Rating: 
Summary: Oh if there is a heaven, bring it down on me!
Review: I have been an avid fan of Anne Rice since the tender age of 14 when I discovered "Interview With the Vampire". But! This book drove me slowly crazy. It was too painfully dragged out. Lestat is such a main component in the chronicles and here, it just seems like he's a watcher, and Quinn, who is this new Vampire (shouldn't this belong then in the New Vampire Chronicles) and talks like a vampire of old. I don't know. It just didn't rub me the right way. Not like the first 5 or so. Don't get me wrong. The next book I'll purchase full price for, her words are contagious and penetrating but! please don't destroy the legacy of both the vampires and the Mayfairs.
Rating: 
Summary: emerging from the ashes
Review: I have to admit, I was thrilled by the first three chapters of this book- our good friend Lestat had me laughing out loud! And then, regrettably, it slooowed down, not to really regain momentum until the last 100 pages or so. However, having said that (and I do consider myself an avid fan) this book is an improvement over Armand and Blood and Gold. (I, personally, DID like Merrick...). But, one of the joys of Anne's writing is that you can read her books over and over again, and always find something interesting. As I've read B.F. over, it has consistantly grown on me, so much so that today I actually stopped halfway through and decided I really DID like Quinn! My advice to a new reader- enjoy the beginning and the end, and suffer through the middle. I look forward to see the October's offering.
Rating: 
Summary: Where's the editor?
Review: Like the previous reviewers, I thought the book went too long into Quinn's background - as Lestat listened to the tale, I kept hoping he would spring from his seat and kill Quinn, but he stayed quiet and listened.My favorite book is The Witching Hour - I loved Rowan and Michael. They show up here again - too briefly. Mona, on the other hand, I never liked, and here she is again acting out. Maybe I don't understand her... I certainly didn't understand the "love" between her and Quinn. By the end, I was rooting for Goblin and Patsy. Aunt Queen should have been killed off earlier - what's up with her cameos? I thought more would have been made of that. A strong editor would have been a great benefit to this book.
Rating: 
Summary: the spell is broken
Review: Would somebody please tell me who wrote this book and what has she done with the real Anne Rice? If Anne really wrote this thing would someone tell me if her editor is still alive and functioning? Something is really wrong. Blackwood Farm reads like a first draft. Anyone who read IWAV or Feast of All Saints knows that she can write better than this. I just don't get it.
Rating:
Summary: Stick a fork in it; it's done
Review: This book is just another one that should never have existed. There is mention of thing, but they are never explored. There's another vampire-who-is-just-like-all-the-rest named Quinn. At this point, a series that was once so amazing is ruined. Blackwood Farm is beating the dead horse beyond recognition. Rice also tries to mesh her worlds again. Mona Mayfair is mentioned as a vampire, and Merrick comes in and dies (YAY!). The meshing is horrible. This is by far the lowest point in the series so far. Maybe she'll stop. The only good thing that happened was Merrick dying.
Rating:
Summary: Where is the development?
Review: I have been reading Anne Rice novels since 1986/1987 and have followed her work faithfully over the years. Blackwood Farm was a disappoint. Not only has Anne Rice not developed as a writer, but she doesn't develop her characters anymore. She brings in new ones, then kills them off. Merrick is one of the best female characters that Rice has created. She is a powerful witch, a powerful vampire, intelligent, ... beautiful and controls her own destiny bu choosing to become a vampire. Then, she dies at the end of Blackwood Farm. Where are the strong,... intelligent women in contemporary novels! The story itself slowly progresses and the best portion of the book was the last 100 pages or so. And while I realize that suspension of belief is at times integral to reading fiction (and some non-fiction), in order for a novel to seem timely, the author needs to remember what year the story is taking place. Why is Quinn allowed to never go to school and why doesn't his family get beyond their own issues enough to acknowledge that Goblin is not only real, but a detriment to Quinn. When does the State of Louisiana step in? The story takes place in 2002, not 1802. Then there is Mona. She's 15, and her family has no control over her (not unlike real life). But they don't make an issue of her promiscuity except to say that risking pregnancy is bad for her health...I find it hard to believe the behavior of these characters for the period of this novel. To be a good writer one needs to take risks in order to expand both writing styles and characters...Unfortunately, the magic is gone and all that's left is formula. After almost 20 years, not only should characters develop if they are still around, but so should an author's writing.
