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.
Rating:
Summary: I loved this book!
Review: I read this book in one day, couldn't put it down. I see it as having a more psychological and philosophical bent than the earlier ones (perhaps that's why some reviewers are so unhappy with it). Lestat is very different, it's true. But this book is not just a book about vampires and witches, but a testament to loss and the will to go on in spite of it, which may be a result of timing: Anne's husband Stan's devastating illness just at the time she was completing the book. I found it deeply moving. By the way, reviewers have referred to this as the sequel to Blackwood Farm, which it is, but it is also a sequel to Taltos, one of my favorites.
Rating:
Summary: Miserable ending to a once great series
Review: What happened Anne? What is it that possessed you to write this miserable piece of literature? I have been finished with the book for just over a week now. I thought perhaps giving it time to sink in would help (as it did for Violin and Blood and Gold) but a week removed and I still hate this book as vehemently as I did when I finished it. After reading the last chapter I cried for a solid half-hour - mourning the loss of characters and stories that I dreamed of that Anne would not come through with. I was hoping for a magnificent send-off for our favorite Ricean vampires! A farewell to end all farewells. No chance of ever coming back. Lestat going down in a blaze of glory. No, instead we get Lestat going down in a blaze of self-pity. I was disgusted with what Anne has done with Lestat. I realize that we have not really gotten a taste of Lestat since Memnoch but I never imagined that he would turn out to be obsessed with redemption. I think, instead, she is speaking of herself when she speaks through Lestat. Lestat's monologues and dialogues with Mona and other characters are a travesty! What happened to our well-spoken vampires? Why is Lestat using "dude"? Editors Anne. Please. USE THEM. I once admired and looked up to the "great" Anne Rice. Now, I'm searching for a new favorite author.
Rating:
Summary: Anne Rice has failed her fans!
Review: This book by Anne Rice, Blood Canticle, a conclusion to the Vampire Chronicles, was an insult. I felt Blood Canticle concluded absolutely nothing but my desire to read anymore of her books. Anne did not like the negative reviews she recieved for Memnoch the Devil, the last book that truly featured the character Lestat, and in the first chapter, Lestat/Anne berates her readers for it. While reading this terrible book, one gets the feeling that Anne is writing to those that did not like or understand Memnoch the Devil by saying, "Here, you simpletons, I've written a book that even you can understand." The result is that the book reads like trash. Indeed, I believe even Anne herself admits to this when she has Lestat tell the readers to "Go ahead, throw this book away. Spit on me. Revile me. I dare you. Cast me out of your intellectual orbit. Throw me out of your backpack. Pitch me in the airport trash bin. Leave me on a bench in Central Park!" I wish I had listened. Blood Canticle picks up where Blackwood Farm left off, and the way it was presented, I wish it had not.
In Blood Canticle, Anne merged the Vampire Chronicles with the Withching Hour series. The WH series in itself was great, but Anne ruined the other wise rich and intriguing characters in it. 1. In Witching Hour, Mona was a tough, overly mature, genius at the age of 13. In Blood Canticle, at age 20 she is constantly whining and crying, and throwing temper tantrums. 2. Michael Curry, the hero of the Witching Hour series, and one of the kindest characters, has been reduced to a spineless shell of his former self, allowing his wife Rowan to do whatever (whomever!) she wants. 3. Rowan Mayfair, the cold hearted neurosurgeon, who has the ability to kill people with her mind,( and she does, several times), has cheated on Michael with a Taltos, has left him for dead while Michael was drowning in a swimming pool, shot 3 bullets into her innocent Taltos daughters' face, tried to pimp Mona off on Michael, wanted to (but did not) have sex with another Taltos, had sex with her adoptive father while her adoptive mother was dying in agony of cancer, and has tried to leave Michael again for Lestat, is only 'just now' depicted as mad in this latest book. 4. Doesn't Lestat kill women like Rowan Mayfair? He always has before.....but no, what does he do? He falls madly inlove with her! The way that the Rowan and Lestat love affair was written, I swear I was reading a Danielle Steel novel.
So much has already been written about Lestat's little trip to Heaven and Hell with Memnoch, that I'm not even going to get into it here. Suffice it to say the Lestat we all love to hate is gone. 5. None of the other characters from the VC are in what was supposed to be a conclusive book. Anne Rice left openings in her previous novels such as the threat of the Talamasca, or Lestat's time with the angels, so the Vampire Chronicles had still some potential. Instead she wrote Blood Canticle, and it felt as if she just threw it all together simply to get it all over and done with as she wishes to move in other directions now. In an interview, Anne Rice said her readers had to come where she was going. If she writes anymore of this drivel, and loses her world wide fan base as a result, she'll be coming back to where her numerous fans are still waiting for a much better ending to the VC.
Rating: 
Summary: What have you all been smoking?!?!
