Hamilton Laurell K 12

Reviews & Overviews by Rod Cameron

Narcissus in Chains by Laurell K Hamilton

Narcissus in Chains is the 11th book in the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series. I stopped reading them after the 6th book for no particular reason. Other more pressing books to read I suppose. So it was with anticipation that I picked up her latest work.
You will recall that the stories are set in St. Louis in modern day America in an alternate universe where the Supreme Court has granted the undead equal rights. Anita Blake works as a necromancer bringing the newly dead temporarily back to life so that wills can be ratified or a lost key located. She also helps out the police, in the shape of the recently formed Regional Preternatural Investigation Team which handles all supernatural-related crime. In the first few books, Anita was a fairly normal human who has some very strange friends - a master vampire and a werewolf to name but two. By the end of book six she is sleeping with them sometimes together, and has started to exhibit some very powerful non-human supernatural powers as a result.
So to the latest book. Although not a werecreature, she has inherited the responsibility of alpha-female of a pack of wereleopards. When two alpha-male wereleopards appear the sparks fly as dominance is slugged out. The master vampire Jean-Claude is still exerting his influence, as is Richard the alpha-male werewolf who is reluctant to kill - the equivalent of a vegetarian working as a butcher! Having been celibate for several months, Anita cannot resist the advances of these creatures and seems to go from liason to liason, each encounter being stranger, and more dangerous. In between them are violent encounters between macho alpha-males of various persuasions undertaking a number of power struggles over several packs and clans of werecreatures. As usual, Anita is the only hope for the weakest. But only if she herself can survive.
An excellent tease runs through the book when she is badly injured. And we don't find out until the end whether she has been infected with lycanthropy. This strange book has a high and explicit sexual content. There is also a lot of blood letting mixed with torture both before during and after the sex. I have mixed feelings over both of these.
As with all of Laurell K Hamilton's work it is well written with excellent characterisation. The story itself is very seductive, being difficult to put down. The plot lines are interesting and gripping. I suppose my hesitation is over whether I should be recommending a book with this type of content. The last book I read like this was Norman Spinrad's Men in the Jungle (1967) which ended up making me feel indifferent about cannibalism and drug taking. I didn't go out and start eating people then, and I am sure that I will not be going out and sleeping with animals now. But will it inspire anyone else to?
Do I recommend the book? Yes I suppose I do. And I will be going back and reading books 7 to 10.

Publisher : Orbit
Year: 2002
Pages: 533
Price: £6.99
Format: Paperback
ISBN : 1-84149-134-9
Reviewed by : Rod Cameron
Date Reviewed : November 2002