Rating: 
Summary: Another classic!
Review: Anne Rice continually astounds me. Since the first book I read, Cry to Heaven, which still remains tied for my favorite with "The Witching Hour," each of her novels has at the very least grabbed my attention and challenged my intellect; also being a published writer has made me green with envy. The Vampire Armand is quite simply BRILLIANT. What's very different about this installment of the Vampire Chronicles is the sensual element of the relationship between Armand and Marius. The very concise and articulate telling of the emotional involvement between these two is one of the most intensely revealing I've read, even more so because both characters were familiar to me for years. In regard to statements that the story is historically inaccurate, someone needs to hit their history books again. And, the assertion that Anne Rice has hit the "sex with children is GOOD" bandwagon is ludicrous seeing that in Venise, (and everywhere else in Europe for that matter) in the time the questionable relationship takes place, people were oft times married as early as twelve. Also it would be hard not to induldge in pederasty when one is centuries old. Anne Rice has, in my opinion, written an installment of the Vampire Chronicles that rivals "Interview with the Vampire" and "The Vampire Lestat."
Rating: 
Summary: It was a well worth read
Review: Another story in the Vampire Chronicles series, The Vampire Armand tells the story of the memorable and striking figure of Armand. The previous installment in the Vampire Chronicles, David Talbot, philosopher of the undead and vampire himself, persuades Armand to tell his epic story. Armand struggles with whether or not to tell. It spans Armand's early and incomplete childhood memories of Kiev to being kidnapped and sold in Istanbul as a slave to Marius to Venice, Paris, and North America. Marius, himself ancient, educates Armand and his other young slaves in philosophy, law, history, and arranges for their sexual education. Anne Rice writes these scenes well, very descriptive. By this time, Marius and Armand have become more than master and slave or teacher and pupil. Armand is now a vampire; Marius having made him after a powerful sword fight fatally wounds the young redheaded hero. Enter the bad guys, a group of vampires who destroy other vampires for God. They damn Marius and vampires like him that live among mortals and love mortals and pass themselves as mortals. One night they destroy Marius' paintings (he is an artist in Venice), burn him and take Armand prisoner. The irony in Armand's imprisonment comes from the tension of his Russian Orthodox beliefs (he is deeply religious, actually in love with God, and prone to visions). His captors are truly evil, converting him to their beliefs. After much torture and resistance, he finally concedes to their ways and is trained to become one of their leaders. (This is where he entered in Interview With the Vampire, as coven master to the bad vampires who lived in the Theater of the Vampires in Paris.) While this novel is about Armand's struggles to integrate the Orthodox beliefs of his mortal life with his new life as an immortal, the story goes back to review previous narratives of Lestat and Louis. It gives a brief run-down of the whereabouts and doings of the other living vampires, and takes up where things left off in Memnoch the Devil. And as always, Rice's historical descriptions are vivid, enticing, and grab the imagination. I have mixed feelings about this book, as it seems that with this story the Vampire Chronicles have taken a turn toward soap opera. What's next in the Chronicles? I don't know, but I would like to see less melodrama, and I would like to see the next tale written from the perspective of Marius or Gabrielle (Lestat's mother). All in all it is a very well written book and does move evenly with the other stories even though it can be rather over dramatic at times. Shaena H.
Rating: 
Summary: to say it a word: boring!
Review: Armand is my favourite vampire, I adore him, I like Anne Rice, but...yeaaahhhh, this book is so dull, so boring, it even seems too long, THIS CAN'T BE THE ARMAND I LOVE, it's ...oh, it seems to never end, and all the time when you as a reader pictured Marius as a great vampire, he was horrible, how could Armand love him? Evil, evil guy! Hard to read.
Rating:
Summary: Armand's a winner! (not a whiner, after all)
Review: Being a die-hard Rice fan, I anxiously awaited months for this latest edition of the Vampire Chronicles, if for no other reason than to find out what had happened to my favorite literary hero of all time, Lestat. Never a fan of Armand, but very interested in the tale of his time with Marius, I was also anxious to see how Armand had survived his fate from "Memnoch The Devil." As usual, Anne's book had me up late into the night, unable to put it down until I finished. She introduced new characters, hinting that they could still be around for future novels, and stayed true to the histories of all of our favorites. She returned to more of her erotica writings from the past, and as usual the settings were vivid enough to make you feel you were there. After hearing Armand's tale told through Lestat and Louis in previous books, we finally hear his side. At long last, Armand gives us his account of the events leading to the present, including the death of the child vampire Claudia, with an unexpected and somewhat disturbing twist. I had always thought of Armand as cold, and somewhat clingy. This book shed new light on the character. The only thing that keeps me from giving this book a five star rating, is that while the writing is excellent, it's not Lestat's story. (now if Anne's next full length book has Lestat in some very sexy scenes like Armand had, I'll have a new favorite to replace TVL)
Rating: 
Summary: Pleasantly Suprising....
