Anita Blake Rocks!

She is witty, sexy, stylish and can kick some major vampire ass. Anita Blake has been my favorite protagonist in all the vampire novels we have read in class so far. I will admit, I was a bit turned off that the narration was in comic book form. This book would also not be the first one I would choose if I wanted to expand my vocabulary or be enlightened by symbolism. However, after a few pages in, it was nice to have animation and action to fill my mind with images as I read. I think all the characters played a major part in this novel and I enjoyed how it was a mystery. It was interesting to find Anita working her way to try and solve who was killing all the vampires. I was a little disturbed with all the graphic images but felt like it added to how much Anita can kick ass.

There are several images that lead me to believe the male gaze is present in most of this story. For example, in volume two when she is taking a shower every little detail of her body is uncovered except for her womanly parts of course. This takes away the vampire fighter image and turns Anita into a sex object. Also, in her novel Anita is constantly surrounded my men who help her get out of situations. Toward the end of Volume two when Anita and Edward are in Nikolas's territory trying to kill all the bodies in the coffins Anita needs Edward's help. Also, Phillip pretends to be her lover and she needs help of a male when she fights off the zombies in the grave yard. This all suggest that she does need the help of a man.

One major difference I have found in this novel in comparison to the others we have read is the lack of romance present. In Twilight, it is evident Bella loves Edward. In Fledgling, Shori falls in love with Wright and her other symbionts. However, in Anita Blake's story she clearly has one thing on her mind; her job. She seems very independent living at her own place, taking on the responsibility of killing all the vampires in town and constantly wondering what happened to her friend Catherine. Although she admits at the very end her love interest lies in Jean- Claude, there is no sexual tension between them during any great parts of the story. Likewise, he does control her mind sometimes and appears to be very intimidating but Anita works through all of this and always lets her job come first no matter how much she says she is done working.

I really like Anita and her vampire killing tactics. She was able to kill Nikolas because of her wittiness in distraction. She puts a great name out there for all vampire slayers. It would have been neat to read this in a new form other than comic, but the pictures are nice to dramatize just how much vampire damage the girl can really do!