Micah

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1. 

   tknocks @ 3:01 am

   For a long while this series was a favorite of mine. All of the books up through Obsidian Butterfly are top notch and worth the price. The Anita character was very likable. Unfortunately, my interest has taken a nose-dive as the books become more and more about Anita and her vast amount of sex partners. Don’t get me wrong, I love a well-written sex scene, but I really don’t need the sex scene to go on and on and on and on to the point that I’m beyond bored and have fallen into catatonia. As far as Anita’s armory of sex partners, I really care about very few of them. I love Richard because I love to hate Richard. I love Jean Claude because he’s…Jean Claude. Micah is a likeable character, but I don’t find him necessary. Asher & Damien are too much work. Nathaniel should die a thousand deaths exposed to the red-hot heat of 10,000 suns. Please, Nathaniel, die. Die. Die. He’s so needy is makes me tired and I want to take a nap. That’s enough about the series as a whole. On to Micah, the novella…

   There’s not much to say. I somehow managed to chug through the book to the point that Micah reveals that his girlfriend left him because his member was too large. At that point I threw the book across the room and began banging my head against the wall while alternately laughing manically and speaking gibberish as all my brainpower had been completely depleted. Several hours and a brain recharge later I picked up the book and put it in the trash. I couldn’t bear to read anymore past Micah’s member. It was so ridiculous up to that point that I had been pushed past patience.

   Honestly, I’m not looking forward to the release of Danse Macabre. I imagine it will be more boundless sex and a teensy weensy bit of sexless plot. I’ll begin reading Laurell K. Hamilton again when I read some reviews on Amazon that Anita has gotten back to her roots. I want my carnage. For now, I’ll move on to other equally talented authors.
   

   
2. 

   E. A Solinas @ 4:50 am

   Micah. The one character in the Anita Blake series that nobody really wants to see more of — really, we’ve heard too much about his physique already.

   And because of this, Laurell K. Hamilton has turned out a very short novella, “Micah,” to show off her latest creation and his enormous member. “Micah” has many of the same problem as her latest books — too much emphasis on sex, annoying attitude — but it’s also horribly boring and unnecessary.

   Anita Blake is woken when a coworker calls her. A federal witness died before he could be put on the stand, and the coworker can’t go, since his wife is suffering a miscarriage. So Anita hops on a plane. But since she needs the occasional quickie to feed the ardeur, her boyfriend Micah tags along.

   Though Anita has been shacking up with Micah for the last year or so, she actually doesn’t know much about him — he’s a wereleopard, has kitty-cat eyes, and that’s about all. But as they spend time alone together (no Jean-Claude, alas, and no Richard), Anita begins to find out what her boyfriend’s past contains.

   Here’s a warning for potential readers: “Micah” is short. Very short. Too short for its size. It strains to fill the few hundred pages of its length. In fact, it’s more like a longish short story than a novella, really.

   And at the end of the day, “Micah” commits that cardinal sin — it’s completely unnecessary. There’s not much of a plot, no exposition, no new revelations worth knowing. There isn’t even any excitement until the ending of the book, and that peters out quickly.

   Even Hamilton doesn’t seem terribly enthusiastic. She’s going through the motions: unimaginative (and sometimes gross) sex, lots of Anita whinging, and soap-opera angst about Micah (horrors!) being a good boyfriend. The writing suffers the most, since there’s little detail and equally little atmosphere. The sex scenes, of course, are the exception. We get too much detail in those.

   Admittedly, Hamilton DOES try to give Micah new dimensions as a character, by giving him a traumatic background. Unfortunately, this trauma is that his girlfriend dumped him because Micah’s Magnificent Member was, uh, too big for her to handle. It will move readers to tears… of laughter. And you can only imagine how the Magnificent Member’s, uh, size has an impact on the rather icky sex scene that follows. Although since they have been together for a year, it’s not clear why the size is suddenly such a problem.

   With “Micah,” Laurell K. Hamilton has served up a pint-sized story that doesn’t really accomplish anything. It’s not much of a story, but somehow that seems appropriate for someone who is not much of a character.

   
3. 

   Michael Griffiths @ 7:22 am

   This book is a monumental ripoff.

   I have just finished reading the e-book version. My first thought upon finishing the 155-page Microsoft Reader book was: “That’s it?”

