Customer Reviews

Merrick (Vampire Chronicles)

5 star:		(96)
4 star:		(79)
3 star:		(57)
2 star:		(50)
1 star:		(47)

 

 

David Talbot, vampire from previous novels, sets the stage to have Merrick, a witch, help him raise the ghost of Claudia, a vampire child destroyed in "Interview With The Vampire".

Merrick will begin telling her story to Talbot, taking him from present day to days gone by in New Orleans, to the Maya Ruins of a century ago, bringing vivid life to the witches of the Talamasca, as well as the vampires. Before ammends can be made with the ghost of the dead child, these stories will have to unfold, and come together for both the vampire and the witch worlds.

"Merrick" is classic Anne Rice; sensual, dark, eerie, gothic, lush detailing, and always a pleasure to read. This is Rice's best book in years, bringing the two worlds of the witches and vampires together in a story that is completely fascinating.

As any reader of Anne Rice knows, her novels need to be scarce on the plot description, as to keep the reader captivated in the web she is spinning with her story.

Anne Rice has created a great heroine in Merrick, and readers will welcome her return in future novels.

Fans of her books will enjoy their favorite characters making return appearances, but new readers may be confused as Rice uses many, and I mean many, of her characters from "The Vampire Chronicles" and "The Mayfair Witch's" series.

A MUST read!

Nick Gonnella

Merrick was a wonderful blend of the Mayfair Witches and The Vampire Chronicles. The story told from David Talbot's perspective started slowly but took off in the fine tradition that we have always known Rice to be capable of.

David begins his tale by searching out Merrick to request her help in contacting the spirit of Claudia. Louis suffers unending guilt for producing the fledgling Claudia, and needs reassurance that she has moved on to a happier existence. This will set off a chain of events that will take you back in time and introduce you to some of Rice's most vivid characters. Merrick uses a blend of Voodoo Magic and Catholicism to conjure up spirits that you will never forget.

Lestat plays a small but important role in this book and the ending leaves us with the promise of tales of his time spent out of body. A gauntlet is thrown down by the Talamasca, leaving us wondering if it will step out of its age old position of observation only. The events surrounding this are what will keep you turning the pages. This book brings me back to the style of the original Vampire Chronicles, which I so needed from this author.

In Anne Rice's new book, "Merrick," the worlds of her vampires and her witches come together in an epic tale that spans the lush streets of New Orleans to the mystical hidden caves of Guatemala. Through the vampire narrator, David Talbot, Rice introduces her newest character; Merrick Mayfair is a powerful witch who works with the Talamasca, an order of psychic detectives, who specialize in the myths and realities behind such creatures as vampires and witches. Rice also reintroduces her classic vampire characters, Lestat, Louis, and even the "dead child" Claudia.

It is easy to get completely lost in Rice's beautiful prose; it is like she has cast a Voodoo spell on her readers. The story begins as the tale of Merrick, but by the final pages it serves to bring the entire Vampire Chronicles full circle from her very first novel. This is a novel of rebirth and redemption for all of Rice's beloved vampires and witches, and it is an excellent beginning to her next vampire or witch saga.

Anne Rice tries to meld her two most popular series in "Merrick," where the Mayfair Witches and the seductive vampires collide. Unfortunately, with a limp title character and a meandering, weird plot, "Merrick" is most noteworthy for its unrealized potential and what it could have been, if Rice had cultivated it.

David Talbot encounters his protege/semi-lover Merrick Mayfair, an octaroon witch who now works for the Talamasca. He has an odd request for her: Louis de Point du Lac, a tormented vampire, wants to call up the spirit of the child vampire Claudia, so he can be reassured of her fate. And he needs Merrick's help to do so, since she has the ability to call up and control the dead with her voodoo magic.

David reflects on his first encounters with Merrick, her trips into the jungle in search of mystery artifacts, and the malevolent spirit of her dead sister Honey in the Sunshine. Now those artifacts may help her raise up Claudia's spirit, and might give Honey's spirit a way back into the world as well. But when Claudia is brought forth to speak with Louis, what she has to say may destroy him...

"Merrick" was advertised as the spot where the Mayfair and Vampire Chronicles converged, but that's kind of misleading. Except for some mentions of Julian Mayfair, there's only a vague connection with the "white Mayfairs." It's mostly vampires and more vampires, with only the Talamasca (a sort of supernatural FBI) as a connecting point.

As always, Rice's writing is lush and brimming over with steamy New Orleans atmosphere. But she could use some editing. There are constant references to Merrick getting snockered on rum, her breasts, her clothes, David lusting after her, Louis burbling about how he loves her, and so on. And Rice seems to lose her way in the final chapters, as if she wasn't entirely sure how to wrap up what she had started.

