Kiss the Dead by Laurell K. Hamilton

Honestly, even more than taking a break with another book, Kiss the Dead is a breath of fresh air in this Anita Blake reread saga. Kiss the Dead focuses a lot more on Anita's work life and less on the continuing drama of her personal life. Make no mistake, that is definitely still there, but the main focus for a good half the book is on a case, which I very much like. I also like that this case takes place in St. Louis, so there's much less "dick measuring" going on with cops Anita hasn't worked with before, which is also very nice.

The only note I had written down was about Larry and Anita's morality argument. I liked it. Unfortunately, in a world of monsters, someone has to do the monstrous things to save lives from the actual monsters. This is later reflected in the conversation Anita has with Weiskopf. Vampires might essentially be human, but they're humans with supernatural abilities that need to be controlled and have built-in mechanisms for that. Otherwise, that's where Anita, Edward, and the rest of the new Preternatual Marshalls come in.

Speaking of Weiskopf, I think his (and his Master's) quest for freedom makes a lot of sense. I think that quest would also definitely appeal to the modern U.S. vampire. I also think there's not a lot of understanding on the part of those modern vampires as to why the power structures in-built into vampires exist in the first place or that they need to continue to exist. I am also very glad that Hamilton addresses this issue several times within the series and doesn't just do it once and then let it stand as precedence.

So, as for the personal-life aspects of Kiss the Dead... a reread does Asher zero favors. Knowing how his nonsense essentially turns out just makes me roll my eyes at every little thing he says. The last chapter (basically epilogue) posits that he won't do therapy, which he desperately needs, and knowing he continues along that vein... oi vey. I'm already very tired of it.

"The Cynric Problem"... I'm honestly not sure what to say about that. I've never been in a relationship with an age-gap, so I'm not sure how I'd feel about it, especially given how that relationship started. Honestly, talking about age-gap relationships in this day and age is a mine-field I don't feel particularly qualified to comment on. If it works between two consenting adults (which Sin and Anita are at this point) it works. The added complication of Sin just finding out how nerve-wracking it is to be dating a cop... also something I'm not at all qualified to comment on, let's be clear... yeah... Sin's young and it really does show.

But yeah... Kiss the Dead is definitely more up my alley in terms of being much less frustrating than other entries into the Anita Blake canon have been lately. I'm not sure if I have a fully renewed interest, but this one definitely felt better than others. 

 

Bonus Short Second Review

Mort was enjoyable. I do like the “Death takes a holiday” type stories. This one was a bit more complicated than others tend to be. That said, I really just don’t think I’m cut out for Discworld. I gave it a good try, but it’s just not for me. 

Dragon's Code by Gigi McCaffrey

Really just not a fan of this at all. The stakes just aren’t there for me, especially after reading The White Dragon, which Dragon’s Code takes place during. I don’t think I’ve ever been that big a fan of Piemur’s, so having him as the POV character most of the time is just whatever. Dragon’s Code just isn’t inspiring me to pick it up half the time, so… DNFing.

Dragongirl by Todd McCaffrey

Dragongirl falls squarely into the category of "Books I Really Should Have Just DNF'd." It is truly the most boring Pern book I have ever read. The only reason it didn't end up in the DNF Pile was because I'm waiting for the next batch of Pern books to arrive. I am so very, very over the repetitious, uninteresting style Todd McCaffrey has adopted for telling this story. Seriously, my eyes should not glaze over while reading about how the dragons of Pern are in peril... again. I should not be over that, either... and yet... so over it.

Probably the only thing I liked about Dragongirl was the Polycule of Fiona, Kindan, Lorana, and T'mar. I like that it exists. More Poly representation is good. I'm did not, however, need to know the opinion of almost every Weyrwoman on Pern on the existence of said Polycule, but Fiona just seems to keep bringing it up at every opportunity. I mean, yes, it was incredibly weird how the whole thing came about... bordering on problematic, really... but I don't see why she felt the need to discuss it with every Weyrwoman she encountered.

