Monday, May 16, 2011

Laurell K Hamilton VS Kim Harrison



For the VS posts there will be a graded system based on Characters likeability, Violence and Gore, Storyline, Sex and the Urban Fantasy Element and an Overall rating. All will be on a 5 star rating, 1 star being of course no good, 5 being absolutely smashing. At the end of the post I will declare the winner and you can feel free to agree with me or disagree (which could make the comments section fun and interesting). The quick blurbs I give of each book/series will be just enough to give readers who aren’t familiar with the books an idea of what they are about. Think of them as a one paragraph synopsis’, they won’t be full of details so don’t expect them.

Laurell K Hamilton is the author of the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series.* Anita is a necromancer and a vampire executioner though she’s been upgraded to a US Marshall. Her love interests are many and the action in the books is about half gun play and violence and the other half heavy on the sex. There is always a mystery of some sort to be solved and Anita, as a consultant for the police task force that deals with the supernatural side of the populace, is more often than not “ass deep in alligators.”

Characters Likeability- 3 (Anita can be downright annoying as can some of her men)

Violence & Gore- 4.5 (Very descriptive if you can handle it)

Storyline- 3.5 (storyline can be sucked into the next section and become secondary to the . . .)

Sex Scenes- 4.5 (Heavy on the sex-read at your own risk. Expect S&M, orgies and some man on man)

Urban Fantasy Element- 5 (Vampires, werewolves, necromancers, demons, monsters, ghosts, etc)

Overall Rating- 4 (just squeaked out a 4 from me)

Kim Harrison is the author of the Hollows series following Rachel Morgan. Rachel is an earth witch that is perpetually broke and lives with her un-dead vampire friend (would like to be more than friends) Ivy, and Jenks, a smart ass pixy. They work together taking jobs from stealing back items, tracking down people and a variety of other things that invariably lead to disaster. Rachel flits from dangerous man to dangerous man, dabbles in demon magic, leads Ivy on and generally is lucky to be alive most days.

Characters Likeability- 4 (Believable and totally get emotionally involved)

Violence & Gore-3 (There is very little true violence and gore, its hinted at more than spelled out)

Storyline- 4.5 (They are interesting and rarely go the way you think. They don’t get sidetracked by... )

Sex Scenes- 4 (Hot scenes without overdoing it and lots of sexual tension between many characters)

Urban Fantasy Element- 5 (Witches, demons, vampires, werewolves, pixies, gargoyles, elves etc.)

Overall Rating- 4.5
In this battle between two of Urban Fantasy’s big hitters, the win (IMHO) goes to

Kim Harrison. I often finish her books feeling like not only have things been solved, but that Rachel has learned something from her adventures. Not always is that the case with Laurell K Hamilton’s Anita. Often Anita takes 2 or 3 books to learn something. That’s not to say I won’t be reading the next Hamilton book, I still love the series, but when it comes down to it, Harrison has the upper wand, I mean, hand.

4 comments:

Liana Brooks said...

Kim Harrison all the way. Hamilton started strong and then took a good book down the path of porn. I don't know what she was thinking, but after book three there was nothing worth reading unless you were looking for hardcore erotica.

Shannon said...

Hamilton can still be goo, but you have to pick and choose. I find the books where she is working with Edward tend to be more like her first few and are worth the read. Otherwise, I totally agree with you. :)

Quidicane said...

I enjoy reading both Harrison and Hamilton. Anita Blake is the poster girl for bad choices, while Rachel Hunter is just showered in bad luck chapter after chapter.

Shannon said...

Excellent way of putting it Quidicane! Both characters are dealing with the results of the bad choices/luck but in totally different ways.