What the difference/who's better??

I was wondering.....I've never read any of these series or authors but want to know more. What is the difference between Anita Blake, Kelly Armstrong & Laurell Hamilton?
And in your opinion...who is better?

Well, Anita Blake is a character by Laurell K. Hamilton. I would say that her first 3-4 books in that series were very good and then it devolves into sex with a bit of plot for the next 10+ books after that. It has vampires, werewolves, other shapeshifters, necromancers, etc.

Kelley Armstrong's Otherworld series is great. I love the first 2 books especially. It is primarily about Werewolves but then later books include witches, Vampires and the like.

I would say try the first one of each series and see which one strikes your fancy.

You could go through some of the other threads in this group for more suggestions as well.

Happy reading!!

Laurell K Hamilton's other series is the Merry Gentry series about a fairy princess hiding out in L.A. Lots of blood, gore, and sex in this series as well.

I haven't read Kelly Armstrong, so I can't compare.

Kim Harrison is the other author I was thinking of....not Anita Blake :0)

I read Dead Witch Walking and thought it was OK, but wasn't inspired to read on in the series.

My current favorite series are the Riley Jensen series by Keri Arthur, the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs, and The Night Huntress series by Jeaniene Frost.

Charlaine Harris is also good - both the Sookie Stackhouse and Harper Connelly series (although the Harper series has an eww factor for some people.)

I like Kim Harrison a lot better than Laurel K. Hamilton right now. I loved the early Anita Blake books, but there wasn't a lot of choice in the genre when those first came out. Anita was a fascinating character, the romance angle was interesting and each book had a good plotline. Books after Obsidian Butterfly have turned into really bad erotica. Anita is really whiny, and the plots are pretty non-existent. I'm still buying Anita Blake books but I really wish I wasn't...for some reason I can't stop. Hamilton's backed herself into a corner with regards to Anita's situation and relationships, and I really don't see any way out.

Kim Harrison is funny and engaging. She's a pretty good writer. The world of the Rachel Morgan series is really interesting - lots of little touches and nods to the mythology. This is really the series' strong point, although the characters are also interesting and three dimensional. Unfortunately the last book was a little disappointing for me, and I'm afraid her series might be running out of steam as well.

I really like Kelly Armstrong as well, even though you weren't asking about her. Her main characters get one or two books, and then she moves on to the point of view of someone else in the world. It's a little disconcerting at first, but ultimately pretty smart because she avoids making anyone over-powerful or driving plots into the ground. Originally I felt like her writing was poorer than both Hamilton and Armstrong - but now I would say she's my favorite. Her characters Elena and Clay are my favorite paranormal couple. I love The Summoning and The Awakening, which are the two books from her YA series.

I would have to say Briggs, Frost, Ward & Cole are my top authors right now. Harrison is also very good. It would depend on what you are looking for in the book - they all have good plots/story lines but some have more sex than the others but even those scenes are done as part of the story & not the story itself.

There's no reason for all the sex in the Anita Blake books. She can "control" the ardeur now there's no reason she can't cut it down to just Micah and Jean-Claude. I can handle her with two men, that's doable. Nathaniel has grown up and can find someone on his own and the rest can get over themselves. She has room to work if she'd get away from 3/4 of every book being about sex.

Her books after Obsidian Butterfly have been trashy with the exception of I think Skin Trade? was a pretty good one. I've been downloading the ebooks and getting them at the library because I can't stomach paying for them at this point. But I keep reading hoping that something good will come out of it all...

Imho the first few Anita Blake books are the best of the bunch. I like Kim Harrison second best and her books get slightly better not worse, but I dislike Kelly Armstrong.
There are many differences if you are concerned about details if not...

And I agree with Kat. Anita Blake until Obsidian Butterfly and Skin Trade is a lot better than the rest of the series.