Daniel Vanzin
Like the first, this book cannot compete in any sense with the movies, but it has a great and elaborated plot, for the genre. It does not rely only on fear, it actually had a plot the author wanted to tell, adding some details of hell and the the cenobite's mythology along the way
It felt like a drag during many parts, the human's roles were pretty meaningless, the final battle was epic.
Watch out, it's Gehenna time! This explanation makes my previous sentence a spoiler. If you watched the TV series Highlander, the Talamaska are like the Watchers. If you know Vampire The Masquerade, Gehenna refers to the vampire apocalypse where the old ones would rise and consume their progeny. This book is about both topics.
I nearly gave 4 stars, but it is a huge book and most of it did not earn it for me. Still, Ane Rice is back with her true and tried formula:
- grandiose writing
- mythos expanded
- short stories introducing new characters
- more ancient and more powerful vampires
- character evolution
- big events happening
- everyone is too beautiful and loves everyone
- Lestat, Lestat, Lestat
The plot resolution felt hushed. The final confrontation was very lack lusting. The whole time I was thinking of many moves and counter moves the villain and the good guys could have made, but none of that happened. For instance, Rhoshamandes had previously met with Maharet. They could have discussed her suspicions about The Voice and/or just stated that she couldn't bare to exist in this world anymore because of thes tate of her sister Macare. This could have been his justification for so callously killing her.
Some of the characters had small roles in comparison to their importance in the Chronicles overall, like Lestat's son and adopted daugther. But their story was entertaining none the less. There were completely new characters, and others related to the protagonists, like Lestat's and Marius makers, both thought to be long gone.
The history of the Talamaska is expanded. We get to know it's founders and their motivation. We're introduced to a new kind of supernatural creature, the ghosts, whom come from two sources: the reminiscing essence of the dead, be them mortal or vampire, and the solidification (?) of the spirits from humanity's early times, those spirits who talked to Macare and Maharet. . I really wish she explored more the Talamaska plot, maybe even introduced some Hunters. Anything from The World of Darkness world could have been added and I would had been happy really.
The book marks the beginning of the Camarilla, something I absolutely loved. I was hoping for The Voice to start The Sabbat, but Rice has never been big on antagonist as far as I can tell.
The vampire apocalypse was a welcome advancement to the series. Rice connected this plot with explanations for unresolved mysteries, like the Elder trying to burn the Father and the Mother, the Children of Satan and Akasha's awakening from her torpor and turning vampires into piles of ash.
I found really cathartic Lestat's “punishment” for revealing the vampires to the world. I think he tricked himself into a position he did not want to be. From brat prince to the actual Prince. From someone who didn't want any responsibilities and loved breaking the rules to THE one responsible for all of the kindred, and the one who called for rules to govern them all. This is like giving the Joker a “sane” pill.
On a side note, it continues to amaze how such intelligent readers “misses the point” of Rice's books, like the one who wrote the first review you find here on Goodreads. I liked the review a lot, and agree with many criticisms, but to that reviewer and others:
- you say you won't be reading the next book, yet you did not like the 3rd and this is the 11th. Every other book after Queen of the Damned got considerably worst, the previous one to this being THE worst. This happens with every other single author in existence who tries to write dozens of novels using the same universe. The exceptions usually involve pandering to their audience. Don't get me started on The Dresden Files :-(.
- this is a work of fiction, and the characters are purposely flawed. Does Rice think it is OK to kill evildoers? Is Lestat wrong to think he is a good guy when he clearly is a monster (at least in the previous books)? Stop blaming the author's age or religion for not writing the Lestat fanfiction you want to read
- also, and I can't repeat this enough, as I have before: THIS IS NOT A ROMANCE! Stop complaining you don't get to see 50 Shades of Gray like chapters splattered all over the book! Or young adult like Twilight romance.
- saying you don't want to offend people while making sure you are offending people does not mean what you think it means. Also, the fans you take so much care “not” to offend, hated this book. So who exactly are you addressing when you say allude to diehard fans drama?
