Rating: Summary: The best of the Vampire Chronicles. Review: I found this installment of the vampire chronicles to be the best of the bunch. I find her portrayal of the story of "God vs. Satan" to be wonderful and very believable. It was almost as if she knows how confused some people are about their personal beliefs and offers one that answers questions that a lot of agnostics/atheists have used to disprove the existance of a higher being. This one is definitely worth a second or third read for the theological discussions alone.
Rating: Summary: How could she go over the edge like that??!? Review: First of all, I want to say that I couldn't even finish reding the book.. Perhaps it was not the right time for me to read it, but no!! Even though I love vampires and such things, it was a disappointment for me. But I also know people who loved it. What I feel may be different the next time I try to read it. Anyway, after I left the book halfway, I didn't have the urge to read another book for 5-6 months!! But now I'm reading The Witching Hour, and I think it's fab,though very long. And I'm looking forward to reading Pandora despite my disappointment in Memnoch. I won't mention the narrative of the book even, because I don't want to leave the book I'm reading now!! But all the while, Anne Rice is some autor I love. And I'll finish Memnoch one day..
Rating: Summary: Never again will I read Anne Rice !!! Review: How feeble. Where is Lestat ? In the previous books I loved him, hated him , admired him , felt his anguish and so on.... what happened to him ? To me , Anne Rice , in one final book , destroyed the character she brought to life in the first three books . I could say more about the rest of the content , however , I have already wasted enough of my time on this trash. Bitterly disappointed !!
Rating: Summary: The most fantastic of The Vampire Chronicles! Review: In the ultimate fight between good and evil, Lestat, as usual, triumphs! Lestat is shown as a spiritual being, and one's concept of Heaven and Hell may be forever changed. Truly horrifying, and a great read!!!
Rating: Summary: A big disappointment Review: What a disappointment. I loved some of Anne Rice's earlier work, especially "Interview With the Vampire" but it's all been downhill since then. This book just goes to show that she's running out of ideas and is just cashing in on her reputation to make a few more bucks.
Rating: Summary: boring and pointless Review: This is the most disappointing book I have read in a long time. Usually anybook with even a semblance of plot andinteresting characters will hold my attention until I finish it at a single sitting. When I come across a book that captivates me but is too long to finish in a day, I usually brim with impatience until I have the free time to again immerse myself in a strange and wonderful world with characters who seem vividly real. This book invoked none of these feelings. I am not a huge Ann Rice fan, but I have enjoyed her vampire chronicles series. This book hardly qualifies as even being a part of that series - it really has little to do with vampires, and adds nothing new to the portrayal of these fascinating creatures. Lestat seems like he was written by another author - badly. The book reads like a rough draft of a novel pulled from someone's private journal. I am not, as some may be, offended by its religious musings and interpretations. I am, however, offended by its overblown prose, pseudo-intellectual posturing, and general lack of entertainment and believability. This book was truly a chore to read. Why I bothered to finish it, I don't know. Perhaps I was desperately searching for any redeeming quality. Perhaps I was fascinated by the sheer horribleness of it all, much as people are fascinated by train wrecks. At any rate, when I finally finished it, I felt nothing but relief that the task was over, like I had just finished a particularly odious college exam. I almost felt angry at the author for passing this off as literature. I don't think I will be reading Anne Rice again, if this is the direction her work is now taking.
Rating: Summary: Intreiguing reading! Review: Anne Rice is one of the best authors out there! The way she gets into the hearts and minds of her characters is outstanding! I found this book to be very interesting, and the ideas she presented about how God and the Devil relate to one another were unique as well. Although I have found some of her other books a little more intreiguing, I really enjoyed this book.
Rating: Summary: it's a great book Review: I read this book at leats five times and I thought it was a great book. I mean Lestat fighting with Memnoch that was a classic. The only thing about the book I didn't like was the way it ended with Armand running into the sun like that. But I have heard that Anne is about to write Armand so it isn't that bad.
Rating: Summary: Ahem... how disappointing. Review: I purchased this book in its hardcover form as soon as it hit my local bookseller's shelf. The more I read, the more disappointed I became, until I finally just had to put the book down and walk away. Not one to leave a book unfinished, I managed to push myself thru to the very bitter end, which left me exhausted. I'm not an overly religious person, and I know that every one has their rights and opinions, but this went a little too far... even for me. Heavy sigh...
