Anita Blake series

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The Anita Blake series is a horror novel series by the American author Laurell K. Hamilton . It started in the early 1990s and continues to this day. However, the German fans have to continue reading in English because the publishing house Bastei Lübbe, which published the German translation, has stopped the further publications because the content of the popular series, at least in the further development, did not fit the philosophy of the publisher. It tells the adventures of the necromancer Anita Blake, who uses her skills for police and forensic medicine. Hamilton mixes genres such as horror , thriller , detective novel and romance .

Publication history

The series has been published by the New York publisher Ace Books since 1993 . In 2003, the Bastei Lübbe publishing house began to publish the novels in German. They were translated by Angela Koonen . Since October 20, 2006, Guilty Pleasures has been published by Marvel Comics as a monthly comic. On November 3, 2008, the first audio book on Bittersweet Tode was published by BreuMedia.

action

Main features

Vampires have been legal citizens of the USA for two years in the book and are allowed to run and own businesses like any other person. Anita Blake, a so-called animator (from Latin animare, "to bring to life"; animus, "spirit, soul") or necromancer , works in St. Louis for an agency that raises the dead for legal purposes. She also works as an advisor to the newly formed supernatural crime police unit called RPID, pronounced "rip it", and is also the state-appointed vampire hangman.
The series focuses on the main character. Her complicated relationship with the supernatural world and her sometimes unpredictable powers play a major role, another important aspect is the explanation of the world itself in which Anita lives, because it strongly influences her development and her interpersonal relationships. The mixture of crime, thriller and horror story is complemented by humorous elements, including the self-irony of the main character. The original English titles of the novels always relate to an important place in the plot of the corresponding volume.

Volume 1: Bittersweet Deaths (Guilty Pleasures)

Anita Blake is commissioned by Nikolaos, the city's thousand-year-old master vampire, to solve some mysterious murders of vampires. When she rejects him, a trap is set for her, in the course of which Anita has to decide: either she accepts the assignment or her friend Catherine dies. The vampire Jean-Claude, who helped organize the blackmail, has his own motives. He gives Anita two out of four signs , which should make her his human servant. This makes her immune to vampire gazes (which cast a person under the spell of vampires) and is connected to Jean-Claude by a kind of life bond through which he can give her life force, but also withdraw it. While Anita tries to come to terms with these changes, solving the murders is not that easy. The only witness is dead, and the summoning of his spirit leads to no clue. In the search for the killer, Anita Blake is given the help of the young stripper Phillip, who has the task of familiarizing her with the vampire scene. However, as a vampire executioner, Anita is feared and avoided by the vampires. Furthermore, Anita's old friend Edward appears, who wants to find out where Nikolaos is hiding and does not shy away from torture in order to achieve his goals. Edward's nickname is "Death". He is a hit man who specializes in supernatural beings because humans are too easy for him to kill. The trail leads to a group of vampire junkies, which once included Phillip. At one of their meetings, Anita saves another necromancer named Zachary. He is already dead and has returned as the master of a ghoul troop . However, Zachary only "lives" as long as he sacrifices vampires. While Anita is unsure whether she should hand Zachary over to Nikolaos, the master kills young Phillip for no reason. Anita can only just escape her and swears revenge. Together with Edward, she decides to kill Nikolaos. Accompanied by Rafael, the leader of the were rats, they invade the vampire master's lair. In the final fight, Nikolaos and Zachary are killed. Jean-Claude is now taking over the post as the new master vampire in the city and continues to approach Anita, who, however, does not like him and so there are always arguments between the two in this and the following parts.

