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Poodlerat’s book blog

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Early reaction to The Harlequin

July 29, 2007 at 4:46 am · Filed under Books Etc

I was going to hold out on buying the new Anita Blake novel and Lois McMaster Bujold’s new book, but tonight I caved and used one of my birthday gift certificates to get them. And of course I couldn’t resist starting The Harlequin tonight.

If you’ve read my blog for a while, you may have picked up on some animosity toward Laurell K. Hamilton, particularly relating to her (ab)use of the English and French languages. And the truly over-the-top sexual content of her books. Since I’m actually enjoying The Harlequin so far, I want to write something nice about it while I still can.

First of all, 100 pages in and no sex yet, which is awesome. There have already been references to a lot of events and characters from past books. Nathaniel and Anita’s relationship is back on the front burner, after being almost completely sidelined in Danse Macabre. But most exciting of all? It looks like Edward is back. I love Edward. The first Anita Blake I read, the one that got me hooked on the series, was Obsidian Butterfly, and this is his first appearance since then.

So yeah, even if the rest of The Harlequin turns out to be no better than Danse Macabre, at least this first part has showed real promise, and convinced me that Laurell K. Hamilton still has it in her to write good books.

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4 Comments »

CJHIll wrote, on July 29th, 2007 at 8:19 am:

Edward’s back?

Oh my. I had decided not to buy the book.

Now, I may need to do that.

Please let me know what you think when you’re finished. I’m with you about your complainants so your opinion will help me a great deal.

Edward, however, might be enough to sell me the book on his own.

cjh

Poodlerat wrote, on July 29th, 2007 at 1:21 pm:

I’ll definitely post a through review when I’m done.

I thought Edward’s presence might interest fellow AB fans—I know it would have me, if I’d read any reviews before I bought it.

Imani wrote, on July 29th, 2007 at 2:38 pm:

Oh I abandoned that series a long, long time ago. I discovered the first book and was so, so thrilled but after the fourth book or so it just kept getting worse and worse. Seeing the books now gives me hives. :p Not even Edward can prevent that.

Poodlerat wrote, on July 29th, 2007 at 4:19 pm:

They’re definitely not everyone’s cup of tea. I think you have to have a pretty high tolerance for some stuff before you can really enjoy them.

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