The problem, for me, wasn't that DANSE MACABRE was 300 pages of sex. The Anita Blake Series has become increasingly more sex- based, due to the ardeur that Anita carries and needs to feed. The sex in the book is nothing great, although there are a few attempts to put the people involved in situations and positions that I find would be hard to accomplish for any mortal human. But since everyone in the book is some type of supernatural being, it didn't seem to be a physical impossibility. So, if you can understand the fact that sex is an integral part of this book, you won't have a problem.

What makes the book not that great is the fact that, underneath the sex, there's just no real plot. Jean-Claude has invited a number of various Masters of the City to St. Louis for the showing of an all-vampire ballet/dance troupe. As such, the same Masters have all brought various candidates to become Anita's pomme de sang (read blood & sex dinner). That's the general plot. Unfortunately, the entire book only covers forty-eight hours, and although we know the gist of the storyline, nothing ever really happens. Besides, of course, the sex.

There are lots of hurt feelings in the book. There's a pregnancy scare. There's the typical characters (Richard, Jean-Claude, Asher, Nathaniel, Micah, Jason, Claudia, assorted vampires and werewolves and wereleopards and wererats). There are new characters (the succubs mermaid and her family, the werelions, the Masters of the City). There's crazy sex, ardeur sex, powerful sex, painful sex.

When you strip away the sex, there's not a whole lot else there. Although I will say that DANSE MACABRE could have used a good editor, just to get rid of the repeated phrases that are prominent throughout the book.

Yes, I finished the story, and no, I didn't hate it. But it wasn't all that satisfying (the sex, although large in number, isn't anything to write home about) or fulfilling (almost nothing is resolved at the end of the book that was brought up at the start).

Would I recommend buying a copy? No. Should you borrow it from a friend or the library? If you're an Anita Blake fan, then yes, to see how the storyline (what there is of it) continues. Let's hope the next book has a little more meat to it, and less screaming sexual gratification. ( )

Potboiler, through and through, but the story drives forward at breakneck speed and it is hard to put down. I like to read the books in this series while traveling by airplane since they are so engrossing and distracting. A little like eating snack cakes, however, as they're all sugar and fluff and delicious dark voyeurism, but light on actual substance. ( )

I used to love this series but the whole ardeur thing has made me stop reading them. I pushed through this one because in the next book my favorite character comes back…Edward. Anita killed no one in this book or the last…hope that does not last too long.  ( )

I have read the series since the start. I loved the old books, ones where there is a plot, and Anita actually has a life and job. I also preferred the old character of Anita. She was tough, and difficult, whiny and in denial, but she was also fun, and caring, and not so self-centered and self-absorbed. The older books had almost no sex, whereas the recent ones are just badly written mechanical sex.

I was not expecting much from this book since the last one was so bad, and the reviews for DM were terrible. In fact I felt I had finally reached the end of my Anita addiction.

Since they have gone into HC I tend to get the HC, read it, and then get the PB when it comes out (the first 8 were in PB only). For DM I skipped the HC and only got the PB, and then didn't read it for a year. I heard so many bad reviews.

Well I finally read it last weekend, and actually sort of loved it. Its not the Anita of old, and it does have problems but it is so much better than the previous 2-3 books.

I have not really liked them since Blue Moon, and feel LKH did things in that book that replaced the real main characters with POD people. Because of the Podding they stopped talking to her, and she has been doing Anita as 'Merry with a Gun' to fill in. Now it seems that some of the real characters are coming back. Of course they have to carry on with the dreck that has built up since they have been AWOL.

What I liked:

There was less pointless sex overall. The sex scenes that were there, were not so mechanical and soul-less. The whole 'tight, wet, thrusting' theme is just tiring when you read it 20 times a book.

There were fewer new characters added than has been the case in the last books.

Some of the older characters got more stage time, and more development: Asher in particular. JC wasn't filed away from the action when the sun came up. Richard had some development rather than just angry lines. I like Claudia and her development. We also spent some time with Micah (still hate him) and Nathaniel (still hate him, but he is becoming an actual person). We didn't waste a lot of time with Damian (hate him too), the Were Dr. Lillian was there again.

Some of the new/newer characters got development: Remus, Requiem, London, Auggie, Meng Die, Samuel, Sampson, Thea

There was something of a plot, and a continuous thread moving through the book, though it was very light and not something that you can say afterwards that it made a great impression. But it did follow from A to Z while you were reading it.

LKH tried to make a story to cover the developments in the book: why Micah and Nathaniel have become so close to Anita so fast. Why everyone (men) seems drawn to her. Why she gets so many new powers, and why she has so many types of Lycanthropy (with hints of more to come). I actually liked using OB's stuff at the end. None of those development were good things, but now at least there is a part of the story to cover it. And I think this may be the first book in a while that AB hasn't gained a new power.

I actually enjoy a lot of dialog, and characters talking about thoughts and feelings, so I really enjoyed that.

I loved that JC finally got a man, and Anita was there for it, and it turned her on.

I liked the Richard developments and the implication that Joseph and the Lions are the self-destructive and dysfunctional result of trying to live as humans and not Weres (what Richard wants to do). I think it will be used in the future to show Richard the fatal folly of trying to be human. He actually seems to be learning and understanding in small bits.

There was also an attempt at humor, and while it wasn't the same as the old books, it was at least an attempt.

What I didn't like:

The whole start of the book, with Ronnie being trashed and turned into a jealous, shrewish, crazy, slut. It also exposed how hard, cold, nasty and selfish Anita has become. I hate that it now happens to any character who doesn't agree/worship Anita, especially the other women characters.

I can't say how loudly it comes across that LKH hates women and obviously herself in what she writes in the books. The whole concept of Anita as Prince Charming is just sad and sick.

The pregnancy scare was very contrived. LKH used it as a way to say some things, but it was too drawn out and too melodramatic.

The anemic plot. First we had Pregnancy Scare, Shopping for a Pomme de Sangre, then it became lets Test Anita around Masters (some from Belles's line, some not, some who had been with the ardeur, some not), then it was Make a Deal with Auggie, then it was Power Plays with Auggie, then the Ballet, and their Bad Behavior.

But the ballet part didn't start until the end, and it was over very quickly and easily, and it never made any sense as to what they hoped to gain (given the vampires rules about territories and allowable behaviors and all).

The whole thread about Mers got pushed into some future book, the Ballet got almost no stage time.

I didn't like a lot of stage time for Micah, Nathaniel, Damien - just kill them all. I hate the 2nd Tri.

I didn't like so many characters, and too much time for the new/newish ones. I can't keep track of them (who they are, where they came from, what they are, and what their motivations/issues are), and while some got development, I would rather we had older characters.

The ending was a fizzle.

Still with all the problems I read the book in about a day and a half, and it is probably one of the few recent ones (since Blue Moon) that I might actually read again. ( )

The only problem I had with this book is that all of the conflict was basically internal. Sure, there were a lot of power struggles with various other vampires, but no big bad guy. I miss the big bad guy. The sex in this one didn't bother me as much ... I think she managed to tone it down a bit. ( )