Anne Rice (1)Reviews

The Vampire Lestat is undoubtedly my favourite vampire novel next to Dracula. I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a good story about vampires, and I would particularly recommend it to anyone who's read Interview with the Vampire. The Vampire Lestat is the sequel to Interview with the Vampire, and it centers around the character Lestat. When I first read the book I wasn't sure I was going to like reading only about a character who I really didn't like in Interview with the Vampire, but it really redeems him as a character, adding depth to him when he seemed so one-dimensional. My only complaint about this novel was that I found the writing to be a bit repetitive or lengthy in certain areas, and that's probably the only reason I haven't given it five stars.

Once again, Rice's prose is lush. This book didn't have any of the erotic scenes that she is known for. This was more a dissertation on good and evil and the power of love. It also answers the question: Do vampires have souls. And yes they do. At least in Rice's universe. But once again, I enjoyed the first half of the book, the description of Florence and the paintings of Lippi. But so many scenes were repetitive, I skimmed the second half since Vittorio repeated his same hopes and fears and religious arguments. This felt like it should have been a short novella and Rice had to pad it into a short novel.

Except for the descriptions, this book was boring. I didn't learn much about Vittorio as a person. Also, I'm not sure how old he's supposed to be. 16? Sometimes he refers to himself as a boy, as do others. Sometimes as a youth. He says he's not considered a man yet and his beard hasn't come in. I thought there were rules about not turning someone so young. I just found that talk about his age inconsistent.

I enjoyed the first half of the book which shows Armand's life before becoming a vampire, the circumstances that caused Marius to make him one at an age younger than he had wished, but the second half for me was bogged down in religious blahblahblah that I didn't find interesting or thought-provoking. They are things Rice has brought up before in her other books. I find these bog down the story. Her writing has always been voluptuously delicious. I love her descriptions of Renaissance Italy. I am no prude, by any means, but sometimes her descriptions of younger boys and girls, teens and tweens make me uncomfortable. I know in this era, things were different, but her descriptions in many instances aren't called for.

I believe I only own one more book in the vampire series, but after this, I think I am done with Rice. I have so many books to read, that I don't have times for ones that I don't enjoy to the fullest. I LOVED Interview with the Vampire, but each successive book I liked less and less. :(

pfff, hard read, actually pretty boring

I thought this was a good, respectful retelling of Christ's early years. It expanded on the material in the New Testament in a believable, engaging way. Very good.½

I made it two thirds of the way through this, but I can't bring myself to go back to it to finish. This wouldn't be a book to read for literary merit, obviously, but I began it out of curiousity and hoping for an entertaining read. Alas, it wasn't that. I suppose unless you have a fetish for that sort of thing, there are only so many scenes of S&M spankings that you can read.

Ik had veel te hoge verwachtingen van dit boek. Het wordt geacht een van de grote fantasy-klassiekers te zijn, en toonaangevend voor de manier waarop vampiers worden beschreven in boeken, kortom: een boek dat ik, na het lezen van Bram Stoker's Dracula, hoog op mijn prioriteitenlijstje had staan.

Boy, was I wrong.

Het verhaal begint met een slepende traagheid die kenmerkend is voor het hele boek; er worden karakters voorgesteld die er totaal niet toedoen. Het boek is trouwens ook, wat de titel al zegt, een INTERVIEW. Dat betekent dat het hele verhaal verteld wordt in de 'ik-vorm' (dus worden alle lezers tot Blijde Deelgenoot van al Louis verwarde gevoelens; Hoera!), en dat de lezer ook nog eens constant onderbroken wordt door een fictieve luisteraar, die van de schrijver ook een zeldzaam talent heeft meegekegen voor het maken van domme opmerkingen en het stellen van nutteloze vragen.

Een ander iets dat me bijzonder heeft gestoord tijdens het lezen van dit boek, is dat alle characters in principe zo plat als een dubbeltje zijn. Anne Rice wekt de indruk dat ze allemaal, en dan met name Louis, de hoofdpersoon, verteerd worden door Diepe Gedachten en Levensveranderende Trauma's en al die andere tropes die in de loop der jaren (en dan vooral in het fantasygenre) zo heerlijk cliche zijn geworden, maar de bittere waarheid is dat er slechts gezeurd wordt. Van het kleinste figurantje tot de Zielige, Onbegrepen Hoofdpersoon (denk even na: waarom is dit boek zo populair geweest onder de goth-populatie) aan toe: ze zijn allemaal aan het miemelen. Louis gebruikt uiteraard wat bloemrijkere bewoordingen dan eigenlijk nodig zou zijn, maar ook daar weet Anne Rice weer een pluspunt te scoren bij de goths.