An action-packed adventure book right until near the end, when the climax failed to deliver. The author kept raising the stakes, and at one point it became clear he put himself in a corner. I did not like the final revelation at all, the villain was a let down for me. The protagonists never had a chance.
This is a short story. It is a sequel to the movie, which is mostly equal to the first book. The recap at the beginning gave me high hopes. It set the story on track as a real sequel, acknowledging all the events that has happened before.
But then I kept waiting to see a good story, and the book ended. There is the beginnings of some possibly interesting plots here, but that's it.
I like the idea of humans finding a way to thwarts hell's plans. But they are just useless bystanders, both here and in the Scarlet Gospels. The author say they are the chosen ones, they have spells and special abilities. They know the occult, they have previously faced the enemy and came out alive. But nothing of that comes to any fruition.
“We have such sights to show you”, yet this is a book. And a short one at that. The movie captivated me with not only its tone and gritty visuals but also with its narrative. The book falls very short in comparison to that.
I don't like horror books because they rely on “terror of the unknown”, eliciting emotions of dread on the reader. I don't fear the unknown and I'm too much in control of my emotions to enjoy the experience I believe.
The book added nothing to the movie experience, and if I hadn't watched the movie, I wouldn't have cared for this book at all.
Hellraiser is to this day my favorite horror movie, one in a very short list, because of the things it added to the genre. The gruesome Leviathan's infernal labyrinth of unimaginable torture, pushing he boundaries of torment beyond the limits of the flesh.
The key to hell is desire, and the price is eternal agony.
Nothing much to say, neither does the book.
A guy is envious of another guy, yet he is his best friend. He is constantly feeling like he has it all, and that he is the one that deserves that. Girlfriend, family, money, better ideas.
Something happened between them, and the other guy imprisioned the main character, and now he wants to kill him.
Oh, and they found out that you get superpowers when experiencing near death experiences.
Read 1:05 / 9:54 11%
The first book had a terrible ending, I wanted to confirm the author had nothing more interesting to say, that he hasn't been holding any cards on his sleeves.
The story is just boring now. The main characters are still present, but the novelty of getting to know them has passed, and the plot has no content.
The author takes a GoT approach of telling a little bit about what each character is doing.
Taniel is upset with what he had to sacrifice for this war, and that his father barely gives him any acknowledgment. So he is getting high on opium.
Tamas is planning an attack on the fleeing Kez army, trying to go under a mountain and flank them from the back by surprise. He tries to get help from his “Cook God”, but he has nothing much to say.
Adamat is trying to find the whereabouts of his wife and Lord Victus, the man who took her.
This all may sound compelling, but the pacing is slow, it feels more close to a biography then a fantastical tale.
Read 1:30 / 20:05 8%
Cliche plot, Mary Sue protagonist.
The following contains minor spoilers about the first third of the book.
Amaranthe is the only woman enforcer in town, a position usually reserved for men. She aspires to get a promotion, but her superior dislikes her for not having a dick. Her lazy partner receives the the offer to the promotion she wanted.
One day while dealing with a robbery at a local generic store, she fights off all of the assailants by herself. The young Emperor happens to be nearby, and saw everything. He could have helped, but he got off on watching that kind of stuff. He tells this to his advisor, Commander of the Armies Hollowcrest, lets call him Holly for short.
Holly is worried by the attention the Emperor has taken to the young woman, as he also is upset by her dicklessness. He devises the most mischievous plan in the world to remove her from his way.
“Yo, girly, come here. Want that sweet, sweet ass promotion so you can stop being harassed by every other fellow officer and become their boss? So then they will have to respect you, even though openly resenting your well deserved status, all the while secretly beating off to you?”
“Oh geeze papa Holly, who do I have to kill to have this promotion I already deserve for being the most competent and baddass enforcer in town?”
“Sicarious, the most deadly killer that ever murdered people.”
