Rating: 
Summary: A disappointing finish
Review: Spending years loving Rice's work, I was eager to read what is to be the conclusion of the vampire chronicles. The matter-of-fact off-the-cuff manner of writing disturbed me - unlike the manner of speech we are accustomed to from Lestat. The tiresome Shakesperean quotes from Mona & Quinn. Tired of Mona's portrayal of herself as Ophelia already! Enough! So much about Saints and description of the clothes Mona takes from Aunt Queen's closet! Trivial dribble. So little substance. Far too much time wasted on the lackluster story of the Taltos. The rather odd and inexplicable appearance of Oncle Julien & Stella. This feels like a half-hearted effort to appease fans looking for another Lestat story and close off the vampire series. It is evident her mind was not wholly focused on this with the understandable personal matters she faced at the time she penned this work. It is a sad farewell to the Vampires so many have grown to love. All the best to Ms. Rice in her new endeavours.
Rating: 
Summary: The Coda
Review: I've had a lot of trouble with some of Ms. Rice's books: Blood and Gold, Vampire Armand, Vittorio the Vampire, Violin, etc. And I realize that I am in the minority when I admit to having thoroughly enjoyed Tale of the Body Thief, Memnoch the Devil, Merrick, The Witching Hour, and Servant of the Bones; but I thought it appropriate to comment here on Blood Canticle. I have read all of the Vampire and Mayfair Witches books and like many others have followed The Saga for many years. As each series progressed there was a point at which it seemed everything had already been said, no further developments seemed possible, but I kept reading just to "see how everything turned out." I suppose I became as weary of reading the series as Ms. Rice seemed in writing them. Blood Canticle is a coda; a short summation or just a long final chapter that, aside from the "religious ranting" by a born-again catholic, was surprisingly satisfying to me. Time was, I enjoyed the depth, the detail, the examination presented by Ms. Rice. But after having been disappointed with her work over the past few years, the coda-style wrapping it all up in Blood Canticle worked for me. Two final thoughts: As I was reading this book I realized why I had been drawn to her writing initially and ultimately disappointed with the later books: the scariness, the fear-factor I loved so much at the beginning was gone. I remember being thrilled to be scared by the content, the creepiness, the discovery, the concepts. It became too known, too understood, there was no room left for fear of the unknown. My final thought: could there have been more finality, more detail, more connection to the completion of both of these sagas? Yes, of course. There COULD have been and if Ms. Rice had been as dedicated to the writing of that as she was in the writing, say, of The Witching Hour, I would have loved it and devoured it. But based on her apparent lack of interest (or patience?) for these stories any more, I'm glad she wrote this coda to bring the kind of completion she was capable of at this time. I recommend this book to those who want a simple completion to his or her own journey in the reading of Ms. Rice's work.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointed reader in N.Y.
Review: I've read most of A.R. books, not just the Chronicles & The Mayfair series & I have ot say this is one of the worst. I always thought the "New Tales" were stretching the story a bit (except Pandora) & this is book is the defining reason.Pandora is the exception because it was NEW and INTERESTING. What is the sense in tellimg the same story over & over & over again as A.R. is propelled to do? Blackwood Farm was excellent & I had high hopes for B.C, also reading on her website that this was the end. Making Lestat GOOD & falling in love w/ Rowan Mayfair? Give m a break. And the Taltos story came to a climax...that never happened. The publisher's reviews also made it seem like Patsy's ghost was throughout the book hassling Quinn. Lies all lies! A.R seems to have lost it & I hate to say that. But her prose is awful here - all slang & "wanna do this..& that" Letsat has learned nothing. Mona quotes Shakespere but can't say "want to"? Perhaps if she had made this like "Queen of the Damned" and wrote it from many persepctives. I mean, Mona & Quinn were SO in lust&love, didn't her becoming a vampire affect that? If this is the end of the Chronicles where were the twins, Jesse, Louis, Marius? Didn't they hear Lestat's thoughts about wanting to be a saint? I think what A.R. is essentially telling us is that she herself doesn't want to write about evil anymore. She's done with it. And it's obvious from this failure of a novel.
