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Memnoch the Devil

Memnoch the Devil

List Price: $7.99
Your Price: $7.19
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Here's to all the stupid people who claim to be Anne fan's
Review: If any of you poeple out there, who are calling this book crap, boring and stupid, were real Anne Rice fan's as you claim to be, you would realize what an exceptional book this is and not the crap you say it is. True at times the dialoge can get a bit wordy, but if thats all you going on than you shouldn't have even written a review. "Memnoch" showed all of us another way of looking at God and the Devil. Granted your religion may difer from Anne's, but to understand you have to open your minds and accept new ways of thinking. If you don't than you reading blind. As to Lestat, I believe that he was well written and very well brought out in this book. It showed a side to him we rarely ever see, fear. Lestat was brought to us as an arogant jerk who feared nothing. Now we get a chance to see the real Lestat, fearful of dying and also very vulnerable. So again to all those who called "Memnoch" crap, I suggest you reread it and open your minds once again. If you had not in the first place, Anne would not be as successful as she is today.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: BOOOOOOO!!! Back to higher standards, please!
Review: _Interview With the Vampire_ was an original (sort of), well-written novel. _The Vampire Lestat_ introduced more new ideas and was a fascinating, excellent read. _The Queen of the Damned_ was slightly inferior to TVL, but Rice handled an ambitious project surprisingly well. _The Tale of the Body Thief_ was poor; Rice and her publishers know there's money in the Vampire Chronicles, and standards don't necessarily have to be high for the books to make money.

_Memnoch the Devil_ shows that again. Rice is a gifted writer, but it's offensive that she thinks she can pull this off: "Memnoch" is one of the most ambitious novels I have ever seen -- nothing less than a combination of Dante's _Comedia_ and Milton's _Paradise Lost_ -- and it falls well short of the mark. There are so many things wrong with this book that I scarcely know where to begin. The essential character of Dora remains undeveloped and unrealistic, because Dora is a fairytale stock character: why is Lestat so much more vulnerable than she is? Rice also appears increasingly unable to resist the urge to include gratuitous sex scenes (or what passes for them) into her writing. There were some questionable passages in "Body Thief", but it could have been argued that they had some relevance to character development (not to plot, though). "Memnoch" definitely oversteps the line. Conservative readers who aren't turned off by the gratuitous sex will probably be turned off by Rice's re-interpretation of the scriptures. She is clearly familiar with a variety of religious documents (she quotes from the Apocryphal Book of Enoch), no doubt including _Comedia_ and _Paradise Lost_, but her treatment of the subject matter is unsatisfying both when compared to the works of superior writers such as Dante and Milton and when it stands alone, though especially in the prior case. Rice even gets her own facts wrong: she calls Maharet and Mekare the eldest vampires (Khayman is the eldest).

The novel's beginning is unpleasantly r! eminiscent of the beginning of "Body Thief", and it doesn't improve much. The early plot centering on Roger (Lestat's next victim) and Dora (his daughter) is uncompelling and mildly boring. The initial introduction of the mysterious Memnoch is frightening and tense, but all horror quickly escapes as the Devil turns out to be, well, a real angel, if you will. Rice's description of heaven (waaaaay too ambitious) is unsatisfying, Lestat's time with Memnoch on Earth is even worse, and the treatment of hell is a little better, although a little more detail and clarification of her vision would have been nice (just as the Inferno is often considered superior to Paradiso and Purgatorio, Rice's treatment of hell is her strongest). The conclusion is unsatisfying, uninspiring, and a cop-out. Despite my poor review, I would recommend reading this book. But don't buy it, because it isn't worth your money. The philosophically-minded and those interested in religion (but not die-hard believers in Christianity (and maybe Judaism or even Islam), because you *will* be offended) will likely find some interest in Rice's treatment of religious topics, whatever it may be lacking. So head out to your local library or borrow it from a friend, but don't expect "Memnoch" to live up to its predecessors ("Body Thief" excepted).

