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| Author |
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brandon
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Rice's Vampires
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Aug 3 03:16 UTC 1991 |
I didn't want to put this in the book item because it would cause major
drift.
Can anyone tell me what all the fuss about Anne Rice is? Her books wind up as
best-sellers but Rice suffers from the idea-writer's syndrome - she has som
really good ideas but very, very poor execution. I read the vampire books
solely because everyone kept saying how good *Queen of the Damned* is and
you had to read the first two books to understand it.
I suffered terribly through *Interview with a Vampire.* I held my breath
and plunged through *The Vampire Lestat.* *Queen of the Damned* was definite-
ly not worth the torture.
Rice's characters are stereotyped stick figures of homosexuals (notice how
all her male vampires are gay?). Lestat loved only his mother. Louis was a
fairy. Marius liked little boys. Armand was the sensual, seductive teen-
ager. Nicholas was the sensitive artist.
I couldn't find much of a plot thread, either. Were we supposed to wonder
who They Who Must Be Kept are? I didn't really care. Or was Lestat supposed
to come to grips with himself as a vampire? He did it awfully quickly.
If you read and enjoyed the vampire books, why? What did you like? Why does
everyone call them so wonderful?
(Oh, yeah - her husband's poetry sucks pondwater. I'm willing to bet she
uses it in her novels because it won't get published anywhere else.)
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| 47 responses total. |
mcnally
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response 1 of 47:
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Aug 3 08:37 UTC 1991 |
I never quite got the point, either, but then I couldn't even force
myself through "Interview With a Vampire" to make it to "The Vampire
Lestat" (which was the one everyone was gushing over at the time, since
"Queen of the Damned" wasn't around yet.) It's always puzzled me since
I read it on the recommendation of more than one friend with otherwise
decent taste in books. It must be a completely hit or miss thing.
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mythago
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response 2 of 47:
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Aug 3 14:44 UTC 1991 |
+Who+ said _Queen_ was good? It was the worst book of the three. +Lestat+
was the best one, actually.
I didn't get the idea that the vampires were stereotyped homosexuals.
They weren't exceptionally into sex at any rate. It seemed that there
(sorry, their) attraction to children was more narcissistic than sexual.
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mew
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response 3 of 47:
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Aug 4 18:14 UTC 1991 |
I haven't read them sorry. A series of vampire books I really like
is Chelsie Quinn Yarborough's St. Germain stories. They are
interesting, well written and historically accurate. Also St. Germain
is wonderfully charming and sexy as vampires go. ;-)
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jiffy
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response 4 of 47:
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Aug 4 18:39 UTC 1991 |
Another one that I have enjoyed a lot was Barbara Hambly's book
_Those Who Hunt The Night_. It's got an interesting principle on
Vampirism in it.
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tocohl
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response 5 of 47:
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Aug 4 21:25 UTC 1991 |
I'm not too crazy about the books, myself, and I would even disagree that
she has some really good ideas. Rice is so popular that she has taken to
writing what the public wants to hear and not what she wants to write.
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hawkeye
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response 6 of 47:
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Aug 5 15:43 UTC 1991 |
Didn't like "Interview...". I thought I must have been in a bad mood
because of all these other people that liked it. Read "Lestat" and
disliked that as well. Never will read "Queen..." or any other Rice
book now.
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mythago
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response 7 of 47:
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Aug 6 13:40 UTC 1991 |
Her B&D novels (written under A.N. Roquelare) were OK; much different
tone and writing style than the vampire books. _The Feast of All
Saints_ isn't bad either.
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popcorn
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response 8 of 47:
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Aug 8 02:51 UTC 1991 |
This response has been erased.
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mcnally
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response 9 of 47:
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Aug 8 03:03 UTC 1991 |
There might be.. I was never able to finish a Thomas Covenant book
either. I think that was just because Donaldson's writing was dull.
But that's flame bait for another item..
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hawkeye
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response 10 of 47:
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Aug 8 15:22 UTC 1991 |
Huh. I read (and enjoyed) *both* Thomas Covenant series. One bad data
point for your correlation, Val...
