The Lunatic Café

This is the first book so far of the series to disappoint slightly on re-reading; it doesn't really achieve the grip of the other novels until right at the end, in a nail-biting sequence in which Anita Blake is disarmed and imprisoned in the company of a werewolf who is fighting a losing battle not to eat her...

( My problems with the book )

There are good points in the book (the discovery of the naga, for example, is a memorable scene) and the usual supply of action sequences, but on reflection I think the story in this case is probably spread across too many different strands to be entirely effective. And while this is clearly a pivotal novel in terms of Anita's private life, I didn't actually find those sequences terribly engrossing this time round; perhaps knowing the future outcome robs the situation of tension?

All in all, a necessary volume if one is to follow the rest of the series, but a bit of a disappointment relative to its predecessors — I hope this isn't an omen for future re-reading...

Bedroom predictions

A meme from capriuni:

Open the nearest book at page 45 and read the first sentence, which will predict your sex life for the next year.

The nearest book happens to be "Devil's Cub", from the overflow shelf of Georgette Heyers immediately to the right of this desk (lots of forecasting potential there!), so the first sentence is...

"The Marquis read out a startling total." !!!

(It is, in fact, a barber's bill...)


Well, perhaps if the world at large considers "none at all" to be startling... otherwise I for one shall be extremely taken by surprise!