“Oh golly goodness mister Holly, of course I will... wait what? What makes you think I can kill him? Is it because I'm a baddass karate fu fighter and clever detective who can at the same time beat his ass and out smart him? or is it my lack of di...“
“Lack of dick yeah. Because you don't have a dick.”
dicklessness
Started out well enough, a lost memory story. I rarely find these, as well known of a trope it might be. The writing is good, the protagonist witty, intelligent, likeable. But after the introduction the pacing becomes too slow. It feels like a 24 episode season TV series, where most episodes are just filler. Some of the “episodes” in the book are too boring and some even annoying.
Up to the moment there is a mystery regarding who the traitor is it was a good story. But then we are presented with:
- a needless action scene
- a straightforward sequence of events, kind of like the author is describing in details the steps to tying your shoe
- a caricature villain, “oh look at me, I'm so evil”
- the politically correct main character engaging in torture, in one of the most repeated tropes of torture/interrogation in writing history:
“Tell me what I want or we will torture you, even though I think torture is abominable”
“Do your worst, I don't care”
Oh, I think he is pretty though, I'll have to be creative
“Oh really? Then I'll do this to you!”
“Wait what? No no, please no! Okay, I'll talk!”
PLOT
These books keep getting better, what a journey! So many events, such an assorted plot, and a few more interesting characters to boot.
The following contains spoilers about the plot.
PLOT
Right at the start, Uhtred rescues a king from slavery while at the same time evading being captured by his most hatred enemy. Outnumbered, his fate seemed sealed, but he uses his wits and perseveres.
He joins this new king, Guthred, who is still a young boy, both a Dane and a Christian. Begrudgingly, he swears his fielty to him, hoping that by raising him an army to conquer the North would eventually help him kill his 2 enemies that reside there: his uncle an Kjartan.
A few Danes show up, all armored up and riding war horses. They say they want to join their army, Uhtred is suspicious of them, since any fighting Dane with half a brain would surely join forces with one of the other two Dane lords in the North, Kjartan or Ivarr. But he is desperate for any help he can get and accepts their help.
A while later, they show their true color, and try to capture Uhrred, on Kjartan's orders. They nearly succed, but Uhtred's fate was already set, and this is not how he would die.
Guthred's army grows enough for them to decide to invade a nearby Dane occupied town. This poses a great risk, because they don't know what Ivarr's plans are. If he decides to confront them there, they are finished. But on taking the tow they discover that Ivarr has been defeated by the Scots, and escaped the fight baddly injured.
The king decides to find him, and when he does, he offers treatment for his wounds and accepts him as an ally, against Uhtred's advice to kill him.
Now they move to take Kjartan stronghold. It is an impenetrable fortress. Uhtred has a brilliant idea but Ivarr feels threatened by him and wants to remove Uhtred from the king's grace. A while later, Uhtred is sold into slavery, betrayed by Guthred, because he needed his uncle's army and that was his price.
Uhtred suffers for a few years and almost dies as a slave. He is rescued by his half brother Ragnar, who was release by Alfred under the condition that they both return to him. Uhtred once again swears his allegiance to King Alfred, much to his chagrin.
They are sent north as ambassadors to king Guthred, offering Alfred's good will and advice. Alfred cannot directly interfere in the north, but he fully expects Uhtred and Ragnar, whose name is well know and has an army on his command, to defeat all of Wessex enemies.
Ivarr has joined forces with Kjartan and a group of their men is now sieging Guthred's forces. Uhtred rescues the traitor king. They devise another ingenious Black Ops plan to take on Kjartan unassailable fortress. They move unnoticed to the back of the fortress, under the cover of the night, scaling huge wall made of rocks deemed too steep to be climbed. Once inside, they blend in with the other Danes, are spotted as intruders, rescued by his half sister Thyra and her pack of dogs.
They open the gate and Ragnar's men finish the job. Now it is time to take on Ivarr. Their meeting is on open ground, and Uhtred manages to defeats him against all odds, by goading him into a man to man combat. Ivarr's men join Lothar's forces.
