Dead Ice

An Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Novel

By: Laurell K. Hamilton

Narrated by: Kimberly Alexis

Length: 20 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's Summary

Anita Blake has the highest kill count of any vampire executioner in the country. She’s a US Marshal who can raise zombies with the best of them. But ever since she and master vampire Jean-Claude went public with their engagement, all she is to anyone and everyone is Jean-Claude’s fiancée.

It’s wreaking havoc with her reputation as a hard ass - to some extent. Luckily, in professional circles, she’s still the go-to expert for zombie issues. And right now, the FBI is having one hell of a zombie issue.

Someone is producing zombie porn. Anita has seen her share of freaky undead fetishes, so this shouldn’t bother her. But the women being victimized aren’t just mindless, rotting corpses. Their souls are trapped behind their eyes, signaling voodoo of the blackest kind.

It’s the sort of case that can leave a mark on a person. And Anita’s own soul may not survive unscathed...

©2015 Laurell K. Hamilton (P)2015 Penguin Audio

Critic Reviews

"Hamilton remains one of the most inventive and exciting writers in the paranormal field." (Charlaine Harris)

"If you’ve never read this series, I highly recommend/strongly suggest having the Anita Blake experience. Vampires, zombies, and shifters, oh my! And trust me, these are not your daughter’s vampires." (Literati Book Reviews) 

Good performance; book's a mess

Any additional comments?

I partially read the book and partially listened to the audio. I didn’t feel either was helped or harmed by the back and forth.

I was so excited for this book and the beginning of the book was good. Good enough that it prompted me to buy the audio as well so I could listen at work and not have to wait ten hours before I could get back to it.

Unfortunately, that only makes my disappointment in it that much more palpable. Dead Ice is so dissatisfying mainly because the potential was there to actually be great.

The problem was the story went off on too many tangents. Too many storylines left the book too bloated and scattered and, for a book this long, it should have had closure to the sub plots. Instead I was left with a bunch of questions that were never answered. And you could see the ending coming a mile away. It was glaringly obvious, which is super annoying.

What’s even more annoying is the repetition Hamilton uses to describe characters or past events. Look, this is Book 24 – if you haven’t kept up with a serial series and you are just popping in now – you’re a moron. Go to the back log and start somewhere before the series got to double digits.

Anyway. For the first time in ages the story wasn’t completely bogged down with sex. Unfortunately the sex scenes that actually were in the story were pretty boring or eye roll inducing. A first for me.

There were more stupid and unnecessary power struggles. Between Anita and her men, Anita and her woman, Jean-Claude and Asher, Narcissus and the werehyenas, the other characters who are jealous/resentful of Anita…blah, blah, blah.

Also - WTF? Jean-Claude is now the vampire king in the United States, but he is still acting like he’s just a Master of the City, and a bad one at that. And why is he still allowing Asher to manipulate him? I wish someone would just kill Asher and get it over with already.

You know what pissed me off royally though? Rafael, the wererat king, was almost killed and his sub-plot was just dropped. I have absolutely no idea what happened to him.

There are way too many characters, and too many new characters being introduced for no good reason, to the detriment of the ones already there (where's Wicked, Truth, Damien??)…and I just can’t find it in me to care anymore.

I am so tired of the polyamory. Not because of any moral opposition or anything…I just do not believe anyone can have legitimate relationships with more than eight people and have the whole group be satisfied. Sorry, I don’t buy it. I can see three, or even four or five people, but after that it just leaves me shaking my head because who has the time or energy? Maybe if all you did was have sex, but everyone has multiple jobs. Hell, Anita is a vampire executioner, animator, US Marshal, queen to Jean-Claude’s vampire queen, leopard queen, master of tigers…it’s exhausting. Who has time for all that and carry on loving relationships with a half-dozen (or more) people? Not. Buying. It. And nothing in the story sways that opinion otherwise.

Still, the story wasn’t as bad as the last few have been. Though it’s still a far, far cry from the wonder and joy these stories used to bring me.

The more I think about this story, it's potential, the plot holes, the dropped storylines, and all the bullshit...the more ragey I'm getting.

I will give Hamilton one more shot on this series. One more time to get this train back on the tracks. If the next Anita Blake story doesn’t get better, I’m dropping it.

Blake us loosing steam

I had a hard time getting thru this one. Just finished and can barely remember what had happened in the begining.

oh! no

What would have made Dead Ice better?

It's is all about this strange group's sex life. A little bit of a story but very little. Years ago I very much enjoyed the story with Anita and her work and friends. Not any more. If your interested, try the first 7 in the series.

Would you ever listen to anything by Laurell K. Hamilton again?

NO.

What didn’t you like about Kimberly Alexis’s performance?

Well she didn't have much to work with. I think she did a fine job with what she had. I am not being fair with her. Sorry

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Dead Ice?

Most of them

An Embarrassing Addiction

I am ashamed to admit I am a NITA-HOLIC

I didn't fully realize the depth of this addiction until I swore to myself after Jason (yes, it took 23 books!) to never ever again listen to or read an Anita Blake novel. I made this solemn oath to myself long after realizing they were no longer entertaining or well-written. I can only suppose it was like any other addiction formed from early doses of pure pleasure. I kept listening to Anita Blake long after the rewards were overwhelmed by shame and disgust -- in this case, of bad writing, poor plots, and endless boring sex. Jason was absolutely positively my last straw (book).