Volume 2: Blood Red Moon (Laughing Corpse)

Millionaire Harold Gaynor asks Anita Blake to raise a 300-year-old corpse for him for a generous fee. Anita would need a "white goat" for this, a synonym for human sacrifice, which is why she refuses the contract. In the new murder case that Anita is supposed to solve for the police, she takes on a flesh-eating zombie as the murderer. However, only a few people in the city can awaken such a person: she herself, the recently murdered animator Peter Burke and the voodoo priestess Dominga Salvador, who Anita wants to win over as a student. When Anita refuses this offer, Dominga sends her two zombies into the apartment, which they should kill. John Burke, the brother of the murdered Peter Burke, turns out to be a voodoo priest and is also a possible perpetrator for the zombie murders. The journalist and werewolf Irving Griswold puts Anita in contact with the prostitute "Wheelchair Wanda" and the master vampire Jean-Claude helps her to an interview with Wanda. Anita finds out that Gaynor is into disabled women and has made it into his head to find an old treasure in his family. After another murder, Anita and John Burke track down the zombie. In this way you come into possession of a magical amulet that was created by the voodoo priestess Dominga. When Anita and John confront Dominga with the evidence, she magically devours the amulet. But after a confession from her grandson, the police can still arrest her. Finally Anita confronts another murderous zombie. When she is kidnapped shortly afterwards by the bodyguards of the millionaire Gaynor, she learns from him that Peter Burke and Dominga Salvador - who has since been released on bail by a judge friend of his - were responsible for raising the second zombie. However, since the two did not know that the person to be awakened was himself an animator during his lifetime, the awakening failed and the zombie got out of control. Gaynor now wants to force Anita to reawaken another of his ancestors. At his grave, however, Anita can overwhelm the two bodyguards and awaken the entire cemetery. She orders the resurrected zombies to kill Dominga and Gaynor.

Volume 3: Circus of the Damned

The story begins two months after Crimson Moon in Anita's office, where Jeremy Rubens, who founded a new group of vampire haters who want to wipe them out, and Karl Inger offer her a job: she should offer the two of them the identity and hiding place of the master call the city, but Anita refuses. After this unpleasant conversation, Dolph also calls: A man named Carl Rupert was killed by several vampire bites. This appears to be the deed of a master vampire and so Anita arranges a meeting with Jean-Claude at the Circus of the Damned, where she meets Richard Zeeman. In the evening Dolph calls again because there is another dead person and Anita realizes that the other dead person will be resurrected as a vampire that night. However, when the two arrive at the morgue with reinforcements, the entire staff is dead and they barely manage to kill him. Immediately afterwards, however, she has to go to her apprentice, Larry Kirkland, to the cemetery to help him raise a dead man. There they are first attacked by Rubens and his group and then by vampires. The leader of these vampires is Alejandro, a very old master vampire who demands the name and hiding place of the master of the city from Anita. When Anita refuses, he decides to make her his servant and gives her the first sign. When Jean-Claude learns that his plan to make Anita his human servant and thus consolidate his power threatens to fail, he gives her the third sign. Anita is anything but enthusiastic about it and when Karl Inger calls her the next morning and says that someone is planning to kill the Master of St. Louis, she agrees to meet him. This someone is none other than a million year old master vampire named Mr. Oliver, who wants to restore order and take away the rights of the vampires. Anita, who was convinced by these arguments and is still angry, betrays Jean-Claude to him. But she has made a terrible mistake: During a phone call with Dolph, she learns that Mr. Oliver wants to cause a bloodbath and so she warns Jean-Claude and calls Edward. The two meet at the circus where the fight is to take place to fight alongside Jean-Claude. In the course of this battle for the soul of St. Louis, Anita receives the fourth sign from Alejandro, who turns out to be Oliver's servant - Anita thus becomes his human servant. Since he can no longer tap into Anita's powers, Jean-Claude loses the fight against Oliver and Anita is supposed to give him the fatal blow with a stake and hammer. Instead, Anita rams the stake into Oliver's heart and then rips Alejandro's heart out of his chest. Since her master is now dead, Anita's heart also stops. However, she wakes up in the hospital a week later, where it is discovered that Richard is a werewolf and Alejandro's marks have erased those of Jean-Claude. Now she and Richard are a couple.

Volume 4: Greedy Shadows (The Lunatic Cafe)

Like almost all volumes, this one begins with a conversation in Anita's office. George Smitz tells that his wife, the werewolf Peggy, has disappeared. On an appointment with Richard, Jean-Claude shows up and tells him that Richard is fighting for the leadership of the werewolves. Anita is angry because Richard kept this information hidden from her. When Dolph calls her, she has to break off the argument. The body found was killed by a creature.