Voor degenen die de film hebben gezien: Ik dacht eerst dat de film (zoals de meeste boekverfilmingen) prut was en zich voor geen meter aan het boek hield. Ook daar zat ik fout. De film geeft precies weer wat het boek eigenlijk probeert te verbergen: de karakters zijn overdreven karikaturen en het verhaal (dat in boekvorm ongeveer 300 pagina's telt) past precies in een lowbudget pulpfilm (met de verplichte incidentele spannende momenten).

This was such a sad story. Poor Louie. Was he the exception? If only for a minute?
What happens when you give the human condition powers and immortality…. Chaos and suffering.

This historical novel describes Creole society shortly after the Louisiana Purchase. Educated and rich, the free people of colour had a unique culture, customs and mores. Their position, however, was tenuous, very much at the mercy and whim of white people, especially in-coming Americans. This novel doesn't sugar coat the difficulties despite the advantages.
Rice showcases her style, full of flourish and drama, and the book is about 100 pages too long, but I found the read rewarding.½

No one paints a picture with words like Anne Rice. Blood Communion is the last book in the Vampire Chronicles and is a thrilling—if not bloody—fantasy rich in texture and full of surprises on every page. Lestat, The Brat Prince, has finally realized his dream of creating a haven for the undead by refurbishing his ancestral home high in the mountains of France. But just as Lestat’s dream of vampires living peacefully together begins, the ancient Rhoshamandes, who carries off Lestat’s closest family and friends, threatens everything. Only by offering himself to a monster can Lestat save those he loves. I’ve read and loved all of the Vampire Chronicle books, and this one did not disappoint. It was a fitting end to a stunning world of horror and passion.

Warning: these books are erotica. If you can't handle the 50 Shades of Grey series, then don't bother reading these, because these are 300x worse.

All in all, it was a good book. I thought that parts of it were kind of rushed, like the ending, but that's ok.

Interview With the Vampire by Anne Rice is a story about a vampire who’s searching of a meaning of his immortality and the life he has in eternality, romanticizing the ideas that being an immortal is powerful, a gift from God, and the immortals are the children of God, while the sad truth behind it is that being an immortal is a lonely journey and full of despair and nothing could release the immortal from the desperate despair unless killing the mortal one.

I felt sad after reading this but mostly tired because this is not a story of only one or two years but it's like an era. Such an enchanting and enthralling experience to read Anne Rice's work.

I am not a fan of vampire novels - not because of the characters themselves but ... authors tend to portrait them as so blimey sensitive that it is impossible.

They are immortals (or near-immortals), they've seen empires and civilizations rise and fall, they have the urge to kill people or make them vampires by sucking their blood but they are sooo sensitive it is unbelievable.

Whenever I read about immortal men and women I compare the work against Wagner's Kane - much more believable "immortal" character, one that has been there, did that and looks at all the others as mere pawns, time-limited acquaintances. Don't get me wrong he does get in love, has passion but he is simply ..... bored because he can foresee what comes next because he saw it before.

Lestat is similar character, rebel in soul, adventurer and murderer but vampire with doubts regarding the religion .... vampire in spiritual crisis. Interesting premise and interesting story - I enjoyed it.

What I cannot understand is why is Lestat's character so emotional - he kills people for centuries in order to survive but suffers immensely every time he draws blood? Little silly in my opinion but OK. I don't say he has to be a brute, a killer - there are numerous novels about similar characters who end up in spiritual crisis but who have a stand, a look at the world, who did horrible things and know it - you don't have to like them but you can understand them and their views. But Lestat is so emotional, so unstable that when everybody around him remembers his feats and adventures you simply cannot link those events to Lestat character.

Story is OK, plot is interesting (especially like the twist) but Lestat's character and pretty rushed ending kinda ruin it a bit for me.

Tried this book after surgery and could not get past page 4. Maybe it was the effects of the anesthesia, or maybe it's just not my style of writing, but I'm glad I only paid $0.01 plus postage! I was out of town for the book group discussion, so I don't know how it went over with the rest of the group.

My first vampire book and it was compelling. I wonder if this genre is generally as romantic as this (obviously in a less Lolita / Nabakov way), but hopefully it is just as suicidal. Rice's writing is strong, poetic prose and every page is a pleasure. The story is good, adventurous, though the final part of the ending does "suck".
As for the larger implications of between character narrative stories, I think they are entirely worthless. It does not detract from this story, but does not seem capable of ending well or conclusively.
Will definitely move on to the sequel...