And then the curiosity set in. I saw some good reviews mixed in with confirmations of my prejudged bad. I then convinced myself I should not judge a book I had not read. After all, what's a credit and a few hours possibly wasted (see how my earlier disgust and shame started to fall away?). So here I was, despite my formerly iron-clad determination, listening to 20+ hours of audiobook that I firmly believed would mercilessly destroy brain cells. Apparently I have no willpower and yes, I now openly admit my irresistible Anita Blake addiction.

OK, it was actually much better than I expected. LKH still has that annoying tendency to stop in the middle of important action to contemplate leather holsters, curly hair, and lift bras. And, yes, Anita continues to marvel that she's the manliest, studliest woman who ever strapped on a gun and all other women simper and whine their way through life. And, of course, the action story doesn't just take a back seat to Anita's personal life -- the story actually rides in a trailer behind the back seat and is only rarely seen at rest stops. All of that is known and accepted by those who love this series. But there actually was a story! Maybe even a couple of stories! And LKH's boring sex scenes did not completely overwhelm the plot! Yes, high praise, indeed!

Some may credit the editing in this book, and I always credit Kimberly Alexis for saving Anita from sounding like the ADHD idiot she so often is. Personally, I believe LKH is cunningly playing "the long game" with her readers. (If she is, she should push for Kimberly Alexis to read the unabridged Narcissus in Chains for us.)

But whatever the reason, I liked this book and I will (probably) listen to the next. I have come a long way from my solemn vow of abstinence and yes, I am truly embarrassed.

I'm finished....

I have spent years enjoying the Anita Blake series. It's always been an automatic download. I'll admit that I passed on the title before this, Jason, because of many of the reviews that I read. I loved Affliction and felt like we were heading in the right direction. As the books have progressed, I've been noticing more "relationship" dialogue and feel like it was taking away from the story line and watering down the excitement of things I've come to love so much. I think I'm now finished. The "relationship/emotional" dialogue was tedious and dominated any story line. There was an opportunity for this to be a great book. Sadly, it was lost in whining, endless discussions of "feelings" and what I found to be of no importance to the story. I became exhausted and annoyed so much so that I started fast forwarding to try and skip over the endless talk, talk, talk. In the end, that ended in about 1 to 1.5hrs of the book that were actually plot related. Considering the length of this audio, that is VERY sad and disappointing. I'm saying goodbye to Anita Blake. It's been fun, but in the end I'm left tired and uninterested. I, unfortunately, do not feel it was worth my credit or my time.

not her best work

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

1st part had to much droning in it could have shortened it by 2 or 3 hours, second part much better but had to many mistakes gut shot when running away from max. thought there was going to be a zombie show down between max and anita, very disappointed with the way book ended. hope with all the loose ends it wont be a whole year before the next book

This will be my last Anita Blake book

the story had such a great begining now it's just bad porn with to much talking

okay...better the some worst then others.

Kimberly did a great job, but this book was 95% boyfriend drama and 5% cop. this really disappointed me. after affliction being so good, this was a big let down. the mystery wasnt that good either. i figured out who the bad guy was long before anita.
( i will say the drama was better to read then the pages of repetitive, boring sex in previous books...)
this book their was just no need for the mystery its self. it could of been a side story like, Michael and Jason books. it was nothing, but a set up for the drama and weding.
Anita books use to make me stay up all night reading. Making me cusred that it ended and leave me dying for the next book. if it wasnt for Anita i would have never became the reader i am today and i thank her for that, yet i've been thinking for a while now, her books dont give me that same thrill.

This Is a Political Equity Lesson....Not a Story

Exactly what you expected and a little disappointing, this one will be the last I buy. I have been a fan of Hamilton since long before she jump started a genre of paranormal fiction for women. Frankly, she should have stopped back when the story was more important than lectures on sexual equity. Every other page (no exaggeration) explains a little more about polyamory, LGBT, hermaphroditism, beam, and whatever other info she has picked up in interviews. Boo hiss. Hamilton should go back to offering more story and fewer preachy sermons. Teach by letting me live the characters. Telling me to understand them is a cop out that writers use when they have given up....

Anita is back

I had misgivings about reading this book after reading "Jason" and really not enjoying the book this one is based on ( the laughing corpse) I must say I was pleasantly surprised especially after reading the first review. while not my favorite in this series I am glad to see the author has returned to Anita's roots for the most part. Granted there is a lot of relationship dialogue, some of which could have been cut out or shortened, what has made Anita Blake such a good series is in part the characters and how they relate to each other. I got the feeling that Ms Hamilton is setting the stage for wrapping up some of that back story so she can move on to more adventures without as much angst. Hopefully she will jettison Asher and Jane as they are really tiresome.

If you are looking for a straight to the point "who done it" best find another book to read. In this book the author makes it pretty obvious who is behind the lifelike zombies, even if knowing why is left unclear until the end. However, it is a bit surprising that Anita doesn't make the connection sooner. Maybe she needed Edward to help her think logically.

As always Kimberly Alexis does an excellent job of narrating