{"id":10605,"date":"2006-12-12T09:37:26","date_gmt":"2006-12-12T16:37:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2006\/12\/12\/book-review-narcissus-in-chains.html"},"modified":"2006-12-12T09:37:26","modified_gmt":"2006-12-12T16:37:26","slug":"book_review_narcissus_in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/12\/12\/book_review_narcissus_in.html","title":{"rendered":"Book Review – Narcissus in Chains<\/i>"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

Narcissus in Chains<\/strong><\/a><\/i> by Laurell K. Hamilton<\/strong> (2001) <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\nOverall<\/strong><\/td>\n\n<\/td>\n\nStory<\/td>\n\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\nRe-Readability<\/td>\n\n<\/td>\n\nCharacters<\/td>\n\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The tenth installment in the Anita Blake novels<\/a> is where the series really, truly, goes off the rails. This is as far as I’ve gotten, both in my original reading and in this current rereading of the series — though I’ve every attention of going on from here — but this book exemplifies what’s gone wrong with this series from its initial excellent start. <\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \nIf things don’t seem complicated enough, through in another major, critical crisis.<\/li>\n
  2. \nTell, don’t show. For a book supposedly chock-full of action (violence and sexual), people spend a lot<\/em> of time talking. And explaining. And describing. And delving into mystical backstory. And stuff that’s not moving the tale forward (just complicating it).<\/li>\n
  3. \nIf two people have talked about something, make sure that one of them talks about the same thing with someone else, preferably immediately following. Use some of the same phrases, too.<\/li>\n
  4. \nWhen in doubt, have Anita sleep with it. Or, if that’s too icky, shoot it. Or, if that’s inappropriate, get angsty about her desire to sleep with it and\/or shoot it.<\/li>\n
  5. \nIf last book’s menace was the most evil, perverted, nasty, unspeakable, powerful critter one could imagine in one’s nightmares, make sure that the menace in this book is at least twice as evil, perverted, nasty, unspeakable, and powerful.<\/li>\n
  6. \nSince Anita barely handled last book’s menace, make sure her powers get similarly escalated (in size, number, or both) this time. She is, after all, an Animator, Master Necromancer, Vampire Hunter, Vampire Servant, Triumvirate Member, Lupa<\/em> of the Werewolves, Lover of the Master of the City, Nimir-Ra<\/em> of the Wereleopards, Associate of the Cops, Bad-Ass, Smart-Ass, and, eventually, Were-Partridge of the Pear Tree.<\/li>\n
  7. \nIf Anita seems to be reconciling with someone she loves, make sure they do something particularly repulsive or treacherous. If someone seems to be getting closer to Anita, make sure she does something ultra-violent to drive them away. Rinse, repeat.<\/li>\n
  8. \nCome up with another vampire power. Or two. Or three.<\/li>\n
  9. \nCome up with another were-species. Or two. Or five.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    These tendencies had been in the series before, almost from the start. But they’re highlighted by the preceding volume, Obsidian Butterfly<\/em><\/a>, that both gets Anita out of St Louis and manages to focus (more) on a single member of her supporting cast, Edward. Returning to her home city and its cast of zillions, Anita not only is ready to make the same mistakes, she has some
    \nmonths of neglect to clean up after, too. Thus, everything gets longer and more complicated and overblown. <\/p>\n

    This book so badly<\/em> needs an editor to cut out about 1\/3 of what’s going on — cast, crises, and metaphysics. The book is bloated with them, all held together by Anita getting herself into a mess by either being too ruthless or too soft or both. Folks worried that there isn’t enough sex can rest assured that Anita’s being overcome by a lust curse, alongside yet another love\/lust interest entering the game. Folks worried there’s not enough violence can rest assured that were-critters can be shot at and
    \ntortured ad infinitum<\/em>, and so they are. <\/p>\n

    There are about three books in this one, as well as about three weeks of action, but Hamilton mushes it all together into a volume still huge but still almost incoherent in its twisted knots. It’s little wonder the protagonist keeps forgetting the twenty impossible things she has to do before breakfast (or sunrise), because there are so many that the readers forget, too, and it’s a wonder the author doesn’t. <\/p>\n

    So why, with all of that, do I keep reading these books — in fact, rereading them? <\/p>\n

    Because there is<\/em> some good stuff in here. The sex? Meh. Out-of-control (or all-about-control) passion leaves me cold here, as graphic as it is. The romance? Okay, if repetitive from every other previous installment. <\/p>\n

    But the action scenes are pretty good, too and the magic\/supernatural stuff (aside from its ever-escalating and occasional deus ex machina<\/em> natures) is rich and interesting. The cast, always metastisizing, is, individually, well-drawn. The overall theme of What is human? What is a monster? Is it what you are, or what you do? And which of those do you have any control over? <\/em>remains throughout, profound in its implications, and paradoxically muddied yet enhanced by Anita’s ever-increasing stable
    \nof associates, dependents, and powers. <\/p>\n

    It’s like eating that third piece of very sweet and rich dessert — I know I shouldn’t, I know it won’t taste as good as the first piece, and will likely give me a stomach-ache, but I just can’t help myself. <\/p>\n

    Now, if I can just find the next two volumes from wherever they got tidied to after our weekend away and the in-law visit, I can continue … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Narcissus in Chains by Laurell K. Hamilton (2001) Overall Story Re-Readability Characters The tenth installment in the Anita Blake novels is where the series really, truly, goes off the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media-books"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10508,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/01\/03\/book_reviews_incubus_drea.html","url_meta":{"origin":10605,"position":0},"title":"Book Reviews: Incubus Dreams and Micah","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 3-Jan-07 7:57pm","format":false,"excerpt":"The Bataan Sex March continues with the last Anita Blake novels out yet in paperback. \u00a0 Incubus Dreams by Laurell K. 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