Blackwood Farm

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful opportunity totally wasted!!!
Review: "Blackwood Farm" could have been a great novel. It has much promise and the idea of the novel seemed actually intriguing. Of course that was until I actually read the book. Flat, lifeless, boring, predictable... the adjectives could go on and on. The skilled hand of a good editor would have been the saving grace for "Blackwood Farm". By the same token, if it were edited what was actually interesting in the novel, there would be about 250 pages left out of the entire novel. Again, we are subjected to another vampire sitting down and recounting their life story. We've seen this in too many of Mrs. Rice's novels and the each time the device that she uses to get her overblown and longwinded vampires to lull us into stupor gets more strained (even in the year 2002, her newly created vampires speak in the most ridiculously overwrought purple prose). Most of the Blackwood Family history has little to do with the "Goblin" storyline, but it takes up most of the novel. Nothing ever really amounts to anything and when we do find out all of the "secrets", we are left rolling our eyes and wishing we hadn't even bothered. Combining the Mayfair witches with the vampires is an excellent idea, but, unfortunately, everyone seems to have forgotten who they were in the previous novels. But, character assassination seems to be Mrs. Rice's goal lately in all of her novels (especially with Mona Mayfair! When did she become so stupid?) Two new and very interesting vampires are introduced but they get the least amount of attention, and even their reasoning and objectives don't make a bit of sense. Instead, we are subjected to endless descriptions of the swamp and the family lineage, and cameos and hermaphroditic creatures ... the list goes on and on. If you are a fan of the Vampire Chronicles or the Lives of the Mayfair Witches, do yourself a favor and follow the lead of one of the vampires in the novel -- jump into a fire, and put an end to it before you subject yourself to "Blackwood Farm".

Rating:
Summary: So far so brilliant
Review: I bought this as soon as I could get to the store on its release day. I love the sensual, warm, elegant world of Anne Rice, and getting sucked into her prose and books is spending a nice evening in an elegant mansion with wine and velvet curtains and fine art. Her books are like a fine wine. From Vampires to Witches. I've read all of the Vampire Chronicles except Blood and Gold, which I have and will read after Blackwood Farm.
So far - I'm on page 77 - this book moves with breathless speed. Quinn is a newly-made vampire who must battle his doppelganger who he's lived with almost his whole life, since he was a toddler. And now that he's made into a vampire this "twin", who he calls "Goblin" attacks him after every blood feast and sucks the new blood out of him. The violent union of his "twin" is both pleasurable and painful for him, and here lies his conflict. He seeks the help of the indestructible Vampire Lestat, and from here it keeps going unrelenting, in true evocative Anne Rice style. It's so perfect this has come out right before Halloween. Her books go right along with the fall season. Pick this one up. So far it's brilliant, and I know I'm in for a great read!

Rating:
Summary: Yet Again...
Review: Yet again Anne Rice amazes me with her literary talents and ability to transport me into the world of the vampires and this time, the Mayfair witches. I was enamored with Blood & Gold, and although this may not be as good, this is damn close. Tarquin Blackwood's tale is filled with surprise and love and towards the end, sadness. Tarquin tells his tale to Lestat, who thankfully makes another appearance in the series. I came to feel as though I knew Tarquin, Aunt Queen, Mona, Jasmine, and others. Rice creates such vivid characters that become involved in strange and wonderful situations. She is truly one of my favorite authors, and I look forward to the next vampire installment. Also, if you have not read the Mayfair series, like me, then you will be inclined to go out and purchase The Witching Hour to read about the Mayfair legacy, like me.

To summarize, Tarqin's narrative encompasses witches, vampires, spirits, ghosts, incest, love, family, and more. I was hooked and would recommend this book to any of Rice's fans. If you are a fan of Rice's vampire series, then by all means purchase this book. Tarquin is waiting...

