The Vampire Armand: Summary and book reviews of The Vampire Armand by Anne Rice, plus links to an excerpt from The Vampire Armand and a biography of Anne Rice.
The Vampire Armand The Vampire Chronicles
by Anne Rice
Hardcover: Oct 1998,
387 pages.
Paperback: Sep 1999,
397 pages.
In the latest installment of The Vampire Chronicles, Anne Rice summons up dazzling worlds to bring us the story of Armand - eternally young, with the face of a Botticelli angel. Armand, who first appeared in all his dark glory more than twenty years ago in the now-classic Interview with the Vampire, the first of The Vampire Chronicles, the novel that established its author worldwide as a magnificent storyteller and creator of magical realms.
Now, we go with Armand across the centuries to the Kiev Rus of his boyhood--a ruined city under Mongol dominion--and to ancient Constantinople, where Tartar raiders sell him into slavery. And in a magnificent palazzo in the Venice of the Renaissance we see him emotionally and intellectually in thrall to the great vampire Marius, who masquerades among humankind as a mysterious, reclusive painter and who will bestow upon Armand the gift of vampiric blood.
As the novel races to its climax, moving through scenes of luxury and elegance, of ambush, fire, and devil worship to nineteenth-century Paris and today's New Orleans, we see its eternally vulnerable and romantic hero forced to choose between his twilight immortality and the salvation of his immortal soul.
BOOK REVIEWS
Media Reviews
Publishers Weekly
Fantasy's great advantage is that authors can make anything happen even rewriting their own stories, as Rice does here. Readers of her 1995 novel, Memnoch the Devil, will recall that the vampire Armand ended his existence by stepping into the sun. Since he was a popular character from earlier tales, a resounding protest from fans followed. In response, Rice concocted a way in this, her seventh Vampire Chronicle since Interview with the Vampire<.i> (1976), to raise Armand from the dead. He is, in fact, the narrator of this story, in which he looks back on his earthly existence.
Booklist - Kathleen Hughes
Rice returns to the gothic simplicity of Interview with a Vampire in her latest Vampire Chronicles installment. An especially memorable figure from Interview, the eternally young and beautiful Armand, here tells the tale of his long, tortured life.....As always, Rice paints a fascinating and dazzling historical tapestry, providing a beautifully written and incredibly absorbing tale. Documenting the eternal struggle between man and God, and faith and despair, this novel for the most part stays away from the sf-fantasy tone of recent Rice works.
The New York Times Book Review
. .[T]he end of this uneven but enjoyable story is surely only the prelude to another. Stay tuned.
Recent Reader Reviews
Rated of 5
by noor breath-taking "The Vampire Armand" is my absolute favorite Anne Rice book. It is simply magical, touching, exciting, deep, wise, unforgettable. You can't help but fall in love with Armand, the forever young, beautiful and tragic hero of the story. Armand and his... Read More
Rated of 5
by Larious Valarian Zineheart
Greetings friends, i adore the books by Madam Ann Rice they are wonderfully detailed, the pictures that form in your head are amazing. keep up the good work my lady you are adored by many even the true damned ones like my self. V
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Booklist - Kathleen Hughes
of 5
by noor
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