Rating: 
Summary: This sucks!
Review: I love the VC but this book sucks, it's boring, Merrick is a crap character, David is so dull! he wasn't that interesting before and he's not now. The so-called love relationship between Merrick and Louis is so unbelievable it's like Anne added it at the last minute for the heck of it. The dialouge sucked, real people do not talk like that(someone here gave a great example of what I'm talking about). The only good part in the book was Claudia's ghost and some Lestat parts, Louis was always a good character and was the most interesting in the book. If Anne Rice plans on writing more VC I hope she leaves out that boring drunken Merrick. I'm getting my money back!
Rating: 
Summary: Not the best of the Vampire Chronicles
Review: This isn't Rice's best - it feels as if she is setting up for something big in the next release. The first 100 pages or so were tough, but once she got into the groove, this book was a fast read I couldn't put down. This book blends two story lines together - tying together Rice's Witch series with the Vampire one. Definitely worth a read, but not the best from one of my favorite authors.
Rating: 
Summary: Old friends and new
Review: As strong as Lestat's thirst for blood is mine for these books. I honestly cannot read enough. I bought and read this book in five hours. I could not put it down. Anne Rice does not fail to deliver her trademark colourful, descriptive prose. The characters in this, the sixth installment of the New Orleans vampires are just as vibrant and 3D as the first. We meet some for the first time but with most it is a reunion of sorts. My only quip is not really one at all as much as it is a suggestion for the future. How about a book all to Claudia. I'm sure I'm not the only fan who would love to hear her version of events.
Rating:
Summary: Not very deep, but definitely entertaining
Review: Without a doubt, Anne Rice once again delivers a spell-binding tale (literally!) of vampires and witches and characters you won't soon forget. Merrick as a character is a masterpiece -- she is strong and manipulative, yet at times when she appears weak and in need of help (like at the end of the novel), she is still believable. Louis's search for absolution from the child-vampire Claudia is heart-rendering, yet shows the inner strength of a vampire often portrayed as weak. And the rise of Lestat and the ultimatum issued by the Talamasca promise the reader more excellent sequels in the future. What I did not understand was how this book could be advertised as a combining of the Vampire Chronicles and the Mayfair witches. That Merrick is a Mayfair seems to be just a footnote -- she knows almost nothing about her white cousins, nothing at all about their struggle with Lashar and Taltos. Perhaps Anne Rice will explore these connections in future novels, but for now, Merrick could have just as easily been any New Orleans witch of mixed ancestry, and the power of the book would have been retained. And unlike such books as the original "Interview with the Vampire" and "Memnoch the Devil," we don't get much discussion on philoisophical issues that I have grown to love so much in Rice's books. These issues do come up, of course, particularly the questions of what happens to spirits, the pluses and drawbacks to the Dark Gift, the strength it takes to end an "immortal" life, what it means to gain immortality at the age of 70 than as a young adult. Maybe there were too many issues for any one to be explored extensively. But the lack of indepth treatment does not detract from the story, and in fact for some, may be a bonus.
Rating:
Summary: The worst Anne Rice Novel ever.
Review: This was horrible. I hated it. I hated the plot, I hated the way the characters acted, and most of all I hated the new character Merrick herself. She was a weakling. Everone else says she's so strong, but for gods sakes! She used magick to make poor, confussed Louis fall in love with her! He's screwed up enough as it is, he doesn't need that whore to confuse him more. I also hated the way David had to narrate and throw in an opinon about everything. Can't he just keep his damned mouth shut? And the whole thing about Louis wanting to call up Claudia's spirit just pissed me off. Why would he suddenly out of the blue want to do this? I'll tell you why: because it set up a plot for the rest of the book. The only good part of it was when Lestat woke up. The rest was just garbage, and I really hate saying that because I LOVE Anne Rice's work, just NOT this one. I hope her next book is better than this, because it was NOT worth the 20 bucks. I wouldn't buy it if I were you; borrow it somewhere and if you like it then buy it. Don't just buy it because it's by Anne Rice, because it does not measure up to her previous work (Although I thought Vittro the Vampire sucked too. What the hell was that all about?)
