Rating: Summary: What happen? Review: Anne Rice you should have done what Michael Jordan should have done, retire as the greatest; instead you have ended the wonderful saga of the Vampire Chronicles in shame and embarrassement. I love you Anne, but I'm so dissapointed.
Rating: Summary: The Fans Have Failed Review: While this book may have been short and lacking the usual poetry we have come to expect from Anne Rice it is, I feel our own fault. She states in the book that while MtD may have sold well, fans did not get it. Notice how up until Lestat's rant in the begining of BC she eluded to another book of his journeys with angels? She has realized that many fans don't seem to want to read what she wants to write. So she has written a book for the masses. She was trying to satisfy all the readers who seem to want a continuation of the story rather than her usual poetry. It is our own fault for not letting her know how awesome MtD really was. Shame on us for not supporting her when she wrote from her heart. Stan's death I am sure was a factor. But she has shown in the past the her greatest writing is done when she herself is at her lowest. It is her escape. We have no one to blame but our selves. Long live Lestat!!
Rating: Summary: Take the money and hide. Review: To sum it up, Anne if you had not been a published writer this book would have been trashed. I can't beleive any one would pay money for this.
Rating: Summary: There is NO defense for this novel... Review: "Blood Canticle" is a novel that Anne Rice was well over 3/4 of the way writing when her husband was diagnosed with brain cancer. She took time off from writing and then went back to the novel in order to make her dead line. When reading the novel, the shift in her tone is evident. (Besides the fact that the novel was finished on October 5, Stan was diagnosed in August. No way the novel was done that quickly, no matter how sloppy and poorly written it is.)Still, that means she had written over half the book before he was sick. So you know what that means... no excuse. "Blood Canticle" is repellent. And it would be forgivable if Blood and Gold & Blackwood Farm had been even half-way decent novels, but they weren't. And so the all the excuses and half-hearted defenses with continue for Ms. Rice. It still does not make up for an once brilliant author who had decided to churn out novels more processed than Velvetta. The language is terrible, the "plot" is a joke, and all the while you can't hope but think, she knows it as well. But she doesn't. And I don't think this will be the last chronicle. Let's face it... writing a vampire chronicle pays, and it's obivious that is what Anne Rice is concerned with. Art and intergrity have been stomped on and there isn't even a glimmer of the once great author she was. That's the greatest tragity. Yo, I think it's time for us all to boogie on over to a better writer, baby.
Rating: Summary: Blood Canticle Review: Anne has tried her best with this last book she is a wonderful person who gives to her fans all that she can.When she lost Stan she returned to her faith. She has already made it clear this will be her last book about Lestat. She wants light in her life and needs to leave the darkness behind for her own reasons.I loved the vampire chronicles and would love to have her write more.I agree that B.C wasn't her best, But I'm glad I bought it. I wish her all the luck with whatever she does and she will always have a fan in me.
Rating: Summary: Calm down!!!!!! Review: I agree with another reader that "Blood Canticle" is definitely not Anne's best endeavor. But, it is understandable why it isn't, being that her husband of forty years just passed away. People aren't even considering this. Think about it. Anne had been with Stan for two-thirds of her life. She basically grew up with this man! And she was obviously in a state of grief (for even as she wrote this, his health was failing rapidly). But here are her fans, her "loyal" fans, acting out like bunch starving vultures! I could care less whether anyone agrees with this review, or not. That is the way it is. I lost my wife five years ago, and I am practically still grieving. Stan just died eleven months ago! I mean, what is she supposed to do? HOCUS POCUS, I'M MAGICALLY OVER HIS SICKNESS, OVER HIS DEATH. TIME TO WRITE GROUNDBREAKING NOVEL! No. It doesn't work that way, folks. She is human. I would love to see even half of those whom gave negative, or downright harsh reviews, sit down and write some meaningful fiction (which in a state of grief, can be quite meaningless, I can imagine) after your spouse has just died weeks or months before. Please, you guys, be more understanding. Even more pathetic is a reviewer from another website, pretty much saying "Ah, first Anne's daughter died, now it's her husband that has died. So we're sure to get a good book out of her!" That's disgusting. Truly disgusting. What's wrong with everybody? This whole "who cares about Anne's feelings, just give me a good novel" thing is not so hot. Okay, so it's not a good ending to the Chronicles. I can understand your frustration. Just.....try not to be so heartless with your words.
