Status
Available
Publication
Knopf (2000), Edition: Book Club (BCE/BOMC), 320 pages
Description
Fantasy. Fiction. Horror. Thriller. HTML: In this mesmerizing new novel, Anne Rice demonstrates once again her gift for spellbinding storytelling and the creation of myth and magic, as she weaves together two of her most compelling worlds? those of the Vampire Chronicles and the Mayfair witches. From the Paperback edition..
User reviews
LibraryThing member sdtaylor555
A pretty good read. Not my favorite but i did enjoy it. You don't have to read the Mayfair chronicles to understand this, but I strongly recomend that you read them!!
LibraryThing member lecari
After being a fan of the first three of the Vampire chronicles and having some spare time on my hands, I thought that I'd give this one, 'Merrick', a go. I was terribly disappointed by the Tale of the Body Thief (dull) and by Memnoch the Devil (too religious), but thought I'd give this one a try
The majority of the book is David explaining to Louis how he came to meet Merrick, her family history, and their history. Interesting enough, I suppose, but I felt that it just went into too much detail. I personally wanted to find out what happened to Louis and I wasn't really interested in the character of Merrick - although a sad story, I just couldn't relate or sympathise with her. I wasn't endeared to Merrick at all by the end of it - I was surprised that Louis, David and Lestat were so happy to welcome her into the group without question! I know I certainly wouldn't have. The ending didn't sit well with me. I did enjoy parts of it, which is more than I can say for the last 2 I read, but I did find myself skipping through paragraphs that were just irrelevant. Worth a read if you're a fan of Louis, but not, in my opinion, worth going out of your way to read otherwise.
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anyway. Unfortunately, it didn't quite manage to renew it's former magic. The majority of the book is David explaining to Louis how he came to meet Merrick, her family history, and their history. Interesting enough, I suppose, but I felt that it just went into too much detail. I personally wanted to find out what happened to Louis and I wasn't really interested in the character of Merrick - although a sad story, I just couldn't relate or sympathise with her. I wasn't endeared to Merrick at all by the end of it - I was surprised that Louis, David and Lestat were so happy to welcome her into the group without question! I know I certainly wouldn't have. The ending didn't sit well with me. I did enjoy parts of it, which is more than I can say for the last 2 I read, but I did find myself skipping through paragraphs that were just irrelevant. Worth a read if you're a fan of Louis, but not, in my opinion, worth going out of your way to read otherwise.
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LibraryThing member emanate28
The only thing I liked about it was I got to read about Louis :)
LibraryThing member w1cked
This is my favorite of the vampire chronicles because the reader experiences Merrick's tumutltuous relationship with Pandora. He truly loves her, but since he had to betray her and follow his Queen's orders, they're relationship is vulnerable and full of deceit and lies. The counterpart to this
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book, 'Pandora' is pretty good, too. Show Less
LibraryThing member justine
Bringing together the vampires,the witches, and the gens de coleur with a really good central character, Merrick.
LibraryThing member ragwaine
SPOILERS BELOW
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Lestat wakes up, Louie tries suicide, and Merrick becomes a vampire. Good writing, but not a lot happened.
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Lestat wakes up, Louie tries suicide, and Merrick becomes a vampire. Good writing, but not a lot happened.
LibraryThing member surreality
Plot: The usual Vampire Chronicles setup of a character narrating his or her life. Very slow-moving, with odd side stories that don't always make sense when connected with the main story. The central story doesn't really go anywhere for two thirds of the book. The ending doesn't fit the rest of the
Characters: Old characters are collectively assassinated. There's not a single character from past books who survives unscathed and who still is recognizable. The central character is new, and so incredibly irritating in her perfection and carefully chosen flaws. Characterization, for her, doesn't happen beyond all males lusting after her.
Style: Too many words. Far too many words. The description weighs down the narrative to a point where you can skip pages without missing any action or dialogue. Motifs are repeated so often that it gets boring very quickly. Punctuation is erratic, as is grammar on occasion. Sentences have a tendency to run on over entire paragraphs.
Plus: Some more background on the Talamasca.
