Publisher: Berkley Trade
Release Date: January 2, 2007 (Original)
Format: Audio MP3 by Penguin Audio; Unabridged edition (October 1, 2009)Pages: 320 (Mass Paperback) / Audio Length: Unknown (7+ hours)
Source: Library Borriow via Overdrive
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Review Date: November 8, 2012
Rating: 4 bookmarks
Book synopsis: In Circus of the Damned for the first time-a rogue master vampire hits town, and Anita gets caught in the middle of an undead turf war. Jean-Claude, the Master Vamp of the city, wants her for his own-but his enemies have other plans. And to make matters worse, Anita takes a hit to the heart when she meets a stunningly handsome junior high science teacher named Richard Zeeman. They're two humans caught in the crossfire-or so Anita thinks.
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I started this book a few years ago, directly after reading books one and two. At that time, I thought this installment was much slower than the first two so I ended up not finishing it. A few days ago, I was searching the available MP3 audiobooks to borrow, and this caught my eye, so I decided to give it another try, I'm glad that I did because the audio version made this book much more appealing to me. Of course since I first started reading this a while back, I decided to start from the beginning just in case I forgot anything. There is a lot going on in this book. If I talked about all of the situations this review would be pages long, and that's just too much. I'm going to try to hit major points that I liked and keep it short.
Release Date: January 2, 2007 (Original)
Format: Audio MP3 by Penguin Audio; Unabridged edition (October 1, 2009)Pages: 320 (Mass Paperback) / Audio Length: Unknown (7+ hours)
Source: Library Borriow via Overdrive
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Review Date: November 8, 2012
Rating: 4 bookmarks
Book synopsis: In Circus of the Damned for the first time-a rogue master vampire hits town, and Anita gets caught in the middle of an undead turf war. Jean-Claude, the Master Vamp of the city, wants her for his own-but his enemies have other plans. And to make matters worse, Anita takes a hit to the heart when she meets a stunningly handsome junior high science teacher named Richard Zeeman. They're two humans caught in the crossfire-or so Anita thinks.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
I started this book a few years ago, directly after reading books one and two. At that time, I thought this installment was much slower than the first two so I ended up not finishing it. A few days ago, I was searching the available MP3 audiobooks to borrow, and this caught my eye, so I decided to give it another try, I'm glad that I did because the audio version made this book much more appealing to me. Of course since I first started reading this a while back, I decided to start from the beginning just in case I forgot anything. There is a lot going on in this book. If I talked about all of the situations this review would be pages long, and that's just too much. I'm going to try to hit major points that I liked and keep it short.
Zombie Animator/Vampire Hunter/Necromancer, Anita saves St.Louis from all kinds of monsters. Between helping out the local police department and her regular job raising zombies, Anita has her plate full. Not only does Anita have to constantly fight off the advances of the master vampire of the city, Jean-Claude, she also has to fight off two other master vamps, a Lamia, were-snakes, and several vampires who just hate her because of her link to Jean-Claude. Side note: speaking of Jean-Claude, why does he seem like he'd be fugly to me? The description of him is not attractive to me at all! He is actually the first male vampire character that hasn't appealed to me on any level. Sexiness level of zero! I think that Richard is a much better choice for Anita, as Jean-Claude is a little too feminine...in my opinion. Even with his femininity, he's ruthless with trying to seduce Anita and make her his human servant. I guess if you like that type, he could be a problem to stay away from.
On to Richard, I love Richard's character. I hope Anita starts to like him more than Jean-Claude, He's likable, mild mannered, yet as strong werewolf and not to mention that Richard seems very attractive! I sort of guessed early on that's what he was, but I liked that Anita couldn't figure that out on her own. For someone so smart, Anita sure is slow in some matters. This is the first appearance of werewolves in this series. I knew it was only a matter of time before they showed up.
I'm loving the large amount of reoccurring supporting characters, Dolph, he's the connection to the police which Anita helps regularly. Anita's money hungry and somewhat shady boss, Bert. Edward, the Vampire assassin and Anita's sort of friend. I especially liked the newbie Necromancer Larry. He stands out to me. He's a fresh faced 20 year old intern who wants Anita to train him as a Vampire Slayer. I can see him being a handful, yet helpful in the upcoming books. That is if he doesn't lose his nerve and stop trying to slay vampires all together.
This was the first audiobook that I listened to that had background music and sound effects throughout. It was mostly during the fight scenes or when something creepy or intense was happening. That extra effort went a long way with telling the story. Not only are the extra sounds cool, the narrator was awesome too. They really found a good balance to keep the audio interesting. I'll probably listen to the rest of this series on audio, If you're not really into audio and are looking to try it out, I recommend starting with these books. It's so different and in a good way. I'll be keeping my eye out for more audio books with music and sound effects.
I've heard from die-hard fans that at some point the series take a turn and Anita's character changes and becomes sort of a slut. I'm not sure if I'm looking forward to that. So far, in books 1-3, she's kick ass and doesn't let any man, no matter the species, run her. I'm not sure if I'm looking forward to that change in her character. I'll keep on listening and if I don't like the change of direction, I'll worry about it then. In the meantime, I'm looking forward to the next book, Lunatic Cafe!
Happy Reading & Listening,
~Tamara
On to Richard, I love Richard's character. I hope Anita starts to like him more than Jean-Claude, He's likable, mild mannered, yet as strong werewolf and not to mention that Richard seems very attractive! I sort of guessed early on that's what he was, but I liked that Anita couldn't figure that out on her own. For someone so smart, Anita sure is slow in some matters. This is the first appearance of werewolves in this series. I knew it was only a matter of time before they showed up.
I'm loving the large amount of reoccurring supporting characters, Dolph, he's the connection to the police which Anita helps regularly. Anita's money hungry and somewhat shady boss, Bert. Edward, the Vampire assassin and Anita's sort of friend. I especially liked the newbie Necromancer Larry. He stands out to me. He's a fresh faced 20 year old intern who wants Anita to train him as a Vampire Slayer. I can see him being a handful, yet helpful in the upcoming books. That is if he doesn't lose his nerve and stop trying to slay vampires all together.
This was the first audiobook that I listened to that had background music and sound effects throughout. It was mostly during the fight scenes or when something creepy or intense was happening. That extra effort went a long way with telling the story. Not only are the extra sounds cool, the narrator was awesome too. They really found a good balance to keep the audio interesting. I'll probably listen to the rest of this series on audio, If you're not really into audio and are looking to try it out, I recommend starting with these books. It's so different and in a good way. I'll be keeping my eye out for more audio books with music and sound effects.
I've heard from die-hard fans that at some point the series take a turn and Anita's character changes and becomes sort of a slut. I'm not sure if I'm looking forward to that. So far, in books 1-3, she's kick ass and doesn't let any man, no matter the species, run her. I'm not sure if I'm looking forward to that change in her character. I'll keep on listening and if I don't like the change of direction, I'll worry about it then. In the meantime, I'm looking forward to the next book, Lunatic Cafe!
Happy Reading & Listening,
~Tamara
Get the Kindle version here:Circus of the Damned
Get the audio version here: Circus of the Damned (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter)
