Beware of spoilers if you have not read the book. Otherwise, read on.
So, I spent a lot of this time reading The Lunatic Cafe this time focused on Anita and Richard and their relationship. I said in my review of Circus of the Damned that I'm really not a fan of Richard and that definitely still holds true. I feel he's all wrong for Anita and know he's not super secure in himself at this point, so them getting engaged in this book was just... blech. I'll definitely be getting more into that later in this review. The B-Plot with the shapeshifters and lycanthropes isn't my favorite of the police-centric stories, but it's definitely not bad. I'm honestly surprised the sort of thing it turns out to be doesn't end up being more prevalent in the series... but then, that would probably be too repetitious... and the antagonists do all die in the end so... yeah.
It's always interesting to get more preternatural world-building. I don’t think we hear much, if anything else about gargoyles and trolls through the rest of the series. Interesting to know they exist, though. We also get our first big encounter with witches, so that's fun. I really do feel like the way Hamilton does her world-building makes the Anita Blake universe feel very lived in. We get trickles of information from what Anita encounters when she encounters it, but never in large info-dumps. I appreciate it a lot.
Sheriff Titus and Officer Aikensen, first in a long line of cops Anita has to convince she knows wtf she’s doing. Being assholes basically just to be assholes. These guys never fail to piss me off. I find myself skimming those parts lately, more often than not. This time they had the added bonus of pissing me off more toward the end of the book... I can just hear Titus' slimy "good ol' boy" voice in my head as I read his dialogue. I fully believe Aikensen deserves his fate.
We also get another impatient antagonist in Marcus. Like, dude, allow for scheduling meetings for the next day, ESPECIALLY if it’s frigging 2am. This intimidation tactic really reads as annoying af. I also find it extremely annoying when the sub-cultures introduce and enforce rules on the humans (it’s generally humans) who have zero clue what’s even going on. Especially when those people used to be completely human themselves and/or have to exist in human society. Like, wtf are you even doing expecting someone who has no clue what’s going on to know this shit or agree to it? Like, yes, okay, explain it to them, but don’t expect the newbies to follow immediately. Express an expectation that the newbie will be held to the “laws” or whatever the next time ya’ll interact. Ugh. Frankly, this whole thing with Marcus, at least the beginning of it, really did not need to be or turn into what it did. He could/should have set up a meeting with Anita alone. But hey, gotta set him -- and Raina -- up for later installments.
Alright, now for the relationship discussion. I have THOUGHTS.
The following two paragraphs are verbatim notes I took as I was reading:
I feel like the conversation about “happily ever afters” at the end of Anita and Richard’s date really highlights why the pair of them just won’t work. This doesn’t exactly come out until later, but Richard’s insistence on that white picket fence mentality despite knowing all along that what Anita does isn’t conducive to that… big red flag. I would have liked to see where that conversation would have gone if Jean-Claude hadn’t derailed it.
How the fuck was Anita supposed to “take care of yourself” when she a) doesn’t know what’s going on and b) doesn’t know the dang rules, Richard? Wtf, man. Keeping her out of it clearly did her no good. Also, Jean-Claude using her against Nikolaos was totally different than the whole Marcus thing. Jean-Claude and Anita weren’t even close to dating at the time. You tell people you’re dating about your big life things, especially when it’ll probably get you killed.
Oooooh the absolute hilarity of Anita waiting for marriage… Also… Richard’s very quick “well let’s get married then”… oooof. Ya’ll haven’t been dating that long… not that people haven’t been a roaring success with a short dating period but… ya’ll also have some serious differing life opinions you need to sort out first. Ooof.
End notes.
Okay, so… Anita and Richard basically have a good chunk of issues. Mainly because Richard doesn’t believe Anita’s really as tough-as-nails and Anita had zero clue what she was getting herself into with Richard and his Beast. This does not go away and, from what I remember about the rest of the series, only really gets worse. Hamilton pretty much states this herself in the Afterword. Richard also clearly has issues with the Beast side of himself, so… yeah. That contributes a lot. Anyway, them getting engaged this early was honestly really stupid, in my opinion, for all the reasons I’ve stated here.
I also really hate Jean-Claude’s whole “I would like to date you for the same amount of time he did and I won’t kill him” thing. Coercion is not a green flag. While ultimately, I think Jean-Claude is the better partner for Anita (just between him and Richard), the beginning of their relationship is gross. First the vampire marks against her will, then the coercive dating... I was reading the bit where Jean-Claude shows up at Anita's apartment after her dip in the icy river and ranting aloud to my boyfriend about how it's all really stupid and everyone is being an asshole... The whole thing is super problematic and I hate it. There are reasons Romance is not my genre.
Anyway... The Lunatic Cafe is a solid fourth entry in the Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series. It really does focus a lot on the issues Anita and Richard have, I didn't just pull all those notes and stuff out of thin air. I'm mostly satisfied with where and how this ended. And oh yeah, Jason's first appearance!
Favorite Lines
"There are more roads to monsterdom than most people realize." - Anita Blake
"If you do not help and protect those who are less able than you, weaker than you, what good are you? No damn good at all." - Laurell K. Hamilton
An Illustrative Couple of Paragraphs
Please, for the love of all that is Holy, discuss this stuff with your SO well BEFORE you decide to tie the knot. I feel like these paragraphs say a lot about why Richard and Anita shouldn't have gotten engaged in this book... clearly not all, but A LOT.
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