Narcissus in Chains

Narcissus in Chains is the tenth book in Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series of novels. The series also includes The Lunatic Cafe, Bloody Bones, The Killing Dance, Burnt Offerings, Blue Moon, Obsidian Butterfly and twelve additional books.http://www.laurellkhamilton.org/works.html There are currently over six million copies of the books in the series in print, in sixteen languages.http://www.laurellkhamilton.org/works.html

The character of the Chimera werecreature in the book, Narcissus, was inspired by a man Hamilton met at a convention. http://blog.laurellkhamilton.org/index.php/site/comments/creating_my_characters The outfit that the character first appears in, a black lace 1950s style dress, while wearing a short, masculine hair cut was taken from the first impression of the man at the convention.http://blog.laurellkhamilton.org/index.php/site/comments/creating_my_characters Several parts of the novel did not go as planned, including Narcissus having less time “on-stage” during the book and the relationship between Jean Claude, Richard, and Anita falling by the wayside at the end.http://blog.laurellkhamilton.org/index.php/site/comments/i_remember_now

Laurell K. Hamilton was born in Heber Springs, Arkansas and grew up in Sims, Indiana.http://www.iblist.com/author415.htm Like her main character of Anita Blake, Hamilton resides in St. Louis and has a degree in Biology. However, Hamilton additionally has an English degree, and instead of inhabiting a world of vampires and werewolves, shares her home with her husband, Jonathon Green, daughter Trinity and two dogs, a pug and a pug-boxer mix, and an assortment of fish.http://www.laurellkhamilton.org/Laurell.html

Anita Blake is back in her home town of St. Louis, and has renewed her relationships with her two lovers, Jean Claude and Richard Zeeman. This is complicated by the marks she wears as Jean Claude’s human servant, and the marks that Richard bears as his beast servant. Anita has begun to develop new powers, which come with new weaknesses – ardeur. This forces her to “feed” from lustful energy several times per day or become seriously ill. Both the vampire and werewolf packs are at odds, with Anita’s friend Damian the vampire being locked in seclusion by Jean Claude, and Richard’s attempts to run the wolf pack with democratic means nearly causing a war among his ranks.

A new alpha wereleopard, Micah, has arrived with a new group of wereleopards and wishes to merge his group with the group under Anita’s protection. Perhaps related to this, a second group of shapeshifters has arrived in town, and have attempted to kidnap a group of swanmanes and wereleopard Nathaniel. Anita learns that several groups of werecreatures in town have had their alphas vanish. As she investigates these issues, several battles ensue.

After assuring Damien’s freedom, working out a compromise with the werewolves where she will become the bolverk for the pack, doing the dirty work that is required that Richard refuses to participate in, Anita discovers that a Chimera – a werecreature that can take on multiple forms – is the cause of the disappearances and the master of Micah. Micah turns from the Chimera to Anita’s side, sharing information about him with her, and nearly is killed as a result. Eventually she is able to defeat Narcissus, the Chimera, and begin a coalition of werecreatures, though she is unable to reconcile with Richard, and instead takes on Micah as a second lover.http://www.amazon.com/Narcissus-Chains-Anita-Vampire-Hunter/dp/0515133876/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b#reader_0515133876

• "Bestseller Hamilton's Anita Blake, police consultant, executioner, necromancer, private eye and wereleopard protector, returns in her amorous 10th adventure, driven more by conflicting desires for the lovers she neglected in her last outing, Obsidian Butterfly (2000), than by the urge to solve any mystery. Once again, in a world where vampires and werecreatures are protected by law, Blake attempts to resolve her libido's constant crisis. Plunged into the netherworld of a leather D/S (dominant/submissive) bar, Narcissus in Chains, by the abduction of one of her inherited wereleopards, Blake finds herself deep into shapeshifter politics and a were creature power struggle that is all a metaphor for her own inner struggle. Whom should she choose—werewolf Richard or vampire Jean-Claude? Or should she take a new lover? Who cares? Blake is eventually infected by the "ardeur" from the vampire clan and tinged with shapeshifting abilities from the were clan. As she becomes more like the fantastic creatures she protects or kills, she, alas, doesn't get any more interesting as a character. Her obsessions with lust serve mainly to overwhelm a rickety plot. Blake needs to put her clothes back on and get back to work. Too much flesh and not enough plot leads to the old but so true saying, "Less is more."" — Publishers Weeklyhttp://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/reviews/search/index.html?page=2&search=1&author=laurell%20k.%20hamilton&issue=&category=&isbn=&publisher=&title=

• "Hamilton's vampire-hunting Anita Blake faces a plethora of foes in her tenth outing. Just returned to St. Louis after six months away, Anita is still no closer to choosing between her lovers--Jean-Claude, a vampire, and Richard, a werewolf. But she has to rely on both for help after two of the wereleopards that she has been watching are abducted at a seedy club called Narcissus in Chains. Anita and her boyfriends rescue the wereleopards from the sinister people holding them, but Anita is wounded in the fight and put at risk of becoming a wereleopard herself. Richard angrily captures the wereleopard he believes is responsible and threatens to execute him. Anita must now rescue that wereleopard from Richard and the werewolves he leads, even as she mourns the apparent end of her relationship with him. Then she realizes that those who kidnapped the first two wereleopards are targeting other lycanthropes. Maybe she will be next. With plenty of steamy sex and graphic violence, this is engaging reading for vampire cultists." — Kristine Huntley, Booklisthttp://www.amazon.com/Narcissus-Chains-Anita-Vampire-Hunter/dp/0515133876/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1295228133&sr=1-1