I received this book for free from my own shelves in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Source: my own shelves
Burnt Offerings
by
Laurell K. Hamilton
It is part of the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter #7 series and is a erotic romance, urban fantasy in Paperback edition that was published by Jove on September 24, 2002 and has 392 pages.
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Other books in this series include [books_series]
Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Hit List, Bloody Bones, Killing Dance, Narcissus in Chains, Obsidian Butterfly, Bite, Incubus Dreams, Micah, Danse Macabre, The Harlequin, Blood Noir, Skin Trade, Flirt, Bullet, Never After, Kiss the Dead, The First Death, Affliction, Guilty Pleasures, The Laughing Corpse, Circus of the Damned, "Shutdown", A Kiss of Shadows, Lunatic Café, A Caress of Twilight, Seduced by Moonlight, A Stroke of Midnight, Mistral’s Kiss, A Lick of Frost, Blue Moon, Dead Ice, Jason, Crimson Death, Serpentine, "Wounded", Fantastic Hope, Cerulean Sins, A Terrible Fall of Angels, Slay, Swallowing Darkness
Seventh in the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter erotic urban fantasy series set in an alternate St. Louis, Missouri.
My Take
After this visit from the Council, I have a better understanding of Jean-Claude’s desire for power. After the life he’s suffered so far…ughh…, the possibility of creating a safe haven for himself and for other vampires who have also suffered is very understandable. Yes, I know he can still be pretty brutal and when you look at the actions of some of the vamps he has under him, you know he has to be hard. On them.
Lots of rescuing by Anita — Nathaniel almost dead in the hospital, a skinned Rafael from the Council, Vivian and Gregory trapped at the Circus at the “mercy” of the Council, Richard from some of his ignorance, and Asher.
And Anita is forced to put her sexuality on display to save herself from Asher, to save Jason from Yvette, to bring power back to Jean-Claude and save them all. The start of her slide into erotica.
The Story
Drama all around — St. Louis has a firebug, the Vampire Council has come to town taking Jean-Claude’s vamps hostage, and Anita discovers the wereleopards are anyone’s meat ever since she killed their “alpha”, Gabriel.
Ostensibly, the Council is in town to find out why Jean-Claude is not taking his seat on the council after killing the Earthmover. In truth, Padma the Beast Master wants to kill Jean-Claude and Yvette’s master is of the Earthmover’s persuasion. Asher. Asher simply wants his revenge.
Then Humans First strike — a modern Day of Cleansing (Inferno to the vampires) in which they are killing as many vampires as they can find including firebombing the Church of Everlasting Life. Anita will do anything to rescue them.
The Cover and Title
The cover is an intriguing blend of soft flames framed by a woman’s bent legs on the left and her nude torso on top with long, narrow, red-to-orange flower petals falling through the air. Definitely Burnt Offerings, yet another vamp-owned club in the city the theme of which was horror stars of the sixties and seventies. It is also the offering Yvette intends to offer up to her master when the city burns.
