Rating: 
Summary: Anne has no more vampire stories to tell.
Review: It took me a while to get around to reading "Armand". While I waited, another vampire book from Anne Rice has appeared in the bookstores, but after reading Armand, I doubt that I will even bother with reading it. Why? Because Anne is repeating herself and I doubt if any book after Armand will ever have anything new or interesting to say. Anne has driven the metaphorical stake through the whole vampire mystique and there is nothing that can be added.In the first part of the book, which is so labored, we learn about Armand and his "special" relationship with Marius which seems to be more of an S&M kind of love. I did enjoy Anne's description of both Italy and Russia. Her eye for detail on clothing is top notch. The only problem is that her characters are boring no amount of clothing, jewelry, or debauchery will hide this fact. Armand being transformed into a vampire and Marius seems to be another replay of the can't let you die because you mean so much to me that is found in every Anne Rice Vampire book. How I long for a Magnus type vampire whose motives are never explained and then promptly disappears. When Armand is separated from Marius, the reader gets jipped yet again. For whatever reason, Anne decides to skip Armand's transformation to coven leader and whatever evil things he did while in Paris before Lestat appears. I guess the thought of a spiritual character serving all that he abhors has no appeal does not make for an interesting tale. When we reach the 20th century, Armand is pretty much a wasted character. We learn what he saw when he tried to kill himself. We learn how he survived. We meet his two companions who do seem to be interesting. We get an update on the rest of the vampire family. And finally, we get the same ending we did in the Body Thief book sans the horror. Despite all of this, Ms Rice is one of the best writers today. She still has the magic to descibe a time and place perfectly. While most vamp fans might be tired with her theological insights, I find them refreshing--Memnoch is her best book since Interview in my opinion. Those are the positives and hence the reason for the 2 stars. Armand demonstrates that Ms. Rice has no new perspective on being a vampire. She has run all the gambit of possibilities. Armand was an established character and an interesting one. This tale presents him as a dead character who had nothing to lose when he became a vampire. He had lost the one thing that mattered to him when he was sold into slavery. And that was in the first chapters of the book. Everything is downhill after that and what a boring ride it is.
Rating: 
Summary: umm that was that?!
Review: ah yes after reading the rest of the vampire chronicles i must say this book was a bit of a disapointment. I know in the other books Armand was a little deprived but i Think to illistrate him a snivling "creature" like that discusted me. The book really refered too much to the other chronicles and wasn't too much for originality. I hope the next one's better.
Rating:
Summary: Will the Real Anne Rice Please Start Writing?
Review: What was that? It bore no resemblance to the first four Vampire Chronicles, and was bogged down in Ms. Rice's obvious struggles with her Catholic upbringing. Spare us. Since "Memnoch," a thoroughly loathesome tale, Ms. Rice has forgotten how to tell a story and spends too much time indulging herself at the expense of her characters. What were once richly-drawn characters full of lively interest, are now whiny, wandering, bores. I'm not reading another of her novels until she returns Lestat to himself. What did he ever do to her to deserve such treatment?
Rating: 
Summary: It was good, but it could have been better...
Review: I was very excited to read Armand's story because I had just finished Pandora, I wanted to know more about Armand, the mistery child, and his relationship to Marius. But Armand's storytelling is somehow weak and the book is not a turnpager as Pandora is... Still it is a pretty good book, the reader begins to understand Armand's behavior in previous novels and somehow forgives him for Claudia's death. However, it is still a pretty difficult to love character and his personality is febble, he has a lot of work to do; but Anne Rice does a pretty good job considering the difficult child that has to describe...
Rating:
Summary: Mediocre...very disappointed.
Review: There was too much reference to the other books. I prefer to relate to the other books and characters on my own. To read the words 'if you read...' in relationship to a previous book is extremely annoying.
Rating:
Summary: Another enjoyable book!
Review: This was a good read as well as all of the others in the Vampire series. Anne Rice once again makes one envision the characters and their surroundings. Her attention to detail is impressive as always. I'll never bore of the series. Although I must say that "The Witching Hour" and others in the Lasher series have made a long lasting impression and I'll re-read them time and time again. Thanks Anne for letting us be there with you.
Rating: 
Summary: I want the old Anne Rice back!
Review: I can hardly believe that the first three books of the Vampire Chronicles were written by the same author of the latest three. When i read Interview, and Lestat and Queen, I fell in love with the characters as well as Ms Rice's story telling talents. I don't understand how her writing could have changed so much. It doesn't seem as if the first 3 books were written by the same person that wrote this boring, drawn-out, plot-less story. It doesn't work Anne. Please, give us more of the interesting, easy to love stories like you used to! And why must you ruin our respect and love for these characters by telling us about child molestation, which is what goes on in here. I don't get, how the best books I have ever read (the first three), could be written by the same author of this latest disaster.
Rating: 
Summary: Keep em' comin', Anne!!!!
Review: His life might not have been as "heroic" as Lestat's , but it still kept me on the edge of my seat. Anne's use of imagery made me feel like I was riding on this "angel-of-the-dark's" left wing.
Rating:
Summary: it was only OK
Review: I thought this book was OK compared to the others she has written, it wasn't as much fun to read, easpecially at the beginning, it was kinda strange until armand was changed into a vampire, then it gotta little better, I still think her other work, like the vampire lestat(my favorite) is still many times better than this one! ~*Stacy*~
Rating:
Summary: "What is it ?" (to be said with a Yiddish inflection)
Review: I did not know what to make of this. I simply put the book away after reading about twenty pages or so. I loved the first book in this series, Interview with a Vampire, and to a lesser extent, some of the later books in the series. However, the series has long ago played itself out. The most recent books have been, well . . . bad . . . and are getting more so with each new publication. This book, in particular, did not tell a good story and seems to focus primarily on the physical and emotional intimacy between and among men. While I have no trouble at all with the male intimacy displayed by Ms. Rice in prior novels, this book goes overboard: I felt like I was reading an extended diatribe about two, perhaps three or four, men making love. I just simply lost interest. Like a punch-drunk fighter, Ms. Rice continues to crank out the never-ending Vampire Chronicles. The earlier books in this serier were like Ali versus Liston, Ali versus Frazier, Ali versus Foreman--fresh, exciting, strong and intensely interesting; these most recent books are more akin to Ali versus Spinks or Ali versus Holmes--as fights, tired and played out disasters. (No disrespect intended toward the greatest fighter of all time) Ms. Rice continues to "beat the hell out of" a tired old concept. Ms. Rice . . . PLEASE STOP!
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