Customer Reviews

Anne Rice's The Master of Rampling Gate: A Graphic Tale of Unspeakable Horror by the Author of 'The Vampire Lestat'

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A short story that Rice wrote a few years back, this is the first time it's been published in audio
format. It's a lot like something a writer from the 19th century would have written, old-fashioned,
yet oddly compelling.

A woman and her brother inherit an estate when their father dies, but are given a stern order in
his will: Burn Rampling Gate to the ground; destroy it! Curious, the siblings travel to the estate
and instantly fall in love with it. They can't figure out why in the world no one has lived in the
400-year-old mansion except for the housekeeper. They begin to think their father was a bit nuts
when he went on about some unspeakable horror that lived in the house - that was why it needed
to be destroyed.

But neither of them find any horrors and thoroughly enjoy themselves in the mansion and on the
grounds. They can't bear to tear the building down. They even visited the nearby village to ask if
there were any ghost stories or legends associated with the estate and no one has heard of any and
say nothing but good things about the mansion - to the villagers, it's a part of their lives and they
love it as much as the siblings.

Then one night, the sister awakens in the middle of the night after an odd dream. She wanders
downstairs and sees the fire is still going in the drawing room. As she enters, she realizes there is
a man in the chair, and he's not her brother. When he notices her and stands, papers fall from his
hands - a story she was writing. She recognizes him as the horror her father spoke of, the
mysterious thing that haunts the mansion and she screams. He disappears and of course, her
brother think she's as nuts at their father supposedly was.

She is determined to prove this man is real and instead becomes spellbound, not by the house,
but by this mysterious man. And he's not alive. Nor is he dead.

(The Master of Rampling Gate was originally published in Redbook magazine in 1984.)

Loved the book. Glad I found it for less then the price here. 131. used when new it was 6.95???
Do yourself a favor if you are seeking this very hard to find peice by Ms. Rice don't spend so much for it here. It is true it is in limited print and also that it is hard to find, yet I had no trouble purchasing it through another book store, well known and online. I paid Retail price for the book or 6.95
The book fantastic, the price here outragous!

If you are an Anne Rice fan this is a must have. Originally signed and numbered up to 850 as well as released on a small scale to comic book retailers. this is also now available for the first time in 11 years on a Book On Tape. This is a short story about a vampire (of course) who dwells in the home of the remaining Rampling family. Mystery and intrigue lead the young Ms. Julie Rampling to this man of darkness who is afraid his home will be torn down. It's a nice tale of Romance and old fashioned Anne Rice. Very rare and a true collector's item who has to read everything by this author.

As an avid fan of Anne Rice for many many years, I was soo happy when at my comic book store a few years ago i found this story in a graphic novel by Innovation comics.. After I read it I fell in love with her all over again, this is the reason i started reading her in the first place. It's lush, and wonderful.. If you can find the Graphic Novel it is well worth the investment

I purchased this Vook through my Kindle Fire. I was excited to get into the story with the commentaries and videos. As I started reading, I noticed I couldn't play any of the videos. Disappointed, I searched through the forums and read the videos only play on Apple products. If you purchase this Vook through vook.com, you will have to contact Vook for a refund. However, I had purchased mine through Amazon Digital Services and was able to receive a refund after a quick phone call.

As an avid fan of Anne Rice, I plan to purchase this Vook again through my Apple laptop.

I downloaded this onto my iPhone Kindle only because it was something I hadn't experienced - a book with added video. It could have been great, but the book itself was awful. So, so short and not entertaining at all. It's like reading a short poem (minus the rhymes). I can't even list what it doesn't have, because it was missing everything a fiction should have. I think someone was just trying to experiment with cool new features on the Kindle, asked a famous author to whip them something up to accompany it, and there you go! $5.59 please! Say, "No, thanks!"

Remember when Anne Rice wrote vampire stories? Yeah, she wrote twelve books focusing on fey, beautiful, angsty immortals with gothic sensibilities.

But between her first two vampire novels, she also published a short story called "The Master of Rampling Gate" about (surprise!) a fey, beautiful, angsty immortal. It's graced with lush prose, but the dialogue is painfully stilted, the characters are undeveloped, and the romance has as much emotional depth as Twilight. Yes, I went there.

After their dad dies, Julie and Richard inherit the ancestral castle of Rampling Gate. Their father made Richard promise to tear it down before he died, which is apparently connected to a beautiful young man that Julie saw years ago. When that man reappears, he and Julie fall madly in love, and he shows her the reason why he doesn't want Rampling Gate torn down.

"The Master of Rampling Gate" really shows why Anne Rice should avoid writing short stories. If it had been expanded to a full-length novel, this story might have actually been a very compelling gothic romance -- especially since this was Rice approaching the height of her skill. Instead, it feels like a teenage girl's fanfiction written in her style.

Admittedly there are a lot of really beautiful descriptions in this story, and Rice does conjure up a feeling of haunted, history-soaked atmosphere. However, her old-timey dialogue is painfully clunky ("And yet you suffer so, and it is as if you can love!"), she misuses the word "innocent" about a dozen times, and she careens through the thin plot like a drunk driver.

To make matters worse, the love story is HORRIBLE. Julie falls for the vampire because he's pretty, and he falls for her because... apparently her mind is so wonderful and special. They literally fall in love at first sight, without exchanging a single word, and immediately decide to be together forever. Stephenie Meyer would be proud of a romance like that.

"The Master of Rampling Gate" is a painfully immature work that might have been okay if it had been a full-length novel. But with only a short space to work in, the love story and characters are as thin as paper.

The product was delivered in the condition as described and was very prompt. I look forward to another purchase in the future.

The story, purely English, is typical of Anne Rice's style. She mixes old times and new times. She mixes historical dramatic times (the plague, the Black Death) with modern times. She also gives her vampires a loving and lovable side which makes them indestructible at least for sane human beings who do not see any reason to destroy someone or something in the fact that he or it is slightly different, and even a lot different. Here the trick is that in modern times it is a woman who is mesmerized by the vampire into guaranteeing his own safety in exchange for eternal life, or eternal damnation. We are far from Mona, the willing and agreeing victim who kills the vampire in the end out of mercy. The story then is in no way particularly outstanding. But the form of the tale, that of a comic book, is slightly more original for Anne Rice, though Interview with the Vampire and The Queen of the Damned have also been drawn into comic books. Then the originality comes from the artists this time and the result is quite interesting, though I do not find it that outstanding. I have seen better, even if I have also seen worse. In fact I believe Anne Rice is not graphic in her art because she is a marvelous storyteller. Her use of words and sentences is always great, but it takes a lot of graphic imagination to transpose this richness into visual transcendence. This comic book hasn't found that greatness.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne & University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines

ann rice is encredible i dont know what i would do or think if she desided to stop writing about lestat see is so compeling! she draws me in and before i know it the book is finished then i am lost until the next.and the next. I feel the story deep into my soul. I could almost swear I was part of the story! the power of her words (WOW) it takes you to the very edge of your seat. ann please believe me when i say you are the best and i think i speak of most who love to read your novels i've tried reading.... or i should say I tried comparing alot of books to yours but there are none. thank you for bieng a great part of my life and thank you for giving us lastat,and Louis,and who could forget claudia. again thank you ann.