Customer Reviews

The Vampire Armand

5 star:		(168)
4 star:		(86)
3 star:		(70)
2 star:		(52)
1 star:		(84)

 

 

Maybe it's because I'm kind of new to Anne Rice, but, by far, Armand is my most favorite character because of this book. It seems that most of the reviewers who didn't like this book were looking for a more "action" book (i.e. Queen of the Damned). Let's get this one straight, Armand is absolutely a different and very unique vampire even by, dare I say, Rice's standards. This is the kind of book you would read w/ your cup o' Java, not one that you'd expect to have all blood and glory. Armand seems like the ultimate brat prince but at the same time seems like a fragile angel teetering on the brink of oblivion, and in some parts of the book he falls in, but amazingly flys back up, reborn but still the eternal child. He's the fallen angel, but the only one worthy of Heaven. Rice, as always, is poetic in all her work and this book is no exception, she treats every detail as if it is a divine revelation. I say keep it up, her books just keep getting better and better, even if some of the things she writes aren't very agreeable to me, but at least I still respect her passion of HONEST expression. I don't think she even tries to sugar her novels up for the sake of readers. She writes what's in her heart (which is purely selfish) at that moment, and I praise her for it.

I read "Interview" 2 yrs ago, saw the movie & was fascinated with Armand's character. This book filled in all the gaps in Armand's personality, which the other Chronicles revealed here & there. The despair & abuse he suffered as a mortal boy explained his need for love from Lestat (TVL), his love-hate relationship with his Orthodox religion (Memnoch), his highly seductive courtship of Louis (IWV) from the development of his skills in summoning his victims. The beautiful May-December love affair between him & Marius, the only vampire making that ws made "out of love". I thought Louis was complex but Armand takes first place. Anne Rice handled his fall from his religious beliefs so well, (the church scenes in the Byzantine chapel & when Marius "makes" him, the entire flashback of his mortal life in Russia) and the florid fifteenth-century language she used added to the entire Renaissance feel of the book. A beautiful, dark and sensual story...I'm glad he finally found someone who loves him just for himself (Sybelle) Anne really dug deep into herself to plumb the questions of religious faith & all the dark despair of Armand's and her own heart. Now, I wait for "Blood & Gold" Marius' story!

I have always been a huge Anne Rice fan, but The Vampire Armand has convinced me that she needs the guidance of an editor. It's no small coincidence that her finest book is the one that employed the additional eye of an editor. There has, at least in my opinion, been a gradual decline in the quality of the books since Interview with the Vampire. Her ego is impeeding her work. A writer is not an editor. Love of their work will not give them the impartial view necessary to remove or modify those parts that just don't work. That's the problem with The Vampire Armand. Large parts of it just don't work. There's also a nagging tendency for the book to repeat itself over and over again. A very poor outing in my opinion.

This book tells the story of Armand, from his kidnapping from a Ukraine, via his initiation as a vampire, in Venice, to Paris and the Vampires' theatre, up to the present day. All of your Anne Rice favourites are here.

This book is less about plot, and more about the investigation of an important character, and of course, the usual pure indulgence in sensual delights. Armand has tried just about everything, including abstinence, and we get his take on all of it.

I've re-read this book, and it doesn't tire the second time round. There is so much detail, that there is always something new to appreciate. As historic fiction, this book is fascinating, because it takes you to unusual places. As fiction it is fun, because even minor characters get properly rendered.

If you have started to read Anne Rice and like it, then this book is a worthy successor to the rest of the series. I can't be sure how this book would read by itself - obviously it has spoilers for the other books, especially the first, but I think that it would stand well on its own.

Ok, let me say one thing. I have read some of the reviews that people wrote and I am disgusted at what they say about this novel. Honestly, the reader should know by now!

THis is Anne Rice and she writes about things that sometimes are meant to shock and stir the mind and thoughts process. I have to say that I did not find this book to be at all gross or sick as some people say that it is. Actually I find that I enjoy reading about the realationship between Armand and Marius. I wanted for them to stay together. Anyone who reads this will probably say that I have no morals becasue of that. Seriously, people, I am very sorry, but what is there to be so shocked about?

Our ancestors, the ancient Romans and Greeks all did this kind of thing on a daily basis, but suddenly it was considered a mortal sin and everyone shut their ears and eyes to that kind of thing. They treat it as if it was murder or something worse. In case you haven't noticed, Marius Romanus was a *roman*.


Honestly, grow up and open your mind to learn from the world around you. If you are so easily shocked, you must be a virgin to literature and you need to read and get out more. I am not saying that it's a must to do what Armand and MArius did together, but it adds a flavor to the writing.

Even for the most seemingly shocked reader, I know that deep down they enjoyed the play between Marius and Armand, even if it was just a little. They can deny it all they want and cover it up with moral crap, but I know that something must have been stirred. Maybe that is why they seem to dislike the book so much, because they don't like the little shiver they got from reading it. Or maybe they are just into typical, vanilla relatioships where everything is always the same. I know that I'm not.

I want to read something that is a little unusual, and I got it in the form of this novel. Armand is a sexy character, and let me remind the reader that he *enjoys* what Marius does to him. Even when Marius punishes him in that one hot scene, he loves it in the end and even says that he wants more.
If he hated when MArius kissed him and everything, if he felt disgusted with the vampire, THEN I wouldn't like the sexy scenes that much, though I would still think them interesting and perhaps just a little steamy.

How could Armand not like MArius? The vampire saved him, showed him kindness, fed him, gave him expensive clothes, let him explore life and all that humanity had to offer, and loved him on top of that. I think that this novel was wonderful, a plain delightful read and I recomend it to anyone who wants to explore human thoughts and feelings.

