Rating: 
Summary: Great Novel!!!
Review: This is a great novel. Blackwood Farm, with its grand Southern mansion, harbours a family of ghosts. Heir to them all is Quinn Blackwood, young, rash and beautiful, himself a tyro bloodhunter whom Lestat takes under his wing. But Quinn is in thrall not only to the past and his own appetites but, even more dangerously, to a companion spirit - a goblin succubus who could destroy him and others. Only the unearthly power of Lestat combined with the earthly powers of the ubiquitous Mayfair clan could hope to save Quinn from himself and his ghosts, or to rescue the doomed girl Quinn loves from her own mortality...Blackwood Farm is the ninth volume of Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles series. After a number of her previous volumes have been given the Hollywood treatment (Interview with a Vampire and The Queen of the Damned) it almost seems that she has switched into 'writing for the movies' mode - every scene is so vivid that you can almost picture the boom mic accidentally appearing in shot. While her work is as strong and calculated as it has always been, reading Blackwood Farm you can't help but think that Rice is now a one-trick-pony. While there is much more to her work than stories of bloodsucking fiends, I am getting to the point where I want more from her work - I have grown up on her books and she has failed to grow with me. Blackwood Farm is exceptionally well written and it's great to see Rice on such good form. It's just that, for me, it's time she did something a little different to break away from the realm of the vampires.This is a great Novel, other novel's I like are Micheal Crichton's Prey an Paul Omeziri's Descent into Illusions.
Rating: 
Summary: Encouraging...
Review: Like other readers I have become somewhat disillusioned by Anne Rice's books. I haven't really enjoyed a book since Memnoch. The books I most love and always go back to are The Vampire Lestat, Queen of the Damned, Tale of the Body Snatcher, and Memnoch the Devil - others since then just don't seem to compare.
Well...I wouldn't by any means call this book 'spellbinding' or a 'masterpiece' but I will admit that it is a definite improvement over some of its recent predecessors, namely Merrick and Blood & Gold. I found Merrick practically unreadable, the namesake of which I found extremely unlikable and who made me like all the other characters less (Louis, David Talbot, even Lestat) because they were all so absolutely fascinated by her and in love with her. I found Blood & Gold boring and Marius whiny. But Blackwood Farm is a definite improvement. It kept my attention for most of the book although I found the inclusion of the Mayfair characters (especially that horrible Mona) rather tedious and boring, and some things faintly ridiculous (a vampire who is a hermaphrodite, Lestat declaring himself to be in love with Quinn). Although I am really happy to see Lestat somewhat back in the swing of things I have to agree with other reviewers that he has lost some of his former flair. I find Anne Rice's recent exploration of so many second-rate and uncompelling characters rather sad because she already had so many more interesting ones at her disposal (Mekare and Marahet for example). The resolution in the end seems rather convenient though I have no complaints about the exit of Merrick (if only she wasn't replaced by bloody Mona).
Rating: 
Summary: Good but not great Anne Rice read
Review: Blackwood Farm is a well written book but there are a few things that seasoned Rice fans may find troublesome: (a) the continual references back to the other vampire chronicles by blatantly saying "lestat, as you wrote in the vampire chronicles" - really tiresome by the end of the first few chapters. (b) Quinn's story took forever to tell - the detail was interesting but by chapter 38 I just wanted to know the ending!
I will say, Rice's ability to weave characters from the Mayfair witches and other Vampire Chronicles is masterful, as it is in Merrick. I love the fact that everything ties in. But this book may overwhelm a first time Rice reader.
Rating:
Summary: Intriguing blend of vampires and witches
Review: Anne Rice does a much better job in "Blackwood Farm" than she did in "Merrick" in bringing together the worlds of vampires and the Mayfair witches. Quinn is an interesting, though rather naive character, and his haunting by Goblin is by turns spooky and sweetly sad. The twist to the haunting I did not see coming, and I was duly surprised, showing me that after all these years, Rice still has what it takes to keep an audience spellbound.
