Rating: 
Summary: Like an Old Friend Returning
Review: I'll admit, I had grown bored with Anne Rice. Her last few have certainly lacked the wild originality and imagination of her earlier novels. Violin and Servant of the Bones were awful, Memnoch the Devil, Lasher and Taltos, ridiculous, Armand, repetitive and boring. Merrick is a good book, probably because it's a smaller book. Less time to play around with the grand IDEAS. It has characters instead of caricatures, themes that speak for themselves. It's a novel, not a diatribe. Merrick Mayfair is an attractive character, David Talbott, an attractive hero. His fears and regrets are reasonable. The plot is solid. I had determined quite a while ago that I would stop buying Anne Rice in hardcover, and I haven't yet picked up Blood and Gold, but after this, I'm hopeful...
Rating: 
Summary: It was okay, but...
Review: I found myself not liking Merrick very much (which is too bad, because the book IS named after her). I just thought Merrick was too conniving. I did not really the ending, it was too strange. I can't really say much about it without giving it away, but to me it did not seem realistic. I did not like how Louis was portrayed, either. He seemed too...lame, for lack of a better word. This book certainly doesn't rate with the earlier books in the series.
Rating: 
Summary: If there was a the choice of no stars...
Review: For the first time, I'm ashamed to be reading an Anne Rice book.She filled me up with the fantastic tales of Interveiw, Lestat and The Queen, didn't read the Body Theif or Memnoch, she kept me looking and searching with Pandora, Viterrio and than low and behold Armand! Than this... I even bought it in hardcover, stared at it began to read it, put it on the shelf. Six months later I crawled away from the cess pit of card board cut outs. If Rice had wanted to write why didn't she just publish it on-line? IT would have saved me [money]...(I live in Australia)and I could have turned from it. At least her new one, Blood and Gold is decent.
Rating:
Summary: Great mixture of two ¿obscure¿ themes...
Review: Great mixture of two "obscure" themes: vampirism and the Spirit World. Rice does a good job doing her research, apparently she had good advise (or read some good books) on Candomble and Voodoo.
Rating:
Summary: jonas421
Review: I've read all the Vampire Chronicles and Merrick is a great addition. It brought back Louis, Lestat, and Claudia. Along with adding depth to David Talbot, and introducing the new and wonderful Merrick. I've not read any of the Mayfair witch stories and don't really intend to. Merrick stands on her own, and is a welcome addition to the New Orleans coven.
Rating:
Summary: Worthy of the Vampire Chronicles
Review: Anne Rice never ceases to amaze me. There were times when I was losing my faith in her writings, as with Queen of the Damned and Tale of the Body Thief. Then came Memnoch the Devil and I was revitalized, for what greater adversaries could Lestat have than God and the Devil themselves.
Merrick is a beauty of a book in that it takes the logical next step in the storyline and that we get to see some more character development of Louis and David Talbot.
Merrick is a voodoo queen from the Mayfair family and also a student of the Talamasca. David Talbot takes us through her story, of malevolent spirits and horrific spells, and finally with the summoning of the restless ghost of Claudia. It's a return to what made Interview with the Vampire such a great classic.
This book wouldve received five stars, but there were some problems with it. It didn't have the majestic oration that Interview had. It seemed that there could have been more characterization and description used, some better wording to describe the horror and beauty wrapped into one.
But the book ends with you wanting more. By the end of the story Lestat is back and ready for more adventures with his small coven of beautiful vampires, and they have an enemy that will scour the world looking for them, eager to destroy them. To me it seems this book is best looked as a prologue for what comes next in the story. Definately a worthy read.
Rating: 
Summary: A complete spell
Review: A magnificent tale of fantasy and mistery. The touch of black history is it's pages was completelly spellbinding. The sensual image of Merrick was in my mind through every page, every word. And the re-introduction of Louis as one of the main characters, not a secondary, was what really caught my attention. Finally, an answer to the mistery of why Jesse Reeves found the items that once belong to Claudia, finally a possible ending or maybe a new begining for Claudia. This novel, is the reason why Anne Rice can be categorize as one of the best contemporary writers for my generation.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: One of her best!!! I especially love the twist involving Louis!
Rating:
Summary: More like 3 and a half stars.
Review: Hmmmm... Well it's definitely not one of Anne Rice's best, but contrary to the opinion of the previous reviewers, it is not her worst ... Actually, Merrick is a worthwhile read, after you suffer through the first 150 - 200 pages, then beyond that, it is a true gem. Merrick herself is a very interesting character. I wish that Rice had made her the narrator of this tale. Instead she made her worst character... David Talbot, the storyteller in this potentially riveting tale. David Talbot, British fuddy duddy supreme, an old geezer whom Lestat had a passing fascination with, and instead of letting him die, Davids soul is transported into the body of a young studly Latino, and in it Lestat bestows upon him, the Dark Gift (that happens in another book). Merrick is the object of this old/young mans affection. So, not only is it difficult to imagine this seemingly weak pancified man in another body, we must now imagine him as a strong and passionate individual who actually desires a woman. Pushing David Talbot aside (kind of hard to do), the story in itself is quite good. Merrick Mayfair is a powerful seductress, coming from the bloodlines of the Mayfair Witches. She joined into the Talamasca at a young age. David was her mentor of sorts. I understood well how she came into existence. I loved her character, and I truly wished that we could have delved a little more into the life and mindset of this Voodoo enchantress. Louis is as always Louis, and Lestat is, well, you should read the story to find out. Even when you find yourself bored to tears by David's ramblings (you will), don't stop. Go forward, because the end is quite riveting and shocking. Well worth the effort.
Rating: 
Summary: Lets rename it"I Love Louis."
Review: I got this book out of the library because I had heard it contained elements from both the mayfair witches and the vampire chronicals. I thought it must be good.
For the most part it was very good. I loved the atmosphere, and most of the characters. But, I had some major objections... For example, the charecter of merrick WAS a cardboard prop-up. She seemed to be a bit of a brat too, the way she intentionally seduced louis and dumped david. I also hate how she almost kills louis, and yet no-one hates her for it. And then the author has the nerve to tell us it was predestined. ...there are only so many times in a book you can say that she likes to drink rum.
Furthermore, if Lestat isn't going to be concious for most of the book, why bring him in at all? For most of the book he's in la-la land, and when he does snap out of it, he, for some reason beyond me, fails to kill merrick for what he did to louis.
But overall I like it. I think it needs a different name though, How bout, "I Love Louis"?
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