Rating: 
Summary: Dissapointing
Review: Blood Canticle lacks narrative cohesion. It feels like a jumbled dream sequence, out of focus and elastic. Rice's descriptions are lovely but even the best prose is lost amid a untidy heap of out of tune dialogue filled with equal parts slang and pompous diatribe. I must agree with whoever said that Lestat left her after Queen of the Damned. I'm afraid the witches have left the building as well. The Mayfairs do and say things SO out of character that it isn't just unbelievable, it's sad. Quinn doesn't get any good dialogue and comes off duller than a stump post. Lestat is out of his mind with wanting to be 'good' and falling in love with everyone, including the ghost of Julien Mayfair. It's all rather silly. Rice introduces two really nifty new taltos characters but we only get to spend a few pages with them before the book closes, lamely. While what story was there was interesting, it really could have been told in half the pages and without all of Lestat's sermons on sainthood. Sorry Anne, better luck next time.
Rating:
Summary: What happened to the real Anne Rice?
Review: This book is terribly written and I am ashamed that Anne Rice would even think of submitting it to be published. The Vampire Chronicles have been fascinating and interesting, and so have the Mayfair Witches. There has been so much effort spent to fully chronicle the Mayfairs and the individual adventures of the vampires that to smash it all together in this novel is not only unfair, but just plain awful. Rice has lost Lestat--his voice lacks the quality and sentiment of previous novels, and really he is pretty boring and dull. His ravings about sainthood are rather uninteresting. He was not a good character to narrate this story. Rice could have spent a whole novel dealing with Mona's, Quinn's, and Lestat's adventures together, much less shortchange the Taltos story as well as the Mayfairs'. The writing is shocking in its shoddiness. I have been an extremely devoted Rice fan for many many years now, and this book is not only the worst of her novels that I have ever read, but is just a bad one in general. I am hoping that in the future she will consider allowing her editors to make suggestions and spend more time on her subject matter! By writing Blood Canticle, she has done not only herself but her readers a terrible disservice. I would not recommend this book to anyone; true Rice fans must beware! This is not the Anne Rice that we know and love.
Rating: 
Summary: Pretty Good
Review: I've read just about everything from the "Rice Collection", and this one, save the ending, was decent. The plot was nice, if a little distracted at times, but overall, it was a great read. I went through it in a little under 3 days.
A bit of warning though. *possible spoiler* There isn't much of an end.
And oh, to the one or ones who call the Queen of the Vampires a "hack"? Keep in mind what personal struggles Ms. Rice was going through, and probably still is.
Great job Anne, wish you'd keep writing. Oh yeah, Memnoch was one of my favorites.
Rating: 
Summary: an ok series epilogue but a stand alone book it is not
Review: Having read Blood Canticle, as well as the many reviews posted on Amazon.com, I am disappointed in the reaction of most reviewers. Though, to be honest, the book was not one of Anne Rice's best works. My two favorite works by Anne Rice are Violin and Memnoch the Devil. Violin is the best example of purple prose Anne Rice ever authored. She created a rich and fascinating environment and wondrous characters. Memnoch was almost all philosophy but philosophical musings that are common to most thinking people and presented in an enjoyable tale. Blood Canticle lacked the purple prose of Violin or even Blackwood Farm. It also lacked the scope that is characteristic of Ms. Rice's major works. As an independent story, the book did not work. Someone who was not familiar with the history of the Chronicles and the Mayfair family would be lost. However, it seems to me that the book is meant more as an epilogue to her earlier works, attempting to bring everything together. As a series epilogue, I think it worked reasonably well. One of the goals of this epilogue appears to have been to explore the moral evolution of Lestat. I would be profoundly disappointed if Lestat had not evolved over the years of this series. Blood Canticle shows a Lestat who has grown up somewhat. He is no longer the Brat Prince of the earlier books but someone who has a conscience, a sense of responsibility, and the capacity for selfless love. While this is the first time we have had access to Lestat's inner musings since Memnoch, the process of evolution was apparent in Merrick and in Blackwood Farm. With access to Lestat's inner musings once more the extent of his inner struggles is center stage. That the dream of the Taltos heading off into the sunset to live an idyllic life was shattered is a bit of healthy closure. There are good times in life and there are bad times but life goes on. The Taltos seemed to enjoy a good life for awhile but it is natural that the bad times came as well. In the end there is death but also hope for those who remain. Life goes on. While the Mayfair characters are a bit thin, they are supporting characters in this book. That supporting characters are a bit thin can be forgiven. This is a book about Lestat. It seems to me that Lestat is asking us how different is the human from the vampire. Obviously, the vampire lives off the blood of others. The vampire is a parasite on humanity. Yet, those who are killed, at least by Lestat and his children, live off the suffering of others. Though human are they morally different from vampires? They are probably more evil than the worst vampire because it is not inherent in their nature to live off the suffering of others. Lestat seems to be struggling with the knowledge of his fallen nature yet trying to make something noble of his existence as well. This is the classic human dilemma. Lestat discovers that no matter what our nature we are capable of discipline and free choice. Within the context of our nature, our choices shape who we become. As the story makes plain, Lestat's desire to be loved is also a desire to love. By the end of the story we see that Lestat is capable of selfless love, The Brat Prince has grown up. I find that satisfying closure to the tale of the Vampire Lestat.
