Book Review; Prince Lestat and The Realms Of Atlantis by Anne Rice

Hi readers, 

As promised here's my review of Anne Rice's latest book! Though I do have to confess that I've not finished it. It's a long, hefty book and since I so wanted to read it and not wait for it to come out in paperback, I've not been able to take it places with me as I'd normally do if I wanted to read a book quickly. 

So, this post is going to be a lot short then it should be! But I wasn't going to write too much about the plot anyway, as I don't want to spoil it for people. As normal I'll say to go and read my last two posts about Interview With The Vampire and The Vampire Lestat, but also the post I wrote about Prince Lestat, which is here; 

http://hailscrazyblog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/book-review-prince-lestat-by-anne-rice.html  

I also just noticed that this post was my first book review of this year and now Lestat and Atlantis, as I like to shorten it too, is going to be my last! How weird is that? (This is because I've decided to do two life update posts on either side of Christmas). 

The first thing I noticed about this novel is that Rice has given us a very brief summary of the other Vampire Chronicle books and four pages of terminology at the front of the book. At the end of the novel are two appendixes; a list of vampires and places followed by all the Vampire Chronicle books and a blur about them. These are useful, but to me pointless for her long time readers and fans of Lestat. It's nice to be reminded of these things, but I felt it wasn't needed.

On a side note, I'd so not recommended reading this book if you've not read Prince Lestat. The characters are all mostly the same and there's a lot of them again! I'm not sure if you could get away with reading just this two books out of the whole of the Chronicles either. Rice has written a rich history of vampires over the years and all her past novels really have made it easier for her to write these new ones. The background of each vampire is also important to understand them better and their place within the plot of the novel. 

Sticking with characters; Lestat did not come across as his normal daring, bratty self. I think that having the core - the true source of vampire creation- who is called Amel, within him has altered his attitude. If anything happens to him a lot of vampires would die. I did feel caught up in his view of the story though, even after all these Rice is still able to give him a good voice. 

The other main vampires felt a little too in the background for me, beside from Louis. He comes back to help Lestat and even after everything they have been through together, the love is still there between them, which was nice to see. Claudia's name gets brought up and there's references to Interview and Lestat, which I thought was a nice tie in and good to remind reader's who've not read the books in awhile. I do like all the vampires coming together and it's nice to see them like that, but it just means there are too many characters to try to keep tabs on. 

There are some other background vampires, some of which have appeared in other books. My mind really struggled to remember though, but I'm sure die hard fans with great memories won't have a problem. 

The new characters which are the four immortals from Atlantis are interesting and I enjoyed hearing their stories. It was nice to have the history of something else for a change, because really there's not much left Rice can write about the history of vampires! I like also how the legend of Atlantis was weaved into the history of the vampires. These characters come across well and keep a good air of mystery. 

The narrative of this novel took me awhile to get into. It's written in both first person and third person, with different characters telling different points of view. Lestat is the main voice that comes, through there is a also the vampire scientist, Fareed and the vampire Roshamandes who is the antagonist. The Atlanteans; Garekyn and Derek also have chapters. This switching around narrative does work, but I think it effects the overall flow of the novel. Rice has been clever with it and I don't think many other writers would be able to pull it off as she has. I remember Prince Lestat being written in this way too. 

Actually speaking of chapters - these are too long for me. It seems to be a thing that Rice really likes to do in the style of her novels. I guess most people wouldn't find anything wrong with this and I don't mind it as I'm use to her books being like this, but I've found shorter chapters help me to read a faster and it means my brain can have more breaks. 

As I wrote in my review of Prince Lestat, Rice's writing has changed over the years. In compared to Interview and Lestat, the descriptions of people, clothes, places, rooms and objects has lost some richness. Yes, we still get lengthy descriptions of all these things, but they don't feel as deep as they did before to me. I guess a part of this is because Lestat and Atlantis is set in 2016 and as we are currently living it there's less of a need for Rice to describe things for us whilst with the first Chronicle novels there was a need because they were set in the 1800's and 1900's.  

I do like the plot of the story though and it's nice to bring something new and mysterious into the vampire world, which no vampire actually understands. It works well and I'm super interested to find out what's going to happen. So far, some of the vampires have seen images of a city, often described with glass towers being on fire and falling into the sea. This city seems to be the long lost Atlantis which even the vampires believe is a legend. However, Amel is somehow connected to all of this and four immortals are trying to find him. 

The immortals have been split up for years though, each not sure if the others are alive. The first of these, Derek is being held prisoner by Roshamandes, who is still mad at Lestat for things that happened in the last book. Roshamandes wants Derek to explain what he is to help Rosh decided what to do with him. Meanwhile, Garekyn, is on the run after tracking down the vampires at Trinity Gate and killing a vampire close to there. The vampires are hunting him down. The last two immortals are actually together; Kapetria and Welf, they have heard the news of Garekyn and are looking for him. 

My thoughts are that all the immortals and vampires will get together and everything will be cleared up. The story of Atlantis and what happened there will come through and things will be decided upon. 