Back home, Anita meets Irving, who explains to her that Marcus, the werewolf leader, wants to speak to her. They drive to a meeting of all the werebreaths in the city, where Anita learns from the wererschwan Kaspar that more of the wercreations have disappeared. She also makes the acquaintance of Gabriel, the leader of the Werleopards, and his companion Elisabeth. During an argument, she kills the werewolf Alfred. Anita later meets with Edward, who shows her a film in the course of which a woman is killed while having sex with Alfred and a masked leopard. Richard brings them in to clarify the Werleopard's identity. He tells her that Raina, Marcus' mate, is making porn videos. Anita learns that Jean-Claude is still struggling to maintain his position as master of the city. He has formed an alliance with Marcus and Raina and pays them with vampires for their porn videos.

When Richard and Jean-Claude quarrel over Anita, a magical bond between them explodes. Impressed by the magical possibilities, Jean-Claude wants to strengthen his position and Richard win the werewolf leadership without a fight. When Kaspar calls and tells her that he has found Jason, a werewolf in Jean-Claude's service, they drive to his house and are captured by some hunters. Kaspar has sold the wer creatures as exclusive hunting prey. They lock the four prisoners in cages, Jason in one with Anita. Since it is the full moon, Jason is supposed to transform and, no longer in control of his senses, eat Anita. However, the prisoners manage to free themselves and kill the hunters.

In the credits, Anita says that she continues to meet Richard and Jean-Claude and gives them both Christmas presents. Raina and Gabriel reportedly did not know that Alfred wanted to kill the woman in the video. A few months later, Edward sends Anita a package with a swan skin and a note stating that Marcus had commissioned him with the murder. To Richard's horror, Anita hangs her skin on her wall.

Volume 5: Bloody Bones

Anita flies to Branson (Missouri) with Larry Kirkland, her young colleague . An entire cemetery is to be awakened there in order to clarify the ownership situation. Stirling attorney reports that the Bouvier family claim the property is theirs. In this case, Stirling's project would not be feasible. While inspecting the cemetery, Dolph calls and reports the murder of several youths nearby. At the scene of the crime they meet Sergeant Freemont, who wants to solve the case herself and is reluctant to accept Anita's help. She found that the three teenagers were killed by a knife, but so quickly and powerfully that only a vampire could be the culprit.

To prepare for the ceremony, the two drive to the Bouviers restaurant. There they meet Magnus and Dorcas, the two Bouviers siblings, who are half-elves.

Young Ellie Quinlan lies dead in her nursery and will be resurrected as a volunteer vampire. Her parents cannot accept this and insist that Anita stake her as a precaution. Anita asks the Quinlans to wait another 24 hours before impaling. To track down the vampire, Anita, Larry, Sheriff St. John and some deputies go into the forest, where they are attacked by a group of vampires. One of the vampires uses a sword and two deputies are killed before they can escape. She calls Jean-Claude, who explains to her that the vampire with the sword is called Xavier and is a pedophile. He offers her to come to Branson.

In the morning, Dorcas breaks into Anita's hotel room and looks for Magnus. She tells her that centuries ago one of her ancestors captured an elven monster named Rawhead and Bloody Bones. With the help of his blood, it was possible that the Bouviers retained their elven skills. Bloody Bones is trapped in a magical prison below the cemetery. Anita insists on seeing the prison for security reasons.

In the evening, Anita, Jean-Claude, Jason and Larry meet with the master of the city, Seraphina. At the meeting with her, Jean-Claude is very astonished at the strength of her strength. Seraphina promises to look for and find the unknown vampire, Xavier. At the agreed meeting with Dorcas at the Bloody Bones prison, they find Magnus, who is drinking the blood of the elven monster. Dorcas realizes that Magnus has been doing this for years to bolster his powers. Anita agrees not to wake up the entire cemetery to make the prison last. At the awakening ceremony, Anita and Larry combine their powers to awaken the bodies. When something goes wrong, the entire cemetery is awakened and Bloody Bones breaks out of prison. They learn that Seraphina got Stirling to resurrect the cemetery so she can drink from Bloody Bones herself. Xavier is one of Seraphina's entourage. Jean-Claude, Larry, Jason and Anita go to see Seraphina. When Bloody Bones shows up and demands his promised freedom, Seraphina denies him this. A broken promise to an elf, however, releases him from any obligations, and thus Bloody Bones is free. To prevent this, Xavier and Anita kill him with iron weapons, which are deadly for elves. Seraphina is very angry about the loss of power and demands that Anitas replace Bloody Bones. To save Jean-Claude, Jason and Larry, she agrees.

