so that now even Jean Claude, who used to be a very interesting character, became just another puppet for her. If that's Hamilton's concept of a strong woman, I feel bad for those who have to deal with her. Lashing out is not the same as strength. Anita has the potential of being one of the most powerful characters ever written, she collects abilities but she's always avoiding them. Yes, she doesn't want to be a monster, we get it. But she doesn't have to jump from two extremes all the time. When it comes to her powers, she's a victim to them and falls apart. When it comes to the people surrounding her and her relation to them, she's the hardest creature ever born. Wouldn't it be nice if she, just for once, found a middle ground? I honestly don't understand where Hamilton is trying to lead Anita. I never really liked Anita since the beginning, but I used to enjoy the series because of the other characters and the plots. Her attitude really annoys me but I could get past that for a good story. Now, it just seems the fountain has dried. The universe is there, the characters are still there but the plot is chasing its own tail and can't seem to find a way back on track. Even the writing is lacking its quality, weird phases, meaningless conversations - the phone conversation in this book about cussing, what was that? The whole book was insignificant and every metaphysical change that happened in it could have been easily put into a real story. I don't know if it's about a contract that forced a certain number of books or if it was a deadline, but this one was just a waste of time and money. Why have several pages about a school recital? Why so much talk about running tracks and a punching bag? What difference did those events make? Why use so much space to describe clothing? The whole Anita in shock part was just pathetic. She was numb because she killed a guy. Oh, come on. How many has she killed before that? How many times has she bragged about being able to go to her calm place and shoot whoever threatened her? That was ridiculous. But not as ridiculous as Richard's change of heart. Why insist on that? Since the first time Richard showed up it was clear he did not like to share. That's not a flaw! There are monogamous people. Hello? That created a long lasting problem and when we finally got rid of it, he pops back in with a personality transplant. I would love the phone of his therapist, she's a miracle worker or maybe he was brainwashed. The guy dreams of getting married, having children and the whole white picket fence thing. He's homophobic and he wants to be the most important person in a woman's life. Why on Earth would he go back to having a relationship with Anita and her men? And don't give me the anger excuse again. Yes, she pulled it back but he was not an angel before the triumvirate, these problems were already there. And I do have to say: Laurell, we are not stupid. If you write something once, we understand it. You don't have to use dozens of pages of the same thing over and over again. It becomes annoying. For example, Anita says her mind created a path for the animals inside her to run as an alert for when they want out. She's explained that for over five books, several times in each one. WE GET IT. MOVE ON. One last thing. Does anyone out there know why this book was named Bullet? Because if it is just because of the shooting, it shows the creativity problem LK Hamilton is going through. Ok, rant is over. It is just sad to have a series that could have been great turn into a mess of pages that don't make sense as a whole.