Book Review
Title: Bloody Bones (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Book 5) by Laurell K. Hamilton
Genre: Paranormal, Romance
Rating: 4.5 Stars
I read the first four book in the Anita Blake series really close together and while I enjoyed them none of them have been stand out reads for me but I have been informed the series get better the further in you get so I am jumping back in with Bloody Bones and I am hoping there is more spicy content in this book than the previous instalments. The Opening to Bloody Bones was interesting as Anita is being giving a raising but this one is different as she will be required to raise an entire graveyard without a human sacrifice and even Anita isn’t sure she can do it because all the bodies are jumbled together and there are no name which are usually vital for raising but Anita isn’t a normal reanimator. Before she leaves she goes to see Richard and things seem to be heating up between them but after five weeks of dating both Richard and Jean-Claude, Anita knows she has to make a decision and it is going to end badly either way since Jean-Claude won’t let her go and he has proven he is willing to kill Richard to have Anita. Before she can do much at the construction site where the raising will happen she gets a call from Dolph about three dead bodies near her location and she is being sent to go and see if there is anything supernatural involved in the murder and decides to take Larry along for the ride even though he isn’t part of spook squad like she is. Honestly, jumping back into these books is so easy as they often recap the previous book and there are really easy to read which means I’ll probably fly through this. There is a common theme of the book titles relating to place and much like The Lunatic Café and Guilty Pleasures, Bloody Bones is a restaurant owned by a family that claim the land the construction site is on belongs to them even though the council decided otherwise and the raising is to prove whether or not it is a family plot like the one family claim it is.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, Anita visits the crime scene and speculates that Sergeant Freemont has a serial killer vampire on her hands since that is the only thing that makes sense to her unless it is something else she hasn’t encountered before. After leaving they decide to stop by the Bloody Bones to understand why the Bouvier family won’t sell the land if it does turn out to be there which Anita strongly suspects it is. However, upon entering the bar she is stunned by the amount of magic being used there and soon learns that the owner, Magnus Bouvier is a fairie. Magnus doesn’t want to sell the land because it has been in his family for centuries and house their family’s dead so it is important to them which Anita understands. Despite this she can’t shake the suspicions that Magnus might have something to do with the murders they have just seen since fairies have strong magic and are unpredictable in nature as well as skilled manipulators. Anita is interrupted since there is another vampire attack close by but this one seems simpler than the others. This time it is a young girl who has been bitten three times after inviting the vampire in meaning she is going to become a vampire. The parents who are deeply religious want her staked since she is only 17 making the turning illegal but she also learns that the girl, Ellie’s boyfriend, Andy is missing. The parents don’t like him and Anita believes that Andy was turned into a vampire and over the past three nights he has bitten Ellie in order to turn her but the parents want her staked which means true death and Anita knows she has to find and kill the vampire that did this even if it was consensual. With it being a small town and everyone knowing everyone the Sheriff is going to have no trouble getting the court order to stake the girl and kill the vampire responsible but something doesn’t feel right about the situation to Anita and it is the same feeling she had at the previous crime scene and she can’t put her finger on what’s causing it.
As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, Anita, Larry and some of the local police that have experience with vampires head out into the night to hunt down Ellie’s killer only to be attacked shortly after. They manage to fend off these vampires but Anita spots that one of them is able to do things she has never seen before and before she knows it they have headed back to the house. By the time they arrive, the Sheriff’s wife has been killed although he kills the vampire that did it in return and the son, Jeff has been taken by the vampires. The Feds also show up around this time, a few minutes late to be of any assistance but they know of Anita and take her side against Freemont. As Anita needs to get in touch with the Master Vampire of the city for information she calls the only person she can for help, Jean-Claude. Jean-Claude is surprised by the phone call but when Anita discusses Jeff, Jean-Claude seems to know who is behind these killings and won’t speak his name. All he drops is there is some sexual motive behind these kidnappings and murders especially where underage or young looking boys are concerned but that makes Ellie an outlier but Jean-Claude explains he could target girls and women if pushed. This vampire isn’t like anything Anita has encountered before and she is relieved that Jean-Claude is flying down to help her that night even if she won’t say it out loud which makes me think there is some hope for this pair but it is going to take a lot for her to overcome her prejudices against vampires. Magnus Bouvier has also disappeared into the night making Anita question why since he doesn’t seem to be in league with the vampires and had a comfortable setup there apart from the company trying to buy the land with the burial plot and I can’t wait to find out what is really going on.