Minus: Almost everything about the book. Boring story, irritating main character, a plot that is missing in action most of the time, horrible style. Established characters are twisted beyond recognition.
Summary: It's downright terrible.
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book (or the series, for that matter) and is very, very clearly a setup for the next books. Characters: Old characters are collectively assassinated. There's not a single character from past books who survives unscathed and who still is recognizable. The central character is new, and so incredibly irritating in her perfection and carefully chosen flaws. Characterization, for her, doesn't happen beyond all males lusting after her.
Style: Too many words. Far too many words. The description weighs down the narrative to a point where you can skip pages without missing any action or dialogue. Motifs are repeated so often that it gets boring very quickly. Punctuation is erratic, as is grammar on occasion. Sentences have a tendency to run on over entire paragraphs.
Plus: Some more background on the Talamasca.
Minus: Almost everything about the book. Boring story, irritating main character, a plot that is missing in action most of the time, horrible style. Established characters are twisted beyond recognition.
Summary: It's downright terrible.
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LibraryThing member thioviolight
It's been a while since I last read Anne Rice, particularly The Vampire Chronicles, and it was nice to revisit old friends. I'm not a big fan of David Talbot though and much prefer Lestat's voice, so this wasn't as great as the previous books for me. Still, it's a well-told story, and Rice once
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again amazes with her eye for details. It was also interesting to see vampires and witches side by side. Show Less
LibraryThing member margarethdane141516
I didn't even finish this book. And that's a first time for me. I just can't understand it. It's too confusing. And besides, I find it weird that David finds Louis attractive and beautiful. I mean, their both guys. But I'm not saying that David is gay. It's just, well, weird. I guess the reason I
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didn't understand it is because I haven't read anne rice books before this. This book literally gave me a headache. Show Less
LibraryThing member EmScape
In the latest tale of the Vampires, Louis is consumed by an obsession to call the spirit of Claudia, so David seeks out a member of the Talamasca who might be capable of doing so. Even though we have not heard of her before, David shares a long history with Merrick, which he relates to us here.
This book seems more like a bridge between two tales than a story that can stand alone. One must be completely familiar with the characters and their history to really appreciate this adventure. It was worth reading, I think, if one intends to continue to read the chronicles, but not for its own merit. Ultimately, my opinion is "meh."
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They even go on a trek through the South American Rainforest!This book seems more like a bridge between two tales than a story that can stand alone. One must be completely familiar with the characters and their history to really appreciate this adventure. It was worth reading, I think, if one intends to continue to read the chronicles, but not for its own merit. Ultimately, my opinion is "meh."
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LibraryThing member jedisluzer
I didn't like the ending. I did not think it made sense for Merrick's character, and came out of left field.
LibraryThing member Aerow
This is one of my favorite books in the series. Anne pulls in characters from the Mayfair family and introduces you to even more. You get pulled back into New Orleans, Latin America, voodoo, and all sorts of other treats.
LibraryThing member Anagarika-Sean
This was okay. Mrs. Rice combined different supernatural elements quite well.
LibraryThing member comixminx
Bought at work from the 10p bookswap shelves - the only way I can bring myself to read any of AR's books, and even then I'm regretting it already. Several years back I deaccessioned all of the Rice books on my shelves; they'd gone from being a fun read to a guilty pleasure to one that made me feel
It's not all that bad, no, but it isn't well written. In its defence, I liked the face that the kind of magic brought into this story was specifically American-continent - Brazilian Candomblé, Mesoamerican Mayan shamanism. But she doesn't do anything with it, once she's got a couple of exciting scenes out of the way, and achieved a MacGuffin. I also rather liked (as well as being a bit annoyed by) the uncertainty of whether the central witch character was going to end up having a negative effect despite the positive spin she was given from the start - a bit like Rowan Mayfair having been set up as the main heroine but actually bringing disaster to her nearest and dearest. The actual ending was pants though.
