I won’t say that The Harlequin is a return to form for Laurell K. Hamilton, but I will say that this book is the best of maybe the last five or so books she’s out of either one of the current series. At last! Plot! More plot than sex! Hurrah!
I actually enjoyed this book, rather than feeling like I was slogging through just to find out what happens next like I have been doing for the last few titles in the series. Even though, chronologically, things moved forward only a few hours in real time, this book was very satisfying in that it wrapped up some loose ends that have been dragging on for many books.
There were a few points in the book where I thought there was too much standing around and talking, some really foolish standing around and talking given that the baddies were in the room at the time waiting for an opening. 🙂 And that’s always been a flaw in Hamilton’s books—too much talking. And it’s kind of bizarre given that these books were really action-driven in the first half of the series.
When I picked up my copy of this book, I was surprised. The increasing size of the last few books made me expect another tome. The Harlequin, though, was good enough that I wish it had been more than an inch wide. Plus, Hamilton is getting into some really interesting back story with her vampire mythos and I really want to know more about the Mother of All Darkness and the vampire council.
One of the things I really like about contemporary fantasies are the histories that the authors get to build. In Hamilton’s case, I wonder how much she makes up as she goes along because these little bits and pieces keep popping up and she rarely just lays everything out. I think I like this way, too. Given the slow pace of the plot to date, I don’t think I could handle extensive worldbuilding.
So, kudos to Laurell on this one. Write more like this!