I want to start a new feature around here, but I don’t know how well it’ll be received. I read books. A lot of them. This week alone, I’m on my fourth book, and I still have two days to go.
So, what I’d like to do is review books. Not to the extent of a book report, but something similar just the same. I’d love to review ARC’s but seriously, where am I going to get those? (so, if you’re an author, send me an ARC, and I’ll totally review for you).
The book for todays review was published awhile ago, and is a really well known author. I mean, who hasn’t heard of Anne Rice?
The Vampire Chronicles: Blood Canticle
Published in 2003 , Blood Canticle is the most recent of the Vampire Chronicles, featuring Lestat de Lioncourt. It also combines characters from Rice’s other works, Blackwood Farm, and The Lives of the Mayfair Witches trilogy.
Written in the first person from the point of view of Lestat and set in New Orleans, the story is slow paced, and not at all similar to how I remember any of the previous Vampire Chronicles. From what I’ve read online, this could perhaps be the last Chronicle novel Rice writes. After reimmersing herself in the Catholic faith, she “announced in a Newsweek article that she would ‘write only for the Lord.’”1. However, there could also be another, more “literary” reason to why there would be no more Chronicles, however, I would leave that interpretation open to only those who have read the book, and see what I see (I don’t want to give it away, just yet, you know?).
Plot:
Warning: Spoilers ahead. Skip over if you like to be surprised.
The story opens up with Lestat and Quinn in Quinn’s house, surrounded by mortals. They’ve just excised Goblin (a ghost) from Blackwood Manor, and the vampire Merrick Mayfair has just gone up to the light, burned at the bier meant to take Goblin. The residence of Blackwood Manor have no idea that their master Quinn is of the undead, and for the entirety of the novel, never know that both Quinn and Lestat, who is a frequent visitor, are vampires.
Mona Mayfair, 20, love of Quinn’s mortal life, comes to the Manor to die. She’s been wasting away for the last two years, and there is no cure. Quinn desperately wants to save her with the Dark Trick, but as he’s never done it, Lestat is very accommodating. He performs the Dark Trick on Mona, dubbing her Ophelia Immortal, and falls in love with her, as he does with all he’s created. After her rebirth into immortality, she acts like the typical “I’ve been practically dead for two year, and now I’m better than
ever” person, and flaunts her newfound sexuality. Unfortunately, she’s still trapped by her mortal wants.
Mona gave birth to Walking Baby, better known as a Taltos, which brought on her waisting disease. Her daughter was taken from her by Rowan Mayfair - witch, neurosurgeon, and head of the Mayfair family. The daughter is then taken from Rowan by an ancient Taltos, with the intent of recreating the race. Mona desperately wants to find her daughter, and has the delusional idea that having found her, they’d be one big happy abnormal family.
When Rowan sees Mona after the transformation, she realizes Mona is a Blood Child, although she doesn’t recognize that both Lestat and Quinn are as well. Lestat forms a plan to “exchange secrets,” that the vampires will own up to what they are, and Rowan will tell her story about why Mona’s daughter can’t be found.
After a long discussion where Mona acts like a brat, Lestat–who’s fallen in love with Rowan by now–promises to find the Taltos, and bring back Mona’s daughter. Lestat and Quinn extract a promise from Mona that she won’t try to turn her daughter with the Dark Trick, because they don’t know what the mix of bloods will do.
Lestat is really rather lazy, and his only form of looking for the Taltos is calling for Maharet to help him. She responds in an email telling him where the Taltos are, and berates him for not knowing how to use email. Mona emails Maharet back thanking her for the information, and they start emailing back and forth.
The rest of the novel progresses on as blandly as that, no real climax, no real fear of anything bad happening or anything like that. It’s an intriguing story, but it isn’t very exciting.
Style:
Being written from Lestat’s point of view, it’s difficult at first to get a grip on just how selfish Lestat is. He goes on about his clothing, his love for everyone, how he wishes to be a saint, and a lot about Saint Juan Diego, beatified by Pope John Paul II. Lestat manages to annoy and intrigue at the same time, and the first person lets the reader feel like Lestat is really telling the story in a very personal way.
Conclusion:
While this book was alright, it definitely wasn’t my favorite. I can see why some people have complained about, just as I understand why Rice wrote a response to the negative reviews2 that were posted on Amazon. If you’ve read the rest of the Chronicles, obviously, this is a read for you. If you’ve never read the Chronicles (seeing the movies do not count), this is not the book to start with. The new vampires, the Mayfair family, and the story of the Taltos is enough to overcome Lestat’s storytelling style–and yes it is “his” style, as he tells the story.
Rating:
- Quoted from the Wikipedia article on Anne Rice.[back]
- Anne’s response to negative Amazon reviews. I didn’t read the negative reviews, but I tend to agree with what she’s saying here. Also, the line at the end? Also leads me to believe there will be no more Chronicles. I can imagine why (and really, it’s a better reason than what I thought. It’s all Lestat’s fault).[back]
Good review. However I must point out one incorrect statement.
Rowan Mayfair did not take Morrigan from Mona. When Rowan and Michael return from Europe where they met Ashlar, the ancient Taltos, they discover they Mona has given birth to Michael’s child Morrigan. I could be wrong-but I think that Morrigan is witch as well as Taltos. Mona and Mary Jane Mayfair plead with Michael and Rowan not to kill her. They agree. Morrigan immediatley smells the Taltos male’s scent upon their clothes and it drives her nuts-almost like an animal in heat. Rowan and Michael promise to tell Morrigan where this male lives only when she is older and comes into her inheiritance because she is now the heir of the Mayfair legacy. Morrigan is hard to control and they only keep her in stride by telling her they will never find this male if she misbehaves. Later-Ashlar, Ash for short comes to First Street to peak in the window. When he met Rowan and Michael, he fell in love with them-as friends. He came to look in the window and see how they were doing. He sees the Taltos female of which he had searched for centuries. He immediatley thought Rowan Michael had knowingly kept this from him. Meanwhile Morrigan smells his scent and goes to him. ANd it’s love at first sight for both.
Okay. See, this book is just to complicated to map out if you’re not doing it right when you read it.
Thanks for the correction.