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Somewhat disappointing, but a must for fans nonetheless
Review: Bottom line: If you're a die-hard Lestat fan, read it. If not, you might want to think twice. One of the things I like about the Lestat novels is the way they blend the supernatural with the mundane. In that respect, this book is not as balanced as the others: it is mostly a supernatural account of the Bible. Some people will find that interesting, and I thought I would too, but now I'm reminded of Robert Frost's words about playing tennis without a net... not to mention the fate of Cheers after Sam and Diane got together. :-)

While I was reading the book, I thought it was fascinating but in retrospect, I'm less than satisfied. Also, the ending was a little mysterious; I'm not sure I understood it. Overall, I guess the book probably rates better than 3 stars, but less than 4.

WARNING. Another reviewer (Laenn Claudia) posted some very explicit SPOILERS.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: reading this book, I thought I'd gone to hell!
Review: Sweet Jesus! This is Anne Rice's worst novel ever. It is a plotless rambling ego trip for one of my favorite authors. I've read most of her books (published under her own name) and the only other book that was this bad was tale of the body thief. I loved the first three vampire novels, The Mummy, and The Witching hour. If you are looking for a fascinating story read those. If you want to read an occasionally interesting, but basically plotless work of heretical judeo-christian theology, read this.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good but could have been better
Review: I am probably one of Anne Rice's biggest fans, having read all of her work. Memnoch was good, but had too many flaws. 1.It was way too slow. 2.It didn't have a lot to do with the vampire's we have come to know and love. 3.It was too wordy. She could have said most of that crap in two chapters. Other than that it was a good storyline and a good description of good and evil. It gives you a whole new way of looking at God and th Devil.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Spectacular, Chilling, Wonderfull
Review: This was my first Anne Rice and i picked it up because of the summary at the back. It just held my attention from the day i bought it till today when i have finished reading it. I see some people rate this book as poor compared to the other vampire chronicles and i'm glad that i picked this up first because since i find this book soo interesting i can't wait to read the others .

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: My God, Anne Rice's talent disappeared overnight!
Review: Ok, where do I start. The Title: the original one was Of Heaven and Hell, which I like better. The Reviews: How can anyone praise a book that was so SLOW. Personally, this book is an enourmous offense to Lestat. The Plot: Lestat has turned into a whining, passive Louis; too much and too little character building into Dora and Roger; Memnoch never runs out of breath; Christ turns into a meal for a vampire; Armand DIES, why why WHY?!?; I for one did not want to know how Lestat drinks blood from Dora (18+). Alright, I've pretty much dissected the novel, which I did not read entirely because I found it so BORING and TEDIOUS and UNGRATIFYING. The only good part in the book that Lestat went insane, which I liked, no offense to Lestat, unlike this book. The Queen of the Damned was her best. Killing Armand was stupid.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: one of the best in the series
Review: I thought that this book was the second best in the series, next to "Queen of the Damned". I bought before even reading it and I wasn't disappointed. Money well spent. I really liked "Memnoch the Devil" because of the way Anne Rice portrays Lestat's tour through Hell. I also like the way she told Memnoch's story; of how he became the devil. I didn't give it five stars because the book went a little too slow for me. I wanted Lestat to fight Memnoch. It never happened. I also enjoyed the way the others vampires tried to help Lestat, but the only one who could was Dora, his human friend.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Believable and erotic..Rice proves her class
Review: I've read Interview & Queen of the Damned (which is her best), but this is a close second. Why? Because it touches a subject we all have some contact with. Religion. Anything she writes is well thought of and very believable. It did ramble at points, but this didn't take away from the overall enjoyment.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: longwinded
Review: This is the first Anne Rice book that I have read and I REGRETFULLY admit that I can't bring myself to shower it with excellent comments. Londwinded piece of crap if you ask for my opinion(save the fact that the plot was very interesting). Anne should have spent more time in thinking about HOW to present the plot well.Memnoch really has stamina in talking--PHEW, but i don't have the patience in listening to him.


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