I fell no empathy with those who gave this book a one star. If you have arrived until this one in the series, it is pretty much on the same level as the last few ones.
Lestat is evolving as a character ever so slightly. People expected a caricature version of him, following their misguided interpretations of him as a bad ass hero. He is not, and has never been that.
Rice even “tongue in he cheek mocks” her fans using Lestat's own words.
I'll address the top reviewers for fun and profit.
1st Lestat is a pussy: no. This is probably a reference to Lestat saying he wants to be a saint, but I'll give a broader criticism.
Do you require all your protagonists to be alpha males? This is not a PNR. This is not a teenager action love story, with the good hearted bad boy. This is not a cheap gore fest slasher action packed. The Vampire Chronicles are philosophical and psychological horror. Lestat's demeanor is very consistent with the previous books so far.
He even says he wants to be a saint, be can't help but being a sinner. This is Lestat. This, nothing else. Wanting to be good while behaving as a monster. This is Vampire The Masquerade's entire premise.
2nd Anachronism: this is as significant as forgetting a comma in a sentence. To call this a detail is to give it too much credit. So what if Lestat doesn't know how to use an email? And if he tries to use modern day speak, and fails at a times? This is part of his character, nothing to see here.
Regarding Mona being portrayed as a vacuous slut, I can't comment, I didn't read the Mayfair Witches. I'll take the author's opinion over the reviewer.
The first part of the book doesn't drag on. Its just not the story you want to hear. I have this feeling with most books I read. I couldn't bare the Mayfair Witches, every single page was a drag. The Balckwood Farm first half was a drag.
xst) Rice criticizing her fans as Lestat. oh the irony. I have read all of the books and Lestat has been consistent so far. Her books as well. Her previous books had more elements of PNR and other tropes, as I mentioned above. Yes they were also better, but they were never meant to be the books you were expecting them to be.
The PC critics are strong in this reviewer, I'll just say that literature is art, not a declaration of intent. To the implications of Rice's Catholicism's influence affecting her work, I'm a fervent atheist, and I'm not bothered even one bit by that. I'm much more offended by some of her philosophical views in previous books then these. If you want to read a Vampire book where religion got the best of her, see Vittorio, the Vampire.
About the whole of nothing happening, this has always been present in her books. I don't like it either, but her prose is so alluring that I can't help but feel a mixture of joy and irritation.
Regarding all of these and the others criticisms, I gather that people wanted more of the same. I don't. Rice took this book to “different” heights. It is a book that would have nothing for me to like, except for Rice's prowess as a writer. The elements presents in this book may not be as good as the first books, but they are still here. I'm surprised I'm this long in a book series that is very unlike my tastes.
As to my review, I don't have much to say.
Lestat is the protagonist an narrator once again. Quinn and Mona have meaningful participations, and so does Dra Rowan Maifair
Lestat is being haunted by Uncle Julien and some other Mayfair ghosts, because he “stole” Mona from them, by preventing her to die.
The plot revolves around Mona's transformation, the reveal of her new condition to her family of powerful witches, her quest to seek out her stolen Taltos child and Lestat's incontrollable attraction for Dra Rowan.
They were weary of what they might find when meeting the Taltos. Their race has been destroyed in the past by the humans, and so they have vowed to grow strong and conquer mankind. But when they finally find them, they had all been killed os enslaved. Mona's daughter had long since died, and she is survived by two of her descendants. The Taltos are born and fully grow in a few days by the way.Mona and the remaining Taltos gets off to a rocky start, but eventually things work out well enough. The pirates who enslaved the Taltos were all killed, the surviving Taltos were integrated into the Mayfair family, Lestat manages to overcome his desire to give Rowan the Dark Gift.
Here is Rice's response to her angry fans.
http://50.116.16.126/wiki/index.php/Anne_Rice
https://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/11/books/the-people-have-spoken-and-rice-takes-offense.html
Interesting premise, good narrative, slow pacing. It is exactly what you think it is, and if after reading a few minutes you expect it to get “faster”, it won't. It is a fantasy biography, it reads as “dull” as a real biography of someone fascinated with biology.
