Blue Moon (Anita Blake. Vampire Hunter #8) By: Laurell K. Hamilton (Book Review)

(This review will contain spoilers)

Summary:

When she chose master vampire Jean-Claude over her ex-fiancé, alpha werewolf Richard Zeeman, Anita learned that sometimes love is not enough. But though she and Richard won’t be walking down any aisles, she can’t turn her back on him when he’s arrested on a rape charge in Tennessee. Anita knows firsthand that Richard has the morals of a saint—or at least a boy scout. But his guilt or innocence is not the issue. He’s behind bars, and in five days a full moon will rise…

Anita yet again is the knight in shinning armor. Whenever someone is in danger and in need of help she drops everything to go and help them out. This time Richard got himself in quite a pickle to the point where Anita has to work as quickly as possible to get Richard out of jail or else he will out himself as a werewolf. I used to be a fan of Richard way back in the beginning when he was first introduced to us but now with everything that he has done and everything we've learned about him I just wish Anita would stay away from him. It's nothing but a wannabe 'fairy tale' that they try to make work between them. All they've got going for them is a few heartfelt moments and attraction between. Otherwise, they are so far different from each other that Richard is the sun and Anita, the moon. No matter what happens they will never work out. Richard can't come to grip with himself about embracing his werewolf side and realizing he will never be human again. And Anita is too strong of a person to put her head in the sand and ignore the reality of her situation and her dangerous life. 

At the beginning, I did not like Jean-Claude at all because from the get go his whole mission was to get Anita under his influence to fortify his power and hold of vampires in his city. But I think along the way he truly started to love her as much as he could. Granted, some of the things he has done has been against Anita's will but in the grand scheme of things it was to protect her. Richard may be the hot werewolf but in the face of danger he would risk everyone around him to do the 'right' thing and inevitably would get himself killed while Jean-Claude would do everything in his power to save those under him and kill anyone who decides to challenge and endanger them. Richard is the type of guy who would die for you while Jean-Claude is the type who would burn the whole world down to protect you and truthfully, I'm quite partial to the latter. The 'bad guy' archetype is very much winning out of the two of them. 

Anita faced a few different bad guys who were all in cahoots. There were some dirty cops (seems to be pretty common), master vampire of the city and his minions and then a trio including a sorcerer who can conjure demons. Despite facing such dangerous foes, Anita has not only been the saving grace but she has also grown to realize just how powerful she can be all on her own. The fact that Anita thinks quick on her feet and follows her instinct puts her above a lot of people but throw in the power she has as a necromancer and she's a force to be reckoned with. Her little group fighting Colin, master vampire of the city and his minions was beautifully detailed and would be such an awesome action scene to see on the big screen. With all these tv show and movie adaptions I'm surprised that this series has never been picked up. 

Blue Moon has reinforced my dislike for Richard. Since she chose Jean-Claude over him, he decided to play the petulant angry child and had sex with any female werewolf he could find in an attempt to replace Anita as lupa. 'Interview' is the word he used to describe why he was going after so many female werewolves. First off, the fuck boy act I find that revolting. In an attempt to make the person you love jealous you have sex with anything that has a whole between their legs? UGH, come on! When Anita finally caves in and has sex with him due to the munin (werewolf spirits) almost possessing her he makes a point to let her know he's still going to be a man whore because she does not drop Jean-Claude. It's a shame that a minor character like Damian has a better understanding of how Anita's is versus Richard who 'loves' her. 

With every book, Anita is becoming more and more involved in the supernatural community and is getting closely tied to Richard and Jean-Claude through the triumvirate. With that her powers are growing and so is her ability to kill and torture without even thinking about it. She feared that she was the bigger monster out of the three of them and I can understand her fear. She can already raise people into zombies and now vampires not including all the things she can do as lupa. The one thing that has always protected her was her faith. Killing without remorse makes a person fear if God is really as forgiving as they say he is. Facing Linus and the demon he summoned was a pivotal point for Anita. Facing pure evil and having your faith protect you in some way reinforces the idea that God is still on her side. If he wasn't then the demon would have attacked her and saying a prayer would not have kept it away. No matter how many people Anita kills she will always do what is right and fight to protect the innocent. 

Rating:

I am going to give Blue Moon 5 stars on 5! Another well written book that keeps the story moving and is introducing new characters. I love that she keeps it progressive and is not always focusing on the same thing over and over again. I really enjoyed that Anita was self-reflecting because it showed how much her humanity means to her and facing that demon confirms that God hasn't turned his back on her. She's done some scary stuff but all to protect others. It's a relief to her that she's not as much of a monster as she makes herself to be and yet again I am excited to continue reading this story!