   I fail to understand, now, what posessed me to buy the book a little less than an hour ago. On a cost/hour basis, this novel ranked well below going to the movie theatres (which are terribly overpriced), far below getting a book out of the library, below even purchasing a full-retail hardcover of …any other book. Yes, it’s less than an hours entertainment.

   Laurell K. Hamilton has been of diminishing quality of a writer for some time. Apart from the incessent rise of erotic fiction (verbal [..]) – which is of inferior quality and highly fringe/[..] – her writing quality has diminished.

   What’s happened to the interesting politics that permeated her earlier novels? The delicate situation between vampires, werewolves, faeries, and others was facinating. Hell, it’s fuelled an entire subgenre. Hamilton initially created one of the most interesting, and compelling, UNIVERSES – in terms of creatures, their histories, etc. It had an incredible amount of potential.

   This novel is just another in a series that continually fails to live up to its potential (or even low expectations). The plot has no tension, no suspense, and consists of (1) a suprise phonecall from Larry, the friend who doesn’t get more than a page of conversation and a passing mention (2) a plane trip, (3) a confessional from Micah in a “nice” hotel room, (4) two chapters on a sex scene (which I skipped past), (5) a zombie raising, and (6) a shootout.

   The plot could have been compressed into a book 1/3 of the length. Indeed, it reminds me of some of the PROLOGUES of her earlier novels. It would be reasonable for us to expext a plot similar to her previous novels, which contained at least the sembelence of a mystery, and Anita moving through it.

   Instead, we have a slow, and tragically painful, buildup to a very short action scene. Oh, yes. Anita passes out. And we have a replay of that scene in Obsidian Dreams where the doctor questions her about her healing powers.

   Did I mention we discover she’s a carrier for 4 types of lycanthropy? Not sure that was mentioned in previous novels. Perhaps I wasn’t paying attention. Oh, was that a spoiler? I hope so: saves you reading this book.

   Honestly, I cannot explain why this book was, in fact, a seperate book and not dramatically cut down and included as an interlude in another book. I suppose it could have been used rather well – Anita has troubles at home, needs to rush to the emergency of Larry and Tammy while everything goes to hell at home, discovers she’s becoming more powerful, returns and has to deal with some nameless threat. Weak, but better, no?

   Let me come to a rational conclusion. I have rambled, in my hatred and contempt for this “book,” for quite long enough.

   Do not buy this book. If you must read it, borrow it or get a copy from the library. It is a ripoff in terms of money, and indeed time. It offers no satisfcation, little entertainment, and leaves the reader feeling cheated.

   The brevity, and quality, of this manuscript is a monumental ripoff. It is also an insult to us, the inclined purchaser, that is was even published. I know not whether to blame Laurell K. Hamilton or her publisher for this – but either way, this brief work of fiction is another milestone in the death of Mrs. Hamilton’s literary career.

   This manuscript lacked even a conclusion. Consider that. It simply stopped, with neither warning not encouragement.

   I purchased the book with low expectations, and the hope of making but two hours pass pleasently. I was not looking for Austen, I was looking for lightly flavoured mental chewing gum. I skipped over or skimmed much of the novel, and had intended to do so. And yes, I was intensely disappointed.

   I feel cheated, and ripped off.

   
4. 

   Violet Bustier @ 9:12 am

   I knew that I should not buy this book. The series has been getting worse and worse. I think that I actually did not buy the last one in this series.

   But I read the DG quote, and sure enough, my hand reached out and bought the book.

   What an awful excuse of a book. It is nothing more than a very poor short story. It is bulked out with improbable sex talk and rehashing of old details.

   I get it, I get it… Laurell Hamilton likes her men in short shorts and ankle-length hair. The sex-toy men in both of her series are amply lock-endowed. Her books have become self-indulgent to an absurd degree. Don’t get me wrong — I like a steamy scene as much as the next person, but LKH is not even pretending to have plots anymore. Her heroine in this book is boring and stupid.

   This book was so bad that I am actually going to toss it. I could not even finish it, as it became a grindingly unpleasant, pointless waste of time.

   
5. 

   Wanda Davis @ 9:31 am

   This book was obviously some previously dropped chapters from one of her other books. Anything to make money and according to her fansite, I am in the majority. Therefore I will not be buying her next hardback. Bad enough that “Incubus” had no plot and boring sex. I recommend that the author re-read her first novels.