Rating: 
Summary: A poor novel considering Anne Rice's previous works
Review: As Armand was my favorite character, I was overjoyed to hear that Anne Rice had written a novel solely on him. After reading the book, however, I wish I never had.My first complaint is that throughout the book I found myself stop reading and think "That character wouldn't do that". The characters did things that, from what I've learned about their personality in other books, they wouldn't do. For example, I found Marius turning Sybelle and Benji into vampires completely against his previous actions. He bemoaned the fact he never should have made a vampire as young as Armand, 17, and then he makes a 12 year old vampire? And then Louis allowed him to do this after he saw what happened with Claudia, another child vampire. I couldn't swallow that. I felt like the author was pulling their strings to make them fit the story instead of letting the characters guide the story. The continuity of the book in the series was very poor as well. There were conflicts with her earlier novels everywhere. The example that first comes to mind is that in TVA, Armand says that he managed the Theater of the Vampires but in Queen of the Damned, he was unable to do so much as understand a zipcode. I felt little or no sympathy for the characters. Armand was not the alluring devil with an angel's face as he was in previous novels, but an oversexed brat. I felt he got what he deserved when the englishman attacked him. Benji and Sybelle, while described thouroughly, held little relevence to the story. Benji could have been a dog and Sybelle a trained monkey that could play the piano and they still could have fulfilled the roles the played in TVA. The worst problem is the complete lack of tension in the novel. In TVA, I already knew everything that happened to Armand from Rice's earlier novels. Instead of adding any new concepts or storylines to the book, she takes what has already been told and stretches it to fit nearly 400 pages. I already knew that the Children of Darkness were going to abduct Armand and then Lestat would eventually destroy his coven. While in Interview and TVL, I knew the main characters would live through the book, I didn't already know the conflicts of the books and how the conflicts were going to be resolved. The only way the storyline in the book could have seemed fresh was if the reader had only read Interview with the Vampire and none of Anne's other vampire novels. Another point that bothered me was her resurrection of Armand from Memnoch. While I didn't like the fact that she killed him off, that doesn't necessarily mean I think she should bring Armand back from the dead. And if she felt that it was necessary, at least it could have been a plausable way. My recommendation, if you're in the bookstore and you see The Vampire Armand for sale, buy something from the Mayfair Witches trilogy instead.
Rating:
Summary: I was dissapointed too far out
Review: I am an Anne Rice and hope to continue to be one. But this book and Violin are testing me. It was quite difficult for me to finish!!!
Rating:
Summary: Check it out from the library it's not worth the money.
Review: This is the first Vampire book that I haven't finished. I read through half the book and still hadn't been pulled in so I put it down. Usually in Rice's books I am intrigued by the vampires and their escapades. Certain scenes go on forever before the climax occurs. Marius leads Armand into a room of drunken men. They of course die yet the whole process takes approximately 6 pages. Rice's publishers are now having her put out a book every 6 months. This leads to lack of character developement and words being used as filler for pages. Expecting an author to produce a book in 6 months is like expecting someone to write their master's thesis in the same amount of time. It's impossible to produce something good. Anne should begin writing one book a year and bring the character's back into the present. I'm getting bored with each vampire telling their long history which only leaves us 20 pages of the present. How about Lestat taking a place in politics somewhere in the present? What kind of plot could that lead to...the possibilities are endless. Rice also needs to make her dialogue between her characters more clear. Occasionally I got confused between who was saying what due to characters saying two sentences in a row. Overall, I recommend reading Interview, The Vamire Lestat and Queen of the Damned over again if you want to see what Anne is capable of. Please, Anne back to one book per year.
Rating: 
Summary: Beautifully spoken through Armand himself.
Review: Anne brought history to life in this book. I could see the colors of the art as if they were splattered on the pages before me. She let you into Amrands heart.. and mind, like never before. You get to know this character totally and completely. You fall in love with him and with his flaws. This is a wonderful book for Vampire Chronicle fans.. it's closure to so many unanswered questions. It's a must read!