The biggest flaw of the book is Merrick herself. She's certainly an intriguing character, a beautiful witch who wants to be a vampire, and isn't afraid to bend the men (and vampires) around her fingers to get what she wants. But she doesn't seem to have any flaws, motives, or recognizable emotions. We get no insights at all to what she's thinking. Louis is a rather ineffectual presence, and David is basically there to lust after Merrick. But Lestat's brief appearance toward the end sets the pages on fire.

While "Merrick" is overflowing with promise, hardly any of that promise is actually used. Beautifully written but poorly characterized, "Merrick" tries to cast a spell but doesn't succeed.

I looked forward to this newest installment of the Vampire Chronicles because I heard from the advance press that it involved my favorite character, Louis de Pointe du Lac.

I was very disappointed. Not only does Louis not even make an appearance for several chapters, when he does appear, he is not the same character from the earlier Vampire Chronicles. Louis is pathetic, pining away for Claudia, who has been dead for over 200 years. Why? By the end of the book, Louis has done two things which he has stated in the previous novels that he would not do and there is no reasoning given for this.

David Talbot was an extremely interesting character in Tale of the Body Thief. Here, he is not. We are suddenly told that he is obssessed with Merrick, emotionally and sexually, who was a member of the Talmasca at age 14, yet we heard nothing about her when he was telling Lestat about his life and time in the Talamasca. He did explain in Tale of the Body Thief, and re-emphasized in The Vampire Armand, that He is completely disconnected to the Talamasca. Now he is searching out members of the order, and by the end of the book, actually contacts the order himself.

Merrick is unformed as a character. She has a great desire to become a vampire, but we are never told why this is.

Lestat does make an appearance in the very end of the book, but after his small moment of action, he decides to take another nap, so this is NOT the great return of the Vampire Lestat.

Finally, there are several misspellings, timeline inconsistancies, and character feature inconsistancies in the book. This is insulting to any reader and shows a blatant disregard for faithful Vampire Chronicle fans.

For the record, his name is MATTHEW, not MICHAEL, David has BROWN eyes which glow with a golden vampiric light, he has been a vampire for 8 years now and he is 6'2, LOUIS is spelled L-O-U-I-S, and it should be explained why the most powerful vampires, Maharet and Mekare STOPPED seeing spirits when they were made vampires, yet both Armand and David CAN.

The book portrays 'voodoo' (Vodun) in a completely unrealistic way. This is a religion and should be treated with respect. Vodun simply does NOT work the way it is shown in this book.

Finally, the book is entirely too short, only 300 pages, to charge more than 15 dollars for, and it does not end, but rather just stops.

I cannot reccomend that anyone spend money on this book. I have only given it one star because this forum does not allow any lower rate.

The book was OK. It definitely would've benefitted by a rigorous editing pass, and I won't get into how disagreeable I found Merrick's habit of manipulating the men in her life with her beauty and magic, and the men standing by in dumb and mute appreciation (after all, not every character has to be likeable), and the apparent lack of motivation for some of Louis's actions and decisions in context with his backstory.

But Rice dropped tantalizing bits concerning the story I really WANT to read - the upcoming (I hope?) face-off between the mysterious Elders of the Talamasca and the new coven. In the Talamasca, Rice has created an entity of such rich fictional depth and promise, it is just aching for further exploration. "The Witching Hour" enthralled me, and is, I feel, her best and most fully realized work - I was so disappointed when I got to the end of the 900-some-page book, only to realize there was no more to read! :-)

I've long been a Rice fan, but I feel her work (and that of other 'famous' authors) can't help but be impacted in some way by the demands of popularity and celebrity. Imagine trying to pump out a book a year to satisfy rabid fans. These expectations are high enough. Then add to that touring to promote your previous book, the demands of "real life," etc. Who has time to think, plot and write ?

I guess what I'm saying is, I wish the publishing machine would give (or that Rice would demand/take) as much time as is needed - a couple of years? - to write the exquisitely insightful story that I so want to read, and that time has demonstrated is completely within Rice's abilities to produce.

We'll wait for you, Anne!

I love Anne Rice novels, I really do. I buy them the day they are released, and devour them immediately. But.....is it really worth publishing two per year, as the intent has been, to tell such undeveloped stories?

Merrick is the latest edition to the Vampire Novels already lined up on my bookshelves. I love the stories. But to weave so many plotlines into this book, and not develop them, or explore them, when the book ends with July, 99 as a finish date for this story? Over a year ago, and it is scarecely 300 pages long? Where are the glorious Anne Rice novels of old, Cry to Heaven, the Witching Hour, the Vampire Lestat. And it is not even a question of quantity versus quality, the ideas are wonderful, the developement is just not there any longer.