Rating:
Summary: What a joke
Review: A twelve year old could write a better book than this--what has happened to Anne Rice? I think this is the most annoying book of hers yet--I read the first and the last chapter and that was it. Lestat as angry-author-mouthpiece is completely inappropriate. Anne, you should have stopped after Tale of the Body Thief (which I loved). I'm just so thankful that Louis has been spared being in any of these latest Vampire books! They are trash--pure and simple.
Rating: 
Summary: I understand Lestat like never before. Fabulous.
Review: First off, let me say how seriously disappointed I am in all of you folks that wrote mean reviews of this book and of Anne. You can write a negative review without being mean. Are you all really that miserable of a pile human beings that you have to "suck the blood" out of a woman who just went through (and will be going through for a long time) that sort of anguish? I've never been married and I can't even imagine something...no, I can imagine it. It makes me want to crawl in a corner and scream at the horror of it. Even if you thoroughly believe in an afterlife, losing your life-long partner with whom you are still in love must be absolute torture. I don't think I'd be capable of coherent thought much less be able to write a book. Hey guys, here's a baseball bat. Maybe you can go work her over since she hasn't been through enough grief. Again, you're entitled to your opinion, but you don't have to be hateful. I guess the impersonality of the internet makes being mean far too easy. Anne, I apologize on their behalf. They know not what they do. Enough on that. I see lots of reviews saying that Lestat isn't Lestat and the Mayfairs are "thin" in this book. I happen to think both are "dead" on (pun intended). You're missing something. Think about it. Blood Canticle is written from Lestat's point of view. He's said that he can't read their minds because they close him off. Anne has written what Lestat knows from seeing them, watching them, and talking to them. Their minds are mostly closed to him. How can he write great, deep character studies and know all these background things from an un-omnipotent viewpoint? Did you ever think of that? This book is right-on as far as what the Mayfairs seem like to Lestat. Bravo, Anne! As far as Lestat goes, I've never enjoyed him more. In this book he is such a cut-up. I finally feel like I know Lestat as he really is meant to be known. An arrogant, flamboyant, egotistical, beautiful, funny, irreverent (and reverent), suicidal, homicidal, wanting-to-be-saintly, maniacal, monstrously-intelligent love-fool. I think Anne has absolutely nailed him this time. All of you who want the old Lestat should go read old Lestat. Think about what he's gone through these last years. The guy's over two hundred years old. How long do you think you can stay stuffy and "proper" and serious after that much time? Think of how he's been a dark, tortured hero. I'd imagine that stuff wears you down and you have to just give up trying to figure it all out and just cut loose and start having fun. That's why I think he's talking like he's talking now. Time to be happier. Time to look forward to salvation and redemption after living a life such as this. Did you not notice that in 'Merrick' Louis has grown over the years? It happens and I think it's good and it's inevitable for their sanity's sake. I love the new lingo Lestat is using. I think it completely fits his character. This is how he would talk now. I laughed loads (and out load) reading his now-colorful words. I think it's a laugh riot. "Who's in charge of this book anyway!" The other thing: why does he want to be a saint? He's always wanted that. He just spent time with God, Angels, the Devil and has been to Heaven and Hell. You think maybe this didn't affect him? You think he'd go to Heaven and talk with God and be just about like he was before he went? I'm not saying that I like all the religious stuff, but for the direction Anne took him, this behavior makes perfect sense. And it does give him depth and let's us know more of what's propelling him. I absolutely adore the new threesome. It's the old coven of Lestat, Louis, and Claudia updated. Personally, I was quite glad to see it. Lestat has his "youguns" again. I very much hope to see more of it. I'm glad that there was no long history lesson in this book. I know it sets the background for what life was like for the storyteller, but there's usually too much of it (for me). [SPOILER ALERT about Louis in 'Merrick'. Skip this paragraph if you haven't read 'Merrick'.] I also love it when I "see" the other vampires, especially Louis who is only mentioned briefly. I'd like to see what's happening with him since he's had "the powerful blood" back in Merrick. But I understand that when you mention the others in passing that any future projects are tied to what you say in past books. So, I guess it makes sequels easier when it comes time to write them without a continuity problem like Anne must have had bridging "Interview" with 'The Vampire Lestat'. I actually hadn't heard that this book is the finale of the Witch and Vampire Chronicles at the time I read it. I probably would have been cheesed off about that and it would have painted the book in a negative light. I would have been expecting so much more from it. I think most of these really harsh reviews stem from that. I haven't read all the reviews, but I read enough to see what's happening. This book really shouldn't be the end. This is just another lovely episode, not a finale. But just like Ozzy and the Rolling Stones, they had their final tours - what three to five tours ago...well, I'll just hope this isn't the end. Anne, my heart goes out to you, dear woman. I hope your grief lessens and I hope joy comes to you again if it hasn't already. Love Always, Just another fan
Rating:
Summary: Not A Worthy Farewell.....
