Book Review
Title: Narcissus in Chains by Laurell K. Hamilton (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Book 10)
Genre: Paranormal, Romance, Action
Rating: 5 Stars
Returning to this universe after being out of it for months was surprisingly easy and honestly I got sucked back in so easily it was scary. We pick up with Anita having not spoken to Jean Claude or Richard for six months but when Nathaniel is being held at a club called Narcissus in Chains she knows she has no choice but to call Jean Claude. He obviously agrees to help and gets Anita to admit that she wants to close the holes in their auras but is afraid to do so in case she loses herself which was what she feared all along but now it needs to be done because the enemies they are facing are getting stronger. We also learn during this time that Jean Claude and Richard have been facing issues because of Anita’s indecision and she has only now realised it.
Upon arriving at the club they have backup in the form of other were creatures and vampires but when it comes down to actually filled their auras by joining them together, Anita is terrified to take down her shields and truly face her emotions for Jean Claude and by extension Richard. However, when Richard appears it has a calming effect on Anita and allows them to summon the magic they need thrilling Narcissus. Upon learning that the leopards belong solely to Anita despite sharing power with a master vampire and ulfric, Narcissus tries to kiss Jean Claude and is rebuffed and this for some reasons irks Narcissus leading to a private discussion. The opening also brought back one of my favourite characters in Asher and the chemistry between him and Anita is divine and I want to see more of him.
Altering sealing their bond properly the sexual desire is building between the trio but they have to deal with Narcissus. Narcissus had deals with Riana and Gregory the previous leaders of the wolf and leopard packs where they would send him gifts in the form of submissives as a bargain. Neither Anita or Richard want to take part in such a deal, unwillingly to force their people to take part in these things they don’t want or in Nathaniel’s case unable to say no even when he needs to bringing them to a stalemate. In the end, Asher steps in and offers himself to Narcissus but as dominant not submissive. Narcissus accepts but it seems like Asher is doing it to spite Jean Claude after their previous relationship and not being able to rekindle that romance because it wouldn’t sit right with Anita. This is hypocritical for her because she knows there is something going on with Richard and Jean Claude and has no issue with it but when asked if she would leave Jean Claude if he was sleeping with a man she says yes which I didn’t really get since she has great chemistry and a good friendship with Asher.
In getting her wereleopards back a fight ensues as it always does with Anita although she tries her best to avoid this outcome. During the fight she is pinned and attacked by a shifter and saved by Gregory but in the heat of it, Gregory accidentally claws Anita infected her with lycanthropy meaning she is now a shifter or so they believe. Upon waking from the coma like state she has been in to heal, Anita is dazed and confused but meets Micah, the leader of another leopard pard. He has the power to heal through touch and when he does this to Anita it awakens something in her linked to Micah but she doesn’t understand it. This experience is tainted for her and she is confused and feels forced into an encounter she didn’t understand but when Cherry confirms her new status things get even worse. Due to saving Anita, Jean Claude has been arrested and she can’t go and save him straight away without giving away her new status and Richard has kidnapped Gregory.
Gregory was taken because Richard felt he turned Anita deliberately but we know this wasn’t true and the wolves are voting on executing him because she is dead to them now. Even though she is still alive she can’t lead the leopards and be Richard’s lupa and we know the role Anita prefers. Despite this she calls Richard who refuses to work with her clinging to his ideals which aren’t working the way he expected and he can’t even pull rank in the pack now. Anita warns Richard in advance that she is going to fight to get Gregory back and if he does end up being killed them Richard and the other wolves will pay with their lives. This conflict has arisen because of the third in the pack, Jacob and Anita explains to him that despite not being allowed a gun during the challenge if Gregory dies then she will hunt him down and urges him to find a new plan. This new Anita was amazing, she still sassy and badass but feels genuinely connected to her leopards as she is willing to fight, kill and die for them. This is spelling the end of Richard and Anita when they just got to the point where Anita was ready to date both him and Jean Claude and Richard is throwing it away but I’m hoping Asher and Micah will fill the wolf sized hole left by Richard.
In the wake of completing their bond and the transformation, Anita inherited the ardeur from Jean Claude. This is because he has an incubus’ nature meaning he can feed off lust as well as blood but both have consequences should he abstain the way he has been doing in the past few years. Anita because of this ends up sleeping with Micah and is confused by her feelings throughout since she doesn’t want it but can’t stop. Not even Jean Claude can help her because of his own experience with the ardeur and that she needs to master it alone like her other powers. This does lead to her experimenting a little with Nathaniel and it helps them both since Anita sees she can feed without sex but also provide Nathaniel with what he needs from her. During this time she thinks about replacing Richard with Asher in the triumvirate because she realises that she genuinely loves Asher for who he is now not who he was before. She even convinces Asher and Jean Claude to feed together like they used to and I can’t wait for more of these scenes between Anita and men that actually want her unlike Richard. Jason really made me laugh during these scenes but he does have a heartfelt moment with Anita, since she realises he wants her for her not because of what she can give him. I think that something might happen between them but it would be more of friends helping each other rather than lovers. It was also nice to see Anita’s police friends opening their eyes to how she feels about Jean Claude despite him being a vampire.