Maybe I just don't get it, but this novel didn't do anything for me. The story line was fairly interesting, but not superb. The characters were well-developed: overdeveloped, even, in that Rice repeated their flaws. Reading, I felt as if I was being continuously bludgeoned with heavy-handed grandiose drippings of love and eternity and loneliness. This context was set tens of times throughout the novel, rather than - as I would have found preferential - set once, with the plot/story line to develop off of it.

Ramses the Damned The Passion of Cleopatra by Anne Rice, Christopher Rice
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Was given to me through Negally. I was one of those people that actually went back and read The Mummy because I wanted to see how the two stories were connected. This review is my honest thoughts on how the story progresses.
This book continues two months after The Mummy, giving the reader enough time to realize that the biggest change is Julie’s eyes, they have been changed by a Fever or so everyone who asks her has been told but it’s the sign of immortal life. Julie and Ramses are now engaged while her almost husband Alex mourns the mysteries death of the women he met in Cairo. While some readers may complain that there are a substantial number of new characters to contend with I myself enjoyed seeing them weaved into the plot. I enjoyed reading the story and being lost in the locations and the dialogue and the agony depicted both between Ramses and Cleopatra both looking for Immortal Life and Immortal Love. I loved the character of Sybil the writer who was able write the history of Cleo while living her memories with her. I recommend this book to all die-hard fans and anyone who has read the first book and enjoyed it. This is my first read from Christopher Rice and I have to say they work together very well. If they plan on writing more please don’t wait another 30 years.

Without a doubt, this is my favorite Anne Rice novel. It is refreshingly different and offers a unique twist to the usual mummy story. Perhaps my favorite element of the tale is the rich atmosphere Ms. Rice brings to Edwardian London and Egypt. The characters are well-drawn and believable and easily pull the reader in. The twist to the usual mummy tale creates a different sort of horror than the stereotypical shambling monster of golden-age Hollywood. I have to say I officially can not wait to read the sequel!

To me, this was only ok. Maybe it was because I already knew the story from the movie, but I didn't think this was as immersive as The witching hour or The wolf gift. Also, I thought Louis, the main character, was a bit of a drag. He is moaning all over the place and constantly suffering. It becomes annoying after a while, particularly because he's not very pro-active. He's a classical victim, and it started to wear on me. Grow up already and take charge of your life for crying out loud!

I absolutely loved almost everything about this, except for the ending. Of course, the ending is not really an ending, this is only the first part of a trilogy after all, but I found it deeply unsatisfying anyway, and it is keeping me a bit from continuing in number two. That, and number two not starting out very well with a disgusting young brad seducing the honorable male lead.
The parts that I loved were exquisite world-building (sounds funny, given that this takes place in an existing world, so maybe the building part is not really accurate, but in any case, the descriptions are done really well), very nice characters and a highly immersive storyline. I can imagine a lot of people would have problems with the copious amounts of incest and other types of sex, but for some reason, this didn't really bother me. There was one thing that bugged me: the main character at some point refers to rough sex as rape, even though it was completely consensual. She doesn't say this to anyone else, it was either in her own thoughts, or mentioned to him during the sex, but even so, I thought this was ridiculous. By definition, I'd say you cannot ask someone to rape you.

I enjoyed this very much. Despite the occurrence of the occasional ripped off head or arm, the pacing is not too fast. The book takes its time to describe the environment, in particular the house in which a lot takes place. It has mystery and camaraderie and a loving relationship (even though that part seemed a bit too easy to be realistic; the girlfriend you sort of loved but that was clearly not a good fit to begin with conveniently falls in love with your best friend when you meet someone out of the blue who digs werewolves. Yes, that would also be my first reaction, 'Hey, a man with a wolf head. Let's kiss!.) Despite the fact that the book has some formidable female characters, it is rather male oriented, but at least some sort of explanation is given: there are female werewolves, but they form their own packs. Fine, there are precedents in nature, although wolves are not among them.

Overall, I just loved the idea of the house, with in the end a group of friends who occupy it. It seemed a lovely arrangement and I can't help liking groups of supportive friends in anything I read.

Good Conditioned and purchased at 'The Crazy Lady Bookstore'

My review of this book can be found on my YouTube Vlog at:

https://youtu.be/leQ9LltUS8s

Enjoy!

So I finally finished this book... I needed breaks every hundred pages or so, not my favorite Anne Rice but I didn't hate it.

And just for the record- Lasher has nothing over Lestat, I mean come on the guy can fly, I think that trumps flowers any day...

Oh Anne Rice... How deliciously dark and mind boggling. After the dismal experience of trudging through Queen of the Damned, it took me a while to pick this one up. It didn't take long before I got sucked into it and I ended up really enjoying it. Maybe its a little bit more on the guilty pleasure side, but still a pleasure ;)