Review: Apparently everyone out there fails to recognize this book for the masterpiece that it is. Personally, I was relieved that this book brought entertainment back into the vampires' lives. Armand bored the hell out of me and then I was unfortunate enough to read Blood and Gold which seemed to me was the exact same book. My only disappointed lay in poor Merrick's fate after such a short time. If I were you, I would stop whining about Rice's writings. I thought this book a work of art, but then again I've always been fond of crossovers. Oh, and what the hell happened to Louis and David?
Rating:
Summary: I hated it!!!
Review: I cant agree more with all other disappointed fans out there. When i read The Vampire Lestat i knew Anne Rice was going to be my favourite writer. I loved queen of the damned, tale of the body theif and then mamnoch came out and i was like, what was that all about. Still the chronicles that followed kept me interested. Blackwood farm and Blood Canticle had nothing to do with the series and what we had been reading earlier. A BIG BIG disappointment this one. When Merrick ended i thought the story will take a new turn secially with the unexpected threat from the Talamasca.The chronicles had so much potential Rice could've continued with them forever, but this was really low. Yes like other readers i also want to know what became of Louis who really started it all. And why was Lestat without companions in this book so pathetic when he managed to bring everyone together so long ago. He has both his fledglings David and Louis both faithful to him but oh.. they were forgotten in the last book werent they???. I didnt like the Mayfairs or the Taltos crap.This is not how it should end and for most readers it didnt end at all. What can be worse.. this book wasnt even scary. Why did Lestat fall so stupidly in love with Rowan. Suddenly Lestat the magnificent has developed so many weak points in his personality. No he was not like Louis, Louis has a reason to mourne or whine, Lestat was whining for no obvious reason. Really Rice should consider writing another one to end it decently. Her fans deserve this much!!!
Rating:
Summary: Bottom of the barrel...
Review: Boogie???!!! Yo?!!!! Lil Bro?!!!!!!!!!!!! How about "Kill Me"? How about "I want a refund"? Anne Rice has ruined everything she has done with "Blood Canticle". She has become a soulless machine that churns out garbage. There is nothing wrong with success and if someone offered me that much money, I would sign on the dotted line. But how about a book every 2 years? How about this, if you don't have anything new to bring to the series, then don't write. Get an original idea, take a break, take a vacation, take a pill... do anything but write tripe like this. She has destroyed her career and alienated her fans. She has become a parody of herself. And what's even more tragic, she thinks she has relevance. She thinks that what she has to write about is valued and worthy of a reader investing his time and 28.00 bucks. Deluded is best way to describe her. Even better, she has become a legend in her own mind. I suggest we stop buying her "work". That is only way that this will ever end.
Rating: 
Summary: An honest opinion from an Anne Rice devotee
Review: Blood Canticle... Despite the mostly harsh reviews, I have to say that this book wasn't bad at all. I agree that it is perhaps not the ending to the Chronicles that we all hoped for, but that is because we have all grown to love our Brat Prince, Lestat. We have an image of how he should be in our minds, and being human, change is hard when we grow to expect things from someone or something. Like many of us, Blood Canticle was just another phase in Lestat's eternal life. As for Mona- I admit, the idea of merging the Witches and Vamps didn't appeal to me either. However... we love Anne Rice because she paints a "real" picture for us in her novels. That said, with the power of our Mayfair Witches, and the power of our Vampires, wasn't it inevitable that they cross paths- after all... there is only so much paranormal and supernatural happenings that can occur in New Orleans. Mona was meant to be a vampire. I'd rather her be a Vampire than dead. Mona allows the Vampire Chronicles to live in. You know Mona, the Power Slut, the genius, the witch. She is now our "Brat Princess" in the world of vampires. Who better to take that title than Mona? Yes... Lestat did whine a bit... But for the love of heaven, wouldn't you if you lived two hundred years, and went through things one can only imagine? If you seen God and creation, and knew it was real, then I would want to be a saint too. I'd be scared not to be, or scared to at least not try.
Good job, Anne... This is just another chapter, and I think it was just fine.
Rating:
Summary: Did I read the same book?
Review: Usually, I think that appreciation for every book is up to an individual's taste. Believe me, there are a few classics that I would rather be bludgeoned to death with than have to read again. But, how can anyone who has appreciated Anne Rice's earlier work even give this novel 2 stars? I mean, it is really bad. The work (or lack thereof) is just terrible and shoddy. I have read short stories by 8th graders that had more thought than this drivel did. I have read every novel Anne has written. Some have been better than others. But nothing has been as poorly done as "Blood Canticle". She has just completely lost touch with reality. Does she really think that people speak like that? And does she truly think that by having Lestat use words like "Yo" and "Bro" that he has adapted to modern times? Religion is great and Lestat used to be so interesting. But Lestat, like the author, seems to have found a new orifice that he like to speak out of. I won't comment on the characters. They are all one dimensional idiots. There is no plot, even though we are promised one. And... I just can't even go on. I will never read or purchase another Anne Rice book. This is just too insulting. I think I will join two Taltos in the deep freeze and just pray that it goes away.
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