by Laurell K. Hamilton
The ninth novel in the horrifying discoveries of Anita Blake, vampire hunter.
Reviewed by: April Dawn Duncan
About April Dawn Duncan
Edward was by far the scariest and most dangerous human being Anita had ever met. He was cold, calculating, calm, ruthless, and fearless. All the qualities that any professional hit man should have. He had given up taking hits on humans a while back; they no longer posed any challenge to him. He had moved on to supernatural creatures like lycanthropes. Anita's and Edward's relationship, twisted as it was, had developed from rivalry into something akin to friendship. Anita trusted Edward to do two things. One, to keep his word. And two, to protect her back. Besides those two things, all bets were off, because there was one question in his mind burning to be answered. Who was better? Anita didn't think Edward would ever push as far as to actually find out the answer. He had once told her how he got to kill more things if he worked with her than against her. Still, she wasn't sure if the time wouldn't come someday. Anyhow, he would warn her if it had. He wanted her to have a fair chance after all. Thank goodness her friend the sociopath had rules he played by.
For all these reasons, Anita never thought Edward would ever ask her for help. And she most definitely didn't think she'd ever see Edward scared of anything. But with one phone call, all of those beliefs were shattered. Edward was calling in his favor. Anita owed him because she had once killed one of his backups, with good reason of course. Anita was both curious beyond reason and scared as hell at what she would find down there in New Mexico. If it scared Edward, it would most likely terrify her. Of course everyone that knows Anita knows what she does when things scare her. She faces them head on.
"Obsidian Butterfly", by Laurell K. Hamilton, is set against the backdrop of a New Mexican landscape and Aztec legend. Just what Anita needed, a pantheon of gods who are into drinking blood, flaying people, and human sacrifice. She does finally get a glimpse into Edward's life, but at the cost of facing her most horrifying case yet. It isn't long before Anita finds that she really has no more space left inside for all the horrors she's seen and experienced. It was no longer a question of faith, that question had already been answered. It was a question of how much one person could take before they shut down. This book makes me wonder, is that when a person becomes a sociopath? When they can no longer feel or care about the suffering of others? It just becomes business and nothing more? It makes me thankful for police officers and firefighters and soldiers, for paramedics and doctors. Here's to those who go out every day to face horrors so that we don't have to. They are the true heroes.
Click here to buy this book, or read more about it at Amazon.com: Obsidian Butterfly
Copyright © by April Dawn Duncan, 2003
Reviewed by April Dawn Duncan:
--Threshold: A Novel of Deep Time - by Caitlin R. Kiernan
--Yarrow: An Autumn Tale
- by Charles de Lint
--The Morgaine Saga
- by C. J. Cherryh
--Tigana
- by Guy Gavriel Kay
--Ender's Game
- by Orson Scott Card
--Foreigner: A Novel of First Contact - by C.J. Cherryh
--Guilty Pleasures - by Laurell K. Hamilton
--The Laughing Corpse - by Laurell K. Hamilton
--Circus of the Damned - by Laurell K. Hamilton
--The Lunatic Cafe - by Laurell K. Hamilton
--Bloody Bones - by Laurell K. Hamilton
--The Killing Dance - by Laurell K. Hamilton
--Burnt Offerings - by Laurell K. Hamilton
--Blue Moon - by Laurell K. Hamilton
--Obsidian Butterfly - by Laurell K. Hamilton
--Narcissus in Chains - by Laurell K. Hamilton
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