ARC Review: Slay by Laurell K. Hamilton

Slay
Author: Laurell K. Hamilton
Series: Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter (Book 30)
Publication: Berkley (November 7, 2023)

Description: Laurell K. Hamilton has captivated readers with her gritty, seductive tales of vampire hunter Anita Blake for thirty bloody fantastic years. Now, in the thirtieth novel in the #1 New York Times bestselling series, wedding bells are ringing. But before Anita can make it to the altar, she must face an obstacle more daunting than any supernatural threat....

Necromancer Anita Blake is small, dark, and dangerous. Her turf is the city of St. Louis. Her job: U.S. Marshal—Preternatural Branch. She’s faced horrifying monsters and brutal killers and come out the other side still standing.

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: This was an excellent entry into the long-running Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series. Anita has gotten to the part of planning her wedding which she is least looking forward to: introducing her family to Jean-Claude and the rest of her poly group. Her family is ultra-religious and, if the pope says vampires are evil, they are right there with him. 

The visit gets off to a horrible start since the grandmother who abused her until she grew up enough to hit back has come as part of the family visit despite Anita asking her father to leave his mother at home. The grandmother begins the belittling right away and her father isn't much better. Both say that their main concern is for the condemnation of Anita's soul to hell. But nothing can satisfy them about Anita.

And, while the family visit is causing personal stress, the city of St. Louis seems to be facing a growing number of seemingly random attacks on vampires. Maybe the ancient evil sent running in the last book didn't go too far before regrouping for another try to take over St. Louis and Jean-Claude's role as the new king of the American vampires. 

An attack when Anita storms out of a family dinner with her family causes Wicked and Truth to be burned with holy water. And, while Anita should be able to use the ardeur to heal them, something is blocking her access to it and her access to Jean-Claude through their marks. 

Traitors within Jean-Claude's ranks conspire with the ancient evil which makes it even worse and the fact that the evil vampire can turn into a 50-foot-tall fire-breathing dragon means that Anita and her allies including Edward and other preternatural marshals have their hands full. 

There was lots of excitement and action and, thankfully, less of the gratuitous sex scenes that filled earlier volumes of this series. This one spends more time talking about love and the nature of family - birth versus found. It was a very satisfying story with an ending signaling big changes. 

Favorite Quote:

Love is great, but it's different from being in love, like the difference between gazing over the cliff edge at the great view and leaping off, trusting that the love you share will catch you before you hit the ground. In love was a leap of faith.

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.