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more nauseous than guilty. I only bought this one because, I dunno, I'm short of books to read due to lots of ours having been in storage for ages, and why not give this a go, can't be all that bad, can it?It's not all that bad, no, but it isn't well written. In its defence, I liked the face that the kind of magic brought into this story was specifically American-continent - Brazilian Candomblé, Mesoamerican Mayan shamanism. But she doesn't do anything with it, once she's got a couple of exciting scenes out of the way, and achieved a MacGuffin. I also rather liked (as well as being a bit annoyed by) the uncertainty of whether the central witch character was going to end up having a negative effect despite the positive spin she was given from the start - a bit like Rowan Mayfair having been set up as the main heroine but actually bringing disaster to her nearest and dearest. The actual ending was pants though.
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LibraryThing member csweder
Finally the Mayfair family and the vampires are combined and brought together. While reading of the Mayfair witches isn't necessary to read and understand this book, that series is so good, why wouldn't you?
This is a tale of ghosts, vampiric death, spirits, voodoo, and love. Good fun!
This is a tale of ghosts, vampiric death, spirits, voodoo, and love. Good fun!
LibraryThing member csweder
Finally the Mayfair family and the vampires are combined and brought together. While reading of the Mayfair witches isn't necessary to read and understand this book, that series is so good, why wouldn't you?
This is a tale of ghosts, vampiric death, spirits, voodoo, and love. Good fun!
This is a tale of ghosts, vampiric death, spirits, voodoo, and love. Good fun!
LibraryThing member KRaySaulis
I related a lot to Merrick and David's relationship. I really enjoyed this book, though not as much as I've enjoyed some of her others.
LibraryThing member Schlyne
Absolutely hated this book. After this I stopped buying Anne Rice's novels. I still read them from time to time, but I definitely don't buy them. I should not be able to figure out the plot before I'm halfway through the novel!
LibraryThing member turtlesleap
Oh Dear. They just keep on getting worse.
LibraryThing member SumisBooks
Pretty good read. Much better than the last book. Pretty decent story. Well written.
LibraryThing member adaorhell
as always, I love little mixed witches and their demons.
LibraryThing member wb4ever1
I picked up MERRICK, officially the 7th book in Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles, with some high expectations, mainly because I have just waded through her three epics about the Mayfair witches, and I was looking forward to getting back to her blood suckers, a group I much prefer. I found the
On the plus side, at just under 400 pages, MERRICK is a relatively quick read, and mercifully free of the excessive verbal padding that made the Mayfair books so long. But that doesn’t mean we do not get a couple of chapters where someone sits around and recounts a long adventure from the past, giving us a ton of back story. This is one of Rice’s most reliable tropes. I’m sure I was not the only one who was disappointed that Lestat was not front and center in this book, and that he didn’t interact with Rowan Mayfair, the central character of the other series. The main POV character in MERRICK is David Talbot, the former elderly member of the Talamasca whose soul now resides in the body of a youthful vampire. David has been a prominent supporting character in most of the recent Vampire Chronicle volumes. The other principles are the angst and guilt ridden Louis, the POV character from the original INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE, and Merrick Mayfair, a biracial member of the witching clan, and a powerful witch in her own right. Merrick, who has little or no contact with the rest of the extended family, has been a member of the Talamasca (secret group of observers and documenters of the supernatural) since her early years, having been recruited by the then still human David. The plot turns on Louis, who is desperate to contact the spirit of Claudia, the vampire child sired by Lestat back in the antebellum South, whom he loved, and conspired with against their maker. As faithful Rice readers know, Claudia came to a bad end, and Louis wants to know if she is at rest, or in torment as an earthbound spirit. David turns to Merrick for help with Louis’s problem, and she is more than happy to oblige them. But does Merrick have her own agenda, and is she manipulating both vampires for her own ends?
MERRICK is heavy on creepy atmosphere, there are severed limbs, and plenty of blood; Rice is always on a sure footing when New Orleans is the setting for a book, and this one has a great side trip to the Mayan temples in Central America, where the spirits abound. I liked the sight of Louis besotted with Merrick like a love sick puppy, a real, and welcome departure for the whining vampire of previous books, even if it is not through honest means. But for a book featuring vampires, witches, and ghosts, I expected more, and I thought the last 50 pages were building toward a gut punch of an ending, something Rice has done well in other books, only to be let down. As usual, Anne Rice never meets an adjective she doesn’t love, and we get detailed descriptions of homes, furniture, and clothes, not to mention constant reminders of the physical beauty of all these supernatural creatures. Lestat does show up late in the book, but I think at the time she wrote this (the late ‘90s), Rice was kind of out of gas when it came to her most favorite creation.