Rating: 
Summary: Not the ending the chronicles deserve
Review: I'm an avid Anne Rice fan and have read everything she's written. I also heard this was to be her last book, so I assumed she'd do some concluding and wrapping up. She did do that, but in a very clumsy, simple, uninspiring way. The beginning with Lestat's narration was hilarious! I'm a huge fan of Memnoch so that little diatribe made me chuckle. But what started so well did not continue on the same vein. I loved the Mayfair Witches and Merrick and Blackwood Farm seemed to begin to bring them together better than I thought would happen. This book, however, forced everything together way too fast with no real inspiration or effort behind it. And too many pages were wasted on the pointless. Why bring in Quinn's mother's ghost? It went no where. I had hopes for Julian's ghost but it was superfluous in the end! I disliked the lack of other vamps. There was no real flushing out of characters or of situations. Everything was tied up way too easily. I did read it in two days. it was only about 300 pages. I guess that's the other issue. 300 pages is not enough to do what needed to be done to bring both of these majestic chronicles to an end. If this truly is the end. However, it was not the worst of her writing and considering what she's gone through, I just wish she would have either waited or never written this.
Rating:
Summary: Not impressed
Review: I believe this will go down as my least favorite of the Vampire Chronicles. How disappointing to find that the book held little interest to me after the first few chapters, especially when I could barely put Blackwood Farm down once I started it. I guess my expectations were so much higher than they should have been. I expected a lot more from one of my favorite authors. This book picks up immediately after Blackwood Farm ends and goes off into a lot of repetition which I assume is for those readers who did not read the The Witching Hour, Lasher, and Taltos. If you're an Anne Rice fan than you more than likely read them all so this one was boring and repetitive...and had me wishing the book would move along to something new and exciting. It never got to that point. It's ending was as disappointing as it's beginning.
Rating:
Summary: Potentially Decent Book......HORRIBLE CONCLUSION!
Review: Since May, I've been counting down the days until this novel was released. Blackwood Farm looked like the series was improving in quality a LITTLE. Since Blood Canticle is supposed to be the FINAL book having to do with the vampires and the witches, I figured that the reader would have a contentment of the destiny of a good number of the characters in the series accompanied by a DECENT story line. Is that too much to ask?..... Apparently it is. The book itself is narrated by Lestat and apparently his ego of wanting to be good and a saint has taken up the entire book. This isn't a bad synopsis so I still had my hopes up on it, which for its potential and for some funny remarks by Lestat has been given by me two stars. These factors stand in the way of this book being given five stars. 1. Where have all of the vampires gone? The ONLY vampires present in the action of the story are Lestat, Mona, Quinn (badly unusually anti modern), very little Maharet and Khayman. Well, others are mentioned, but only like ohhh I wonder where someoneso is? or I remember someoneso and I did this together... Kind of a lazy way to include the characters in the book. Queen of the Damned was a good example to include everybody in.
2. Do we really need to rehash every bit of the Mayfair story? Rowan and Michael (some of the Mayfair witches) meet Lestat and tell "a little" about themselves. It is a little expected that readers of this book are familiar with the basic plots of what happened in the Mayfair series since this book concludes the vampires AND witches. I don't mind that it's told that much except that it takes over so that there isn't much time to fully explain all of the little subplots in the book and leaves the reader unsatisfied.
3. Why do a lot of the Mayfairs seem whiny, weak, or cruel? The way that ALL of them are portrayed in the book makes you wonder if these are the same characters from the original series. What was up with Mona and Oncle Julien? sigh...
4. How if you're sober do you somehow combine the mystic Taltos people being kept hostage by drug lords? That subplot was very unnessary and made the Taltos concept wasted.
5. Do we really need that much description about objects of no importance? It's like this instead of saying the yellow curtains it'd be like the yellow with roses on them with stripes and with little green curtains....yeah that annoying huh? Well, in conclusion, I really had false hopes with this book and for those reviewers who have hope with the next book explaining everything missing, this the FINAL book. No more. Both series started with soooo much potential, sad to say that this book does very little justice to the series or the anticipating fans.
Rating: 
Summary: Awesome!
Review: I loved this book! I loved it so much that i read it in only 3 sittings, and that's amazing for me! It usually takes me at least 10 reading sessions to get through a whole book (i'm not saying that this book is too short, just that i was so excited to find out what was going to happen that i read for long periods of time). Just make sure that you read "Blackwood Farm" before reading this book, because it's basically a direct continuation of it.
Rating:
Summary: Anne Rice Rules!
Review: As a published author and avid reader from childhood, I can comprehend what it takes for many readers to lose themselves in a book. Anne does this to me in every book that she has written and I can never get enough of the Vampire Chronicles. I fear the series will end, but I hope not.
As for writing style, she is one of the best. Some may not agree, but for those who find themselves transformed into the world of vampires and feel every words as through you are present in that remarkable places she creates, then Rice has done her job as an entertaining author.