The story of a woman interested in dragons, written by her older self as a memoir of her life. Since a very young age, she was always fascinated by the anatomy of animals, first dissecting them and then reading about them.
As she grew older, she had the opportunity to study dragons.
Read 1:51 / 10:17 18%
A readable fantasy novel. A rare treat in my book. It's not exceptional, gets lost along the way sometimes, the ending was very unsatisfactory. I liked the book's pacing, exposition, narrative, plot and characters.
SUMMARY
Field Marshall Tamas's nation Adro has been financially ruined by the king. The neighboring nation of Kez steps in to help out, but in return they would turn them into their vassal. And that did not sit well with the ruling powers of Adro.
The king sees no other way out then to accept the deal, but Tamas thinks otherwise. Motivated by the concern for the well being of the people, as well as for personal reasons, he stages a coup and dethrones the king. He brings down the whole nobility as well, using his soldiers to round up all the members of their families and take them to prison. The following day, they are all beheaded, children included. Except for one child who got away.
The hardest part of the coup was going to be dealing with the Royal Cabal, powerful sorcerers who act as the king's personal guard. But Tamas is a Powder Mage, and his kind is specially capable of countering the sorcerer's powers. So a group of Powder Mages plus the element of surprise was enough to eliminate all of them, except for one that got away.
Before dying one member of the Royal Cabal uttered a sentence that got Tamas intrigued. He hires a private investigator, Adamat, to find out what that means. He calls upon his son, a soldier under his command and the nations best shot, Taniel, to hunt down the remaining Royal Cabal member. She has killed 6 Powder Mages while escaping, a never before heard feat.
There is intrigue, betrayal, misdirection, shadowy figures, investigation, mage fights, a god reincarnated, miracle food, the men of the wall...
ANALYSIS
As far as plot goes, deposing the nobility in order to get their money is fine. He says he did it because they were complicit with the king's actions, but that could just be his rationalization in order to justify such a cruel act. Killing the children is necessary in order to prevent them from getting revenge or revindicating their family possessions when they grow up.
The world is not very unusual, Powder Mages being mostly the only unusual thing. They have some enhanced abilities when snorting gunpowder, mostly granting some magic like powers when using firearms. They also get some increased reflexes, faster healing, and greater endurance.
Tamas is a powerful character, a man of great will and strength, whose actions sometimes put him on the wrong side of the morals and honor he should uphold. His son Taniel si a little more idealistic, but he basically follows his father's command. Both are bound by honor and their loyalty to Adros.
They each have their own story going on, and the book's perspective shift from one to the other, plus Adamat, the investigator. These three characters telling their side moves along the narrative. Tamas is more brutal and tactic, Taniel more adventure and battling, Adamat is about intrigue and mystery.
While Taniel is running one dangerous errand after another, Tamas is dealing with the remaining royalist's forces and coordinating the defenses against the Kez. Meanwhile Adamat is doing detective's work while trying to survive the snake's nest that is putting his nose into powerful people's business.
There is two female side characters of note, Ka-Poel and Julene. Ka-Poel is a mute savage young girl with strange powers. Taniel saved her life, and now she follows him wherever he goes. Julene is a rebel sorcerer, a powerful mercenary who hunts her own kind. They play important roles later on. There is some side plot with Taniel's former fiance Vlora, which never gets anywhere.
The characters change of role along the way was refreshing. Adamat begins investigating X, and when he is done with that, he begins to investigate Y. The same pattern happens with Taniel and Tamas.
The book started out strong. Got a little dull in some parts along the way, and built up too many expectations for the ending to make it plausible. Taniel is a strong Powder Mage, but going after dozens of the most powerful sorcerers almost by himself? One in particular alone might be a god of some kind, and has previously defeated him without breaking a sweat. And she decides to let him live to see her grand plan come to fruition, and of course, that ends up being a bad idea as he single handily prevents the world destruction by shooting up a god in the heart.
