First time in trade paperback: the fourth novel in the #1 New York Times bestselling series. Vampire hunter and zombie animator Anita Blake is an expert at sniffing out the bad from the good. But in The Lunatic Cafe-now in trade paperback for the first time-she’s about to learn that nothing is ever as it seems, especially in matters of the not-so-human heart. Dating a werewolf with self-esteem …
Dating a werewolf with self-esteem issues is stressing Anita out. Especially when something-or someone-starts taking out the city’s shapeshifters.
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These books are some of the best I have ever read…Anita Blake is one hell of a kick ass heroine, vampire, and who knows what else….that’s the fun part…and all of her men are amazing…LOVE LOVE LOVE these books! BEST OCCULT NECROMANCY SERIES OUT THERE….
The Anita Blake series is always a great read.
The Lunatic Café is an (almost) all lycanthrope story. Shapeshifters have appeared in the series before, but this is the first time that we start to peek into their peculiar and highly disturbing society. From the opening pages when Anita is hired to find a man’s missing wife (she happens to be a werewolf), to her discovery that her boyfriend, Richard, is in a life and death struggle for control of his pack (a struggle he does not seem to be able to credit is really life and death), to the discovery that many other shapeshifters have gone missing, to the remains of a body ripped to shreds by a werewolf, Anita is confronted by lycanthrope-centered problems at every turn (and that doesn’t even mention the highly disturbing snuff film). She also begins to learn a little about the problems each of the lycanthrope species contend with—both with each other and simply surviving in a world that is extremely hostile to them.
At the same time, a two-hundred-year-old vampire has set her sights on capturing the love of Jean Claude and she sees Anita as competition even though Anita is desperate to be rid of the Master of the City. She seems to think that the best way to be rid of Anita is to kill her—and she’s crazy enough that Jean Claude’s threats only seem to motivate her to do the job more quickly and brutally. Oh, and did I mention that everyone’s favorite assassin has returned to St. Louis on a job that even the most devoted adherent to law and order will cheer him on to complete?
This novel has two scenes that have often recurred in my mind over the past nineteen years since I first read it—that’s always a sign of powerful writing. It also has a very disturbing relationship evolving as Jean Claude—fearful of losing Anita even though he has never actually had her—forces her to begin dating him on an equal basis with Richard to give him a “fair chance” to win her heart. If she doesn’t, he kills Richard. I know that Hamilton wants this love triangle to come into full existence, but this stalker behavior is really troubling and I’m frankly surprised Anita doesn’t decide to simply kill Jean Claude after he makes the threat. (Edward would gladly help her do it.) She justifies her decision not to off this threat to her life and happiness by saying that a twisted part of her loves Jean Claude, but in no other part of the series thus far does Anita allow herself to be bullied except here. It’s the first significant characterization weakness I recognize in the plot. It’s almost like Hamilton was reading those 1990s romances in which the man has to utterly humiliate the woman early in the book so she can hate him before she falls in love with him. It didn’t make sense then and it still doesn’t now.
There’s also one other character who I thought was poorly drawn. There’s the legendary swan prince, a hunter so callous that he was cursed to turn into a swan to make him learn to be gentle and kind. This fails (he’s still callous), but the now immortal hunter should have become a super-hunter in his human form. He seems to have given up this side of his personality, when I would argue that being able to recover from any wound would have enhanced his ability to pursue his martial endeavors.
All of that being said, this book is simply packed with action and will keep you racing through the pages from beginning to end.
I first read The Lunatic Cafe by Laurell K. Hamilton in 2009 when I was still in the US Navy. The Anita Blake series is what helped break me back into the Urban Fantasy genre. I was so happy to be back in the earlier books of Anita Blake because these focused on her mostly. Although readers will get to have some love triangle moments in this book between Anita, Jean-Claude, and Richard, be prepared before diving into this book if you do not like love triangles. It gets worst in later books, but The Lunatic Cafe has some heated issues between the Vampire and Werewolf dating Anita.
This book though, dives into some issues with the werewolf pack and how some shifters are getting killed. Anita is brought into investigating with Dolph and his crew, but she also has the pack leader, Marcus wanting her help too. There’s a slight issue between Anita and Richard in this book after discovering that Richard is having trouble with Marcus. He doesn’t want to tell her about it since she’s not a part of the pack. Jean-Claude has some difficulty in this book with a female vampire named Gretchen. Gretchen has it out for Anita for Jean-Claude loving her. Poor Anita hates dealing with romantic drama, and you can tell immediately she wants to live her life without it all. Unfortunately, it’s hard when you have two supernatural beings in love with her.
I don’t want to go into any further detail for readers that haven’t read this book or series. I loved the action in this book because Anita is having to investigate who or what is killing werewolves/shifters. She’ll find out not everything is what it seems to be, especially with whom she has to work on investigating the murders. I love the constant drama between Richard and Jean-Claude. Yup…I’m one that loves love triangle dramas. I’m a big Jean-Claude fan and never liked Richard. He drives me crazy with his jealousy and also having passive-aggressive behavior. He’s a werewolf and doesn’t like having to harm someone. Geez!
Jason is introduced in this book, too, and I forgot how he was at the beginning of the series. He comes off as very clingy in the beginning and scary since he’s new to the pack, although I love how he handles himself in certain situations.
Overall, this book gets five stars from me, and I recommend it to readers of the Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance genres. I’m doing a re-read of this series, and it feels like it’s brand new to me since it’s been a while that I read the books. I love every bit of the re-read.
Provocative and I loved learning the origins of some of the characters. I really enjoy this series and this book did not disappoint. It is neat to see the twists and turns of Anita Blake.!
It’s another Laurell K. Hamilton book. Nothing else to say. Definitely needs to be at the top of everyone’s reading list.
More is revealed about shapeshifter world, the romance turns a little different
direction…as always, lots of action, paranormal events and a dash of romance. A
page turned as usual.
You can pretty much stop reading this series either before or right after Obsidian Butterfly.
Absolutely love Hamilton’s writing. This series is fantastic. A goto for me when I want something to listen to at work. The character development is great in this series.
Not to heavy on erotica, more fun. Interesting for people from St Louis.
I like this authors writing, but she puts too much sex with too much kinky stuff and loses the story line along the way. This is a very good read if you can handle the sex and kink.
Great paranormal romance book, have many of her novels in my collection
A true masterpiece!
Love Anita Blake!
Another sexy Anita Blake novel. Part of a hot series filled with Vampires and Shape Shifters. If you like the genre, you will enjoy this author.
this was one of the earlier novels – before she began writing more porn, less plot. definintly one i could read over and over again.
Enjoy this series
Fun characters
I loved the earlier books in this series and this is one of the best.
This book introduces several characters to Anita and us… Raina, Marcus and Jason to name a few. The character’s and plot line set up for the continuing story of Anita. I love her sense of justice.