There were also a couple of severe character assassinations here, in my opinion. Lorana went from "Reluctant Savior of Pern" to "Pregnant and Really Worried About It" to... well... spoiler spoiler spoiler. Kindan was severely one-note here. Reluctant Weyrling Master who keeps not Impressing and is just mad about it. I also found it really, deeply weird that Kindan is/was apparently so hung-up on Fiona's long-dead sister that he mistook Fiona for her and still thinks about her... That was barely a relationship and she's been dead for at least 12 years. I'm sorry, what?

Uh... let's see... There were also two pretty identical scenes of M'tal fighting Thread over Keroon. Apparently the wind being messy the first time did not stick in their heads for the second time. Nuella is barely a blip here, even though she really should have been at least slightly more involved. Apparently we're still not including the Wherhold in big, Pern-wide meetings concerning Thread despite Fiona having been close with Nuella previously and knowing how important Watch-Whers are, actually. And just to bring home how really mundane and in the weeds of running a Weyr Dragongirl got... one of the last discussions of the book was Fiona and T'mar discussing moving to the other side of Telgar's bowl. Seriously. Just a discussion about moving house.

I'm really dedicated to reading the Pern series all the way through, at least once. I want to see what I missed out on the first go-through and how the timeline goes. However, if any more of the books are like this, that's going out the window. Dragongirl was just dull for most of the "run time." Again, I should probably care that the dragons are in peril again, but I was driven into not caring at all by how many times it was brought up hopelessly and in the most boring manner possible here. Oh, and Dragongirl does another thing I hate: it doesn't really end, so much a peter out into an apparent, uninteresting cliff-hanger. So.. yeah.

Brightly Burning by Mercedes Lackey

Somewhat Spoilery Review

I was honestly not expecting Brightly Burning to be as good as it was. I don’t think I was expecting it even through the first bit with Lan’s victimization at the hands of his bullies. Brightly Burning is really good. Not something I think I’ll be rereading anytime soon due to emotional turmoil, but yeah… my eyes are still leaking tears as I write this.

I hate the way Nelda Chitward goes about parenting after Lavan’s confession of being bullied. Jumping straight to victim blaming when told of his bully. Ma’am, you’ve clearly never been bullied in your life, and especially not with the threat of no one believing you held over you. Add to that, that she wouldn’t believe it due to the family Tyron came from… entitled brats will be entitled brats, especially when they think they can get away with it, regardless of family standing. What the Sixth Formers are doing is some bullshit. Tyron is a sadist.

Cloistered Order of Kernos-Sequestered is fucking crazy-pants and I don’t understand how that’s even a thing. A good thing it exists, for Jisette Jelnack’s imprisonment, but like… how do you get more followers? Solitary is inhumane and to essentially have a religious order that practices it… what even? Religion is largely stupid, in my opinion, and doubly so in this instance. The fact that the Kernos-Sequestered thing isn’t as bad as I thought it probably would be doesn’t actually help matters.

The way Valdemaran troops treat Lan after his big debut on the battlefield brought tears to my eyes. Happy ones, cuz lord knows he deserves the praise. Lan’s anxiety beforehand was completely understandable, especially considering what he’d been through. Little bit sad though. Probably what ultimately prompted my tears… a complete reversal of events from what Lan thought might happen.

I quite liked Tuck, though he did fade into the background during the last part of the book. Elenor, too, though I really do hate that whole unrequited love thing she has going on… I’ve never been one to have crushes like that, so it didn’t connect with me. Pol and Satiran were amusing together. I completely get Pol’s sense of duty and I’m glad his sight was mostly restored in the end.

I did see the ending coming from a mile away. That said, it was still quite moving and, as I said at the beginning, I did tear up. Brightly Burning is definitely up there in terms of my favorite Valdemar books. Kind of intense and definitely not one to reread super often. It’s a really good stand alone novel.

Favorite Line

:Emotional crisis is the constant state of the young, Chosen,: Satiran chuckled. :That's why they can eat so much; they burn it up with emoting.: