Rating: Summary: Better than "The Queen of the Damned" Review: The story is slow at first. Too many long and pointless observations from Lestat about every little thing he sees around him.It really starts to get good when Ragland James aka...the body thief, is introduced. A few predictable moments but more twists and turns to outway that and keep you hooked. I did not expect that ending. Very suprising!
Rating: Summary: Ever wonder what it would be like to switch bodies? Review: The Tale of the Body Thief is the fourth book in the Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice. This book is very fast paced and intense. I read this book in under two days! In this story, The dashing vampire Lestat cannot resist an offer made to him by a seemingly young man. That offer is to become mortal again for two days. I won't tell you any more, you've got to read it for yourself, but let me assure you, this book is surprising and very interesting. Anne Rice does an exceptional job, as always, in this book. I would recommend this novel to any fan of the series, or anyone looking for an adventurous and spell-binding novel!
Rating: Summary: This is not like her other books Review: Her other books are a page turner, this one, however could have been much better. It is slow in many parts of the book, and not as suspenseful as her other books. If you are a Rice fan, you still may find this a good read. Just don't expect it to be like her past works.
Rating: Summary: By itself- great book... As a Chronical, not so great. Review: Tale of the Body Thief is an excellent book. It is well written and tells a story in a very thorough manner. If you have never read any of the other Vampire Chronicals, you could easily pick up this book and enjoy it immensely. For those of you who are expecting an addition to the master plot of the vampires, you are going to be dissapointed. This book could easily be skipped, in fact I recommend skipping it if you've read the other books before it. If you have never read a Vampire Chronical before, you will surely enjoy this book.
Rating: Summary: She's done it again... Review: I'd have to say that this is, by far my favorite Anne Rice book to date. It's got all the great elements a book should have. Including the fact that this is the only book in which "The Brat Prince" gets the shaft. And enlists the help of David...the only mortal thus far in the series with any emotional value to Lestat. But remember to read the books in order, so you won't be lost. Her books have a tendency to tie them selfs together. So if your looking for a book that's got some action, this is the one.
Rating: Summary: Typical Rice blandness... Review: After the dreck that was "The Queen of the Damned," I can't say that I was necessarily overzealous to work my way through the rest of the Vampire Chronicles. Alas, money spent means money wasted if you never make use of what you buy, so it was only a matter of time before I got to the dusty portion of the bookcase that houses Anne Rice (in one of my usual displays of sheer asininity, I rushed out and bought all that Anne Rice had ever written after finishing "The Vampire Lestat." Poor me...). As Lestat states in the very beginning of "The Tale of the Body Thief," this is a contemporary story--just a narrative of an exciting event that transpired, with no religious revelations of any sort of immortals confiding the story of their life. Which means that there is going to be a sheer abundance (read: redundancy) of petty descriptions of rooms and buildings, bland events and appropriately prosaic reflections on them. This we know from looking at the previous installment of the Vampire Chronicles, in which Rice displayed a total lack of talent for describing the little things that culminate to a large event; everything dragged on and on, and frankly, it was hard to care for any of it when it appeared so meaningless at face value. Fortunately, "The Tale of the Body Thief" displays a slightly better understanding regarding the mechanics of a narrative devoid of moral, philosophical or theological questioning. But there's a small problem: apparently Rice couldn't hold back from inserting a few of her notoriously-elaborate sermons here and there. And in the scheme of things, seeing how they serve no purpose but to extend the length of the novel, they are utterly worthless, completely out of place, and they give off the type of putrid smell that says either "I don't know how to tackle this subject--give me one year to concoct another novel" or "My editor doesn't know what he's talking about; this is sheer genius!" In short, it's what a careful writer always avoids, or at the very least elaborates upon in a subtle manner from the first to the last page of a story. Secondary to that unbelievably salient flaw lie Lestat's set of reactions when he undergoes the body switch and becomes human. The fastidiousness he displays is pure Lestat, to be sure, and an all-out hoot for a little while--but after that little while, it's hard not to wish that Rice had spent a slightly longer time dwelling on the beauty of the daylight world as opposed to the nuisance of "eating, pissing, sniveling, defecating, and then eating again." A wasted opportunity, to be sure, and it paints Lestat in a much more childish light than any of the previous works. But you can't entirely blame Rice for this aspect since it does work off a frighteningly alluring charm. "The Tale of the Body Thief" is really more than anything a frivolous take on the nature of the vampire and his place in the modern world. Given the heavy-handed philosophy of the previous novels, it's disappointing to see the style all but dissipate in favor of a more intimate look at the personal mind of Lestat. I tried hard to like it, but in the end I just couldn't shake off the feeling that the work seemed rushed, that somewhere along the line Rice said "To hell with it, just publish it" and forgot about all the little details that were left up in the air. Certainly, you'd think that human life involves something other than acquiring counterfeit passports every two or three hours. Maybe a quick read-through would have said "Let's omit these forty-seven banal passages that mention the shady character who gives our heroes passports for their travels."
Rating: Summary: I liked this book very much .... Review: I listened to the audio books version, read by Frank Mueller, and thought it was excellently done. The story held my attention throughout, and was one of those rare books where I couldn't wait to pick up again where I left off, to see what would happen next. The only thing I didn't like was the homoeroticism between Lestat and David Talbot - very offputting. ... At least Louis was interesting, and appealing. Otherwise, a very entertaining book.
Rating: Summary: Tales of the Body Thief Review: Anne Rice's vampire chronicles are the best. Not only is this book great, it is very interesting and hard to put down. I would suggest that if you want to read this you should start with Interview with a Vampire and work your way up to this one in order to understand the picture that Anne is painting in these stories. Anne tends to tie her stories together in a manner that if you don't read the prior stories then you tend to become lost when she talks about past things that the characters did or went through. In this book Lestat returns and once again defies what the other elder Vampires have told him about his extravagant flaunting and gambling with his abilities. Lestat makes an agreement with a body thief to switch bodies in order to be human for a day or so in exchange for this body thief to be a vampire. The body thief is not so honest and takes off and Lestat is trapped as a human. Lestat then finds out the story on this guy and is then on to his intentions. He goes for help but is shunned by his fellow vampire as he was warned about his careless ways. He then seeks the help of David Talbot who works for the Talamasca and the rest of the story is better left to those that want to read the book. It is exciting and enticing. There are some intimate scenes that are better left as that. This is a must read.
Rating: Summary: There's a reason trilogies are effective Review: This is where Anne Rice really started to lose me. I was never a huge fan of her work but i did enjoy the first three books in the series, especially Queen of the Damned. A bit too homoerotic and whistfully romantic for my tastes. Basically she's turning the series here into harlequin romance fodder, only with bisexual vampires instead of fabio-like characters. The best thing that can be said for this book is that it's not nearly as bad as the abyssmal Memnoch, one of the worst books I have ever read.
Rating: Summary: A book you would love to hate Review: All humans are homosexual, all vampires are in love with each other and can't wait to get into each other's pants. All humans that are of any significance to the plot are craving to become vampires, and most of them end up being just that. All vampires are drop-dead beautiful and wear only velvet and silk. One out of every 5 people in the world is a vampire. Oh, and vampires weep a lot. A vampire would kill/rape/make love to you but would still weep for you. And you are supposed to love him for that. Those are basically the plot elements of every book of the Vampire Chronicles. An over rated soap opera with the only twist of haveing vampires for its characters. This book is not different from the rest. Yet it still manages to be the worst of the chronicles so far. The reduced number of characters didn't help in giving more focus and detail, but rather made the story very boring. The author even attempts to inject some philosophical flair into an already shaky plot by forcing a debate over God and the Devil and the role of each in the grand scheme of the universe. Quite out of place, especially when you are expected to believe that David saw God and the Devil arguing as old friends do in some cafe. What apalled me the most was the final part of the book. It is so weak and so badly written that the author practically begs you not to read on. Okay, may be her intention was to urge the reader on, but If you haven't read that part yet, then please take her advice and mine and don't go any further. After spending a few hundred pages of reading about the unlikely love story shimmering between Lestat and David, and David explaining to simple-minded Lestat that he doesn't want to be a vampire, after all that, Lestat forces David into becoming a vampire in what can only be described as a disgusting rape scene. And it gets better, David actually ends up loving Lestat for it! And the trio of Lestat, David and Louis live happily ever after. And there's also the nun that so conveniently comes to Lestat's aid. She saves him, has sex with him, tells him that God doesn't exist, and off she goes to a mission somewhere in the world. Towards the end of the story Lestat comes to visit her and she goes crazy in front of the altar in a church making the sign of the cross with her body while blood somehow dripped form her palms. All that and she doesn't even believe in God. Weak plot, disappointing characters, a lousy ending, and a waste of time. I would rather have spent that time rereading Bram Stoker's Dracula.
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