Overall so far, I am enjoying reading this novel. I still think it has the problems that Prince Lestat had though, but it's great to see Anne Rice bring Lestat back to us. I can't help but wonder when she will decided to stop writing the Vampire Chronicles though, how much more can be said about these vampires? I'll be sad to see her stop, but everything must. I'd say if you were an Anne Rice fan and like the Vampire Chronicles then this is worth reading because it carries on the story in a different way and brings us new mysterious to solve.      

Thanks for reading and if you want to share your thoughts then please do. See you all next week! 

Book Review; Interview With The Vampire by Anne Rice

Hi readers, 

So I know this post was meant to be up early last month, but I've not been very well and sadly, I'm still ill. For ages I've been thinking of writing a post about my long term health problem, but I've not got up the courage to write it. That's the problem with personal issues, sometimes you don't need the whole world to know what you're going though. Perhaps, one day I will get around to it. Though if you read last Monday's post things might be a better clearer now. 

What I had planned to do was write about the first three vampire chronicle books for October then review some writing handbooks/help books ect for November and National Novel Writing Month. But I decided not to take part this year due to illness, my new job and the overall lack of time. Plus, I just couldn't come up with an idea. So, now things have fallen as they have. Also, I've decided not to read Queen Of the Damned. I did state last time about this, so I won't repeat myself now I've just remembered that.    

Anyway, today I'm looking at one of my favorite novels. I'm totally surprised that I've not reviewed IWTV before, but I know I've brought it up and compared it to other vampire stories. I did review Prince Lestat like last year. I thought with it being autumn and the normal time to be reading creepy stories that I would re-read IWTV for like the fourth time, plus in my review of Glass Houses I stated that I really wanted to read IWTV. I thought it would be perfect to review this, Also the new Lestat novel, Prince Lestat And the Realms Of Atlantis, is out soon. So, that will also be a nice tie in. 

One of the main problems is the physical reading of these novels. I forgot how hard my dyslexic brain finds reading them and though it's not taking me long to get into them and enjoy them, it's very hard going for me, which means I'm reading slowly in small sections. Anne Rice is also a master of the English language. She has this way of writing which draws and holds you in, it's old fashioned romantic poetry. And that's something I really love. She goes into great detail about the scenes and characters too, which for some people doesn't give them a change to imagine things, but I really like the depths she goes to when she describes things. It feels like I'm there and I don't have to try hard to picture it. 

I could write a lot about Rice's writing style etc, but I won't because we'd be here awhile. Let's move on to the characters. I often think that Lestat must be like the second greatest vampire. Dracula comes first! But then in terms of famous vampires, Lestat must be second because he's just so well known and Rice has written so many books about him now. Yes, he has only two movies - one which wasn't so great, but there's a third coming out soon. I don't think the Vampire Chronicles would work as a TV series. Perhaps, though all the most recent vampire books and TV shows have slightly over shadowed him? I guess if you asked a mixed group of people to name a vampire, Edward from Twilight would be the highest outcome. And we all know how I feel about those books.....

(Lestat and Louis from the IWTV movie)

Lestat as a character is very interesting. He is unpredictable and what he wants he gets. He is a total rebel, going against the world. In IWTV he's mysterious and keeps his secrets to himself. This just makes him even more interesting, but when you read his book, it all becomes very clear. 

IWTV is Louis' story, so for now I'm going to leave Lestat till next week. I do have a soft spot of Louis, I guess because he has that human nature to him and he is a very likable character - more so then Lestat in this book, but you can understand why Rice might have done that. Louis has an interesting background and if you've only seen the movie then it hardly touches his history before he become a vampire. Louis has a whole family, which tragic things happen to leading to Louis entering a downward spiral. 

Then he meets Lestat and becomes a vampire, which causes him more problems because he can't carry on living a human life now. He has to give up everything that he's known and try to move on. But the answers he wants from Lestat he just doesn't get. He decides to leave, but Lestat decides this can't happen and so makes another vampire to bind them together. However, Claudia is a child, not yet 6 years old and being made into a vampire gives her the mind of a fully grown woman. 

I read that Claudia was inspired by the Anne Rice's daughter who died young. I find Claudia really interesting, she is the opposite of Louis and totally a vampire because she had very little time as a human. She does have a likeness to Lestat because she is a rebel, but she is manipulative. This really comes across when she is hunting and Louis descriptions her as playing with her victims and using them to get what she wants. Claudia also has a thirst for knowledge and it's actually her that ends up destroying everything.

Unable to get answers from Lestat about where vampires came from and where they can find others, Claudia plots to kill Lestat with Louis help. She does achieve this and they escape. However, Lestat's death haunts Louis and he often falls into wondering if they are the only vampires in the world. They travel around the world seeking others and finding only stories and creatures that are like the old Nosferatu vampires. 

Finally in Paris, they meet other vampires, but don't get much further in answering their questions. It also turns out that these coven vampires have strict rules, two of which Louis and Claudia have broken; killing Lestat and the turning of Claudia into a vampire so young. Armand, who is kinda leader of the group does warn Louis about this, but as they are sort of falling in love, Louis doesn't leave Paris. This only leads to total tragedy as Lestat, who survived Claudia's attack, joins in a trial to declare what happen. The vampires decided Claudia has to die. She is burnt by the sun before Louis can save her and he turn is only saved by Armand. Louis then seeks his revenge and destroys the coven.

