Who Would Like This Book:
Fans who’ve followed Anne Rice’s intricate vampires and witches universe will appreciate the ambitious crossover and the attempt to give closure to both the Vampire Chronicles and Mayfair Witches sagas. Lestat is as dramatic as ever, and Rice’s trademark lush descriptions of New Orleans and Gothic glamour are here in force. Readers who enjoy existential musings on morality, religion, and redemption might find Lestat’s spiritual struggles intriguing. If you like genre-bending fantasy that doesn’t shy away from meta-commentary, this could scratch that itch.
Who May Not Like This Book:
If slow pacing, endless exposition, and lengthy detours into character navel-gazing put you off, this book may test your patience. Many longtime fans disliked the dramatic shift in Lestat’s voice (suddenly full of modern slang), the heavy-handed religious themes, and what they felt was the loss of the vibrant, poetic prose and sharp character work that defined the earlier books. Some found the crossover aspect confusing, especially if they hadn’t read both series, and criticized the lack of editing and the meandering, info-dumpy plot.
About:
Blood Canticle by Anne Rice is the last book in her Vampire Chronicles series, intertwining the vampires and Mayfair Witches. The book follows Lestat as the narrator, continuing the story from the end of the Mayfair Witches trilogy and providing more information on the Taltos. The plot involves a convergence of characters in Blackwood Farms and Haiti, with a mix of action, mystery, and exploration of morality.
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Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings
Content warnings include discussions of paedophilia, sexual assault, and elements of religious themes that may be distressing to some readers.
Has Romance?
There are elements of romance in the book, particularly regarding Lestat's feelings towards Rowan Mayfair, but the central plot is not solely focused on romance.
From The Publisher:
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 swampscape, 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.
Ratings (8)
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Reader Stats (18):
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Want To Read (8) | |
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What can you read after
Blood Canticle?
About the Author:
ANNE RICE is the author of thirty-six books, including the fifteen books in the Vampire Chronicles series. She lives in La Quinta, California.
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