Helpful Score: 3
I found myself trying to get into the head of a writer with the goals of this one. I got disgusted with the series around #9 but had read some good reviews on The Harlequin. This is a book about sex magic and how the magic of sex draws together men with one woman. It is about the power of love between men and women. Hamilton uses quite a bit of energy to explain why free love with multiple partners is moral and nothing is morally wrong with the people who do it. She shows how all the boyfriends change and grow in positive ways. Nathaniel is growing up into a sensitive kind person albeit he is into sadomasochism. The questions is posed that if Anita can't fulfill him sexually does he have the right to break up with her to find fulfillment elsewhere even though they love each other? Even though she has multiple lovers, Anita is jealous at the thought of sharing him. She splits a lot of hairs over what a prude about sex and nudity she is when not controlled by the ardeur. To me the ardeur is simply a rationalization to have an orgy or sex with whoever you want. There's also the contention that without regular sex to "feed the ardeur" she and others will. How convenient. A lot of energy is used to rationalize why anyone(usually conservative Christians or the conservative vampire church) would condemn the moral behavior of others who freely have sex with many. Conservatives do not grow and change generally. Like Richard, they tend to stay stuck in a world of judgement and hate. She contends that people who are judgemental and object to multiple partner sex are hypocrites who don't understand the power of love and probably don't love themselves either. The only person in a monogamous relationship who isn't attacked as a hypocrite is Edward. Every other monogamous couple in the series are made into bad guys.I also think the fact that almost all the men fall in love with Anita is really stretching reality. I find Hamilton's tendency to do this makes this series more of a narcissistic fantasy. I don't think all the sex is immoral necessarily but in some ways,Richard seems like the voice of reason and sanity. True, he has other partners without love but he wants the woman he fell in love back. He wants to know who Anita is without Jean Claude. You know What? I'd like to know too! What if Richard and Edward were to kidnap Anita and have her deprogrammed from Juan Claude. The theory is she would die. What if vampire powers made her believe what isn't real? The hightlight of the book was Anita's reaction to Olaf the serial killer. I had a few loud laughs over it. That was the only part not spoiled by the constant emotional barrage over the morality of what Anita does sexually. I really don't care. I'd like to see less emotional conflict over what she's going to do anyhow and more action. Is there a plot? Kind of sort of. The Harlequin are out to bring down Anita and Juan Claude and the magical use of sex strengthens Anita's friends against the Harlequin and helps defeat them. It's definitely an innovative plotting device. I think that Laurell Hamilton is talented enough of a writer that she doesn't have to use sex to sell books; however, she's enough of an exhibitionist that having millions read her sexual fantasies flat does it for her. Maybe Anita(and LKH)need to be in sexual rehab along with other well known celebrities.
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