Review: compared to the work that Anne's done recently. Memnoch and Pandora were, I think we'll all agree, mistakes. Servent of the Bones was marginally better. Violin....Violin was so awful that I couldn't force myself to finish it. And I LOVE Rice. But Armand...Armand was probably the best thing she's published since Body Thief. Maybe not quite as good as Body Thief, but up there...Armand was a little self-indulgent for my tastes and I think Rice has gotten a little tied up in the "let's live out my fantasies" phase. Interview and Vampire Lestat seemed to have a real passionate fire to them, like she didn't want to write them but she was driven to...her more recent books have been lacking this. I don't know, we'll see what happens with her next book. I'd have to say that if you're just getting interested in Rice now, read Vamp. Lestat, Cry to Heaven, Feast of All Saints, or The Witching Hour.....or Interview, for that matter. Someone in another review mentioned that Armand seemed to do things that were completely out of character for him....that was the problem I was trying to work out in my head while I read it. That was probably the most disappointing aspect of the book, the distinctly un-Armand behaviors. Still, like I said, it's better than the other recent books Rice has written. Maybe she's got her touch back.
Rating:
Summary: My first Anne Rice book
Review: I got this for $8 at Sam's club and I loved it I had no idea what they was talking about in half of the book until I picked up the others but my over all viewing is a great intro to her works if you saw interview with the vampire you will see that Armand IS NOTHING like he is in the movie well worth it this book takes you from 1998 in a downward spiral threw time then back again well worth it
Rating:
Summary: Where Ego needs her editor
Review: I have always been a huge Anne Rice fan, but The Vampire Armand has convinced me that she needs the guidance of an editor. It's no small coincidence that her finest book is the one that employed the additional eye of an editor. There has, at least in my opinion, been a gradual decline in the quality of the books since Interview with the Vampire. Her ego is impeeding her work. A writer is not an editor. Love of their work will not give them the impartial view necessary to remove or modify those parts that just don't work. That's the problem with The Vampire Armand. Large parts of it just don't work. There's also a nagging tendency for the book to repeat itself over and over again. A very poor outing in my opinion.
Rating:
Summary: Rice Tops All
Review: I love these novels, even if there are some homosexual love scenes in it. If you read this novel, you surely must be mature enough to realize that this is meant to be read by adults. I encourage those brave souls such as Yuki Shinobu who write these great reviews. I wish I could write just as well reviews, but too many details storm my cranium to think. Plus I'm a slow writer. Oh well....
All the vampires deserve their turn to tell their life stories, even though I'm way too obsessed with Lestat to care about anything else. Well, cross that. I do pay attention to all the Vampire Chronicles.
The character of Armand is developed so much in this novel. I loved every single page. The setting is described in so much detail that it vividly paints images in my mind of the world of Anne Rice. When I read her novels, I know I'm just seeing the tip of the iceburg that is her world. The scenes that interested me the most were the scenes in which Armand nearly dies in. He so vividly describes the glass city and the meeting with his family.
Rice brings together a fantastic story of love and loss, suspension and resolution, the works. She never ceases to amaze me with each novel she writes.
Rating:
Summary: Anne Rice returns to best
Review: I loved this book, adored it. After The Vampire Lestat, I had the feeling Rice lost the feel of the books slightly, but The Vampire Armand brings her back to top form, creating an intricate weaving of mini stories which mix to create the compelling Armand. A must read for any Chronicles fan.
Rating:
Summary: Been There, Done That
Review: I read all the vampire books around the same time, one after another, which may not have been a good idea. I say this because Armand and Blood and Gold are too redundant, and redundancy is a problem that I see a lot with Anne Rice.
But that isn't the biggest issue that I had with this book. You have to expect a bit of repetition when you are writing about characters so closely interlaced.
Armand is a boy of rougher stock, from the cold Ukraine, and from a modest family. He had to deal with these orthodox beliefs that were rigid and unforgiving. Before Marius gets to him, and even before he is kidnapped and sold into slavery, this is a character made of tougher stuff than most of the other vampires we already know.
I expected more than the fop he became, I guess. Rice can get away with pedophilia because her story is set in a time when it was totally normal and not necessarily a crime, so I will not gripe about that despite it being an uncomfortable read. I don't care who these vampires get their jollies from. It's all part of reading Anne Rice. Armand, however, ends up being nearly indistinguishable from Lestat, Marius, and Louis in that he is just another undead dandy that feeds off the living at night. Those few hundred years with the cult in France did not change any of that in his later years after he and Marius were separated.
And maybe that's part of reading Anne Rice. The male characters are always androgynous and bisexual, weeping at the sight of a painting. I've learned that her female characters are far more intriguing.
I also did not like the ending. Not even a little bit. But I will not spoil things by going there. This book got my four stars because it /is/ a good read, and Rice really does take you back to Renaissance era Italy. Foppish or not, Armand is one of those characters we like to know more about because of the manner in which he was introduced in The Vampire Lestat. If you are a die-hard Rice fan, Armand is an essential in the collection.
It did not get five because Armand is like the one candy in the dish with the different color on the wrapper. Once you open it and realize that the candy inside is the same as all the rest, you can pretty much say that it was at least enjoyable,classic Rice that you still didn't regret ingesting.
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