The next morning she wakes up in Seraphina's coffin. Magnus tries to prevent her from leaving the house, while Anita wakes up the vampire Ellie during the following fight. Anita's skills as a necromancer enable her to master all forms of death, including vampires. This is also the reason why necromancers were killed by the vampires in ancient times. Anita orders Ellie Magnus to be detained so she can escape. The two burn in the sunlight. The house is set on fire by the FBI and Seraphina dies in it.

Volume 6: Dance of the Dead (The Killing Dance)

Anita Blake is supposed to help the vampire Sabin, who renounces human blood out of love for a woman and therefore slowly rots. However, she has no advice, but promises the vampire and his human servant Dominic Dumare, should she think of something helpful, to tell them in any case. Shortly afterward, Edward calls her to tell her that he has been offered the job of killing her. He rejects it, but because of the $ 500,000 bounty, someone else would soon accept it.

After an attack in her apartment, Anita decides to move in with Richard first. Before that, however, Stephen needs your help, which Raina and Gabriel involuntarily use for their porn. Anita slowly realizes that Richard is in serious trouble because he refuses to finally kill Markus and take his place as leader of the werewolves. This leads to another argument between the two, which doesn't really end when they successfully free Stephen. Edward also shows up to help Anita.

At the inauguration of Jean-Claude's new club, Anita is photographed and filmed with Jean-Claude, which of course she does not find particularly good, as she has always treated the vampire like a little secret. This then also accuses her. At Danse Macabre, Anita meets the werewolf Cassandra and notices that Jean-Claude has bought a couple of new vampires. After another attack by a hit man, she asks Jean-Claude if she can stay with him in the circus, an arrangement that Richard doesn't like at all, but seems safest for everyone.

The three decide to join forces and form a triumvirate. They discover that Anita can also wake up vampires. However, since she doesn't know how to bring the awakened vampires back to their original form, she asks Dominic Dumare, who is also a necromancer. He helps her and asks Anita to do the same for Sabin, because he hopes for a healing for his master. Anita agrees, but first has to confront Markus and Raina with Richard, who were the clients for the attacks against Anita. Richard can defeat Markus, but when Anita sees the pack and Richard transform and attack the carcass, she escapes and takes refuge in Jean-Claude's arms.

The next day, Cassandra appears and knocks Anita down. She finally wakes up in Raina's small porn factory, where Cassandra explains to her that it is nothing personal, but that she would do anything to save Sabin. Because she is the woman he stopped drinking blood for. Dominic wants to sacrifice Richard and Jean-Claude in a ritual to save Sabin. Gabriel has had the fantasy of raping Anita and then killing her for a long time. She gets involved in the dangerous game and manages to kill Gabriel and also shoot Raina.

Then she sets out with Edward and Harley, whom Edward has brought as reinforcements, to save Richard and Jean-Claude. They succeed, but Anita has to kill Harley when he freaks out. In return she owes Edward a favor.

Protagonists

main characters

  • Anita Blake: Animator, vampire hangman, police advisor, necromancer, Jean-Claude's human servant, Richard's Lupa, Nimir-Ra the leopard
  • Richard Zeeman: Werewolf, junior high teacher, Anita's temporary boyfriend / fiancé, later Ulfric the Thronos Rokke
  • Jean-Claude: Vampire, master of the city, Anita initially estimates him at 200 years, but then learns that he is much older (around 400 years), later Anita's fiancé and part of the poly (amorous) core group
  • Edward: Bounty hunter, killer, Anita's comrade in arms and buddy

