Some people are really upset about where the Anita Blake series is going. That’s just proof that these characters are so real and so vivid to readers that they’re capable of getting upset, a huge compliment to a writer. It takes a certain sturdiness of will to keep creating in the face of that sort of outcry, though, and I’m glad LKH has got it, because I can’t wait to see what happens next in Anita #13.

I don’t think the changes in the Anita series and in Anita herself are mistakes. Why not? First of all, Anita had to change or she wasn’t going to survive to her 30th birthday. Since Anita is first and foremost a survivor, it is very much in character for her to make the changes her survival depends on. Anita had reached the limit of what she could do as the lone gunman. To face the bigger challenges ahead, she needed to assemble a team and learn to be a team player.

There are some very big challenges looming on Anita’s horizon. The Mother of All Darkness is waking, and her unkillable servants are waking up with her. Then there’s the fact that America is full of vampires not bound by a blood oath who could all turn rogue without warning. Anita says herself, “If that happens, even The Executioner is going to need a little help”.

In Incubus Dreams, Anita takes a lot of steps to secure her power base and gain allies. She forges a compromise with Richard, a task that appeared impossible but was essential given his position in the power structure. She reaches a new level of understanding with Jean Claude. She creates a second triad of power with Nathaniel and Damien and her allies gain abilities in the process. She’s instrumental in helping Asher come into his full powers in the end of Cerulean Sins. Gaining allies and helping her allies gain strength had to happen, because Anita is not going to win the fights that are coming alone.

The arduer is something that I predict will prove a gift and not a curse. It’s another form of power. It isn’t one Anita particularly likes, but the ties that have given her such strength came out of her need to feed it. It’s forced her to come to grips with issues about intimacy, and the result has made her stronger. Happier, too.

I know better than most that erotic writing is incredibly difficult. It might just be the hardest thing there is to pull off. LKH does it wonderfully. Sex is never gratuitous; it always serves a purpose in the story and there is always something at stake. It’s done with a depth of feeling and accuracy of detail that I really appreciate, both as a reader and a writer. I think the erotic turn the series has taken has added a whole new dimension, not taken anything away.

Incubus Dreams was obviously a difficult book because it’s transitional in the series and it’s more of a story of internal conflict setting the stage for future external conflict than a straight shoot-em-up. I haven’t checked, but I think it has the lowest body count of any Anita book so far. When there were only 2 corpses two thirds of the way through the book, I started bracing for the bloodbath I figured had to be coming. I think it’s going to come in Anita #13.

The series has changed, no question. It either had to change or end, and I’m glad it’s not ending. It isn’t just Anita that makes the books so good, it’s the entire cast of characters. I can keep visiting that world and those people indefinately.