I don't understand all these reviewers that have said 'The Vampire Armand' is difficult to read and a struggle to get through. This is Anne Rice, not Doesteovsky for goodness sake. As juicy and exciting as 'Interview with a Vampire' and 'The Vampire Lestat' are, I don't see them as anything more than short, fluffy, and satisfying beach reads. And this book is no different.

But with that said, in my opinion, out of the six books in the Vampire Chronicle series, this one rates near the top. I would place it right behind 'The Vampire Lestat' and ahead of 'Queen of The Damned' for my favorite. I found the story to be very interesting and beautifully drawn out, the pacing was solid, and the prose was at times quite lyrical and beautiful. Armand has always been my favorite vampire. I think he is as complex as an Anne Rice character is bound to get and I could never have imagined the Vampire Chronicles without him. For many people, he's 'THE scene-stealer' of the series. For as long as I've been a fan of the books, the passages and subplots pertaining to him are the ones that I go back to and reread, time and time again.

Armand: The beautiful and vain monster with a face of an angel who used sex and seduction as a weapon and cruelty as his second nature, his constant back and forth stuggle between being a naive, needy, romantic-at-heart to a sadistic, vindictive, black-hearted murderer, his desperate need for comfort, companionship, and stability, his centuries as the leader of the Paris Coven/Theatre of Vampires, his love/hate, oftentimes violent/oftentimes touching relationship with Lestat, the obsessive and masochistic love he had for mortals and fellow vampires, the woe-is-me and intermittingly annoying, mischevious, playful, innocent, and childish persona... Everything about him is a contradiction, every part of his character is extreme. For those reasons I always found myself utterly intrigued by him. He is what a Vampire is to me, and I think he's an infinitely more interesting character than Lestat. While Lestat is a memorable and entertaining 'hero' of the series, I feel like Armand is the 'tragic hero'. He's the multidimensional one, the one that brings heart, conflict, mystery, and a sense of real humanity to the series. Say what you will about his overall importance as a character in The Chronicles, but you have to admit, he is, if nothing else, intriguing. There is just so much in his character and actions that could become fodder for a great novel.

Now, is the novel perfect? Of course not. The nitpickers will find more than a few anomalies with some of the details and linear storyline and most will probably wish that more was said about the Paris Coven and the Theatre (the two things most often associated with him). But in my opinion, this book, more or less, does deliver and it's everything that any fan of the Vampire Chronicles could wish for in a book about Armand.

And maybe I'm just 'weird', but I liked the homoerotic themes that went throughout the novel. The Vampire Chronicles to me is all about homoeroticism and (bi)sexuality, it's an intergral theme that connects the series and it's just as apparant in the other books, so I don't understand what all the complaints are for. If you don't have an issue with the homoeroticism in 'The Vampire Lestat' or 'The Queen of The Damned', you will not have problems with it in this book.

I see there is no option for 0 stars. I loved Pandora, it was hard to put down, but Armand is so hard to pick up! Enough sex already! That's all Armand did while he was alive! Pandora at least led an interesting life! Marius was a completely different person in Pandora. Who is this weirdo in Armand? Blah Blah Blah! Anne, I love you, but this sucked!

This book transcends bad. What can I say, it [was very weak]. The writing is dismal. There is no character development - there is character regression. The once great, engaging, tortured Armand is now a twerp.... And Marius, who used to be ruthless, powerful and subtle, is now a child-molesting Whiner. I remember while reading Interview for the first time some fifteen years ago imagining that I was interviewing Louie, and wondering how I'd react if I were in the presence of Lestat or Louie. Now, I know exactly what I'd do if I were in the presence of Marius and Armand. I'd slap Marius upside the head and make Armand finish the dishes....

Okay...I really don't know what to think, having read most of these reviews. All I can say is, I've been an Anne Rice fan for a few years now, I've read all of her books, sometimes two or three times each....and I'm attached to her characters. So maybe I'm biased, eh? Especially in reviewing a book about my Armand. Of course it's going to seem as if you've heard the story before, if you've read the other Chronicles, because you have. But that story was surface details narrated by other characters, and thusly open to warping by outside influence and point of views. In this book, you find out the "real" history behind one of the most enigmatic characters in the series, as narrated by the character himself. The imagery and emotion carried in the writing is intricate as woven lace. You feel like you're getting caught up in a web, that simply *must* be for real! That's what makes a book great, in my opinion; the feeling that it wasn't written by any one person, but that the story wrote itself. It also doesn't hurt that i'm obsessed with art history; this book is set in the Italy of the High Rennaisance period! Rice is a descpriptive master, and her characters have the depth of personality so as to make them seam as real and physical as you or me. As for the sexual connotations...come on! This is a book about VAMPIRES! by ANNE RICE! What did you *think* it would be about? A tea party and after school movies? ^_^ It's not an excuse "I didn't know it would be like that!" Yes you did! Of course you did! And if you just cannot approve of fictional characters doing fictional things that do not agree with your real world ethics and morals, too bad. Close your eyes. The rest of us will not miss you, and neither will Anne herself!

Initially, I was estatic to discover that Armand survived his suicidal attempt. And the story started out interesting enough. I could even tolerate the sexual themes. However, the things that ruined the story was the ENDLESS descriptions, ENDLESS history lessons, and wasted focus on boring Benji and Sybelle. I can pick up a History Book for a history lesson. And environmental/new character descriptions are fine as long as they don't overpower the plot or primary character(s). I desperately wanted more DIALOGUE, PLOT and a TIGHTER story. Also, what was wrong with Lestat? And what's with all the tears? Marius, Louis and the female vampires are not constantly crying like Lestat and Armand. I still love Armand - I just don't feel that Rice did him any justice in this book.