All in all, I found MERRICK to be a decent potboiler, one that didn’t always exploit some of the elements of its plot more fully – I would have liked to see more of ghost Claudia. A lot of reviewers either loved the book, or hated it, but I come down solid in the middle. It helps a lot if you were a big fan of both Anne Rice’s vampire books and the Mayfair witches. Anyway, I am going to progress onward to the next installment in the Vampire Chronicles. Hopefully, we’ll get that long promised TV adaptation sometime soon.
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Mayfair series to be consistently overwritten, and often sluggish, heavy laden with detail and back story, causing the reader to plow through a lot of pages in order to get to the story. I am no prude, but much of the sexual content of the Mayfair books left a bad taste. So, if I was happy to again be in the company of Lestat and his fellow blood drinkers, it came with some trepidation, because MERRICK was a crossover, where Rice’s two fictional worlds, one of witches, the other, of vampires, would meet.On the plus side, at just under 400 pages, MERRICK is a relatively quick read, and mercifully free of the excessive verbal padding that made the Mayfair books so long. But that doesn’t mean we do not get a couple of chapters where someone sits around and recounts a long adventure from the past, giving us a ton of back story. This is one of Rice’s most reliable tropes. I’m sure I was not the only one who was disappointed that Lestat was not front and center in this book, and that he didn’t interact with Rowan Mayfair, the central character of the other series. The main POV character in MERRICK is David Talbot, the former elderly member of the Talamasca whose soul now resides in the body of a youthful vampire. David has been a prominent supporting character in most of the recent Vampire Chronicle volumes. The other principles are the angst and guilt ridden Louis, the POV character from the original INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE, and Merrick Mayfair, a biracial member of the witching clan, and a powerful witch in her own right. Merrick, who has little or no contact with the rest of the extended family, has been a member of the Talamasca (secret group of observers and documenters of the supernatural) since her early years, having been recruited by the then still human David. The plot turns on Louis, who is desperate to contact the spirit of Claudia, the vampire child sired by Lestat back in the antebellum South, whom he loved, and conspired with against their maker. As faithful Rice readers know, Claudia came to a bad end, and Louis wants to know if she is at rest, or in torment as an earthbound spirit. David turns to Merrick for help with Louis’s problem, and she is more than happy to oblige them. But does Merrick have her own agenda, and is she manipulating both vampires for her own ends?
MERRICK is heavy on creepy atmosphere, there are severed limbs, and plenty of blood; Rice is always on a sure footing when New Orleans is the setting for a book, and this one has a great side trip to the Mayan temples in Central America, where the spirits abound. I liked the sight of Louis besotted with Merrick like a love sick puppy, a real, and welcome departure for the whining vampire of previous books, even if it is not through honest means. But for a book featuring vampires, witches, and ghosts, I expected more, and I thought the last 50 pages were building toward a gut punch of an ending, something Rice has done well in other books, only to be let down. As usual, Anne Rice never meets an adjective she doesn’t love, and we get detailed descriptions of homes, furniture, and clothes, not to mention constant reminders of the physical beauty of all these supernatural creatures. Lestat does show up late in the book, but I think at the time she wrote this (the late ‘90s), Rice was kind of out of gas when it came to her most favorite creation.
All in all, I found MERRICK to be a decent potboiler, one that didn’t always exploit some of the elements of its plot more fully – I would have liked to see more of ghost Claudia. A lot of reviewers either loved the book, or hated it, but I come down solid in the middle. It helps a lot if you were a big fan of both Anne Rice’s vampire books and the Mayfair witches. Anyway, I am going to progress onward to the next installment in the Vampire Chronicles. Hopefully, we’ll get that long promised TV adaptation sometime soon.
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Subjects
Language
Original publication date
2000-10-17
Physical description
320 p.; 9.3 inches
ISBN
0679454489 / 9780679454489
Local notes
fiction