Rating:
Summary: Hmmmm.......
Review: This novel lacks nothing in Anne's signature lush, sensual, revel-rather-than-read style. The names especially are lovely, mysterious,and evocative; Great Nananne, Cold Sandra, Honey in the Sunshine. I am really having some trouble accepting the characters in this one, though, David in particular. While alive, this gentleman was the Superior General of a very powerful if underground Order. He has immense scholarship, and strong pyschic abilities, a deep understanding of human nature, as well as being a Candomble priest. In this book however, he comes off as helpless, passive, and reactive as Louis. Merrick is as powerful and more manipulative than Lestat ever was, and that David, who had known and raised her from a child did not see this strength and will is hard to believe. I am not really sure how I feel about this one, as I am not pantingly eager to re-read it at once, as I have felt with some of her other books.
Rating: 
Summary: Anne Rice at Her Best
Review: As a fan of the vampire and witches Anne Rice has conjured up over three decades, the reader expects a lively and entertaining cast of characters with a twisted plot. The author delivers yet again with Merrick, a relatively minor character in an earlier book in the Mayfair Witches series. This novel is like meeting up with old friends again. It is written in the beautiful and familiar voice of David Talbot, now a vampire housed in a young body stolen in a Faustian switch in The Tale of the Body Thief. David finds himself drawn into the spell of the young witch, Merrick, he took under his tutelage at the Talamasca twenty years earlier in New Orleans. But he underestimates the power Merrick has accumulated in her years of study in the Talamasca archives. She is beautiful, irresistible, and supremely dangerous to the vampires of New Orleans. The weak vampire, Louis, beloved of Lestat, has lived in misery for years believing the one vampire he fathered, Claudia, remains trapped in the darkness. Claudia was a child of seven when Louis made her a vampire and in her permanently childish body raged the soul of a woman. She died in the morning rays of sunlight in a horrifying slaughter at the Vampire of the Theatres a century before. Now Louis seeks to mollify his misery by having Merrick summon the ghost of Claudia in an elaborate spell. No one is prepared for the venom of the spirit who arrives. The plot is gorgeously designed, the writing fluid and welcoming. It took only a few pages to be once again in the familiar and interesting company of the beautiful undead. This is Anne Rice at her best.
Rating:
Summary: A Perfect Blending of Past Works
Review: For those who have never read an Anne Rice novel, this is not the one to start with. Merrick's biggest strength is also it's biggest weakness. It combines past characters from many different novels, which to the diehard fan is fantastic, for the new reader it is confusing. Being a diehard, I was thrilled with the combination of the Vampires, the Mayfairs and the Gens du Colour of "The Feast of all Saints". I was also thrilled to have Luis take centre stage again. HE was the first of Anne's Vampires we ever met in "Interview" and I enjoyed having him play lead, next to David Talbot, again. His tranformation at the end may have been predictable, but was welcome. I have always had a special place for this character and was happy to see him finally get not only his due but also some much deserved peace of mind over Claudia Merrick makes a perfect addition to the Vampire family and I am hoping that, like David, she retains her incredible power as a witch. For the Anne Rice Fan, I totally encourage you to get lost in this novel. For those of you who aren't familiar with her work, I would recommend that you start with her earlier work. Without a working knowledge of past events, this book would be a disapointment. It would be akin to tuning into a movie in the last ten minutes.
Rating:
Summary: The Rum Drinking Merrick
Review: This is my first time reading an Anne Rice book. It was OK once you got past the early years of Merrick and also David's history. I'm not one to read about vampires and witches. I don't know if I will read another one of her books, this is not my genre of reading. All-in-all it was a good read.
