Hit List
By Laurell K. Hamilton (2011, Berkley Books)
Read one Laurell K. Hamilton novel and you might be cowed by all the rules, all the dues, the characters have to contend with. Big supernatural interspecies pecking order here. Instinctive behavior includes not only knowing who to bloodthirstily devour for maximum spiritual fulfillment (as if the victims came with nutritional printed on them like in supermarkets) but also who to revere and protect.
These are fantasy books where one of the fantasies is a balanced, orderly universe. Even the world’s horrors are balanced and orderly. Vile demons and bloodsuckers and werewolves all have counterparts in law enforcement with fine-tuned intuitions and a more-than-professional desire to take these evildoers down.
Once you’ve experienced a few Hamilton tomes, you realize how easy it is to overlook all the laws of conduct if you choose. The books are rich with detail of all kinds. They’re also told in a saucy, cynical first-person voice. You buy in avidly.
If the sci-fi explanations still bog you down, you can always delight in the equally controlled, vivid, soulful and spiritually resuscitating sex scenes.
The ardeur is Laurell K. Hamilton’s greatest invention. It’s sex as the ultimate act of discourse, civilized or otherwise. It’s physical gratification, psychological mindmelding and fuel station stop all at once.
For Hamilton’s heroine Anita Blake, certified maverick Vampire Hunter and multi-powered supernatural misfit, the sex scenes aren’t calm respites between the action scenes, as they are for James Bond. They’re the highest level of action scene.
Wherever the ardeur comes in an Anita Blake adventure, it’s the climax.
And that’s the crux of the latest book:
I hugged my knees to my chest. “I’d gotten used to the extra healing that I get with the metaphysics. I thought the super healing was because of the lycanthropy and the vampire marks. I didn’t realize it was tied this much to the ardeur.”
“And that bothers you?” he said.
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“Why?” he asked.
“I can go days without feeding the ardeur now. I was so happy and it was going to make being a U.S. Marshal so much easier, but now I know the price of not feeding. When I’m hunting bad guys I need the extra healing, so that means I still have to feed regularly. Do you know how hard that is on an active warrant of execution out of state?”