Rating: Summary: GREAT BOOK, BAD MOVIE! Review: As a huge fan of the vampire chronicles, I have to say that I love this book. I only wish that Mrs. Rice had explained more about Makare's life during her separation from Maharet. Hey, maybe this could become another book? My favorite part of the book was the twins' story. It explained the origin of vampires and how it all got started. The movie that was made based on this book, however was a travesty. I was very excited when I heared that the book was going to be made into a film because I love the book and I wanted to see the characters and the story come to life in the big screen. I don't think the movie makers have any idea of what that feels like for a fan.... Whom ever wrote the script for this movie should be ashamed of themselves. I was offended when the story was altared; for example, Marius did not make Lestat; Jesse was not made by Lestat nor did they have a love affair in this book;... and where was one of the most important characters in this book, Makare? I think that the movie makers just wanted to make a fast buck and did not care about the book or what the fans would think. A true fan would agree with me. If the Lord Of The Rings was made to be a 3 hour movie, why not The Queen Of The Damned? If the people responsible for the script truly loved the book, they would've fought for more time, so that the whole story would've been told... I loved this book but PLEASE don't buy the one with the movie cover; it's not accurate!!!...
Rating: Summary: Movie Damned - Not the Book Review: Do not let the inferior movie sway you from this book. It is one of the best in Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles. You actually get to go back into time and recount how vampires came into existance. The plot is so complex and deep, no over acted film could ever do it justice. (Besides, don't we all have Tom Cruise in our heads as Lestat?) You become so involved with the lives (over so many years) of numerous vampires that you cannot put it down. An excellent read if you want to escape the world. You are forced to keep up with complex lineage and plots, but you can't help yourself. You want to know what is happening next, where will Lestat,or Akasha, or Louis, or Armand, or Marius take you. Don't miss this one!
Rating: Summary: Queen Of The Damned Mildly Entertaining Review: First of all I am not a big fan of Anne Rice. Being a Stephen King fan has spoiled me to death and to me reading someone else is about twenty steps down from King's level. Still, I read this book because I knew the movie was coming out and I was interested in the title character-Akasha, the dreaded queen of all vampires. Ive never been too big on vampires anyway, and some of the characters in this book confirm my non-interest. I wasnt a fan of Salems Lot..so there! Lestat, the main character in all these vampire chronicles is a glamorous hunk of a vampire who is a rock star. Riiiight. It works, but its just not my idea of a page turner. These rich, spoiled vampires are living better than us, the mere mortals. They wear better clothes and I think in one part of the book they own some swimming pools and speedboats. Yeesh. I think Anne wrote some pretty dark stuff on Interview With The Vampire, but her yarns about the eccentric, selfish, posh vampires is sort of mediocre. When I think of vampires, I want a cobweb or two. There are parts I do like (without Lestat). Preferably the ones with the two sisters, and the brain and the heart. I cant give it way. Those were written in a sadistic, gory style a horror fan like me adores. Of course, Akasha's diva like prescence was remarkable. I couldnt (and didnt) get enough of the queen of the damned and her seductive hell raising. If youre a Rice fan, read it, but if youre like me, just watch the movie.
Rating: Summary: Nosferatu, come back! All is forgiven? Review: Where did all the vampires go?When did being a vampire become a matter of attitude and wardrobesmanship, instead of being a fiendish monster that preyed on the living? When did vampires go from being the hellspawn shadow-reflection of Victorian-era Freudian hysteria-panic to being guys with velvet suits and too much pancake makeup? When, in short, did they turn into wusses? Blame Anne Rice. No, really. She took the whole emphasis of style-over-substance that had been eating into SF since the birth of "cyberpunk," applied it to horror, and came away with one okay book and a whole slew of absolutely unstomachable abominations. "Damned" is now getting a kick in sales thanks to the equally silly movie that spawned it -- although the movie is actually a compaction of this and another novel. Not like it matters, since the book is such a snake without a head. It continues the ongoing story of Lestat, lounge lizard of the vampire community, now getting mixed up with Akasha, a kind of Egyptian mega-vampire. Mayhem ensues. If this had been told with wit and vigor, it would have been an enjoyable read. But Rice bogs down everything with such turgid, aimless amounts of detail and side-plotting that it doesn't even work as the overheated pulp trash it's clearly supposed to be. If only the woman would get out of the way of her own story. Reading Anne Rice is like making a three-course meal out of five different boxes of Godiva chocolates. After a bit, you start longing for something a little plainer and more direct. Her prose tends to be wildly lush, to the point of nausea, and she continuously makes the amateurish mistake of stirring in extra characters when the pace flags. Anne Rice was a one-hit wonder who is now well past her sell-by date. This sort of thing was interesting the first time around, but if it was running dry the second time around, it's downright dehydrated by this point. As if none of this was bad enough, her son's now busy at the typewriter too, churning out collegiate angst-fiction that reads like a bad yaoi fanfic. What we need is Count Orlock to come back from the grave and give Lestat and his gang of leather-clad twits a good sound thrashing. The line starts here.