Minor characters

  • Rudolph "Dolph" Storr: Head of a new police unit to fight supernatural crimes (Regional Preternatural Investigation Team)
  • Veronica "Ronnie" Sims: Anita's best friend, private investigator
  • Gabriel: leader of the Werleopards ("Nimir raj")
  • Jason Schuyler: Stripper, werewolf and regular blood donor from Jean-Claude
  • Marcus Fletcher: leader of the werewolves ("Ulfric")
  • Raina Wallis: companion of Marcus and leader of the werewolves ("Lupa")
  • Rafael: leader of the wererats
  • Stephen: Werewolf, stripper in Guilty Pleasures, friend of Richard
  • Nathaniel Graison: Werleopard, stripper in "Guilty Pleasures", later partner of Anita and part of the poly (amorous) core group
  • Micah: Werleopard, is Nimir Raj and meets his "soul mate" Anita, later partner of Anita and part of the poly (amorous) core group

expenditure

Original English editions

German editions

  • Laurell K. Hamilton: Bittersweet Deaths . 3. Edition. Bastei Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 2003. ISBN 9783404150533 . (OT: Guilty Pleasures )
  • Laurell K. Hamilton: Crimson Moon . 1st edition. Bastei Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 2005. ISBN 9783404152582 . (OT: Laughing Corpse )
  • Laurell K. Hamilton: Circus of the Damned . 2nd Edition. Bastei Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 2005. ISBN 9783404153718 . (OT: Circus of the Damned )
  • Laurell K. Hamilton: Greedy Shadows . 1st edition. Bastei Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 2006. ISBN 9783404154661 . (OT: The Lunatic Cafe )
  • Laurell K. Hamilton: Pale silence . 2nd Edition. Bastei Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 2006. ISBN 9783404155484 . (OT: Bloody Bones )
  • Laurell K. Hamilton: Dance of the Dead . 1st edition. Bastei Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 2007. ISBN 9783404156269 . (OT: The Killing Dance )
  • Laurell K. Hamilton: Dark Embers . 2nd Edition. Bastei Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 2007. ISBN 9783404157563 . (OT: Burnt Offerings )
  • Laurell K. Hamilton: Call of the Blood . 1st edition. Bastei Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 2009. ISBN 9783404159727 . (OT: Blue Moon )
  • Laurell K. Hamilton: Goddess of Darkness . 1st edition. Bastei Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 2010. ISBN 978-3404164103 . (OT: Obsidian Butterfly 1st part )
  • Laurell K. Hamilton: Ruler of Darkness . 1st edition. Bastei Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 2010. ISBN 978-3404164424 . (OT: Obsidian Butterfly 2nd part )
  • Laurell K. Hamilton: Slayer of the Twilight . 1st edition. Bastei Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 2010. ISBN 3404160541 . (OT: Narcissus in Chains 1st part )
  • Laurell K. Hamilton: Night of Shadows . 1st edition. Bastei Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 2011. ISBN 3-404-16588-8 . (OT: Narcissus in Chains 2nd part )
  • Laurell K. Hamilton: Sinister Desires . 1st edition. Bastei Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 2012. ISBN 978-3-404-16677-0 . (OT: Cerulean Sins )
  • Laurell K. Hamilton: Black Dreams . 1st edition. Bastei Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 2013. ISBN 978-3-404-16740-1 . (OT: Incubus Dreams 1st part )
  • Laurell K. Hamilton: Blind Hunger 1st Edition. Bastei Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 2013. ISBN 978-3-404-16806-4 . (OT: Incubus Dreams 2nd part )

Comic

Since October 20, 2006, Guilty Pleasures has been published by Marvel Comics as a monthly comic. As a result, bound collective editions were also published.

  • Laurell K Hamilton, Stacie Ritchie, Jess Ruffner-Booth, Brett Booth: Anita Blake, vampire hunter, Vol. 1, Guilty pleasures . 1st edition. Marvel Pub., New York 2007. ISBN 9780785127239 .

Audio book

  • Laurell K. Hamilton: Bittersweet Deaths . Audiobook, 6 CDs. Breu Media, 2008. ISBN 978-3-981-25140-1 . (OT: Guilty Pleasures )