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Summary: Rice finally redeems herself
Review: Years ago I fell in love with Rice's Vampire chronicles but her last few installments Memnoch the Devil, The Vampire Armand, Merrick and Blood and Gold was a great disappointment (I did like Pandora though) It just seems that Rice was lossing her touch.Blackwood Farm makes up for all those duds. The Tale of this New Vampire Tarquin Blackwood is extra-ordinary in its twists. The fact that it made little reference or focus on the past characters makes it easy to understand even for new readers. I for one have never read of Rice's Mayfair witches but I was still able to comprehend the story. Tarquin Blackwood was the poor little rich boy who spent almost all of his life enclosed in his family estate 'Blackwood Farm' But his life was anything but uneventful. He have himself a constant spirit companion by the name of Goblin, he sees and talks to ghosts, and fell in love with a dying Mona Mayfair. I especially love the final conclusion on Goblin's true nature.
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Summary: Blackwood Farm
Review: This book is excellent. The more you read the more you find that you can't put it down. I was so excited when the book first came out and yes it lived up to all of the excitement.
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Summary: A Tale To Die For
Review: Tarquin (Quin) Blackwood, a newly created vampire, appeals to Lestat for help when his spirit friend Goblin starts attacking him for blood and becomes more corporeal. He fears Goblin's power and the effect he could have on the world, especially after he causes the death of a family member with the powerful Lestat in the house. Tarquin could see and communicate with spirits before he was turned. Usually this power disappears when a person is turned but Quin retained this ability. Most of the book is Tarquin telling Lestat about his life. He fascinates Lestat, who sits quietly during his very vivid tale. The Vampire Chronicles and the Mayfair Witches cross paths As Quin falls in love with a desperately ill Mona Mayfair on first site forcing him to take a drastic measure to save her life. Rice is a master at creating these rich old southern families with skeletons in their closets completely immersing the reader in this fictional world. She kept me guessing about the origins of the spirit Goblin until the very end of the novel. I simply couldn't put Blackwood Farm down. It's a long book so be sure that you have time to savor it once you've begun it.
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Summary: Better Than I Expected
Review: I've been increasingly disappointed in Anne Rice's books. It seems that she, like many authors, is wonderful at starting an engrossing series and less able to continue with it. _Blackwood Farm_, however, harkens back to some of her eariler work lends fresh blood (heh heh) to the Vampire Chronicles. Quinn Blackwood, a young (both in human age and in terms of his "change") vampire, has a problem. As long as he can remember, he's been haunted by a sometimes loving and sometimes malicious spirit whom he calls Goblin. Since Quinn's change, Goblin has become more sinister and more powerful. Quinn seeks out the most famous and powerful vampire he knows of -- Lestat, in quite a good cameo role -- to help him put an end to the spirit who is threatening Quinn's mortal friends and relations. What I liked best about this book is that it's essentially Quinn's tale of growing up among the people and ghosts of a rich southern family -- a family with its own mysteries and legends. The characterization of people, spirits and place is deftly handled. In fact, this is one of the things I think Anne Rice does best: weaving character and setting together into a specific atmosphere, and I was glad to see her get back to it after neglecting the practice in her last few novels. I also liked the way she brought together her two major New Orleans mythologies -- the Vampires and the Mayfairs (although it still seems a bit contrived to me, the way that everyone seems to be a member of one or the other group.) I was glad to see what became of Mona Mayfair, as well as Rowan and Michael. I think, however, that it would be difficult to understand everything that was going on without having read the three Mayfair Witches books; a lot of reference was made to the events in those and I know I would have been confused and distracted had I not read them. Another thing I liked was that in _Blackwood Farm_, Rice relies a lot less on the same old tired vampiric events to move the story along. Not only is Quinn a new vampire completely unrelated to and even (for the most part) unaware of the vampires we know from former books, but also his transformation doesn't take place until relatively late in the story. So there's quite a bit less of the Blood-Hunt-Identity Crisis-Yikes I'm Immortal! flavour of some of the more recent vampire chronicles. We still have the requisite Scholarly Tweedy Englishman of a Certain Age to represent the Talamasca. And we're still dealing with people who, even as mortals, have more money than God, which sometimes makes the story hard to swallow. (I wish sometimes we could follow the adventures of a working class vampire who was not so ready to give up his culture of origin.)The predictable ending gets points for getting rid of a character who never should have existed in the first place but loses some points for transforming yet another interesting mortal. On the whole, though, I liked _Blackwood Farm_. It actually reminded me of _Interview with a Vampire_ more than any of the other books. I think most people who like Anne Rice will enjoy it.