Rating: Summary: Disappointing (understatement) Review: I tried to give this NO STARS but the system wouldn't accept it. "The Vampire Lestat" is a magnificent work. If you loved that book "Queen of the Damned" will be a huge disappointment. I kept turning the pages in this boring book hoping the story would pick up, the characters develop. (It didn't happen.) Shallow, uninspired, gross, and more than a little sleazy. Unless you are an Anne Rice fan who needs to read this book in order to say you have read "everything" I wouldn't bother. Haven't seen the movie but I can hope that a scriptwriter developed the characters and kept the action moving.
Rating: Summary: Unreadable...... Review: I tried to read this book twice...and had to put it down within the first 100 pages both times. It seems that there are a lot of wasted characters. What's the point?! The only thing I can think of is they are introduced in this book, and they will apprear later in the series, or in another one. I was also sick of people bellyaching about how Lestate wrote a book about the "secrets of the vampire ways" and his songs are "dangerous for humans to know their ways." Okay, we get it, some vampies are peeved b/c of what Lestate did...does every character have to moan about it? I sure hope that Tales of the Body Theif is much better. I have a problem with Rice's style of writing...she's to wordy!
Rating: Summary: Queen of The Damned review Review: I thought that this book was great but I was upset with some of the content involving rape and slaughter. Besides that, I still feel that this book was Anne Rice's best yet. I would love to see more from the Vampire Chronicles. I am really happy about the upcoming movie that follows this book because Aaliyah sha'll be playing Queen Akasha.
Rating: Summary: The Purest Vampire Novel Review: This book may have been the pinnacle of Rice's genius. It is here that we meet Akasha, the ancient Egyptian goddess (similar to Isis) rumored to be the first vampire, and worshipped by all the undead for all the centuries that have followed. How did this come about? Was Akasha really the first? And if so, how did she become eternal? What were and are her dark secrets? To find out the answers, the reader must come along with Anne to ancient Egypt, where every grain of sand is lovingly described as only she can do. This book, more so than those that came before in the Chronicles, is deeply violent and intense, and not for the weak of heart or stomach. But for those who love the vampire genre, there is a satisfying depth, a wealth of detail, both historical and fanciful, that can satisfy any reader. The most fearsome and mesmerizing characters in the book, in my opinion, are not Akasha and her male consort, not Lestat (although of course I remain madly in love with him), but the scary creatures named Maharet and Mekare, older even than Akasha, more frightening and potent than any of the undead, and absolutely terrifying. It is impossible to describe the plot here, other than to say that Akasha has been in a smoldering rage for several centuries, and has come back to avenge her rage--on Lestat himself, and on all men in particular. Why? Read the book and find out. And watch out for the Telemasca Society. First introduced in the Witch novels, these guys are too curious for their own good. "Queen of the Damned" provided a wealth of new information for devoted readers of the Vampire Chronicles, and still remains, in this reviewer's opinion, as one of the best--Anne Rice in top form. Read it and enjoy.
Rating: Summary: Best Vampire Chronicle so far Review: I give this 5 out of 5 stars, but it's not perfect. It is however, the best VC book i've read. It gets a little too dark in the beginning and middle, and is a little bit boring at parts, but the ending is great (although I would have preferred a longer climax/fight scene). But one of the best things Anne Rice put into this is the epilouge. Alot lighter than the rest of the book, and very fun to read.
Rating: Summary: Queen of The Damned Review: Queen of The Damned is the third book in Anne Rices Vampire Chronicles and by far my favorite. Lestat has awoken Akasha the mother of all vampires with his fame as a rockstar and his rebellion against all vampire pledges! Akasha wants to bring a new reign to Earth and wants Lestat to be her prince. Any who dare to stand in her way will be destroyed!
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