Rating:
Summary: A Bewitching Addition To The Vampire Chronicles
Review: For devoted readers such as myself, the wait has been agonizingly long, the anticipation almost unbearably great. Finally, the new novel by Anne Rice has arrived. Its title is Merrick, and it was well worth both the wait and the anticipation. Merrick is, very simply, a wonderfully satisfying addition to the canon known collectively as The Vampire Chronicles. In the nearly twenty-five years since the publication of the now classic novel Interview With The Vampire, Mrs. Rice has become justifiably famous for the creation of characters that are so vividly drawn and have such compelling stories to tell us, they have become legends of almost mythic proportion in their own right. Think of Louis de Pointe du Lac, The Vampire Lestat, the enigmatic child vampire Claudia, The Vampire Armand, Marius, Pandora, Memnoch The Devil...Rowan Mayfair and her consort Michael, Mona Mayfair, Lasher...and a host of others too numerous to mention. To that list of most memorable fictional personages, add the name Merrick Mayfair. That's right. I did say Merrick Mayfair. What, you may be asking is a character with the last name of Mayfair doing in a Vampire Chronicle? Suffice to say that Mrs. Rice has made the brilliant choice to marry the world of her invincible vampires to the world of her enigmatic witches so lustrously created in her Lives Of The Mayfair Witches novels. The results of this decidedly unholy union are consumated in a richly imaginative story that could only have come from the deliciously dark pen of Poe and Shelley's daughter. So, who is Merrick Mayfair? What does she want? How does she impact the lives and destinies of our beloved vampires? As to the first question, Merrick Mayfair is distantly related to the First Street Mayfairs of Lives Of The Mayfair Witches infamy, though those witches play no role in Merrick whatsoever. Don't let this be a disappointment to any expectations you might have. Be content with the fact that the Lives Of The Mayfair Witches as we know them have ended with the conclusion of the novel Taltos. In The Witches' Companion by Katherine Ramsland, Mrs. Rice is quoted as saying: 'The Mayfair family is a huge imaginative refuge for me; it is living and growing in my mind all the time.' With the introduction of Merrick Mayfair, I suspect this is still true for Mrs. Rice. Let the Lives Of The Mayfair Witches stand as they are -- whole and complete. Let new Mayfairs come to the fore and tell their tales. If they are anything like Merrick Mayfair's, you will be as enthralled as with any story about the First Street Mayfairs. To that, let me add that to describe Merrick Mayfair as a female Indiana Jones as some reviewers have done is appallingly simplistic. She is far more complex and enigmatic than that. She is totally unpredictable and therefore difficult to second guess. She is also a witch, make no mistake about that, with incalculable powers at her command. Her powers are so great, in fact, she is compared to the Witch of Endor (get out your Old Testament if you don't remember who SHE is) numerous times in the narrative, not to mention the fact that she is capable of giving creatures as strong as Rice's vampires pause. 'Touch me and I'll shatter you,' she wordlessly says at one point to the vampire Louis. Think, for a moment, about having the strength to shatter a vampire, and then you'll have some idea of just how powerful a witch Merrick Mayfair is. Kind of makes the First Street Mayfairs pale in comparison, doesn't it? As to the second and third questions I posed, you'll have to read the book to find out what Merrick Mayfair wants and how she impacts the lives of our beloved vampires. I can't say anything without spoiling too much of the plot. What I can say is that the answers to those questions will surprise and satisfy you far beyond your imaginings. Truth be told, I felt sort of like a vampire as I was reading Merrick. Once I had bitten into the book and the gush of words began to flow, I couldn't get enough. The story became more and more involving, more and more compulsively readable after each page, that I simply had to know how everything turns out. It was beyond difficult to put the book down for something as trivial as work and other obligations. If you are already a fan of Anne Rice, I can't urge you strongly enough to get a copy of Merrick as soon as possible. If you have not read any of her novels, it would be helpful for you to read all of six of the previous The Vampire Chronicles before beginning Merrick. You will not understand the significance of certain events or the relationships between the characters without doing so. All are five-star books in my opinion. I would also recommend that you read the three Lives Of The Mayfair Witches novels. Having copies of Katherine Ramsland's The Vampire Companion and The Witches' Companion isn't a bad idea either and, besides, they are both extremely interesting books in their own right. And now I find myself where I began. With long months of waiting filled with anticipation before me until the next novel by the incomparable Anne Rice is published. Sigh. On that note, 'over and out' as The Vampire Lestat would say.
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