The Vampire Armand (The Vampire Chronicles) Book 6
by Anne Rice
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Book Summary Information
Author: Anne RiceEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2000-10-03
ISBN: 0345434803
Number of pages: 457
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Book Reviews of The Vampire Armand (The Vampire Chronicles) Book 6
Book Review: Dark, But Heart Breakingly So
Summary: 5 Stars
I can't tell you how deeply disappointed I am that there are so many negative reviews about this book!
For those of you that are thinking of reading this at random or after seeing the movies I would recommend reading a few of the other books first, this is not a book to begin with by any means as it involves some other tie in's with previous Anne Rice works.
Yes, this book can be a difficult read emotionally. Armand's story opens with him being raped on board a ship where he will be taken to Kiev, sold again to a brothel in Venice. When he arrives he refuses to sleep with customers and is beaten, molested (but not actually forced into any sexual acts) then thrown into a room to presumably die by starvation and dehydration. Armand makes an iron vow at this point to not eat or move untill he is dead, which goes to show just what this young boy is made of.
Fortunately he is rescued by the mysterious Marius whom Anne has previously described in her other books as once having been in a relationship with Armand, but was never discussed in depth. Such begins the sexual relationship between the two. However the erotic parts are not as detailed as one would be led to believe by some reviews. Rice tastefully uses sex as a way of expressing love between two CONSENTING partners who are very much in love at the time. Also, while there *is* an age difference between the two, it's not as great as one is led to belive and even then Armand's age does not play a part in why Marius recieves sexuall pleasure in being with Armand. I was also disappointed to see that the readers who were the most turned off by this never finished the book because there are quite a number of seens where Armand has sex with women as well.
The hardest part of this book can easily be when Armand is kidnapped a second time and brutally tortured to the point where Rice describes him as having lost his mind. He sings and mutters to himself, rocks back and forth, goes into rages and goes through hell in general. But I found all of this wonderful in a heartbreaking way as it beautifully illustrates Armand's fall from the grace of Venice to the cult to finally the most horrible position beneath the crypts in Paris.
Yes, the writing is lengthy and descriptive, but no more so than in any of Rice's other works and I actually found this book to be a high point in the new series.
Fans of Claudia and Interview will be pleased to note that, while it is indeed *very* short Armand gives us a bone chilling look into the child vampire's last moments at his hand describing some of the most macabre and bizarre torture/surgery operations that Rice has ever bothered telling.
Overall this book is in Rice's own words, one of significant religious meaning. It reflects the author's own dilemma as well as many a reader's of where do the decadence of modern life meet with religion? What happens to the soul? Are all beliefs the same as long as they are based on love? Love and God play a major role in this book, making it one of the most darkest works by Anne Rice when discussing the subject.
My only negative comment on this entire book is the ending. Not because it wasn't a good one, but perhaps because it was too good. It says great things about an author when an ending makes one hurl the book down in a rage and start crying and weeping, which is just what I did. I found the ending on this book to be so gut wrenching that even after all these years when I think of it I still feel deeply and profoundly moved to anger and tears.
A must read.
Summary of The Vampire Armand (The Vampire Chronicles) Book 6
See the difference, read #1 bestselling author Anne Rice in Large Print* About Large Print
All Random House Large Print editions are published in a 16-point typeface
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.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
In The Vampire Armand, Anne Rice returns to her indomitable Vampire Chronicles and recaptures the gothic horror and delight she first explored in her classic tale Interview with the Vampire (in which Armand, played by Antonio Banderas in the film version, made his first appearance as director of the Théâtre des Vampires).
The story begins in the aftermath of Memnoch the Devil. Vampires from all over the globe have gathered around Lestat, who lies prostrate on the floor of a cathedral. Dead? In a coma? As Armand reflects on Lestat's condition, he is drawn by David Talbot to tell the story of his own life. The narrative abruptly rushes back to 15th-century Constantinople, and the Armand of the present recounts the fragmented memories of his childhood abduction from Kiev. Eventually, he is sold to a Venetian artist (and vampire), Marius. Rice revels in descriptions of the sensual relationship between the young and still-mortal Armand and his vampiric mentor. But when Armand is finally transformed, the tone of the book dramatically shifts. Raw and sexually explicit scenes are displaced by Armand's introspective quest for a union of his Russian Orthodox childhood, his hedonistic life with Marius, and his newly acquired immortality. These final chapters remind one of the archetypal significance of Rice's vampires; at their best, Armand, Lestat, and Marius offer keen insights into the most human of concerns.
The Vampire Armand is richly intertextual; readers will relish the retelling of critical events from Lestat and Louis's narratives. Nevertheless, the novel is very much Armand's own tragic tale. Rice deftly integrates the necessary back-story for new readers to enter her epic series, and the introduction of a few new voices adds a fresh perspective--and the promise of provocative future installments. --Patrick O'Kelley
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