[ARC Review] Slay by Laurell K. Hamilton
Considering how things in her life tend to go, Anita never expected her walk down the aisle with Jean-Claude to go smoothly. They’ve already been confronted with naysayers and a power-hungry ancient evil, but now Anita has to do the one thing that actually scares her: introduce her very religious, very human relatives to her fiancé—the newly crowned vampire king of America.
As Anita tries to keep the peace between the family she left behind and the family she’s chosen, dark forces jump at the chance to take advantage of the chaos. With her happy-ever-after at risk and everyone’s immortal souls hanging in the balance, Anita grapples with a hard truth: Blood makes you related, but loyalty makes you family.
My thoughts: It's hard to believe this is the thirtieth adventure with Anita Blake I've gotten to go on. No matter what challenges or new bad guys cross Anita's path, I've always loved this series and I can't help but feel like we're getting close to crossing a new turning point with Anita, Jean-Claude, and their chosen family.
Picking up immediately after the previous book, Anita and her closest friends and loves all know there's still a new enemy on the horizon, the kind that even Jean-Claude hasn't dealt with in all his years. But there's still a wedding to plan, and the biggest threat to Anita's impending vows might just be her own family. Longtime Anita Blake fans will know that the loss of her mother and the subsequent remarriage of her father to someone who looked nothing like Anita's mother (and was the opposite of Anita in pretty much every way) has always been a key moment in Anita's formative years. But Slay gave us our first taste of all of her family, together and on the page, for better or for worse. While the newest threat is coming for Anita, the biggest threat to her happiness is coming from within her own home and I loved the statement this made. Anita was such a good example of remaining steadfast in siding with her chosen family over her genetic family, and I hope to see more of this unapologetic-ness in future stories, especially as society continues to shun anyone who is considered "other" as well as the people who love them.
We got a taste of what the big, bad guy could do in Smolder, but readers will get glimpses of old school Anita when she finally comes face to face with him in Slay. With the safety of everyone she loves on the line, Anita is forced to return to her roots and her vulnerability in this story was everything. Anita found herself relying on her own power, rather than her connections to others, and it was a great reminder that I fell in love with the Anita stories 20+ years ago because of Anita's own strength and ability, rather than her ties to others.
Slay was, ultimately, a nice combination of early Anita Blake and her more recent books. I got caught up in the action, I enjoyed getting to see so many of her chosen family, and I loved the message sent with regards to her biological family.
[A huge thank you to Berkley for providing an advanced review copy of Slay. All opinions are my own.]
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Release date: 11/7/23
Format: eARC
eARC provided via: NetGalley
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