2025 Reread Review - Mostly spoiler free
I really like The Laughing Corpse. It establishes Anita as a Power in her own right, not just going to be adjacent to Jean-Claude. It also establishes the differences between what Anita does and stuff like witchcraft and voodoo, mostly voodoo. I think getting that out of the way early in the series was a good call. Zombies are, after all, a fixture of what a lot of people think about when they think about voodoo. I also like that the antagonists are human, if powered humans... well, Dominga is anyway. I could really have done without Harold Gaynor and his bodyguards... but the exist so... *much shrugging.*
What is it with men looking at women wielding guns or other weaponry (usually guns, though) and suddenly being all “you’re not so tough without the weapon”? Like, maybe, but also… odds are, the man is bigger than the woman. Odds are, in a straight fight, the man is going to best the woman. We know this, that’s why we have a weapon in the first place. It's why you have a weapon in the first place. You also think you’re as intimidating without a weapon? No. Posturing does not make you inherently better. Bruno, Tommy, Enzo, and Antonio all bug the shit out of me with this macho nonsense. I guess it's a good characteristic of a ruthless bodyguard but... blech.
It is just too funny reading the chapter at Dead Dave’s, especially the end. Anita just has no clue about Jean-Claude’s powers and, of course, neither does Irving. Irving definitely wouldn’t be much help at all against Jean-Claude. Part of why I love rereading this stuff is the unintentional hilarity of certain parts given what happens later in the series. It's quite well done.
I like how Anita’s backstory is dropped here, along with how her powers tend to work. The animator stuff tends to get overpowered by other things in later books. The Laughing Corpse establishes Anita's necromantic abilities quite well. It's fun to see her flex those muscles in slightly more controlled environments than she does down the line.
I had honestly forgotten how big of a role Wanda plays in this book. I know Laurell K. Hamilton has said something recently-ish about her coming back into the series, but I hadn't remembered the extent to which she was even in this. I like her. Can't wait to see her again.
So yeah, I had a lot of fun rereading The Laughing Corpse. My very last thought about the book is this: I do not remember the business of the same name ever coming back in the series... which doesn't really surprise me. Anita was a not a fan so I don't know why she'd ever go back there.
Favorite Lines/Conversations
"Rule number three hundred sixty-nine when dealing with unfamiliar magic: when in doubt, leave it alone." - Anita Blake
"Suspicion is healthy. It'll keep you alive." - Anita Blake
"I have no personal stake in these people, Jean-Claude, but they are people. Good, bad, or indifferent, they are alive, and no one has the right to just arbitrarily snuff them out.""So it is the sanctity of life you cling to?"I nodded. "That and the fact that every human being is special. Every death is a loss of something precious and irreplaceable." I looked at him as I finished the last."You have killed before, Anita. You have destroyed that which is irreplaceable.""I'm irreplaceable, too," I said. "No one has the right to kill me, either." - Anita Blake & Jean-Claude"She doesn't have a superior," Zerbowski said, "but we'll tell her boss."
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