Rating: Summary: An intriguing story written beautifully. Review: So now we see Lestat is truly half-human! It's about time. He gets scared, whines, and suffers just like the rest of us. Lestat is easier to relate to in this novel, which is my personal favorite next to Lasher. Not only does Rice give a frighteningly coherent theory of the beginning of the world and mankind, but also explains the reasons behind the "conflict" between God and the devil, Memnoch, in a way that makes complete sense. Some Christians may view this novel as blasphemous, but the clarity Rice provides is truly scary. If you're not a follower of the vampire chronicles, which I do admit this novel completely strays from, but a lover of Rice's poetical writing ability and beauty she creates with her lyrical prose, you will definately love this novel. It is a hauntingly beautiful tale, although quite scary, that will more than likely make you think twice about the true purpose of Heaven and Hell.
Rating: Summary: Brillant and Disturbing... Review: Brilliant and disturbing; That would be the best way to describe Anne Rice's (final?) Vampire Chronicle. Once again Lestat, Anne's male alter ego, has is placed into the lime-light. He is of course as excellent a character as ever and always as charismatic. However Rice seems most comfortable in shedding light on most social taboos and perhaps in shedding light from them hopes we will understand them and ourselves better. Her taboo in this chapter revolves around christianity and God and the Devil. Lestat is challenged to become the devil's helper and is caught in a moralistic battle between the two. After all is said and done, Lestat is shaken but still the remarkable creature that Rice and fans have come to know and love. The book is brillantly written but seems to become bogged down by too much religious overture. I always love the Chronicles more when Lestat is the central character and call me greedy, but not even the descirbed Devil and God can quench my thirst for his tantalizing evil. I feel that Rice would have done far better by capitalizing on already described Vampires (especially those shown in the Queen of the Damned) and their relatioship with Lestat. I hope that in her next Vampire novel, which should be about the Vampire David Talbot, will offer a more delectable literary dish than Memnoch. Memnoch is great for the Lestat enthusiasts, but others will feel weighed down by its religious overzealous pretentions! Sorry Anne!
Rating: Summary: Aack. Review: Did Anne Rice really write this book? And _what_ does it have to do with the Vampire Chronicles? I am so disappointed. When did Lestat become a whiney, brain-dead wimp? Not only was his character completely undeveloped, but the other characters were paper-thin as well. Even "God" was written so pathetically that if he were human, I wouldn't want to spend 5 minutes with him. Another problem with Memnoch is the total lack of plot. It begins with great potential, then launches into hundreds of pages of Anne-centric philosophizing. How sad that she put such effort into a pseudo-religious debate, when her theosophical points were made with both greater depth & subtlety in the other vampire books. All in all, Anne Rice doesn't create a story and completely fails to use Lestat's personality. Aack.
Rating: Summary: A book of contraversy? Review: This book Memnoch, contains a lot of contraversial topics that are even discussed now. When Memnoch aproaches Lestat. Lestat is terrified although he has to much pride within to let it show. Memnoch goes through time from the creation to present day trying to persuade Lestat to join him in his cause to win the battle. The build up to this book and its endings are very gabbing. Of the 5 Vampire chronicles this is one of the best.
Rating: Summary: Memnoch was rambling on and on and on.... Review: I loved the other Vampire Chronicles, Witching Hour and historical novels. But do I really want to read countless pages of Memnoch's biography? I found this book extremely hard to read, and I found myself bored, which is uncommon for a person that would read almost anything and everything I could get my hands on. The Vampire Chronicles is dirtied by this [insert word here] piece of writing. I read this book just because it is a sequel to one of my favorite books. I am sure many other people were taken advantage of this way...
Rating: Summary: Life's too short to waste time reading this book Review: It's been almost a year since I've read this book, but I wanted to throw my $.02 in and say that this book is a major stinker. In the ROLLING STONE interview with Anne Rice that came out around the time of the book's release, it was revealed that Ms. Rice wrote the novel in a span of about four weeks; anyone reading the novel will be able to know that on instinct. Furthermore, to even call this a novel is stretching it too far. This "book" is nothing more than the pseudo-theological ramblings of a person who has come to view her position as a writer as indestructible, and laying this work out for the general public to buy under the impression that it is another Vampire Chronicle is misleading and greedy. The plot is barely there, the characters are boring, and the overall tone of the book was so dull that I haven't been inspired to buy or read the two books that followed this one. If Anne Rice wanted to write a book about what she thought the afterlife would be like, she should have promoted it as nonfiction, not the fifth "Vampire Chronicle".
Rating: Summary: Excellent work Anne-Rice Review: Reading the book, well.. Reading the reviews is even better - I have enjoyed people waging their own LeStat battles, even if the yes/no heaven/hell polarised backdrop is a simple one, it provides enough flexibility for people to express some very rich views. Thank you for providing an excellent starting point from which people can expand their own belief systems and make their worlds a richer place. Teaching a civilisation to use tools only to find that is all that it can do would be a hell. Our best tool cannot be held in our hands, but it is used every second to shape our world. Bryce.
Rating: Summary: Total Disappointment Review: I read this book a while ago. In fact I was practically the first at the bookstore to pick up a copy because I love Rice's vampire works. More importantly I love her characters dearly. If you do also, don't bother with this book! If you expect to read a vampire book, don't bother with this book. If you expect to read a riveting adventure tale, don't bother with this book. This is probably the first of Rice's books that undeniably demonstrates the total lack of editorial control over her work. Perhaps a good editor might have suggested a more believable approach, a swifter pace, less whining and--most importantly!--different characters! But Rice will not allow a word of her ramblings to be altered from their original form, and the fact that her ego and success are destroying what was once a phenomenal talent is agonizingly obvious. In Memnoch she drags a beloved hero and company through philosophical mud and grants them all the tangible reality of cardboard cutouts (or kills them off outright) in a story that goes on and on and on to arrive absolutely nowhere. The worlds she has managed to build to impressive proportions in four previous books, she tears down in this one. Like I (and many, many others) said: don't bother with this book; it's not worth the paper used to produce it.
Rating: Summary: Uugghh Review: I have never read a book that I found totally lacking in some small from of enjoyment, until now. I am not an overly religous person and enjoy a good debate now and again, I am not even offended by what anyone has to say about God. But I was not ready for the 400+ pages of psudoreligous crap that was thrown in my face with this book, to be honest there were only about 20 or so "good" pages in this entire farce, and in this case the term good is subjective. I read the Vampire Choronicles because they are fun, this one is not fun. It is long winded, the charecters are totaly unrealized, Lestat has been turned into a whimpering fool, Armand commits suicide in a totally foolish act of desperation, and I will not mention what a joke every other charecter in this book is. I wish I could have brung myself to commit suicide like Armand, it would have ended the pain. Let me finally finish ranting :-), this book is best summed up as a totally self serving attempt at religous debate that has no foundation in the previous books of the series, and Anne has become what most readers fear, FULL OF HERSELF!!
Rating: Summary: Where did this come from? Review: I love Anne Rice. I adore Lestat. Who was this character pretending to be Lestat in this book? The behavior patterns were to say the least uncharacteristic of Lestat. Although the text raised interesting philosophical questions, I think those questions could have been addressed in a short story. It went on endlessly. I had a real rough time even finishing it. Please Anne, bring back the old Lestat. Still love ya though.
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