The Killing Dance (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter #6) By: Laurell K. Hamilton (Book Review)

 *This review will contain spoilers*

Summary:

Dating both a vampire and a werewolf isn't easy. But just to complicate Anita's already messy life, someone has put a price on her head. Love cannot save her this time, so she turns to Edward, hitman extraordinaire, for help. But finding the person behind the threat won't be easy, because as both a vampire hunter and zombie reanimator, Anita has made a lot of enemies-both human and otherwise.

This has got to be one of the most intense books out of the whole series thus far. If you thought the previous books were dark, twisted and gory those pale in comparison to this one. It's like Hamilton turned it up a notch both in violence and romantic relationships. And we've got quite a few bad guys gunning after Anita. 

We are first introduced to Sabin; visiting master vampire and Dominic; human servant and necromancer who are seeking out Anita for her help. Sabin changed his diet for the love of his life and unfortunately he started deteriorating. Like literally. He is decomposing and rotting away but not like the vampires in the previous book where they could rot and go back to normal. Sabin is rotting away and can't stop it. And Anita being a powerful animator they thought she could help. 

It's never a dull moment in Anita's life, especially, when there is a bounty on her head for half a million dollars. Luckily, she has a good friend named Edward who is coming through and helping her during this crazy situation. I truly believe that Edward is the only man who actually has protected and kept Anita alive. 

On top of someone paying to get Anita killed, we have Richard and his high morals preventing him from killing Marcus and becoming Alpha. Marcus has been doing shady shit from the start and on top of the weird ass shapeshifter porn films that he and Raina produce together they also made snuff films. This is where I favor Jean-Claude over Richard. Richard has a bleeding heart for everyone including his enemies but it's to a fault. While Jean-Claude has no misconceptions of his enemies and knows exactly what they'll do if he doesn't end them. I'm all for having morals but surviving is a tad bit more important in my book. 

Jean-Claude, Richard and Anita end up discovering more of their triumvirate powers. Since they are binded together they can pull from each other's powers and strengths. This triumvirate concept is really cool and unique. The whole love triangle between human, vampire and werewolf isn't but the triumvirate thing doesn't make it boring. 

The biggest twist for me was that Cassandra (new werewolf in town) was in a triumvirate with Sabin and Dominic. And those three were in kahoots with Marcus and Raina. Because Anita, Jean-Claude and Richard were an exact triumvirate like Sabin, Dominic and Cassandra they thought if they could sacrifice them that it would restore Sabin to his former glory. They were especially in a hurry since he was basically becoming puddles. 

Anita was in the scariest position a woman can ever be in. Tied and being rapped by a man. That is the worst way in my opinion that anyone can violate a woman. Any type of sexual abuse is the most disgusting act ever committed. You are not only hurting someone physically but mentally and spiritually as well. If you're lucky to survive it, it leaves such psychological trauma that for many suicide is the only answer. I'm extremely proud that Hamilton didn't fuck this scene up. You could feel the fear and Anita had a moment of panic where she didn't know what to do. A lot of people in this type of situation freeze up and can't get out of that state. Anita was very resourceful and used Gabriel's desires against him. She had to be very smart to not ruin her one chance at survival by acting too rashly. I loved that she used her thumbs to crush his eyes. In self-defense classes they teach you that if you're in danger you aim for the parts that'll hurt them the most. Kick to the balls, to the throat and if you're close enough thumbs to the eyes. 

Anita ended up killing both Gabriel and Raina. But of course she's got to save the day as per usual. She running into a situation in her underwear saving Richard and Jean-Claude from the band of psychos. Richard was almost lost but with Jean-Claude marking Anita as his human servant they were able to save him by giving him their energy and life force. 

All is well that ends well, sort of. Before the crazy fights and revelations Richard went up against Marcus and killed him. But the whole shifting process freaked Anita out. The strange energy that was flowing was overwhelming to her and quite honestly Richard was a dumbass for shifting on top of her and having that weird shifter fluid go all over her. Freaking guy was trying to practically traumatize her. That caused her to be in a state of vulnerability and Jean-Claude was there to comfort her, sexually that is. If the first time he shifted for her was in a more controlled setting and not where everything was heightened because he killed someone maybe it wouldn't have affected her as much as it had but poor decisions lead to poor outcomes. Jean-Claude finally won the race and is now the sole monster to be dating Anita.

Rating:

It'll come to no surprise to you guys but I'm going to give The Killing Dance 5 stars on 5! I loved it! It had more mystery, gore, darker themes and it covered so much in just one book. There was never a slow moment. This time there was a progressive change in Anita's love life that made sense. We saw the progress and what Anita was thinking through it all. Overall, a fantastic book and I can't wait to read the next one!