In Review: Incubus Dreams by Laurell K. Hamilton

Released: 2004                                 658  pages                          

Publisher: Berkley Books

Format: Paperback

ISBN: 0-425-19824-3

Anita is back with a whole new set of problems. There’s the Brown family, who want her to resurrect their murdered son, which is a major no-no, since the zombie would not only murder his murderer, but also anyone in his way, but she agrees to assist in the investigation. Anita is still struggling with her powers, and she’s not the only one having unexpected problems and increases, so are Jean-Claude, Richard and Damian.

There’s a new threat on the vampire front, this time coming from the Dragon who is preying on the vampire fraction not blood bounded to Jean-Claude, namely, Malcolm’s church followers, the Church of Eternal Light.

Anita’s love-life is again a mess. Between the crushes and jealousy from outsiders, some wanting more, and others, including Anita herself, unsure of what they really want ,its all more than one girl should really have to deal with. And Anita really isn’t dealing all that well.

And there are a series of vampire serial killings involving strip club workers and patrons.

This book is not only big, it’s a bit of a big jumble, and not so cleanly wrapped up in the end like the previous novels. In fact many things are left undone, but there are a few that take the first steps to resolution. Richard’s change in attitude is touched on, hopefully paving the path back to the old Richard. The vampire political intrigue looks as though it’s not going to go away any time soon, as more and more of the story is over taken by it. But Anita is lightening up a little, seriously just a teeny tiny bit and exploring her powers more, which means exploring the powers of those around her.

She takes yet another lover, and renews a former relationship, but little else gets solved. Although the there were plenty of holes in the story, and much left unresolved, it was still a decent read. Hopefully the next novel picks up slack and resolves the issues or at least the cases.