Rating:
Summary: First book I didn't finish in quite some time
Review: If you're into homo-eroticism... then this book is for you. If you're not into homo-eroticism... then there are approximately 2.2 trillion more books out there that you would probably like better. They may not all be at your local book store, but they're probably worth searching for online rather than buying this off the shelf. Beyond the excruciatingly vivid details of homo-eroticism, there are even more excruciatingly vivid details of Quinn's life that leave you feeling drained and wondering what's on tv?

Rating:
Summary: One of my favorites.
Review: I am often at odds with other Anne Rice fans with reguards to which stories I like.

I loved Pandora, but I still thought Blood And Gold was great, I don't feel it merely re-treaded old ground, covered in Pandora and The Vampire Armand. I actually added it up and more than half of Blood And Gold details events outside of those books. And the parts that do retell scenes from Pandora or Armand are different, because they are seen from Marius' point of view. I've always loved his character and it's nice to get to know him a little better.

But this isn't about Blood And Gold, this is about Blackwood Farm.

If you hated Blood And Gold you might not like Blackwood Farm, not for any strong similarities, but if you are one of the people who feel that Rice's writing has gone downhill, I don't sense any major difference between this and her other recent output.

I loved Blackwood Farm. I loved the intimate nature of experiencing the family's history without the tedious charts and family tree of Mayfair Witches. After a while I felt at home in Quinn's house.

I like the character Quinn, and I loved reading about his past, his teachers, and especially Mona.

I didn't like the vampire that sired him very much, but that's more personal taste than anything.

I should also note that I started reading Mayfair Witches *after* I read Blackwood Farm.

But if you are like me, and you didn't mind Memnoch The Devil, loved Pandora, had to fight through The Vampire Armand (all the boring descriptions of Vennis and it takes so long for him to become a vampire), and liked Blood And Gold, for instance, then I think there is a good chance you'll enjoy Blackwood Farm.

Rating:
Summary: Intriguing blend of vampires and witches
Review: Anne Rice does a much better job in "Blackwood Farm" than she did in "Merrick" in bringing together the worlds of vampires and the Mayfair witches. Quinn is an interesting, though rather naive character, and his haunting by Goblin is by turns spooky and sweetly sad. The twist to the haunting I did not see coming, and I was duly surprised, showing me that after all these years, Rice still has what it takes to keep an audience spellbound.

That said, this book still suffered from want of some editing. Some of the dialog was stilted at best, and at times downright mawkish. Also, I could see many places that Rice's writing could have been tightened. For example, she opens chapter 42 by writing, "When we returned to the palazzo, which we did by ordinary means, that is, walking, . . . " Why not write, "When we walked back to the palazzo, . . . "? I fear that editors are afraid to edit someone as famous and great as Anne Rice, forgetting that even she needs an editor. That's why they are there! Still, this book is a great read, and definitely an improvement over her last few releases.

Rating:
Summary: Finally!!!
Review: This book, in my opinion, is the best of the Vampire Chronicles since the first three. Second only to Interview with the Vampire. It leaves out pretty much all of the regular vampires ( of course Lestat is a main character ) but introduces a new one who is more interesting than even Lestat himself ( most of the otherr vampires are though from my point of view ). This is a definite read for any of Rice's fans, even if you were dissapointed with the last several, or newcomer's to the vampire chronicles.

Rating:
Summary: Rice goes from bad to worse! (AND I'M A FAN OF HER WORK!)
Review: Boring, extremely descriptive novel. Could have been a great book, but turned to be just another derivation of the same story Anne has been writing over and over for the last ten years.

WARNING!!!

LOTS OF SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!!!


I have been a huge fan of Anne Rice's Vampire stories for a long time. However, I see with sadness how she has been falling slowly into a rare mood, in which her characters being vampires is the less important matter in her books.

First of all, the fact that every single main male character in Rices' books is gay was starting to sound ridiculous, but including an hermaphrodite vampire in this book shows me that she is reaching bottom now. Please!!!! seems that straight people just are not selectable to become a vampire. Not being happy with gay or hermaphrodite characters, the main character, Quinn (whose name says everything) is not only bisexual, but also lover of a ghost (!) , who, by the way, results to be his own brother's spirit. Jesus! He even become a vampire by sucking blood directly from male intimate parts!!!! Rice seems to be very disturbed and/or repressed, sexually speaking!