Rating:
Summary: High Decay
Review: Anne Rice has betrayed her gifts and become a hack. There is not a single well-crafted sentence in this book nor one idea that is not silly and jejeune. She once was fun to read; now, reading her is a chore born of the hope that she has recaptured her spark. Not so here, at any rate. This is just a messy pile of garbage being presented as tempting decadence. Save your money and buy "Bag of Bones". At least Steven King has a plot to flesh out.
Rating:
Summary: How many times ways can you tell/sell the same story?
Review: Poor Anne Rice - she's making a bundle of money writing garbage like "The Vampire Armand" and getting away with it. Personally, I think she's a hoot, but for the past couple of years (after "The Witching Hour") her books have reached depths of bathos and boredom I never thought possible. Anne's books look lovely on the outside ("Pandora" WAS pretty, folks, admit it) but she's just regurgitating the same old characters in the same old vein (yes, pun intended). Anne knows that sex sells, too - but the homoeroticism is getting stale, girlfriend. How erotic can a sexual act be when all it entails is blood whooshing and sloshing about? Is it me, or is Anne herself confused with the "raison d'etre" of her characters? Marius - good? bad? indifferent? And Armand - why is everybody suddenly swooning over this guy? I remember my first impressions of him were not pretty. We all fell in love with Lestat, Louis, even Claudia, because these characters were refreshingly modern and interesting - they had dimension. Complex, sensual and elegant, they juggled good and evil on a daily basis. At times you weren't sure on which side of the angels they stood. Now,everyone's being subjected to Anne's psychoanalysis. Is it possible you're running out of ideas, Anne? Heaven forfend! "Armand" is like a freshman expository writing project: nice ideas abound, but there's no logic or reason to make this story cohesive, let alone interesting. Get the couch out of the office, Anne, and write something you can really be proud of. Let's bury these guys and move on to more of the compelling fiction you're capable of writing.
Rating:
Summary: El Stinko!!
Review: This is her worst book yet, As an avid Anne Rice fan, I thought Pandora was YUCK!!! This book is well...... Anne Rice where are you? This is not the same Armand. Doubtful if I'll buy another Anne Rice book.
Rating:
Summary: Must reading for All Death row inmates
Review: I cannot beleive I subjected myself to this very painful horror once again. After reading Pandora and Violin, I promised myself that I deserved better. I must confess that I'm a devote fan of Anne Rice and have continued to read her books in hope of discovering the once fantastic tales she once produced. But not since the Witching Hour, (clearly her best work), have I ever been rewarded. I find it extremely surprising that many readers viewed this as a fantastic read!
Rating:
Summary: Not Up to Anne Rice's earlier works
Review: I loved Anne Rice's early works, but the magic has slowly turned into aimless wanderings. Rice has become so successful that her editors no longer seem to be able to do their jobs--i.e., EDIT. The book reads like a first draft--or perhaps a short story that has been hopelessly forced into book length. After 50 pages, I was still wondering when the storyline would start moving along; after 75 pages I gave up and moved on to something else
Rating: 
Summary: Promising start, severe letdown later...
Review: I love the Vampire Chronicles, always have, always will. The first three were awesome. However, The Vampire Armand (as well as the 4th and 5th installations)has left me very disappointed...It had SUCH a great start! Let's discover Armand! The tutelage by Marius, the boys, Bianca, the return to Kiev...and then all of a sudden, that fateful night in Venice, it went all to pot! Half of the loose ends were never explained (Bianca; Marius' recovery; the 5 century stint with the Teatre de Vampires even though he had been trained by Marius; the loss of the "all-enduring" love between Marius and Armand; and Marius' new bonds with Santino?? Huh?)! The plot went too far with Armand "dying" in New York, and meeting Jesus... It seems as though Rice has a good thing going with the vampires...and its a good thing to throw in the religious aspect of it, but to completely go overboard doesn't seem her style and its not necessary when she has SUCH RICH characters to play with! Louis was virtually absent, as was Santino! The inner warrings and the inner preoccupations of the vampires has such vivid texture that the sqaundering of opportunity to explore that left me sorely disappointed. I won't give up on Rice, though... And if you really want a good read by her, try The Witching Hour. THAT ranks up there with the original Vampire trilogy.
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