Merrick is Anne Rice's strongest heroine to date, definitely. I hope future novels will feature her again. This story is really wonderful, just not what it could be. And did anyone else notice on page 145 she refers to Matthew as Michael? Am I just a picky virgo??? Rice fans will love this, it is really good work, and worth the read. But please Anne-tell your publishers to pound sand, take a year, and write something up to what you used to give us, I miss it.

With "Merrick", Anne Rice promises to return us to the world of the Vampires and the Mayfair Witches. The combining of both supernatural worlds seems almost too good to resist. What a letdown. I had stopped reading her books after "Lasher" because I felt she was now writing at the mercy of a publishing schedule . The original allure that was in "Interview..." and "The Vampire Lestat" had been lost as she tried to get one book out a year and I felt the stories had become lackluster. Sadly that's how I felt about this novel as well. No one can deny that Rice is a wonderful writer, who illustrates her work with a sweeping romantic narrative, but I felt cheated here. The first hundred pages or so is almost nothing but recap from the previous novels as David Talbot introduces the title character. The promised Mayfair witches have a family relation to Merrick, but are only seen in one chapter of the book. The child vampire Claudia is used as a major plot point to propel the novel which felt old, and like an easy way out. Even Lestat seems like a hack, showing up in the last forty pages in what feels like a glorified cameo. I feel like she should put these characters to rest for a while and find a new subject to write about.I loved the early books and wanted to love this as well, and based on some of the other reviews I'm probably in the minority. However I can't say a book is good just because it contains characters I think were great.

I've loved every one of Anne's vampires and witch books from the beginning. She has the ability to take a concept we are used to and approach it from a different angle. Merrick, however, is good, but more of an extra chapter to the other witch/vampire books than a novel that stands on it's own. In other words, if this is the first book by Anne you're picking up, I recommend you start at the beginning with "Interview with a Vampire."

For those of you who are familiar with Anne's writing and style, Merrick is a witch related to the witches in "The Witching Hour," who comes into contact with the vampires in her other novels. Throughout all of her books, she has teased us with a cross-over and now she finally did it.

Is this a good book? I sigh and hesitate with this one. Yes, it's good, but only if you're a die-hard Rice fan and you want to know what's going to happen to Lestat and are curious about another encounter with Claudia (yes, there is another, this time with the help of a voodou witch by the name of Merrick.)

However, Anne isn't really up to par with how she wrote the first three vampire novels. Whereas I couldn't put down "Vampire Lestat" for the sheer fact that each passage was truly intriguing and I was dying to read what was going to happen next, "Merrick" can have it's dry moments. Unfortunately, this is what happens to excellent authors: their publishers give them complete creative control and don't recommend anything, such as editing, to spruce up what is already good. "Merrick" goes off on a tangent about history and backgrounds of characters that I'm sure we'll never see again and only concentrates on our heros and heroines only at the end. Of course, this isn't nearly as bad as "Violin," but better and a nice addition to the Vampire Chronicals.

If you're an avid reader of Rice, I think you'll like this addition. Plus, there is a cliffhanger ending that will make you anxious to read the next one in line. I'll give you a hint: The Talamasca is getting too pushy!

If you're a new reader to Rice, I recommend you start with the first. I used to say that you can completely skip "Interview with the Vampire," and go straight to "Vampire Lestat," but with this one, I think you should go begin with the first as well as read the Witch Chronicals. Playing catch-up will take time, but that is so you could identify with all of the characters by the time you get to this edition. Otherwise, you'll enjoy the other novels first and find this one good.

Overall, not a bad edition to the Rice collection. Could have been better, but seemed a novella stretched out to a novel.

Also, for those new readers starting out, here's the list in reading order:

(Vampire Chronicals) "Interview with a Vampire" "The Vampire Lestat" "Queen of the Damned" "Tale of the Body Thief" "Memnock the Devil" "Pandora" "The Vampire Armand"

(Mayfair Witch Chronicals) "The Witching Hour" "Lasher" "Taltos"

P.S., "Vittorio" stands on it's own as a vampire novel not related to the Vampire Chronicals, so don't bother.

One star is too many for this book.

Only a person completely indifferent to the characters of Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles would be able to stomach this drivel. Perhaps if the characterization had been better, or at all present, I wouldn't have wasted my money on something I'll dread to ever look at in the future. Her writing only becomes more and more eccentrique, as though with fame and ego inflation comes a disregard for her own creations. Lestat is portrayed as little more than a vampiric waterfountain, ordered hither and yon to give blood (as though being comatose for the past 2 - 3 books left a boundless supply of blood in his *vampiric* body). The gist of the story is about Merrick, who drinks more than she should and is an utterly boring, self-serving character whom everyone thinks is a godsend. Lack of development, plot holes galore, and less cash in your pocket are the only things left for a reader who purchases this book. May result in nausea and resentment for diehard Lestat, David, and/or Louis fans.