Rating: Summary: The best novel since Crime and Punishment! Review: Memnoch the Devil ( A Novel by Anne Rice ) Review by Josh Davis This was a great book! I had never really intended on buying this book.I had just gotten off of work at a very late time: 10:00pm.I decided that I would buy a package of Oreo cookies like I always did when I worked late (Oreo cookies and milk is the best late-night snack )and I was going by the bookstand when I realized that I really wasn't very tired,oddly enough,and that I might as well read a book before I went to bed to help relax me.So,instead of reading one of my horror books for the hundredth time,I decided to buy a new one.But,this really wasn't the best place to buy a book since it didn't have much of a selection.Still,I had to make the best use with what I had,so,with a sigh,I looked over at the books.You see,I love horror books.So,even though there were alot of Drama books and Sci-Fi books to choose from there really weren't many horror books because the general population doesn't care much for horror.I ended up getting two horror books.One of the horror books was Memnoch the Devil by Anne Rice (which was mostly an unknowned author to me at the ,except that I had vaguely rememvered that she was susposed to be a good writer on vampire horror fiction)and the Gallery of Horror ( a collection of horror stories by a variety of authors of which I was only familiar with Stephen King). Now ,the Gallery of horror book was AWFUL! The only good stories in there were Stephen King's Nona ( which I had already read from one of my Stephen King collection of short stories)and a story called the Crazy Chinaman by an author,who was completly unknown to me,by the name of John Coyne. Now,even though Memncoh the Devil looks like it's a book about vampires ( because it's a part of the Vampire Chronicles which is a collection of vampire books by Anne Rice) this book doesn't focus on it too much and instead it focuses on Memnoch the Devil's proposal to the main vampire character in the novel (Lestat).This proposal is for the vampire to serve as a general under Memnoch the Devil within Hell. Memnoch promises him that once he has seen the Creation,been to heaven and Hell, allowed to talk with God and listened to Memnoch and had his questions answered by Memnoch,then the vampire will understand why his way is the right way and God's way is wrong. Now,this book is a very psychologically intense book and Memnoch's argument is very philosophical and very logical. So,if you don't like thinking then this book isn't for you. The settings ,such as Heaven and Hell, are interesting and it's what I would expect to see these places look like. The theme of this book is very philosophical.The theme is the issue of wether God is right or the Devil is right. Anne Rice is a modern day Marry Shelly.She makes her story so believable.After read this story,you will believe that the Devil is real and that he talk to you! The story is told by the vampire and the vampire tells exactly,word by word, what Memnoch sayed to him ( and wait untill you know at the end of the story what the circumstances are surrounding the vampire writing all of this down so that you can read !) because vampires have such good memories!) The writer (Anne Rice) makes the story so believabl because of the way the story is told by both Memnoch the Devil and the vampire Lestat( through the Vampire Lestat telling what Memnoch said).When Memnoch speaks it is sometimes like he's talking to you and Anne Rice sets it up so that it seems like the Devil is reading your mind! This book is very intriguing because you start to think that the Devil is right and that he's not so evil after all.But, remember he is the Devil! I believed that the Devil was right because of his very logical arguments and of what God did to him (cast the Devil away when he was an angel). Yet,3/4 of the way through this book,i realized that Memnoch told the truth,but that he is evil and manipulative and wrong.Now,wether God was right or not,I am still pondering. I'm also pondering how and why what happened at the end happened and what exactly happened.This is a very mentally and intellectually pressing book. The ending was so weird and it reminded me of the kind of endings in the Twilight Zone T.V. series, but this ending is more complex and I'm still trying to figure out the puzzle that it leaves for the reader. I know that there are clues throughout Memnoch's speech and presentation and that if I read the entire book enough times,analyze the book and ponder the subliminal clues throughout the entire book then I will eventually find the answer to it's puzzling ending! This book is very psychologically intense. I have never experienced a book so psychologically intense as this one since I read Crime and Punishment by Dostevosky. Even though Memnoch the Devil is a very good book, it should only bo read by the open-minded. You see,it is both very factual in presenting the Christian theology and history,yet it takes it from a different perspective. Some of the information is this book might be considered very blasphemous in it's perspective of truth. Yet,I don't mind and I don't think Christians should mind. This book presents some very good questions ( and I believe it answers them very acordingly to having God be considered good and right) but the answers are in the book, you just have to ponder them. Remember,this book is the Devil's argument and it should be said that even is what he said is true, that doesn't mean that he isn't evil and doesn't manipulate the truth. How something is said is just as important as what is being sayed when conveying an idea. Is this the last chapter of the Vampire Chronicles? It probally is for the time being even though this is a fitting end and fitting plot to end it: the Devil meets a very tragic and strong-willed vampire. The quality of the story telling is superb! you will believe that the Devil is talking to you and that the story did happen in real life and it's real. The enjoyability of the book is on a high level. I couldn't put this book down! It was so intense! :) I give this book and overl rating of 9 out of 10 bloody marks for quality and 10 out of 10 bloody marks for enjoyability! Enjoy!
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