Rating: Summary: Tripe... Awful... Review: After reading positive reviews (including 2 star) of this "book", I must say that taste has gone way down hill. "Blood Canitcle" is the worst book I have ever read. What makes it even worse is that Anne used to be such a great writer. This is just... I'm not sure how to describe it. It's almost as though she's just given up. After Blood and Gold, Blackwood Farm and now Blood Canticle, I know I have given up as well. Give me Queen of the Damned or even Merrick... I take anything over this door stop. The positive reviews still baffle me. I can only assume that these people would gush over anything that Ms. Rice cares to dole out. It's time to stop praising this "writer", and it's time to stop donating to "Cash Cow: The Vampire Chronicles".
Rating: Summary: Couldn't put it down. Review: "The Vampire Lestat" was the masterpiece. If you want to compare this book with other Rice books, it's probably not the best. That said, I've tried to read other authors while I was eagerly awaiting the next Rice book, and I've yet to find one that satisfies. Rice includes just enough background info to support new readers as well as those who may have forgotten details from the previous novels. Her descriptions are rich, which is part of the escape that she provides. Lestat was modeled after Rice's husband, and with his recent passing Rice has said that this will be the last novel written in Lestat's voice. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Rating: Summary: Saint Anne Review: Lestat, Lestat - your saint ramblings break my heart. You fill me and twist me and make me want to be better. And even better you make me want to be worse. You send me to that bright beautiful dark place where my sickness wraps around me - the hands of God around my throat. (giggle) Yes and yes and no really, you can go there. YOU can go anywhere and come out pure and saint like. But what is all this about Memnoch the Devil - your trek into the unknown known? Who the hell wrote these insipid notes? Yes, yes - give them what they want but crucify them as well. Idiots! Who could not fall in love with you all over again on your journey to be a saint? Yes, the "Brat Prince" finally takes His throne. Anne, did you know that I pray to you. Saint Anne, "The One Who Speaks" with Angels and Devils and Lost Ones like me. Oh, I do not sit before a plate of food and ask for your blessing. But I do thank you - thank you for Lestat. Thank you for The Vampire Chronicles. Thank you for turning me off the straight road. Anne, Saint Anne, thank you for the whispers. Thank you for the screams. Thank you for never pretending - even while you pretend... Saint Anne who needs no cheesy statue. Saint Anne whose bibles breathe life and death and wondering. Saint Anne who listens and gives and gives and gives. Your words lift me and depress me. Your words are Divine. Write Anne, ramble - speak to me of heaven and hell, life and death. Tell me where I'm not going. Tell me that my ignorant prayers don't insult you. Tell me that you love me too.
Rating: Summary: Ain't Dissent Grand? Review: First things first: Mrs. Rice, if you're out there: I am very sorry to hear of your recent loss. Now, Literature, or the lack thereof: With her first novel, "Interview with the Vampire", Anne Rice acheived something remarkable: she stripped from vampire fiction all the musty, B-movie trappings it had accumulated since Stoker, and in doing so allowed her characters to be human, and thus accessible to a human audience. "Interview" was a revolutionary and influential book; without it there would be no "Buffy," no "Angel," no "Bram Stoker's Dracula" and cetainly no "Underworld." Mrs. Rice is on record as stating that if she's read two hundred years from now it will be for her adault "Beauty" series... I warrant it will also be for "Interview". The trouble comes will all the subsequent books. Rice puts back all the pointless trappings, plus some, expecting her readers to accept, not only vampires, but witches, ghosts, astral projection, dopplegangers, ad nauseum, with very little inducement for suspension of disblief save for an implicit, authorial 'because I said so'. I understand she uses the entire first chapter of this latest book to chastize (via Lestat) the readers who dared criticize "Memnoch": "I give you this metaphysical vision...and what thanks do I get? 'What kind of novel is this,' you asked." Well, Anne, if you're wondering, the answer is simple: the world moved beyond arguing over how many angels can dance on the head of a pin some time ago, and 'because I said so' isn't enough. Piling on unsubstantiated, "metaphysical" tommyrot outside the realm of their experience--indeed, outside of ANYONE'S verifiable experience-- serves only to alienate your readers. They are mortal, and children of the twenty-first century. They teach Critical Thinking in colleges, you know. But, all of this is apparently now moot: "Blood Canticle" purports to be the last of the "Vampire Chronicles" (Riiight... how many times has David Bowie retired?), so perhaps disenchanted Rice fans may place their hopes on the upcoming Elton John/Bernie Taupin musical adaptation of The Vampire Lestat. And, who knows? Perhaps Mr. Christopher Rice's recent forays into horror fiction are but practice for the day he takes over the franchise.
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