Also, what started as a very promising vampiric/ghost action novel, in which pages we could find a threat to the Vampires, as Quinn stated at the very beginning, turned to be just another highly descriptive biographic book, where Quinn's fear that a ghost (ridiculously named Goblin) could bring to existence a whole new breed of blood drinkers is only mentioned in the first pages of the book, and nowhere else. I found this to be a cheap trick to make the reader go ahead for 500 pages of boreness, hoping that this new breed somehow actually happens.

Even Lestat cameo is worthless, as he plays as a simple messenger who brings Merrick to the scene.

And Merrick, one of the most interesting characters that Rice have developed in the last years, dies here! Come on! She was the perfect central character for an open war between the vampires an the Talamasca! That was plain clear to all of us!! Instead of that, she just immolates herself, giving no reason at all.

I compare what Anne Rice has done in her novels, to what George Lucas did with the Star Wars Saga: A great story became a very predictable amount of data.

"SHE IS NOT PREDICTABLE!" Some will say. Come on: The lover of the main character was dying. Since we found out that, everybody knew that he would save her by giving her the dark blood. Also, a stranger appears in the swamp at nights. What a huge surprise that he is a Vampire, and that he will turn queen (ups! I mean, Quinn) into a vampire.

Boring, excessively descriptive, could easily have been written as a short story, instead of tormenting us for six hundred and fifty pages.

Anne, I love the lore you have created. PLEASE return from the dark side, and be again the writer who wrote once the masterpiece INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE


Rating:
Summary: Mayfairs meet vampires. Excellent story!
Review: I have read Blackwood Farm twice so far. I reread it recently (as I decided to purchase it) before reading Blood Canticle. It's an excellent book in which Anne Rice is at her marvelous best. It reminds me a lot of the Witching Hour. The house and scene on Blackwood Farm is very similar to First House in the Witching Hour.
The retelling of Quin's life was done masterfully. Mona was perhaps my favourite character from the Witching Hour, so I enjoyed reading more about her. Although I would have preferred to read a bit more about her exploits and intelligenct. Still this is a book about Quin and his Doppleganger ghost goblin.
The one flaw in the book is that Aunt Queen or indeed anybody else did not ever connects Quin's twin with this ghost. Still this is a minor flaw. As a whole this book is wonderful and I am glad to have added it to my collection of Anne Rice books. I will look forward to reading it again in the future.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant except for two things...
Review: This will just be a short review, or rather, a brief venting of thoughts on Blackwood Farm which I just finished reading.

First off, I thought this book was one of Rice's best. It was thoroughly imaginitive, and the character of Quin is a welcome addition to the VC cast.

However, I had two gripes. I wished there had been even a sentence or two filling in some of the gaps between Merrick and Blackwood Farm. At the end of Merrick we have David, Merrick, Louis and Lestat together. Then if I am not mistaken, the intervening chronicles do not give us an indication of why they parted ways. It just would have been nice to know why Lestat was on his own.

This leads to my second gripe. In Merrick, I was in love with the love affair between Merrick and Louis. What a fantastic pairing, and finally a reason for Louis to embrace his vampiric existence. Also the character of Merrick was fascinating, and I looked forward to reading more about her. **SPOILER ALERT** Thus, when Merrick is brought into the very end of Quin's story by Lestat, only for her to very unceremoniously immolate herself during Quin's exorcism, I was left unsatisfied and wondering why Ms. Rice couldn't give us a little more closure. How about Louis? Where was he? Wouldn't he be rather devastated over Merrick's demise? Some mention would have been nice. I think these characters deserved a little more, and I certainly would have liked Merrick's end to have been fleshed out more, with more insight into her mind.

Other than these points, it was definitely an excellent read, and quite a page-turner.

Thanks for your imagination Anne, and for your wonderful characters!