People compare the author to Vonnegut. I hate Vonnegut. Maybe this checks out then.
My usual complaints: didn't like the prose, no connection to characters, hard to understand who are the characters, or whatever is going on for that matter.
There is a pipe that is very important in this post apocalyptic world. The pipe has a problem, the protagonist and his crew are hired to fix the problem.
The farther away you go from civilization, the weirder things get. So they must struggle to not go very far.
Read 1:13 / 22:07 6%
This could have been just an ordinary book, a 2 star maybe because it was readable, not awful. But then came the ending. The last ~25% of the book (2 out of 8 hours) was a non story. The author was out of ideas on what to write and wrote exactly that, he sort of broke that fourth wall and said that he was out od ideas, and started to pseudo talk to his readers.
The story is as silly as it sounds, and as deep as you would expect. It is a parody with Star Trek's trope of killing of non essential characters, extra actors, in every episode just for drama effect.
The characters are uninteresting and shallow, and so is the story.
For the people giving this a 5 star, I'm sorry, but FU. The best possible scenario this is a 3 star. I wouldn't recommend this book for no one.
Another great entry in the series. Uthred is now nearly fully committed to being a Saxon, but he still harbors a lot of hatred for Alfred and Christianity.
The Danes have launched their biggest attack yet in order to claim the Last Kingdom. And Wessex does fall into their hands, King Alfred has lost all hope to regain it back, but Ulthred helps him regain his confidence and slowly builds up the King's army back.
Hiding in the swamp, where they cannot be attacked, the manage to muster a force to be reckoned with, even though they are far still outmatched in numbers.
There is some cleverness in their strategy, some deviousness from Uthred's part and a lot of bravery in the battles vs the war hungry vikings!
No redeemable features whatsoever. I kept reading waiting for the plot set up, there was none. Three hours in and no plot, no connection with any of the characters, no interesting world building. And you would expect that a post world ending war with humanity colonizing other planets things would be interesting.
I stopped reading after the most interesting thing that happened was the discover of a glove in a safe box in a bank on the moon, an inheritance for the members of the family of the woman that seems like was a key factor in humanity colonizing other planets.
Too much stalling to reveal how important that glove was, and then there was the introduction of human like AIs, robots that could mimic human personalities based on historical facts collected about that person. That was too much for me. “Hey grandma, what does this mysterious glove that no one knew existed means? Grandma robot: I don't know”. Don't know? Really? I'm SHOCKED!
Read 3:06 / 21:45 14%
The setting was awesome, the characters well fleshed out. The plot very promising, but the ending ruined it all.
A gritty futuristic world where people are secretly being abducted against their will and having their brains transplanted into artificial bodies, becoming religious nuts in the process. The protagonist is a hard ass gun for hire that has been set up to kill a cop, and now is being hunted down by the police. And in this decayed and corrupt future, they are not very nice people.
There is gun fighting, some psychic powers, and a basic “heist” plot, where a team of misfits must pull out an impossible feat. The details of how they execute it are not very clever, it is not the book's strongest feature. But the ending, definitely ruined it all.
At some point, fighting one indestructible cyborgs with superior fire power, greatly improved reflexes and strength is nearly impossible. by the end of the book, they infiltrate they home base with thousands of them, and destroy them by the dozen like it's nothing.
The author set up an impossible situation, and he failed to deliver a satisfactory solution.
Your standard run of the mill vampire PNR. Better then many, but nothing interesting. Its reads like a fanfic the author made for her and her best friend.
Meredit becomes a vampire, and takes her best friend everywhere she goes, even into secret members only vampire meetings. But then her friend finds out she has magical powers. And then Meredit finds out her grandfather is the human encharged to investigate supernatural beings in the city, and he employees a sorcerer and a shifter to help him out.
Meredit needs to comply to the rules of vampire society, and answer to the master vampire for her actions. But as she is a independent and strong woman, he decides to defy him on every opportunity.