That said, this book still suffered from want of some editing. Some of the dialog was stilted at best, and at times downright mawkish. Also, I could see many places that Rice's writing could have been tightened. For example, she opens chapter 42 by writing, "When we returned to the palazzo, which we did by ordinary means, that is, walking, . . . " Why not write, "When we walked back to the palazzo, . . . "? I fear that editors are afraid to edit someone as famous and great as Anne Rice, forgetting that even she needs an editor. That's why they are there! Still, this book is a great read, and definitely an improvement over her last few releases.
Rating:
Summary: Best in while
Review: Door stops and dust catchers have been the fate of many of Anne Rice's recent novels. The last few books in the vampire chronicle series have been a huge disapointment; however, Anne Rice has redeemed herself admirably with Blackwood Farm. Rice has returned to the plot and style that made the first five books in this series great. Lestat is back and up to his old tricks, the story also introduces Quinn Blackwood, a fledging vampire who decides to seek out the infamous vampire Lestat. We are not forced to read long boring intricate histories about vampires who we have already met. After the disaster that was Blood and Gold I had given up on Anne Rice, but after reading reviews for Blackwood Farm I decided to give her one more chance. This novel is Anne Rice at her best and the story is amazing, funny, touching, and slightly evil.
Rating:
Summary: Dark Shadows meets Harlequin Romance Novel
Review: This was such a frustrating read. I bought it because I had read that this particular book read much more like the old Anne Rice and not like the drivel she's been churning out the last few years. It started promising, when a young Vampire, Quinn Blackwood seeks out Lestat for assistance in getting rid of an evil doppelganger named Goblin.Quinn begins to recount his history, and suddenly Anne Rice turns into a bodice ripping Harlequin romance novel complete with people falling hopelessly in love at first glance and fifteen year old girls quoting Shakespeare, and being tragically ill. Ugh. All of a sudden Quinn becomes annoying and frankly ridiculous,falling in lust and love with every manner of man, woman, and ghost. Lestat and Rowan Mayfair meanwhile are wasted cameo players in a melodramatic mess of southern low class complete with a drunken country singer mother, and a sexy African American maid. The book slightly redeemed itself in the last fifty pages or so once it was back to the present, and it's clear Rice is setting this story up for a whole new group of blood drinkers. I just wish it would've stayed with the vampires, and been less Gothic romance.
Rating:
Summary: shes back
Review: slowly but surely Anne Rice is coming back.this book proofs it.i read every night until i couldnt hold my eyes open.this was just a great book.i hope she writes more books with Quinn.a first i didnt want to like Quinn,because he wasnt Lestat,but he was a fine charater nonetheless.
Rating: 
Summary: Who Wrote This Book??
Review: I have read every single book Anne Rice has written, some were fantastic and some not so great but still I remained a devoted fan. I am now wondering if there is a reason to continue reading her books any more. The book was good up until about the point Quinn meets Mona then something horrible happened to the writing. It was as if someone else started writing - maybe a 12 year old? The dialouge became completely unbelievable and painful to read. I am almost near the end and will finish it because I came this far already but nearly every page is causing me to cringe. I am in shock at how poor this book is. I can hardly believe that Anne Rice wrote this book. I am so sad.
Rating:
Summary: FINALLY A NEW STORY FROM ANNE RICE
Review: Some of these reviews are unfair. I've read everything Anne Rice has written and will readily admit that many of latest books were boring regurgitated junk that we already knew. This book however is unique & fresh. A new and interesting story, with well developed interesting characters. If you liked the witching hour - you will like this book! If you loved Anne Rice when she was at her best - she's back! It's a very entertaining read!
Rating:
Summary: Didn't suck me dry but left me thirsting for more
Review: Just finished reading this book this evening. What can I say? Well, it wasn't really bad, but it wasn't the best I've seen from Anne Rice either. I found myself forced to finish this book simply out of hope that it would make sense in the end. After reaching the end of the book I felt like I'd been left hanging. I mean, is Rice trying to leave herself room to work with the Mayfair/Vampire Chronicle hybrids in the event she runs of other material? I loved the Mayfair books, and I've become a big fan of the Vampire Chronicles, but I just wish that this book hadn't been so lopsided. The background is most of the book with very little saved for the resolution of events.
|
