Laurell K. Hamilton

If you've not read the previous 'Merry Gentry' books in this series, you'll probably feel very lost with Swallowing Darkness. Previous story arcs run riot through the new book, especially as it starts off with Merry in hospital after being raped by her Uncle. L. K. Hamilton glosses over the rape very quickly as Merry seems to have/show no trauma, which seems.... Odd!! But anywho... The plot is simple, Merry's guards are being plotted against.. the 'let's kill them' kind of plot and inbetween the sexual exploits and seelie/unseelie/goblin hit-men, there really is little to go on, oh.. ..read more

Another Meredith Gentry episode, and in common with other recent LKH offerings plenty of extraneous sex. It's a shame because there are some really good ideas in here, but I suppose to keep the series going there has to be padding. A bit more plot than her Anita Blake series but not enough to justify the price of a whole book !

One for the fans perhaps but not for the first time reader.

This was awful - a whole book of not terribly good soft porn and only taking place over a few hours ! I read one of the first books and remember thinking it was a good story so was quite looking forward to seeing what had happened in the interim but ......

Anita Blake has turned from Federal Marshal into a vampirish, werwolvish, shapshifting quuen bee having to be serviced by impossibly beautiful men every few hours in order to stay alive and to keep her drones alive - puhleeze !! Lets have less sex and more plot.

Laurell K. Hamilton seems to have an easy writing style which is very easy to read, gives rich colour and depth to the characters she has created, the worlds they live in and the laws they abide by, without going OTT on the details. BUT, and this is a big BUT, she does get rather creatively lavish with her many, many, many, MANY insatiable sexual romps! Now this is tiresome! Distracts from the story line and to be honest, maybe a little smutty! ..read more

For many people who are already fans of the Anita Blake series, written by Laurell K. Hamilton, this will feel like a bit of a cop out, as it is a greatly edited/abridged versions of many of her previous books. You feel as though you are getting mere snippets of stories you have already read, re hashed into a few short pages and sold as a NEW story!!! This is a weeny bit upsetting for many fans.... BUT on the flip side, if you have never read any of these books, and you want to see what all the fuss is about, then this is a pretty good jumping off point. ..read more