So, rereading this one was interesting. There’s a lot of setup here for future stuff. More with the vampire marks, Richard and Larry’s introductions, the creation of Humans First, and the solidification of Jean-Claude as Master of St. Louis. It’s a lot and yet somehow manages to work fairly well.
Talking about characters, as this is a reread, is a bit tricky. My opinions are very colored by the future actions of them… well… Richard. I’m mainly kind of conflicted about Richard. Larry’s fine. I like Larry. I had forgotten he was introduced to early, but other than that, he’s fine. No notes. Richard, on the other hand… I think I remember liking Richard to begin with. He comes across as earnest, good-ol’-boy kind of, hampered by the reveal Hamilton wanted to do with him. But otherwise, he seems fine. Future events do color this and I just found myself rolling my eyes some at him. But I won’t get into that otherwise due to spoilers.
I enjoyed Edward and Anita’s continuing relationship. Edward’s always fun. I’ve always enjoyed him, even if he shows up initially to threaten to torture Anita twice in as many books. Their dynamic is one of my favorites going forward.
I think Oliver was… uh… he was there. He was really mostly threatening in the background. Again, this is colored by the reread. I knew how this ended. I did get Alejandro mixed up with a different Alejandro from a different series… of course I can’t remember which one off the top of my head. Alejandro seems to be a popular name among the Aztec vampires… so he sprouted a backstory that wasn’t actually his. 🤪
I did find the actual events of the book went by rather quickly. I did notice Anita got more sleep this time around, though not by much. Starting off the trend of her not quite taking care of herself as she should. I had also completely forgotten that Humans First was started in-series as opposed to Humans Against Vampires. That was kinda neat. I also very much enjoyed the Anita/Zerbowski relationship. They’re quite fun together as well… though definitely not in a romantic sense.
So yeah, Circus of the Damned was pretty solid. Got in some good world and character building.
Favorite Lines
"There are also a lot of very jerky men in the twenty-one-to-thirty age group." - Anita Blake
"Please, I always use fresh sarcasm, never canned." - Anita Blake
"When all else fails, hide. It works for rabbits." - Anita Blake
"How can you possibly torture someone without bamboo slivers?" - Anita Blake