Review: I finished Blood Canticle today and my general ideas regarding was one of confusion. I was like this is it? This is the end of the Chronicles that I have been enamoured with since I was a little girl? I liked it, I did but in parts of it, it felt to me as if the Rice was making a parody of the world that she had created. In all truth, I don't know whether or not I am supposed to hate this or love it. My thing with this story was Lestat. Lestat is through and through my favourite character and he didn't seem as if he was himself as he was on other books. The thing that bothered me was Lestat's language. His language was filled with Yos, Cools, and Dudes. Really, does he talk like that? What I always remembered was that his language was always so poetic but here, he sounded utterly ridiculous and that his dialogue could have been written by a fanfic amateur. I have to admit that the notion that Lestat played with through out the whole book, him becoming a Saint was cute. It seemed fitting since he is bold enough to want to be a Saint when yet, there is nothing holy at all about him. But the thing that irked me was that he would stop mid story and dedicate a whole bloody chapter to his intense love of Juan Diego. Really, did we need that? I would have thought it more brilliant if it was more tongue in cheek or wink and a nod like than so blatant. But I did love the romance between him and Rowan Mayfair. Those two need each other in a lot of ways, both him and her done things that are just.. wrong. But I will always be a Lestat/Louis or a Lestat/Marius shipper. One other thing that bothered me was the Mayfair interaction. I didn't mind it when it was mixed in Merrick or Blackwood Farm but here, it just was like why? To me, the Mayfairs were a world seperate from that of the Chronicles, so why include it? I know that Mona's turning and Rowan's relationship with Lestat was crutial to the story but the whole lot? I know this is suppose to be the last of the supernatural books but I did like it better when it was kept seperate. I know I sound hypocritcal when I did say that I love the relationship with Lestat and Rowan but I have never been much for the Mayfairs. Even though I did like Oncle Julian in this. Also, Mona just grated me and Quinn? He was such an intriguing character in Blackwood Farm but here, here he was just a plot device and somethings didn't even need including like Patsy's ghost. Also, where was Louis, Marius, Armand or Gabrielle? Where was Pandora, David, Jesse, or Mekare? I wanted to know what became of them. It was great to hear something from Marahet especially by e-mail but there are other characters that I loved and now, they are just gone. When I finished it, I sat there for ten minutes, asking over and over again, is this it? There was nothing final about this, she left so many points open. What was going to become of Quinn and Mona since they were going with Marahet or what was going to happen to Lestat and Rowan? It just didn't seem a great cap off to something that has been one of my main fannish obssessions since I was little. Where was the poetic language? The deep philosophical musings? The nighttime fairy tale world that I wanted to inhabit? It was pulled off here that well. It just seemed rushed.
Rating:
Summary: what a disservice
Review: As an end to the Vampire Chronicles and the Mayfair Witches, this book does both of those series an immense disservice, as it is not a fitting end for either. Ash and Morrigan, the Taltos, should have been left alone if their fate was the best Rice could come up with. While the message Rice is sending there is obvious, it's muddled by the presence of the drug lords, and would have been much clearer and direct if left to the Taltos alone. As for the Mayfairs... Rowan's every action seems forced against her previously established character, and Michael is reduced to her accessory. Over on the Vampire side, Rice mercifully does ignore most of the pantheon of characters she has developed there. Louis, Pandora, Gabrielle, Marius, and almost all the others are allowed to drift away without acknowledgement, a blessing based on the way everyone else is handled. Maharet and Kayman make cameos without really appearing, which is probably also a blessing. As for the rest, Quin, like Michael, is Mona's accessory. Mona is spoiled and insolent, and if you hated reading what had become of her in "Blackwood Farm", you'll really hate what she becomes here. Lestat, well, he's Anne Rice, not himself. He fully ceases to be his own character and instead becomes his author's mouthpiece, prone to rants and tantrums based on whether or not people like him. As the conclusion to both series, this could have been an epic, but instead it's more of a travesty.
Rating:
Summary: I really enjoyed it !
Review: I really enjoyed this book especially because I really love "Blackwood Farm" and this is a follow up. There's more religious references and I think a lot of people don't really understand it, but we have understand that she's going through a lot and her Catholic faith is really important to her. I read her all her books and events in her life has a lot of impact to her writing. A lot of people hated the movie version of " Queen of the Damned " but I really enjoyed it. I took for what it is, not as a word for word movie version of the book. I think comparing her works is really unfair because she wrote them at different times of her life under different situations and events.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: Once again Anne Rice out does herself. This book picks up where the witch serices and Blackwood Farm ends. It is an easy and enjoyable read. It answered all of my questions that I had after reading the Witch series. I couldn't put the book down.
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