Blood Canticle was everything I dreamed it would be and more. With so many vivid characters to work with, Mrs. Rice could very well blow the Vampire world off the map. I hope there will be more, especially now with the new Brat, Mona Mayfair throwing her spoiled, childish personality into the works. With her being a new Blood Child, the possibilities are endless on the troubles she could cause for one and all. I can already imagine her (Mona Mayfair) taking off on her own, which would bring a good battle of skill, wit, and strength to battle with many of the other infamous Immortals, especially with LeStat, with a hopeful return of Louis. After all, he did start the whole Chronicle of Vampires, did he not? Let's just wait and see.
Rating:
Summary: A mixed bag
Review: I enjoyed Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, and I really liked the Lives Of The Mayfair Witches series, so I was greatly looking forward to reading Rice's newest effort. "Blood Canticle" is one of those books where you can't quite decide if you love it or hate it. There isn't really one coherent plot, instead we get several mini-plots; Lestat's continuing search for redemption, Mona Mayfair's rebirth into the vampire life and search for her missing Taltos daughter, Julien and Stella Mayfair's haunting of Lestat, the supernatural chaos at Blackwood Farm and more. The problem is that there are so many things going on that none of them are fully delineated or explained. Why did Mona, who bore a Taltos, develop this bizarre wasting disease while Rowan, who bore two, did not? Why does Lestat become so passionately obsessed with Rowan Mayfair? What has happened to Rowan to make her so mentally unstable that she would throw herself at Lestat the way she does? How did the Taltos get to their "secret island" and take it over, and how were they in turn overrun by druglords? Why is Mona such a brat (and who really uses words like "egregious" in everyday conversation anyway?)? What is Oncle Julien's PROBLEM? Another problem I had with "Blood Canticle" is Rice's prose. While I normally enjoy her lush, descriptive language, this book descends from word one into shameless melodrama and stays there. It's written from Lestat's P.O.V., so the whole thig is one dramatic, overdone, rambling stream of consciousness with words after words, so many words, oh my goodness the thoughts and feelings and emotions and...well, you get the idea. Wonder if Valium works on vampires? "Blood Canticle" is the literary version of an oversized fancy dessert; luscious and sugary but you can get surfeited pretty quickly.
Rating:
Summary: 'The blood that teaches life will not teach lies'
Review: Bravo, Anne Rice. If you must leave the vampires, for a moment; for now; forever...you have left them in style. Blood Canticle continues to renew my interest in Anne Rice. For years I have followed the vampires' exploits...and for a long period of time was very disappointed in the fact that it all seemed to be familiar territory, time and again. Then along came Blackwood Farm; which took my breath away. Blood Canticle is what I would term an 'extension' of that story. But not only that, it is a continuation of the Mayfair Witch saga; as well as a (purported) finale to the story of Lestat. Quinn Blackwood has most everything he wants; he has been rid of his ghostly shadow, Goblin; his hated mother Patsy has been dealt with; Mona Mayfair has been brought over to the realm of the undead, to prevent her mortal expiration from the ravages of disease left behind by events relayed in Lasher and Taltos; and his new friend Lestat is completely enraptured with him. Mona Mayfair, the headstrong designee of the Mayfair Legacy was prepared for death, which she did, in a manner of speaking, meet. But that mortal death has brought her a new 'life'; that of the vampire, and an eternity to spend with her beloved Quinn. Lestat still seeks redemption for his soul...having met with angels and demons in Memnoch, the Devil he wants 'to be a saint, ...to save save souls by the millions, to do good far and wide, to fight evil'. The 'Brat Prince' of the undead wants to be delivered into salvation, despite his evildoings. And he wants Rowan Mayfair, the beautiful, mysterious, strong-willed doctor who desperately wants Mona to return to her so that she can help her die in peace, not knowing that Mona has been given the gift of the 'Dark Blood'. Once a vampire, Mona realizes that her life will never be the same, and that a whole new existance is open to her. But there is one final door that she must close on her human life...one final question that must be answerd; the fate of Morrigan, the daughter she gave birth to years before, who disappeared with Ashlar, an ancient Taltos, never to be seen again. Lestat, Quinn, and Mona search for Morrigan, and any other surviving Taltos, while Lestat searches for an end to his own quest. And when Rowan returns Lestat's interest, his determination grows all the stronger to help Mona, and Rowan. In this supposed finale to the Vampire series, Anne Rice ties up the loose ends of some of her more recent works, and the Mayfair series. While this book will not give you insight into the further stories of Armand, Louis, Marius, or the other blood drinkers Rice has made famous, fans have been clamoring for a book in Lestat's voice for years. And Rice has delivered. This book, the 12th in her Vampire Chronicles, is a fine addition to Anne Rice's tales of the undead. Read it, savor it...it could be the last one for all eternity. 'And love becomes again my reprimand, my goad, my song.'
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