Rating: 
Summary: Judging God
Review: With Memnoch the Devil, the fifth installment in her "Vampire Chronicles", Anne Rice demonstrates what I have long suspected: that she is at heart a theologian and a wonderfully heretical one too. Rice is as learned and daring as her most famous creation, the Vampire Lestat. She also has the common touch necessary to reach a wide audience. The pious and the snobbish alike are appropriately forewarned.Readers familiar with the series will need no introduction to Lestat, who finds himself this time around sought after by no less a personage than the Devil. Those who are dipping into Rice for the first time may find themselves confused about who's who among the many characters. Not to mention why on earth God and the Devil would seek the aid of the amoral and murderous aesthete who is the Vampire Lestat. As a novel, Memnoch is not Rice's finest. I miss the luxuriously detailed story-telling and fine-tuned characterizations of the early vampire novels. All of that is dispensed with here as Rice barely goes through the motions of introducing characters and setting the scene. As an exploration of ideas, on the other hand - ideas about the nature of God and man, good and evil, beauty and truth - Memnoch is Rice's most ambitious, interesting and meaningful work. The story within the story - the story of the creation and evolution of the cosmos and man as told to Lestat by Memnoch the Devil is the true heart of the novel. In fact, the Vampire Chronicles could be viewed as Rice's vehicle for promoting an authentically postmodern theology (with roots in ancient Gnosticism?)... Some critics complain that Memnoch is "too philosophical". But there is a philosophical element in all Rice's works and that is what has always made her more interesting to me than any other "pulp fiction" writer. Surely this also accounts for the widespread appeal of her writing. She writes great stories about vampires and witches it's true, but that's not all there is to her books. Her true concern has always been the human condition. Life, death, eating, killing, surviving... Loving... Conclusion: Memnoch is a must for Rice fans. Those who have yet to be initiated into her world are advised to start at the beginning with Interview With the Vampire.
Rating: 
Summary: Still good!
Review: This book explores more controversial views than any of her other ones. I certainly did not mind it, it actually made the book more interesting. It made me think about the religious world more clearly. It did drag a bit though. I recommend this book if you like philosophy.
Rating: 
Summary: Thought provoking
Review: This book is fantastic. A real standout in the vampire chronicles. Not for the devout christian whom I doubt would be reading these series of books but contains such thought provoking ideals about the devil that they would benefit from. Lestat grows up in this book as well as being disillusioned.
Rating:
Summary: OMG WOW!! AWESOME!! INSPIRING!!
Review: OMG is what I said when I finished this book. Anyone that has read it knows exactly what I mean. This book has the same atmosphere as all of the rest of Anne Rice's books, but there is something significantly different in this. Lestat de Lioncourt, the hero of almost all of Rice's books, has come upon a brand new being, one like nothing that anyone has ever come upon, and with this being is an offer. This being is Memnoch, the Devil. Yes, the Devil. As in Lucifer, Satan, Mephistopheles, Azazel, all of them. Memnoch takes him to heaven, through time, and then to hell. This story runs in a way that captured my interest immediately and all the way through. Anyone who even thinks that they are an Anne Rice fan must pick up this book and read why she is acclaimed one of the greatest writers of the century!!
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful, her most moving book yet!
Review: This is my favorite of all her books. This book is like Anne's version of Dante's Inferno. It's amazing, very philosophical. It sheds a different light on Lestat. You can see the Jewish, and Catholic influence. I highly recommend this book. I own it as well as all the other Vampire Chronicles, and I have read it five times already, and I am sure I will read many more times.
Rating: 
Summary: "The Patsy, Lestat"
Review: The concept of 'diminishing returns' sure seems an apt description for Anne Rice's vampire series. Readers who first enjoyed "Interview With The Vampire" may have made the jump to "The Vampire Lestat" without much loss of interest, but by the time of "Queen Of The Damned," it should have been apparent to readers that Rice has a fondness for sensual prose without heart. Steeped in animus and fragmented by the disjointed narrative, QOTD was my first clue that I might NOT want to read Rice's entire catalog. I perservered and got through "The Body Thief," but was quite disappointed by the book's predictable course. With "Memnoch, The Devil," Rice abandons just about any trace of linear construction and/or regard for the characters who have been her bread and butter. The story has a decent beginning, comparable in tone to "Body Thief," but soon takes off into the spiritual ether. The conclusion, in which Rice tries to atone for two hundred pages of addle-pated musings on Christianity and the resulting mental masturbation, is heavy-handed and careless. At least one major supporting character from the Vampire Chronicles is used as a sacrificial lamb...a transparent ploy to give the story a lasting impact. Lestat's involvement in this tale is by no means effective. As the most prominent vamp left in Rice's camp, one expects the usual self-loving/hating exposition, but in "Memnoch" Lestat is a pawn for god, the devil, a dead crook & his holy-roller daughter, and Rice herself. One can forgive portraying Lestat as a patsy to god and the devil, and excuse the crook/daughter combo on the grounds of creative license. But for Rice to use Lestat as a surrogate for herself in this meandering theological treatise is practically unforgiveable. Even given Rice's abundant (and redundant) spiritual knoweledge, Lestat does little more than observe in his jaunts to heaven, hell, and the spirit-packed netherplace she calls "Sheol". The minor changes he inspires or creates in historical context are negligible, though the final result of his odyssey is grossly overplayed. My biggest gripe with this book is NOT how Lestat is portrayed, though I think that issue will resonate with a lot of Rice's readers. Rather, I'm apalled that Rice didn't have the good sense to present this fever-dream of a story OUTSIDE the Vampire Chronicles continuity. True, Lestat is portrayed as having strengths comparable to that of the devil (!), and his 'connections' in the realms of money and power make it easier to facilitate some of the subplots in "Memnoch." But in the end, Lestat has been ill-used by just about everyone in the story, and his vamp peers fare similarly. This reader wishes that Rice had been less opportunistic in her use of established characters...particularly since it wouldn't have taken much imagination to turn this into a self-standing novel. Whether or not individual Rice fans will like this book is a mystery to me. After all, I don't read her books looking for mystic symbolism or theological meaning. Those who DO enjoy Rice's trips into the ether may well enjoy this book, or find significant meaning and/or messages within. If you're an admitted fan, chances are you'll wade through this disappointing book regardless of any comments posted here. But if you're a Rice newbie, for heaven's sake don't start with THIS book. And if, like me, you enjoy the series but not Rice's penchant for occasional snooze-fests, steer clear of "Memnoch."