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Summary: been done before, been done better
Review: There was a time when I was an avid fan of Anne Rice's work. I love the Mayfair Witches and the Vampire Chronicles. This work just didn't do it for me. I liked it slightly because I am a big fan of gothic stories and it's nice to know what it going on in the current lives of the Mayfair Witches but mostly Rice is just going over old material, stuff that's been done before by her and done better by her.
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Summary: A Satisfying Read
Review: The meeting of the vampires and the Mayfairs was bound to happen. I liked the tying together of the stories. I also liked that the story lacked the annoying theological struggles. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars was because I think the plot was a tad choppy and the characters a bit saccharine and unreal. But all in all it was very satisfying. I can't wait for the next one!
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Summary: Not bad at all
Review: It was with some trepidation that I started Blackwood Farm, since the last few entries in the Vampire Chronicles were kind of weak, especially compared to the earliest ones. But I was pleasantly surprised. What I liked best about it was what the most recent previous reviewers seemed to object to the most. It was't about Lestat whose only role is basically that of an audience to the story of young Quinn Blackwood's life as Quinn relates it to Lestat whom he has awakened in order to ask for help in getting rid of an increasingly malignant spirit. This is clearly the begining of a new story line that I expect will continue for one or more additional books in which Rice intends to marry (perhaps literally) the Vampire Chronicles with the Mayfair witch saga. I liked it and look forward to the continuation.
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Summary: Anne Rice has out did herself again
Review: I personaly think that Anne Rice has out did herself again. Blending the ghost with the witch and vampire sent chills down my spine. The book truely transends the macabe and takes it to a whole new level of terror. The characters,especially Quinn, give a vibrant but sorted history into a word of parties, laughter and what is inside of us all. That little wish that we all could have a goblin to play with when times are hard and no one cares. Looking forward to her final and what I believe will be her greatest book.
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Summary: Looking for Lestat? You won't find him here..
Review: So this starts out okay, Quinn looking for Lestat and afraid to step foot in New Orleans. And then here he comes, *My* Lestat. But wait, who is this humble, wizened Vampire? Surely it's not him.. But yes, unfortunately. He has now lost his "pointy" edge and has become almost fatherly. Gag me.. Quickly! So we go through the story of Quinn and his life in this huge house by the swamp and learn of all these characters and family members and his unfortunate ghost Goblin. Of course he's thought of as crazy, but really, what sane person in an Anne Rice novel *doesn't* talk to ghosts or see spirits?? But moving on. I found she wasn't as tedious in her descriptions as she has been in her past books. But I saw all the foreshadowing for future books, I'm assuming, in this book blinking out at me from neon lights almost. Lestat has a tale he hasn't told, new vampire, old vamps we've never heard of.. Do I hear "money" in any of this? But finally at the end, when Quinn gets done telling his story, I think, oh goodie, Lestat! But sadly no.. He still seems to be Mr. Goody-Two-Shoes. I don't think he had any good lines, except for the one of him not admiring himself in the mirror, and I think he had one more, about Quinn finding him a nuisance. But that was it. So disappointing. The one thing I didn't like in this book was all these people having intimate relations with whomever or WHATever, falling in love with everything, and had such boring personalities. Including Lestat!! So whenever she decides to write about the Lestat that we know and love, I'll read it.. I just hope it's soon. How about one with him and Marius again, like they were at the end of QOTD?? But this book had some story to it, and I kinda liked it.. I just don't think I'd read it 20 times like I have QOTD and BT.
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Summary: Thank you Anne!
Review: I am so thankful for Blackwood Farm! I read it in three hours, I could not put it down! I love all the new characters, I was so happy to see Lestat again, even if only for a little while. Not to mention my pleasure at catching up with Mona Mayfair and good old Oncle Julien! I loved the ending and I look forward to many more vampire books to come. If you are a true Anne Rice fan, you will love this book.
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