Product Description

No one is as good at stripping bare the dark desires of the inhuman soul as Laurell K. Hamilton, something she has proven time after time in her New York Times bestselling Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter novels. Now, in Incubus Dreams, Anita's life is more complicated than ever, as she is caught between her obligations to the living and the undead.

A vampire serial killer who preys on strippers is on the loose. Called in to consult on the case, Anita fears her judgment may be clouded by a conflict of interest. For she is, after all, the consort of Jean-Claude, the ever-intoxicating Master Vampire of the City. Surrounded by suspicion, overwhelmed by her attempts to control the primal lusts that continue to wrack her as a result of her passionate contacts with vampires, werewolves, and the shapeshifter Micah, Anita does something unprecedented: She calls for help.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #62119 in Books
• Published on: 2004-09-28
• Released on: 2004-09-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 658 pages

Amazon.com Review
As Incubus Dreams opens, Anita Blake may be America's most powerful vampire hunter and necromancer. So it's no surprise that the Regional Preternatural Crime Investigation Team seeks her assistance when a St. Louis stripper is murdered and the evidence points to unusual serial killers: a group of seven vampires. It appears a master vampire has gone rogue--and may prove too powerful for Anita Blake, even if she can gain help from not only her vampire consort, Master of the City Jean-Claude, but from the wereleopard king Micah, her other lover, and the alpha werewolf Richard, her bitter ex-lover.

It would be an exaggeration to say that Laurell K. Hamilton's Incubus Dreams is just one sex scene after another. This twelth novel in her bestselling Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series presents a wedding, a murder, and a lot of relationship angst before getting down and dirty on page 89; and the sex scenes pause on page 377 to let the mystery plot resume. The series deftly blends elements of alternate history, horror, romance, erotica, and mystery, but anyone reading Incubus Dreams for the murder plot is going to be frustrated. However, Incubus Dreams is a considerably stronger and more interesting book than its talky predecessor, Cerulean Sins, and fans will enjoy the many new developments in Anita's complicated love life. --Cynthia Ward

Amazon.com Exclusive Content

Interview with the Vampire Writer
With two bestselling series featuring supernatural heroines under her belt, one has to wonder if Laurell K. Hamilton is truly in touch with a world beyond ours. Hamilton spoke with Amazon.com about her work, her characters, and her plans for the future.

From Booklist
The latest Anita Blake novel is almost twice the length of the previous one, Cerulean Sins (2003). Per usual, Anita is surrounded by more lovers than she can handle. She wrestles with the decision to consummate her relationship with her pomme de sang, Nathaniel, who wants to be more than just the outlet of her ardeur (intense supernatural desire). Before she knows it, she has taken two other lovers as well. Her work as an animator is heating up as well--a couple wants her to reanimate their slain son, something she resists doing, and she has also been tapped by the police to investigate the murders of several strippers, which may be the work of a vampire. No one can top Hamilton's steamy supernatural sex scenes, but there are so many in this installment that one can't help but wish Hamilton had edited them a bit (they often go on for dozens of pages) in favor of the murder mystery. Not the strongest Anita Blake outing, but Hamilton's devoted fan base will be clamoring for it. Kristine Huntley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

This. Book. Blows.
I hate to slam an author's hard work (658 pages can't have come easy) but MAN did this book suck. I have been an Anita fan since Guilty Pleasures, but found I REALLY enjoyed the series when it took a darker turn, around Obsidian Butterfly. Cerulean Sins was great, because when Anita really started to feed the ardeur, at least she was doing it (literally) with characters I had come to know and like. The pairings were interesting and compelling, and I couldn't WAIT to see how the delicious menage a trois between Anita, Asher and Jean Claude would play out, how they would battle the big Bad Mother of All Darkness, and what that would mean in their relationship with Belle Morte. So many delicious threads left dangling, and twelve excruciating months to wait....then finally the wait was over! Incubus Dreams was at last here!

Cut to 658 pages and 200 typos later, and here I sit horrified and dumbfounded. What the holy (insert Anita's favorite expletive here) was this?? It was as if Cerulean Sins never existed! All those threads I mentioned? Still dangling. No room to address them when you've got 500 pages of talky porn to write!