Rating:
Summary: One of My Favourites of The Vampire Chronicles
Review: I have read all of The Vampire Chronicles and Memnoch The Devil is by far one of my favourites. I found it extremely interesting and highly philosophical. Memnoch takes a very interesting spin on modern religion, and the relationship between God and The Devil is very well writen and highly imaginative. I finished the book in two days. For readers looking for a little more substance rather than the usual formula, Memnoch The Devil is the perfect book for you. It was an enlightening experience to read. Truely creative fiction.
Rating:
Summary: Myopic Mythology
Review: It amazes me that after the explosion in Cosmology during the 20th Century people think myths about an earth centered Universe are interesting. Ms. Rice's view of the Universe, and thus of God, is too small. Does anyone really accept these medival myths? Veronica's Veil, give me a break. God as a tricky old man with extraordinary powers, no body really believes in that God; he's much to small for the Universe we know.Rice realizes the big problem with the Pater Noster is why he allows the widespread suffering of our world. But she chickens out and doesn't deal with the problem. In reading this book I had an interesting thought: God, being omniscient, would be intimately knowledgeable about human suffering, he would suffer, too. Is he a masochist, or is Rice's vison of God too small? Humanity is crying out for a meaniful vision of God, but Anne Rice does not give it to them by chewing dried old cuds.
However, as a fellow writer, I do admire Rice's skills with the language. Her picture of hell ruffled my feathers. She does, though, go too far when she has Lestat eat Dora's menstrual bloods. This was surely in bad taste(no pun intended); is nothing sacred these days?
Rating:
Summary: good
Review: I really enjoyed Memnoch the Devil, especially since it was the first Anne Rice book I had ever read. I enjoyed reading from Memnoch's point of view and going through the revelations and so forth.
Rating:
Summary: Different from the rest of the series
Review: I just re-read the Vampire Chronicles series, and it really struck me how much this differs from the others. The standard formula is for the novel to be told in the first person by one of the vampires, who tells their story. Normally most of the story is in one historical period, and the attraction is Rice's ability to give an idea of how people lived in Byzantine Antioch, or Renaissance Venice, or pre-revolutionary France. You don't get that in this book. Or rather you do but you get the tale of Memnoch the Devil, and it's not set on earth, but in heaven. This makes it very different from the other stories, because there is no way that Memnoch is recognizable as a human being, and that is the other strength of Rice's books. She shows the vampires as real people, reacting to real situations. The basic story starts off with Lestat stalking a victim, who is particularly evil, so Lestat draws out the experience by stalking him over a long period, like a cat watching a mouse. He also stalks the victim's daughter, who is an evangelist. After killing the victim, he has a conversation with the victim's ghost, who asks him to look after the daughter. Lestat agrees, and then meets Memnoch, who is the Devil, and wants Lestat to work for him. First the Devil has to persuade Lestat how it is that he and God are not enemies, and to do this, he tells his story. Most of the book is Memnoch's story, and how and why he fell from heaven, and a lot of it is religious discussion. Essentially, it gives a complete theological underpinning for the Vampire chronicles - how the existence of God can be reconciled with the existence of vampires, and vice versa. Rice lays it out in full, and the problem is that there is nothing sensual about theology, and sensuality is one of the main attractions of Rice's books. Storywise, this book does advance the Lestat story, but I do not think that it is essential to read it, to get a full understanding of the Vampire Chronicles. However, it is important in terms of understanding the world that Rice is trying to create, and in terms of understanding Lestat's character development. But if it's sensuality that you're after, you won't find it here.
|