As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, the zombie raising has taken a backseat to the vampire hunting and I am not disappointed about it since I found the raisings to be a little boring until there is something unique about them. Anita is trying to make sense of everything but the pieces just aren’t fitting together like they should which is throwing her off and she is also very concerned for Jeff’s life because as she says she’d like to save someone just once rather than mourn them which isn’t putting her in a good mood. She returns to the construction site with Larry in order to feel out the dead there and see if it is possible for her to raise them all at once without a human sacrifice and she uses some of Larry’s power to do this. However, they are interrupted by Magnus who warns her not to raise the dead there although he won’t tell her why which doesn’t sit right with Anita but it does make her think twice about what she is going to be doing especially since she knows that some of the bodies there are almost 100 years older than what they claimed in the beginning and if Anita hates anything more than the undead it’s lairs. This chain of thoughts is interrupted by the arrival of Jean-Claude and Jason, who end up staying in Anita’s hotel room because someone stole Jean-Claude’s coffin and the relationship between the pair while it still isn’t amazing has gone from hostility to teasing and flirting on Jean-Claude’s part which Anita seemingly tolerates without reacting the way she has before. As dawn breaks, Anita knows that she is going to have to make up her mind over whether she is raising the dead at the construction site before she goes to do battle with the vampire or vampires that took Jeff and in these encounters there is always a huge chance that Anita might not walk out alive or uninjured but at least Jean-Claude is there to help.
As we cross into the second half of the novel, we haven’t seen much of Richard and I’m a little disappointed by that but in previous novels we’ve seen far more of him than Jean-Claude and seeing him now I am eternally grateful for it as he knows how to press Anita’s buttons. The next night Anita is visited by Magnus’ sister, Dorrie who explains something about their family and how they have been in control of a sealed fae for centuries but this one isn’t like them and if it is unleashed then it will kill countless people and Anita wants to see it for herself but first she has a vampire problem to deal with. The Master of this city is Serephina who Jean-Claude knew a long time ago when he was young and she was already centuries old but the moment they arrive he knows they have potentially walked into a trap. There are five other vampires there, several of which are older than Jean-Claude who take pleasure in terrorising humans without technically breaking the law. Jean-Claude challenges one but he is older and stronger than Jean-Claude so he is immediately on the backfoot but is still surprised when Anita challenges another because their sight doesn’t work on her thanks to Jean-Claude’s mark and surprisingly she wins as the vampire had to resort to brute strength which wasn’t allowed. The battle is brief before several of the vampires flee but Jean-Claude is gravely injured and it requires both Jason and Anita feeding him a large amount of blood to get him back. However, Jean-Claude is a little drunk from their blood since neither of them is technically human which was hilarious to see especially the chaser comment. The vampire then call a truce which is when Magnus arrive and explains that he is bound to the Master here although Anita can’t figure out why and it is beginning to bug her but they are now going to meet Serephina and I can’t wait to see what happens.
As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, the meeting with Serephina goes nowhere near what anyone expected as Jean-Claude is the first to admit that she has gained a lot of power in a small amount of time meaning he is no match for her. Serephina shows off some of her abilities and is stunned when Anita resists them not once but twice and she lets them leaves making a promise to track down and deal with Xavier but whether Jeff will be returning unharmed remains to be seen. After getting back to the hotel we see some delightful scenes between Anita and Jean-Claude as she is getting closer to admitting what she feels for the vampire is love not lust but she isn’t quite there yet. Learning some of Jean-Claude history and the abuse he suffered in his upbringing was heart-breaking as was Anita’s reaction to it. The small spicy scene we get between them was divine and while I don’t have any hope for a sex scene in this book I think in the next couple we might actually get it but I don’t know how this is going to impact her relationship with Richard as I really like him too. Anita is worried about her feelings for Jean-Claude especially after she witnesses him die when the sun comes up and it breaks her heart a little but she is more worried that Serephina might have marked her since she is appearing in Anita’s dreams which shouldn’t be happening. However, she and Larry have to meet with Dorrie and realise that Magnus has been feeding from the trapped fae which might have loosened the restraints on it meaning it could be responsible for the murders that have been happening lately but I can’t wait to see how the novel ends and whether we get any more progress in the relationship between Anita and Jean-Claude.
As we cross into the final section of the novel, there is so much that goes on between Anita, Jean-Claude and Serephina that it was really difficult to understand what was going on. The final battle was amazing but it does seem that something happened to Anita when Serephina bound Anita to her, something so strong that when Serephina died, Anita felt it as if she was dying and the methods Serephina used in order to get Anita were pure cruelty. I was hoping for something to happen between Jean-Claude and Anita at the end of the novel especially the way he tried to stop her from becoming Serephina’s even though Anita knew it was the only way to save them all, but I can’t wait to see what happens in The Killing Dance since I’ve already seen a lot of spoilers for that book and know something major is coming and I can’t wait to see it with my own eyes.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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