Book Review
Title: Obsidian Butterfly by Laurell K. Hamilton (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Book 9)
Genre: Paranormal, Romance
Rating: 3.75 Stars
So all I knew about Obsidian Butterfly was a lot of my favourite characters aren’t going to appear in it but I am enjoying the darker turn the series is taking so I couldn’t wait to get back into this world. This story opens with Anita taking a break from Jean-Claude and Richard when she gets a call from Edward calling in his favour and she knows instantly that the situation is serious for Edward to call in this favour he has been holding for years. When she arrives in New Mexico she learns that Edward is going by Ted here and has a fiancé, Donna, who has two children and Anita is enraged that Edward would insert himself into the lives of this family knowing he could never follow through but he does seem to care for Donna in his own way. He called Anita for her expertise since there is something down there killing a lot of people and Edward has no idea what it could be which isn’t a good sign. By the time Anita gets to see some of the survivors, we see how horrific these injuries are as the people have been completely skinned and mutilated and even Anita struggles to think of creatures that could have done this.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, Anita and Edward are trying to deal with the tension between them over Edward’s current situation and Anita is desperately trying to understand what Edward was thinking especially when she meets the children, Peter and Becca. Peter dislikes Edward but Becca thinks the world of him and she realises that Edward does care for them all but he also knows he can’t marry Donna because of what and who he is which wouldn’t work with Donna’s dislike of violence but he wishes he could. This is different from Anita’s situation because she knows that both Richard and Jean-Claude are strong enough to look after themselves should anyone come knocking for Anita wanting to cause trouble. As they try to figure out what they are dealing with in Santa Fe, Anita knows that magic is the only reason the other survived but people are dying all over. When she senses something on the drive, she learns that whatever the creature is, it is powerful enough to momentarily overwhelm Anita which isn’t a good sign for things to come.
As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, Anita is beginning to get a sense of the creature that caused the mutilations even if she doesn’t know exactly it is right now. She understands that it is either one incredibly strong being or several strong beings working together but I am leaning more towards the solo aspects as that seems to be common in these books. Edward eventually ends up taking her to a club called the Obsidian Butterfly to try and seek an audience with the master vampire, Itzpapalotl. There she learns the actors are were-jaguars and at the sight of one, Cesar being treated poorly her instinct to save him rises to the surface but it does draw Itzpapalotl to her, and she grants Anita an audience especially when she learns of who she is bound to. Things are starting to get interesting but honestly I want more action or more fucking since living in Anita’s head can get really boring at time especially when she is being stubborn or petty.
As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, Anita and Edward agree that there seems to be some extremely ritualistic about the killing which led them to the Obsidian Butterfly in the first place. This is because she and her vampires are descended from the Aztec which were a people very heavily invested in ritual sacrifice but only in service to their gods which doesn’t make sense to Anita. They get the call about another set of murders and mutilations and this time Anita is allowed on the scene thanks to the Feds who know what she is worth to the investigation. She realises that whatever is doing this is able to clear out large areas quickly without hurting anyone other than the intended targets and it has the ability to escape quickly since this scene is extremely fresh, the bodies still bleeding. Talking with one of the officers, Anita realises that the mutilated victims are acting a little like zombies meaning that someone has to be controlling them or attempting to. I say attempting because we know from Anita that if the necromancer isn’t strong enough to control the zombies they go rogue and try to eat anyone they come into contact with and this might have given them the break in the case they have been looking for.
As we cross into the second half of the novel, Anita is right about the creature not being human but she has never felt something like this before and needs to speak with someone else who has experience working with the dead. That leads her to Nicky Baco, a necromancer like Anita, and these people are rare even in this universe so when she speaks to him and he tells her that he has felt the presence too and is terrified by it, she knows she will need his help in order to stop it. While waiting for her second meeting with Nicky, Anita goes to the hospital to check to see if the survivor are dead like she thinks they are and at first everything seems normal. However, she notices their eyes are following her and she only sees one entity looking back at her and it is here that chaos erupts. The survivors begin attacking and killing anyone in their path to prevent Anita from reaching them even targeting the nursery. In order to stop one of these people for killing a baby, Anita throws her power at it to stop it but opens herself up to entity controlling it. As it takes over Anita it wills her to die and she almost does but a resident witch saves her life and tells Anita she needs to reinforce her bonds with Richard and Jean-Claude if she wants to survive next time but Anita doesn’t want to do this thinking it will making her less independent which is a stupid train of thought to have. With Nicky being her only hope now she checks herself out of the hospital despite being in the worst shape we have ever seen Anita even after facing down shifters and vampires to meet with Nicky and hopeful stop whatever has been terrorising these towns.
As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, Anita finally has enough pieces of the puzzle thanks to the Obsidian Butterfly and her help to finish these killings once and for all. Through ritual magic, Nicky has been drawing power from the god or god-like creature by offering it sacrifices and he intends to share that power with the pack he is bound to which explains why they all lied to Anita. She having seen and felt that power for herself understands she has the power to undo what Nicky has done but facing him and the pack is going to be a bloodbath so it is lucky for them that Nicky is in the hospital. Through this interaction with the Obsidian Butterfly, Anita also sees how much she has crippled Jean-Claude. While the Butterfly’s base of power is power itself, Jean-Claude base is sex meaning he draws power from sex and by denying him that Anita has been denying him his power making him weaker and she now understands what has to be done when she returned home.
As we cross into the final section of the novel, seeing everything come to a close was interesting as Anita stares down a god and wins. However, the aftermath was the most exciting part seeing how the events of the novel impacted Anita, made her question her faith, Edward, seeing him realises he isn’t as much as a monster as he thought and still has to capacity to love. What happened to Peter and Becca was heartbreaking and no child deserved to go through events like these but while I think Donna and Becca will heal in time, I doubt Peter will. Anita says it best seeing that Peter is just like her and Edward with the love of violence and ability to kill inside him and Edward is the best person to deal with that being the Undertaker. Anita prepares to go home and plans to renew her friendships with the pack and Jean-Claude’s vampire before facing the men themselves. Anita still isn’t sure who she loves more and she does love Jean-Claude despite her protests because she was devastated when she realised what withholding sex was doing to him and I do know she choose him in the end but the journey to get there is going to be interesting.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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