Blood Canticle
Published: 28, October 2003
Author: Anne Rice
The Vampire Chronicles, Book 10
Genres: Adult, Family, Fantasy, Fiction, Ghost, Gothic, History, Horror, Inspirational, LGBTQ+, Literary, Men's, Occult, Paranormal, Psychological, Renaissance, Saga, Spirituality, Thrillers, Urban, Vampire, Witches, Wizards
Check the summary of this book here:
Blood Canticle Summary
The Review:
Anne Rice's Blood Canticle has both merits and flaws, depending on who is reading it. Lovers of the Vampire Chronicles and the Mayfair Witches, particularly fans of Blackwood Farm, will enjoy Blood Canticle. However, there are some major annoyances along the road, which, again, are dependent on the reader and those random readers who picked up this book and started reading without realizing that it is not a stand-alone novel and must be tackled after reading the other volumes in the series.
Anne Rice is a powerful writer with three big gifts: number one, she understands how to tell a narrative and spin a plot, number two, she develops vivid and intriguing characters, and number three, she is a great wordsmith with a rich and appealing writing style.
If a reader is really religious and/or thinks against what the characters and Anne Rice are saying and thinking about, all three of her strengths might be perceived as faults in this novel.
This novel blew me away, especially Lestat's constant evolution and desire to be good while being pulled to evil. What a satisfying conclusion. The meeting of vampires and witches is fantastic. I liked how it began up immediately where Blackwood Farm left off, and how it was told from Lestat's point of view.
I loved his genuine modern voice, the fact that he was repeating the narrative in less formal terms, and the fact that he seemed to be up to speed with the current world despite being a couple of hundred years old at this time.
Anne Rice and her particular writing style, as well as her voice, are always in character. She leads us through the corridors of her main character's mind and soul so fully that the reader becomes buried in the pages, entirely ignorant of time. She is fantastic, and this novel captivates in the same manner that her other Vampire Chronicles and Mayfair Saga books have. I suggest it to anybody looking to escape into a wonderfully painted fantasy world that appears genuine enough to reside outside your door every time the sunsets.
While typing these lines, I realize what a genius our late great Anne Rice was when she intended to write this and any other book, and in the following few paragraphs, all the fans will say yes and maybe even non-fans and haters will say yes also.
Warning: There will be spoilers ahead. I'm about to explain why this book is amazing, not horrible, as some readers believed. I can see why some readers aren't fond of it. This is not the Lestat they were expecting. The narrative is written in a unique way. And none of the companions we've grown to know and love, such as Louis, Armand, and Marius, are present.
But, if you go back over the whole Vampire Chronicles series, you'll see that this novel was bound to happen. Lestat aspires to be a saint, as he tells us nearly from the start. He talks about it as if he didn't have anything else to be except a saint. This isn't the same Lestat we've seen in previous Chronicle volumes. That Lestat was seen as a villain or an antihero.
However, keep in mind that Lestat's statements appeared in just four of the prior nine volumes. In Interview with the Vampire, Louis shared his story, Armand told his, David informed us about Merrick, Marius finished his narrative in Blood and Gold, and Quinn Blackwood told us about Blackwood Farm. When these individuals spoke of Lestat, they didn't use his words or his mannerisms. Since Memnoch the Devil, Blood Canticle is the first novel to employ Lestat's own words.
And why wouldn't he have altered his tone of voice throughout that period of time? Lestat is the one who, following Marius' lead, always found a way to blend in with the times he was in. The novel finishes with... as one of the sentences. Isn't that how people communicate these days, with Internet chat and email? Why should it surprise us that Lestat is the one who is doing it?
Consider what he stated in the Chronicles about his desire to be a saint: "We don't actually change as we get older. We are simply becoming more and more like ourselves "... Reread The Vampire Lestat if you haven't before. Lestat has aspired to be a saint since he was a child. His earliest ambitions and wishes would undoubtedly return stronger than ever as he grew older and became more himself.
Final Thoughts:
Anne Rice provides another fantastic novel, as she usually does. I couldn't stop reading it till I completed it. I would suggest this book to any Anne Rice fan, as well as anyone who is interested in vampires and witches. But I'd recommend they start with the Mayfair storyline, The Witching Hour unless you're a book addict like me, in which case you can't go wrong with Lestat's storyline, The Vampire Chronicles, and start with Interview with the Vampire.
Blood Canticle has a great tale, it's a great read, and it's really faithful to the Lestat we saw in The Vampire Lestat, Queen of the Damned, The Tale of the Body Thief, and Memnoch the Devil. This character has matured with the times. He's not the same anymore, having re-adjusted to his new surroundings.
Synopsis:
“Fiery, fierce, and erotic, Blood Canticle marks the triumphant culmination of Anne Rice’s bestselling Vampire Chronicles, as Lestat tells his astounding tale of the pleasures and tortures that lie between death’s shadow and immortality. . . .
Surrounded by its brooding swamp scape, Blackwood Farm is alive with the comings and goings of the bewitched and the bewitching. Among them is the ageless vampire Lestat, vainglorious enough to believe that he can become a saint, weak enough to fall impossibly in love.
Gripped by his unspeakable desire for the mortal Rowan Mayfair and taking the not-so-innocent, new-to-the-blood Mona Mayfair under his wing, Lestat braves the wrath of paterfamilias Julien Mayfair and ventures to a private island off the coast of Haiti. There, Saint Lestat will get his chance to slay his dragon. For Mona and the Mayfairs share an explosive, secret blood bond to another deathless species: a five-thousand-year-old race of Taltos, strangers held in the throes of evil itself.”
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Rating: 95/100
Recommended: 100/100 Yes.
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