Rating:
Summary: It's official: I give up on Anne Rice
Review: Long ago, after reading "The Tale of the Body Thief" I pooh-poohed my disappointment with that work by reasoning that every author has her bad novel. I optimistically hoped that book had been the one and only. Alas, her later works have shown me that "Thief" was proof that all Ms. Rice's best tales had already been told and that she is now a dry well. Like another reviewer admitted before me, I was drawn by the first pages of this novel. This powerful fledgling vampire seeks out Lestat for his help, hoping that the Brat Prince won't obliterate him on the spot for his audacity. "Sounds great," I thought. "Will Lestat glower at him, making him fear for his preternatural life? Will he toy with Quinn, allowing him to tell his tale with the promise to spare him if it moves him sufficiently?" No, nothing so interesting occurs. Lestat is instantly drawn to this young creature, declaring himself in love. (As does every other stinkin' character of hers do regarding every other character. Lestat loves Quinn; Lestat loves Aunt Queen; Quinn loves Stirling; Quinn loves Mona; Mona loves Quinn. Doesn't anyone in Rice world ever take an instant dislike to people?!) We are then "treated" to pages and PAGES of Quinn's spoiled brat life story, only to get the sense that Ms. Rice herself got bored with her own tale and slapped a hurried ending onto it to get to the publisher's in time. Whereupon the editors must not have had time to do any cutting, because that had to have been the biggest look-how-many-words-I-can-spew fest she has indulged in to date. So spare yourself the heartbreak. Cling tightly to those early Rice vampire novels and pretend she never wrote anything else. That's my plan.
Rating: 
Summary: Exquisite beyond imagining
Review: Anne Rice has done it yet again. I've never known of an author to carry out a series like this, and frankly, I don't think any other author could muster enough strength to do so. "Blackwood Farm" is the 11th book in her vampire series. It follows the life of a young Louisiana millionaire by the name of Quinn Blackwood. His family is one of the richest in the country and live in a mansion on Blackwood Farm that was built by his great-great-grandfather. Young Quinn has been haunted by a doppelganger his whole life named Goblin that is always the spitting image of Quinn. As Quinn gets older, Goblin begins to have a mind of his own. Quinn is turned into a vampire against his will and Goblin is beginning to get out of control by taking blood from Quinn after every feeding. Fearing that Goblin will make another race of vampire, he seeks out the help of the ever infamous Lestat. As Quinn's tale unfolds, starting from the time he was born all leading up to the moment he and Lestat sat down, Quinn's life is beautifully told in his own words, followed by the distruction of Goblin with the help of Lestat and Merrick. Quinn's life is a life shrouded in mystery, haunted by the dwellings of Blackwood Farm, along with his great-great-grandfather's hiding place on Sugar Devil Island in the swamp lands behind the farm... which has a horrible story of it's own bathed in blood. If you've read the other books in the Vampire Chronicles, then you should not hesitate to pick this one up as well. You will love every minute of it.
Rating:
Summary: Another Sad Let-Down to add to Anne's ever-growing list.
Review: ..... Okay, here's the deal. The book was mildly entertaining. I kept waiting for something good to happen. Ms. Rice almost did something cool here. She really could have, and if you've read the excerpt available here you know what I'm referring to. But in the end she took the easy way out, the same way her characters solve too many problems by throwing wads of cash around. Now that it's over I just keep fighting the urge to pick the book back up to see if there's something I missed. Some important key moment that didn't sink in. But I don't really believe that's possible, and the truth is that unlike many of Ms. Rice's earlier works, I'll probably never pick this book up again. ....
Rating:
Summary: Maybe you should return to New Orleans...
Review: This is a continuation of the Vampire Chronicles, but it brings in some of the witches from the Mayfair series. This is Anne Rice back and as good as ever! After reading Merrick, I was excited that there seemed to be a storyline to the Vampire Chronicles again. Blood and Gold followed and I wondered where the storyline had gone. Blackwood Farm brings back the storyline of the persecution of the vampires by the Talamasca, but yet it does nothing with the storyline - nothing that the ending of Merrick seemed to promise. However, Ms. Rice is almost back to her usual storytelling self and the story of Quinn Blackwood is a good one. It's almost a family saga. My only other complaint with this book is that the ending is rushed and does not wrap itself up very well. I am not sure if Ms. Rice is planning a sequel to this book or not - I have heard that this may be her last Mayfair/Vampire novel, but who knows? This book does not wrap anything up, so the possibility of more books is always there.
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