Being vampire is nothing but a genetic change that makes you vulnerable to daylight, hungry for blood, stronger, faster and immortal. You get more muscles and still crave and can eat all you want.
Oh, and by the way, everyone is sexy and wants to have sex with each other. And they love to go out clubbing and drinking.
Read 4:52 / 11:11 44%
WHAT
A 20 hours long book, 10 hours being a boring story about a New Orleans family and their peculiar property, the Blackood Farm. The second part is a proper Vampire Chronicles tale, including new vampires, ghosts and the familiar struggle against one's inner demon, or should I say, blood thirsty spirit.
SUMMARY (spoilerish)
The interesting part
The story starts in the same style as the previous entries in the Chronicles. Rice just wants to tell the history of a new vampire, but she starts the book nonetheless in a unique fashion. We are given a prelude using Lestat as a framing device and a new member of the Talamasca.
Tarquin Blackwood, Quinn, is a newly made vampire, but he has a dangerous problem. From his birth, he is attached to a spirit named Goblin, that is a physical copy of him in every aspect. This spirit grew with him to adulthood, and they formed a very powerful and loving bond. But as Quinn grew older, he had fewer time for Goblin, who started to resent him for that. When he finally traveled to Europe, he lost his physical connection to the spirit, who vanished because of that. When Quinn returns home after a 3 year travel abroad, he cannot find Goblin again.As soon as he arrives, he transformed against his will into a vampire by a very ancient "blood hunter", as they call themselves. During his transformation Goblin appears again and tries to help him, but is unable to. Seeing Quinn now as evil, he becomes a vengeful spirit, harboring nothing but hatred for his former friend.
Quinn have sought out Lestat for help in getting rid of Goblin. He fears he is getting too strong, feeding from Quinn's blood when himself feeds from a mortal victim. He wants Lestat to end Goblin's life, at the cost of his own if needed be.
The boring part
We are told in painstaking details Quinn's life from his childhood to present times. We learn about his father, his father's father, and his father, and so on. Every employee who inhabits the Blackwood Manor is introduced, and the place itself gets a lot of back history and descriptions.
Quinn hates his mother, who never wanted nothing to do with him, and publicly and loudly scorned her son for being weird. He is raised by “pops”, his grandfather, and his aunt Queen, both of whom he loves very much, and their love is mutual. He is a weird kid as a boy, claiming to see and talk to ghosts. Nobody believes him, and he has a hard time interacting with other children. So he is home schooled, and we get to learn about the two tutors he had that he really liked. He forms a strong bond with them.
There is a particular ghost that took a fancy for him. Rebecca, who is a very attractive women. She is so beautiful that makes Quinn doubt himself as to his sexuality, having believed so far that he liked boys. She seduces Quinn and tries to use him as a means for revenge for her death. Thoughout the book, Quinn deduces that she was tortured and killed by his great grandfather.
As a teenager, queen meets Mona Mayfair, a witch who can also see Goblin. He immediately falls in love with her. They have a brief but torrid love affair. But she has a medical condition which is killing her, and she musts remain isolated for a long time for treatment.
Another plot evolving throughout the book is of the stranger who has taken residence in a remote area of the swamp inside the property of Blackwood Farm. Quinn witness this stranger dumping two bodies in the swamp, and since then, the stranger starts playing a game of cat and mouse with him. Gradually the stranger makes himself known to him, and proposes a truce of sorts.
ANALYSIS
Rice has always written great characters, it is one of her hallmarks. Eccentric immortals, a lifetime expanding for centuries, wisdom acquired, involvement in historic events. Quinn is just not that interesting. Unlike Marius or Armand's tale, this story took place in a mostly ordinary contemporary setting. There was no much sense of wonder or expectation. Tarquin was basically a normal boy, save for his somewhat unusual family and his sometimes noticeable talent for seeing spirits.
Although boring, the first part was very well written. I just wish it was much sorter. I wouldn't have kept reading this if it wasn't part of the Vampire Chronicles. I've tried to read The Mayfair Witches before, but I couldn't stand it. At least this book has only one protagonist, and we get to see the story from his point of view from the beginning.