Anita is struggling to control the ardeur but it seems that this power and the power of the shifters she has been given are progressing faster than they normally would in others. This is a little worrying but shows that she will truly rule the leopards regardless of whether she changes form or not and most believe she will. She also seems to have taken Nathaniel as her pomme de sang which makes her realise until that moment she had really been seeing him as a person but as a burden to carry because of his issues. In addition to the wererats, the wereswans are also coming as her ally to the lunapar which shows she has friends she can call on should she needs it. Before the meeting starts however, we see Anita and Micah bonding with their respective pards making them one and she shows everyone including Rafael and Richard what it truly means to be a pack but Micah’s pard have their own problems that Anita is going to deal with eventually.
As we head into the second half of the novel, I was completely invested in these new characters and what their dynamic are going to be going forward. The Lunapar goes surprisingly well with Anita passing the test due to calling Raina and that snaps Richard out of the jealous pit he has been in. It also shows Richard that his democracy is never going to work and he must make his presence as Ulfric known. He starts by freeing Gregory, working with Anita to do so and putting the ones responsible for his treatment in his place but Gregory is in an unbelievably bad way. Anita brings the leopards back to her place but Micah is called away with a few others in order to retrieve one of their leopards. When things are looking dire for Gregory, Anita is asked to try and call his beast forth so he can heal but she needs Raina to do it. Raina shows her evil streak her treating Anita to her memories of mutilating the leopards including Gregory forcing Anita to lock her back up and she leaving Gregory injured. In the end she is forced to call Richard for instruction since he can call beasts forth but he is extremely jealous of Anita’s dynamic with Nathaniel causing more issues with the changing dynamics of the group.
As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, I was really enjoying that this book is different from the rest of the series so far since there isn’t really a big bad to fight. In the previous books there has been a big bad to fight and they have felt repetitive but this book focuses a lot more on the were politics and societies which was really refreshing and fleshed out a lot of the secondary characters that seems to keep expanding with each book. This section focuses on the wereleopards after Anita heals Gregory it they are ambushed by the snake people who took Nathaniel and the wereswans earlier in the book to get back at Anita. It is also here that we learn that other were leaders have been going missing and they have come to Anita for help even convincing them to go to the police for the additional resources. Donovan seems stunned by the offer of friendship but accepts knowing it will aid all weres in the future, but Richard might be an issue. While they briefly made up when Anita feeds on Richard for the ardeur he freaks out and leaves claiming it can never happen again and Anita knows that is the end of their relationship but she is getting closer to Micah and Nathaniel as well as Asher.
As we cross into the concluding section of the novel, we do get a minor big bad in Chimera, who is responsible for the disappearances of the were leaders. When Anita goes to confront him, she has plenty of backup in the wererats and werehyenas but she needs to rescue Narcissus, Micah and Cherry who are being personally held by Chimera. The fight between them wasn’t as big as we’ve seen in other books but Chimera does everything to push Anita’s buttons during this fight by targeting people she cares about. For the first time since she began aware of this power in Obsidian Butterfly, the draining power, she uses it to completely destroy Chimera for daring to target the people she protects. Afterwards, we do get to see that Anita is ruling the wolves but not as lupa since her relationship with Richard is over now since he can’t accept what he is or what Anita is and she is tired of fighting with him. Narcissus is pregnant and there are some feelings surrounding this that I didn’t agree with but he was a minor character in this book so I put it out of my mind. The new trio is Jean-Claude, Anita and Micah since Micah is willing to help Jean-Claude with his needs as much as Anita is. However, we do get scenes where Jean-Claude has bound both Damien and Gretchen to their coffins as punishment but he has also been feeding off them infuriating Anita. Jean-Claude, however, makes the point he wouldn’t have been forced to feed off them if Anita helped him with the ardeur and bloodlust which she has been refusing to do and she realises the cost of that now. She manages to revive Damien, binding him properly to her as her vampire servant making her equal to a Master Vampire in terms of power.
Overall, I found Narcissus in Chains to be really refreshing compared to other entries in this series and I am really excited to see what happens going forward in Cerulean Sins and Incubus Dreams. I also can’t wait to see how Anita’s relationships develop now she has got over most of the issues she had with them but also how the newer ones will develop with people like Micah, Nathaniel and Asher. If you have the time to dedicate to a series this long, I recommend it because it is addictive and easy to binge read.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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