Favorite Anne Rice

I'm sure this has been talked about before but I want to refresh this topic and know how people feel about Anne Rice's writing and what your favorite Anne Rice books are and why. I know Rice has legions of fans as well as many detractors.

I first read Interview with the Vampire 20 years ago and recently reread it. I probably enjoyed it just as much the second time if not more as I was able to take a lot more from it and its themes now that I have more life experience.

I also recently read The Witching Hour and thought it was good overall but I much preferred Interview with the Vampire. I am currently reading The Vampire Armand and so far I am enjoying it(I'm about 190 pages in.) I know many people say you have to read the Vampire Chronicles in order but I am having no problems getting into or understanding Armand especially with all of the information that exists about Rice's novels and her characters on the internet.

I read Interview in the 80s and liked it well enough. For me The Vampire Lestat is the one. It turns everything in Interview on its head. Shortly after Pandora, or maybe Armand I quit the series. It got too ridiculous and Prince Lestat is a travesty.

One of my most jealously guarded books is a graphic novelization of Lestat -



All of the text comes directly from the novel and the artwork is pretty great. Anne Rice's The Vampire Lestat: The Graphic Novel

I've read two. I despised The Witching Hour. For a thousand pages I was led to believe the female lead was fully preparing herself and ready for the encounter - then he has her at hello? I guess it was to show how powerful he is, but it felt like reader betrayal.

Much more recently I've read Interview with the Vampire after it made the list of 501 Must-Read Books, thinking "I'll get this one over with." It was actually very good, and I might have carried on with the sequels had they followed Louis rather than Lestat.

Cecrow, I agree that Interview With The Vampire is an excellent must read for all lovers of good fiction and I also agree with you that Louis was the best character from Interview. Rice was able to portray the perfect tortured and sensitive vampire struggling with his evil vampire side with the Louis character.

As for The Witching Hour, I agree that the main female character (Rowan) was often annoying and her actions were disappointing. Her whole "Looking for Mr. Goodbar rape fantasy" portrayal was tedious to read but as far as her succumbing to the charms of Lasher, didn't she try and destroy Lasher with her mental killing power in the end but it failed? I haven't read the sequels to The Witching Hour yet so I don't know how her character is in those books but I feel that in The Witching Hour that Rice seemed to imply that Rowan had some tricks up her sleeve and was biding her time with Lasher until she could come up with a viable plan to outsmart him?

I thoroughly enjoyed The Witching Hour! Loved the imagery Rice presented of New Orleans from the earliest days to the modern times. I've been to New Orleans many times and love reliving it in her books. Enjoyed the Rowan vs. Lasher ride. The part when they discovered the jars upstairs was creepy. Powerful hoodoo! I thought it was suspenseful and entertaining.

Interview with the Vampire was awesome, the movie was fun but the book, of course, was better. I have started The Vampire Lestat several times, but it just doesn't intrigue me as the Interview with the Vampire did. May have to try again after reading a comment above.

Has anyone read Belinda by Anne Rice? What do you think of it?

I agree wit >3 Cecrow: and >4 seekingbooks3:. I really liked most of The witching hour, but I had hoped for more at the end. I've tried starting Lasher afterwards, but all of a sudden, the focus was completely different, transferred to what's-his-name-her-husband and some creepy little niece that weirded me out. I had the feeling we might be moving on from Rowan and that she might never get her moment, and I didn't like that at all.

I read Interview with the vampire, and I thought it was ok, but I didn't find it as compelling as The witching hour. I also read The wolf gift, which I enjoyed very much.

There are two books so far in her Christ The Lord series: Out of Egypt and The Road to Cana. I was enthralled by both. Anne Rice demonstrates here much familiarity with the work of Biblical history and scholarship. The characters in these novels are both deeply human and historically familiar. The stories unfold at a gripping pace, and the character of Jesus is a marvel. Bravo.

My favorite is Memnoch the Devil I loved her take on the creation story. But, lately I do not care for her writing at all. I did enjoy the vampire series as well as the Mayfair's...a little disappointed when they combined, but I guess it was expected.

There was a time when she was my favorite author.

I am a big fan of Anne Rice, or at least I was until she converted to Christianity - that deeply changed her writing approach and just didn't work for me as well.

I liked both the Vampire Chronicles and the Mayfair series, and I really enjoyed the crossover of the two, Blackwood Farm.

My favorites, though, are the stand-alones, especially The Mummy. Feast Of All Saints and Servant of the Bones are also good.

I read Exit To Eden, which quite convince me to avoid her other Rampling and Roquelaure excursions. It's just not for me.

Darth-Heather and everyone, as Anne explains in her autobiography Called out of Darkness, which is also an amazing read, she was born into a Roman Catholic family, baptized a Catholic, and was an active member of that faith until around age 20, while she was a university student. So Anne Rice never "converted" to Catholicism, she simply rediscovered that religion around the time of her husband's death.

>10 MaureenRoy: I thought it was after she recovered from her coma

She has given up all organized religion......again