Now I'm a bit torn. I feel like maybe I should try reading The Mayfair Witches again, because this book got very good after the first 10 hours!
Mona Mayfair becoming a vampire made not much sense as well. A common theme in the Vampire Chronicles is how much of a damnation it is to become a vampire. Quinn himself hates his maker for taking his life, and has many times considered suicide.
Merrick's death made little sense as well. We had a whole book introducing her, her connection with another important character Louis, not to mention David Talbout as well. And then, all of a sudden, she dies by suicide, throwing herself in the fire.
A refreshing take on historical fiction. The plot is fast pacing, there is hardly any time to get bored. Uhtred is a charismatic protagonist, and the supporting characters are well fleshed out.
The duality of his allegiance is well played out. He was born and raised in his family stronghold in Normandy, until the age of 10. But then he was captured by the Dane Ragnar the Fearless, who raised and loved him as a son. So at times his heart wants to go back to his Saxons origins and rule the land that is rightfully his, becoming an Earl on his own terms. At other times, he just want to fight and go raiding with the Danes.
King Alfred's cunning is demonstrated as he is the only ruler capable of hold off the viking invasions. He is the historical figure that would eventually lead to the unification of England. He manages to fool Uhtred into not only fighting, but wanting to fight for him, burning out all his Danish sympathies.
Fatter Beocca is another endearing character. Crossed eye, ugly as hell and devotedly pious, he never looses hopes for the young Uhtred, that one day he would be rescued and become a christian again.
The author portrays really well the true spirit off the vikings, their love of fighting, ferocity and strategic minds which brought down the English to their knees. But they were not just warriors. They were farmers, and had families, and the rulers cared about the lives of their subjects, and they saw in the fertile lands of England an opportunity for their people to prosper. At the cost of eliminating half of the native population though.
The antagonist Kjartan and his son Sven gives us something to look forward to in future books.
I saw the series first and I liked it. I can now tell it was very faithful to the book.
Slow paced, dispassionate writing style, full of descriptions and info-dumps.
See here for a good review
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1600037280?book_show_action=true
SUMMARY
Alec is young naive boy who is being tortured in a prison. Seregil, a well lived gentlemen, is a spy that just let himself being arrested on account of a mission. When Seregil decides to escape, he feels sorry for the young Alec and decides to take him along with him.
On the way to some city, they talk to each other and Seregil can't help but see something he likes about Alec, enough to offer to take him as an apprentice. Alec is reticent at first, because he wants nothing but to live an honorable life, and a spy is nothing but a professional liar thief in his eyes.
When arriving at the city, Seregil assumes one of his many disguises, as a bard, a famous one at that. They lodge themselves in an inn and offer their singing and storytelling services as a part of payment for they stay. All the while Seregil is busy at work, trying to find out information about an upcoming war.
Read 2:06 / 15:56 12%
Negative points, in order of importance
- British Victorian era setting AND dialogue
- excessively detailed characters
- 10% in and no plot is established
- protagonist is an anachronism to her era, a thinking woman that doesn't want to get marry
- protagonist is constantly annoyed by how high society treats her for being a ~25 years old spinster
- protagonist is not pretty, but the her love interest is a sophisticated and that doesn't care for appearances
SUMMARY
Alexia is a soulless, a person with no soul. She is called a preternatural, in contrast with the other supernatural creatures that are a common occurrence in this fantasy Victorian era England.
While attending a bowl, she is attacked by a vampire, who should know better then to mess with a soulless like her. Her preternatural status gives her super powers, at least against other supernatural creatures, and so she dispatches him.
Lord Maccon is part of an organization that policies and investigates supernatural related activity. He is a werewolf himself, and when he shows up he chastises for her recklessness, because killing a vampire is still considered a murder.
He believes its not her fault becouse he knows her, and so lets her go.
Read 1:04 / 9:44 10%