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Summary: ANNE! GET AN EDITOR!
Review: I'm so tired of the over blown writing of Anne Rice. I am big die hard fan but every book she writes I seemed to have less faith. Why doesn't she get it that we don't care for the new characters (who gives a hoot of "Goblin and Quinn")that she constantly writes about(except Merrick, that was very good). All we care for are the vampires we came to love since the first few books! I want to hear about "Lestat" and his stories, "Louie's" adventures. I'm also tired of Anne not using an editor for her books. She has great ideas if only she would let someone edit her books as it was done in the past, then they would make more sense to read! Without one she just rambles and rambles on and on! Why let us read the Letter to "Lestat" in this story if "Quinn" will mention the same damn letter to "Lestat" AGAIN! She just repeats the words over and over, till you're mad! I really dreading her next book. ANNE STOP THE MADNESS!!!
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Summary: Ann Rice - - Nevermore
Review: I check Rices's novel out once in a while. I didn't waste too much time on this book before placing it in my "trade" stack. I must admit I'm mostly interested in the Chronicles because Tom Cruise play Lestat in Interview and I enjoy picturing him in that role. If I'm reading about vampires, I want my skin to cringe and hair to stand on end (also a little thirll doesn't hurt!). Quinn was a sniveliing, mealymouthed vampire - - I would not enjoy getting bitten by him. I want to read about vampires that I'd at least get a thrill out of dying for! And - - the first time I saw there was a "character" named Goblin, I knew all hope was lost!!!
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Summary: Movie in a book
Review: First, I have to say that I am a serious Anne Rice fan. Her style of writing is to give A LOT of details so as to paint a picture in your head as you're reading. I love that! If you're a "facts only" person, Anne Rice isn't for you. I agree with other reviewers that this book is very much a return to the styles of Interview and Lestat. It's set in New Orleans, which is always best for Rice, because her love and passion for her hometown really comes through nicely. This book is a nice mixture of characters from the Vampire Chronicles as well as her Mayfair witches series. I don't want to give anything away, but they get tied together in a truly mind-blowing way. Rice will never fail to "go there" as she introduces a brand new "species" of vampire with the volatile Petronia. This is defintely a story that any Anne Rice fan will love.
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Summary: Why do I keep doing this to myself?
Review: I have never been a fan of the Vampire Chronicles. "Interview" was okay, but certainly overrated. I could never bring myself to get into the sequels, as I just couldn't see the interest in the melodramatic moanings of the foppish undead. However, I quickly fell in love (like a character in one of Rice's books) with the Mayfair Witches. Taltos was rather weak, but I still held hope for the series. Merrick was certainly engaging, probably one of Rice's best characters.
"Blackwood Farm" seems to be an effort to dilute the power of the Mayfair stroyline by linking it ever more tenuously to the lives of Rice's increasingly David-Bowie-meets-Byron vampires. While Merrick's invovlement in this world was always troubling to me, throwing Mona Mayfair into the mix seems like the worst sort of plot device - as does almost everything in Blackwood Farm. As others here have noted, the characters are simply unbeleivable, almost caricatures of Rice's writing style. All the woman are Blanche Dubois, and the men (vampires and mortals alike) are laughably insipid in their mindless sexuality. Speaking of which, for a writer seeming to be intent on random sexual couplings worthy Caligula, Rice's sex scenes, especially in BF, are decidedly unsexy. And if I hear one more thing about a cameo/broch/shirt/scarf, etc. being worn/fastened/opened/tied, etc. at anybody's "throat", I will scream. What's wrong with saying "the top two buttons of his shirt were undone" or "she wore a scarf around her neck" once in a while - in the name of variety!
My other major complaint is with Spinella's narration. Granted, he had some pretty lame material to work with, but on several occasions,his reading of Tarquin was so hammy that I thought a hysterical woman had taken over the reading. And why do all of the vampires (except Lestat and Manfred) sound like Count Chocula? Irritating.
I gave this book two stars because Rice might do something interesting with the groundwork put down in this book. I have hope for the Mayfairs yet. Just get rid of Nancy-boy Tarquin in the next installment.
Rating: 
Summary: Worth the Read
Review: This one starts out slow, but a couple of hundred pages in, the good stuff starts. Definitely turns out to be well worth the read. An example of why Anne Rice is one of the best.
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Summary: New vampire chronicle
Review: Anne Rice's new and last vampire chronicle will be released in October of this year. It's called "Blood Canticle". You can buy it here in advance.
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Summary: Anne Rice is back!
Review: I just finished Blackwood Farm and absolutely loved it. I have been a bit disappointed with some of her past works but she is back in full force! Her descriptions are rich and full of detail. I was thrilled with the addition of the Mayfair witches. My only complaint is that the ending seemed rushed.
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Summary: There's no place like home... especially this one!
Review: Poor, poor little rich boy... He grows up on an immaculately-maintained plantation home somewhere near New Orleans. It has been owned by his family for generations upon generations. He has a household who loves him, an attentive staff catering to his every whim and all the money in the world for anything, anytime, anywhere. He even has his own personal ghost... sidekick... companion. Whatever. Anne Rice calls him a "doppelganger." Poor little rich boy grows up to find out that his family, his friend, his life and his future are not exactly what he thought they are or are going to be. He finds out the family secrets that take a painfully-anxious long time to unfold. Ms. Rice once again keeps our attention with a story that requires we wait patiently for the answers to our questions.Great story. Great idea. Great read. The book builds and builds until somewhere around two-thirds of the way through, when the storyline doesn't necessarily fall apart, but more or less just loses steam. It fizzles into a disinteresting meandering of ideas that loosely tie to the story of Merrick Mayfair. It's just a guess, but the family crisis that may have been happening during Ms. Rice's life at the time the story fizzles finds this reader very forgiving. The book returns to a hot, flaming and sensational completion with dear reader begging for another Anne Rice saga.
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Summary: this book is great
Review: i didnt think she could get any better! she did when is the next
blackwood farm chronicle????????
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Summary: A fresh new twist
Review: I am a long time fan of Anne Rice and found Blackwood Farm to be an exciting combination of her tales of vampires and witches.
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