Yes, before Anita and her lovers (some of them strangers introduced a mere half a page before Anita goes all ardeur on them) have sex, they TALK ABOUT IT for at least TWO CHAPTERS beforehand. Perhaps Anita must feed the "talkeur" before the "ardeur". Though the sex is pretty hot, you'll be amazed that the lovers haven't talked themselves into a coma first. Like all die-hard Anita fans, I was expecting another great read. Instead, here's what I got.

100 pages of unresolved mystery story,
200 pages of psychoanalytical musings (of the "Richard loves to hate himself more than he loves to love me!" variety).
150 pages of sex with people you could care less about.
150 pages of sex with people you DID care about but now can't stand anymore.

The character work is repetitive, with only one spark of interest--Nathaniel. His character arc is nice, and is the only reason I'm giving this book two stars instead of one.

Jean Claude? morphs into an emasculated Machiavelli.
Richard? a spineless repressed prude, no matter how many three-ways he's in.
Asher? Missing in action.
Jason? Harmless brother-figure.
Micah? still a well-endowed yes man.
Nathaniel? Surprisingly still interesting.
Damian? Quickly-forgotten sextoy.
Requiem and Byron? ("Who?" you ask?) Two unknowns who get more action than poor Asher.

Save your time, your expectations and your twenty bucks. Donate it instead to Proofreaders of America, or any organization that could help LKH find a decent editor. Sorry to vent, but man am I pissed at spending hard-cover money on this! >:(

Another reader lost
Incubus Dreams represents a turning point, at least in this readers mind. I'm done with the series! A once interesting series has devolved into a chaotic mess where the author doesn't even bother trying to write a coherent plot or storyline any more.

What's touted as character growth reads more like character assignation. Anita Blake and the huge supporting cast of characters have been transformed into two-dimensional cardboard cutouts loosing all of their original uniqueness and appeal in the process.

And lastly, if the author chooses to write nothing but erotica that's fine, but market it as such and quit hiding behind the mystery and suspense elements dangled as bait in the dusk jacket.

This one time fan is done and moving on.

Who woulda thought sex would be so boring......
.....well, the sex scenes in this book were major snoozers that's for sure! Hamilton was never a great writer to begin with and I read her AB book series for entertainment value only. No more. This book is no longer bad in the good sense, it is just plain bad. Badly written. Badly executed. Boring, mechanical sex scenes. Pretty vampires and weres that sound so gay it ain't funny. And this is what you'll get from this offering in a nutshell:

* Sex with vampires and weres
* Anita gets some new powers brought on by (you've guessed it!) sex
* Some vampire or other is killing strippers, this is supposed to be the "plot", however, the "plot" lasts for about 30 pages in the 600-plus book.
* More useless sex scenes in which Anita has conversations with her boy toys while having sex
* Inner-conflicts before and during the sex scenes (why bother? just accept that you're a slut and get it over with!)
* Rain-making, back-breaking orgasms
* Pretty boys with long hair "spilling" all over the place
* Conclusion to the vampire stripper killer "plot". A bad conclusion at that.

And there you have it. A waste of time, money and energy for a reader. SOMETHING mind-altering in a very bad way. Either Hamilton was under the influence of something while she wrote this or she didn't bother to create something that was at the very least plausible. Even for her who is not a good writer to begin with, she's obviously waaaay out of it.

What's worse, I have the sneaking suspicion that these non-plot stories are going to monopolize the series from hereon in. I read the sample chapters of her next AB novel on her website and I have already decided that I'm off Anita Blake for good. Danse Macabre will be an outstanding novel for Jerry Springer/Maury Povich fans but not for the rest of us who prefer something a little less trashy and vulgar. It is laughable when Hamilton describes her latest efforts as erotica. Erotica?? Emma Holly, MS Valentine, Lucinda Carrington..... they write erotica!! Hamilton writes cheap porn that not even Penthouse readers would be turned on by it. My advice? Don't waste your money on this garbage. If you must read it, do what I did and make a trip to the library. But whatever you do, do not spend your hard-earned money on this tragedy of a book. And if you already bought it and are regretting it, don't buy the next one. The three sample chapters were simply something horrendous that not even Danielle Steele could outdo in trashiness, and I don't think it'll get better!! Remember: say NO to crap!!