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mcnally
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response 11 of 47:
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Aug 8 20:38 UTC 1991 |
(that's ok, he's on the outside edge of the spread.. you can discard him.)
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bad
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response 12 of 47:
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Aug 8 20:56 UTC 1991 |
Steve Maser or Steve Donaldson?
I liked the Covenant books okay.
Can't imagine I'd be able to stand the Rice books. I think I browsed one and
said "Ugh".
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mythago
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response 13 of 47:
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Aug 9 18:48 UTC 1991 |
Skip _Lord Foul's Bane_ and the other Covenant books are OK.
I don't remember the titles of her 'erotic' novels..._Beauty's Punishment_
was one, I think. They were OK if you like that sort of thing.
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arthur
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response 14 of 47:
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Aug 9 22:07 UTC 1991 |
Hmmm. I didn't like the Thos. Covenant (I read through two and
a half volumes of self-pitying whining, and got disgusted), and
I wasn't very impressed with Anne Rice's vampires. I think I
see why some nihilists might like them, though.
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mcnally
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response 15 of 47:
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Aug 10 00:28 UTC 1991 |
Rice also wrote some books under the name "Anne Rampling". I don't know
if they're any good, but I tend to doubt it because they suffer from Bachman's
Syndrome. (popular author has old book, written under another name, that
doesn't sell until it's re-released with their name on it, presumably because
it's as bad as or worse than their other work...) ("Richard Bachman" is a
Stephen King pseudonym.)
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ecl
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response 16 of 47:
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Aug 12 06:36 UTC 1991 |
The only Vampire book I've read was "Dracula"
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arthur
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response 17 of 47:
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Aug 27 00:52 UTC 1991 |
I decided to pick up the Mordant's Need series, in spite of
my dislike of Thos. Covenant. And I actually enjoyed them, although
I figured out why I hated that series -- the protagonists are
drifting through the adventure. It was bad enough for the first
book of Mordant's Need, and the protagonist wasn't nearly as
repulsive.
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mythago
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response 18 of 47:
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Aug 30 12:07 UTC 1991 |
Well, the protagonist was a borderline schizophrenic--it's not surprising
that reading THE MIRROR OF HER DREAMS makes you want to jump up and down
on the book and scream "Get your brain out of your nipples, bitch!"
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steve
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response 19 of 47:
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Sep 15 16:49 UTC 1991 |
I've just finished all three of Rice's vampire books; Glenda was right
behind me, and Marcus just got them from us. Perhaps its time to resurect
the discussion. I didn't quite agree with some of the earlier comments, and
not that they're fresh in my head, I'll put something in a bit later. But
let me say now that I think they are an incredible peice of work: she has
redefined the concept of vampire, for my way of thinking. After I download
the earlier stuff I can respond to it...
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danr
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response 20 of 47:
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Sep 15 23:55 UTC 1991 |
It's been a while since I read them, but I liked them, too.
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mythago
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response 21 of 47:
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Sep 16 16:29 UTC 1991 |
I just finished +Cry to Heaven+, an interesting book about castrati. Not
bad, though I thought it was a little thin and left a number of characters
very two-dimensional. +The Feast of All Saints+ was much better.
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arabella
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response 22 of 47:
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Sep 27 19:49 UTC 1991 |
Who was the author of the book on castrati, Laurel?
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mythago
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response 23 of 47:
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Sep 28 14:14 UTC 1991 |
Anne Rice.
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lnf
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response 24 of 47:
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Jul 5 19:32 UTC 1992 |
reponse to # 8 & 9 and a couple others
the t covenant unbelieverw were whiners and i read both sets, but lost interst
in the 2nd set, but i do wear a white gold ring and had my fingers amputated
just for fun. ann rice had a good book i liked, never read the vampires but
did like the witching hour, now maybe i'll move to new orleans, and
vampires are cool if you can get past blood breath. how about the new batman
comic "red rain" batman vs drac. guess who can't stand light of day in the end,
but like they say not all vampires are bad
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