Then Louis is officially alone for the first time in his life. For awhile he wonders the world for Lestat until they meet again. Lestat is still recovering from Claudia's attack and Louis decides not to go back to him, but to carry on alone.                 

                                                  (Claudia from the IWTV movie)

The narrative is actually as the title states, because Louis is telling his story to a young journalist. The whole interview takes place across one night and the structure of the book reflects this. The journalist does sometimes ask questions and there is a bit of a conversation between them which helps to break up Louis story. The novel has long chapters with line breaks and it feels like a continuous flow of speech. You do get a good sense that you are in the room hearing this too! 

The dialogue is fantastic and Rice has got the feel of eighteenth century/ nineteenth century speech down well. Like I said at the start, Rice has a way with this flowery romantic old fashioned language that fits in well with the timeline and characters. Even though my brain sometimes does struggle to understand some words, the more time I read it the more I understand it. To be honest I read Rice more for the images she creates and the characters then her style of writing. 

Of course, I would recommend this book to everyone. It really is a turning point in fictional vampires and gives you a new look at how and why vampires draw writers and readers in. Rice has created this whole history and world which feels very real and comes across well. At some points, I did have to wonder if this actually happened and if these vampires are out their somewhere and they just used Rice to tell and publish their stories. Though of course, it does feel weird why they wouldn't have just come forward themselves, but that's getting into the world of True Blood. I do have that series on my bookcase and maybe next year I might read them. I've seen all the seasons of it though, wasn't the last one so bad? I can't believe the books would end like that! 

Anyway, I so have to stop there because if I don't I'll just carry on writing and I want to move on and review The Vampire Lestat now. Going to get them both out of the way whilst they are fresh in my head. Then I can fully move on to something else.....Another vampire novel actually! But one that's in a totally different class. I wonder actually if someone has written some fanfic cross over of Lestat meeting the Black Dagger Brotherhood? That's be interesting to read, might look for some later..... if you know any please comment, also I'd love to hear you thoughts about Interview With The Vampire and vampire fiction in general. 

Thanks for reading and see you next week!       

Book Review: Prince Lestat by Anne Rice

Hi readers, 

I'm opening my new book reviewing with probably one of the most anticipated novels for horror, supernatural and vampire fans from last year. Being the massive Anne Rice and Vampire Chronicles fan that I am, I couldn't wait to read this and finally in the small hours of last night I finished it, almost two months after having started it. It be honest, I was a little disappointed. To make matters worse, it wasn't just one thing that I had issues with and right now I'm not going to be able to explain all the whys and hows, so, lets look at the key points. 

The first thing, was the segmentation of the novel. I understand that Rice's writing technique has improved over the many years she has been working and this was her first vampire story after fifteen years. However, unlike the plot and narrative structure of her other novels this one didn't have a linear feel to it, even though it was meant to be and I think this is because of the way the novel is divided up. 

Secondly, there is no real focus on one or a few characters, instead you get a lot of characters telling you different parts of the narrative, which sometimes shows their lives and other times gives you the bigger picture. There is also the switch between first person and third person narrative. For me this didn't actually work and maybe its because I'm a bit of an old fashioned reader, but I like my novels not to switch the narrative voice around and not to focus on such a large number of characters telling the story. The flow of things ends up becoming a bit lost and I felt distracted by this.    

Thirdly, the problem with there being so many characters, that you can become lost and start to forget who's who. Normally, I have good mind for that kind of thing, but towards the end of the novel, I was questioning if all the characters had really been necessary. I get part of the plot was to draw all these ancient vampires together to form a council and royal court, but many just seemed to faded into the background. Clearly, they all have their stories to tell and maybe Rice's next books will focus on them, but for me it was a case of character over-saturation.

Fourthly, I felt that parts of the story dragged on or weren't necessary. I know that Rice's writing can often be over descriptive and in the early Vampire Chronicles books I did enjoy this, but this time round, things felt repetitive and for me the last few chapters felt a bit useless. At other points the characters went over things the reader already knew and things the characters should have already known and I felt that maybe this was a bit of bad writing. 

Overall, my first impressions of Prince Lestat are mixed. The characters are well written and they still feel like themselves from the past books. The plot is interesting and does keep your attention, it feels 'new' too and it does tie in nicely with the series. However, it really is let down by the narrative structure and too many characters. If you are an Rice fan and have read the other books, than I'd recommend you give it a try, for anyone else and specially if you are new to Rice's books, you will need to have read some of the others before attempted this one because I don't think some of the characters and themes will be understandable. 

Hopefully, you've found that useful and I'd love to hear your thoughts on this novel. I'm not sure what I'm going to be looking at next week as I've got a few books lined up. Over on my other blog right now I'm looking for short story submissions, so please check that out at; http://thestoryfiles.wordpress.com/submission-guidelines/  

     

Links and images: 

 http://bookriot.com/2014/11/10/excited-prince-lestat/