AFFLICTION Review!

AFFLICTION!

Talk about the perfect birthday present! I couldn’t put this book down!

The drama starts from the beginning and ratchets up from there, and as cliché as it sounds there is never a dull moment in this novel. Laurel K Hamilton brings on the action and conflict as only she can with absolutely amazing dialogue that propels the story forward. Anita’s voice as the narrator is as always, unique and appreciated, but the real success of these books comes down to the interaction between the characters, particularly those well established. Each one’s voice rings very solid, definitive and recognizable.

One exchange between Anita and Jean-Claude consisted of a three page back and forth, almost script style exchange of dialogue with the barest minimal of tags and next to no dividing narrative. And it was beautiful. Each voice was so distinct that I never once questioned which character was speaking.

The action is a thing of beauty when it gets going, and Micah’s family dynamic was fun, heart wrenching and hilarious. Several of them and their circumstances stood out as odd and perhaps even extreme, but it was very much in LKH’s style and if that made it a touch predictable, the resulting chemistry more than makes up for it. There’s a noticeable cut back on sex scenes in this installment which I found refreshing, and while the ones that were there were smoking hot, it felt really good reuniting a with the earlier, action, mystery and grit style. Also: Zombie Apocalypse!

Alas I do have a few problems with this book. Nothing’s perfect I’m afraid. First, as soon as Anita became involved in the crime/main plot, I felt like certain experiences in previous books immediately should have rung some alarm bells for our heroine, but she pretty much says “I’ve got no clue what this is, I’ve never seen anything like this before” all the way up until they figure out the cause. Don’t want to spoil it, but longtime fans of the series will more than likely be able to make an educated guess and I felt Anita could have too. Lastly is a trend that seems to happen in a lot of LKH’s books, the endings are very short and abrupt, with the final battle/climax/big finale being sketched over in a few paragraphs and bam. Done. That’s a wrap. I can’t help but feel ever so slightly cheated considering all the work and effort that clearly went into all the wonderful entanglements in the rest of the book. 

On the whole, this is a book for any LKH or urban fantasy fan and I give it two thumbs WAY WAY up!

Congratulations and thank you to Laurell K Hamilton for 20 years of Anita Blake!