Memnoch the Devil

De: Anne Rice

Narrado por: Simon Vance

"Like Interview with the Vampire, Memnoch has a half-maddened, fever-pitch intensity. . . . Narrated by Rice's most cherished character, the vampire Lestat, Memnoch tells a tale as old as Scripture's legends and as modern as today's religious strife."(Rolling Stone)

"Sensual...bold, fast-paced." (USA Today)

"Rice has penned an ambitious close to this long-running series. . . . Fans will no doubt devour this."(The Washington Post Book World )

"[Memnoch] is one of Rice's most intriguing and sympathetic characters to date. . . . Rice ups the ante, taking Lestat where few writers have ventured: into heaven and hell itself. She carries it off in top form."(The Seattle Times)

©2014 Anne Rice; 2010 Random House Audio

One of my all time favorites!

Lestat's adventure through Heaven, Hell, and the story of Creation through an Angel's perspective. By far, it is a story you will never forget.

A Promethean view of the "deceiver".

The Ark Angel that always questions the status quo. The being with a sleepless mind, and an insatiable personality, our watcher Memnoch.

Amazing!

I've loved this book since I first read it, and I have read it many times since then. It is by far my favorite installment in the Vampire Chronicles, though Blackwood Farm is a close second. Experiencing it in this way brought an entirely new level of magic and wonder to this brilliant and compelling tale.

Felt like a filler

I was not impressed with this novel. I felt like Anne started to get bored or was forced to finish this story, either way the account of how Memnoch came to be, and how he happened to find Lestat.... I also find Lestat's questions infuriating, mainly because he finally gets the opportunity to have his questions answered and he still doubts and intettupts Memnoch repeatedly. It just made digesting the story for me though, like a badly cooked piece of steak.

Not my favorite in the series but still very good

I love this series if books but every time I come to this one I struggle. I had hoped that the narrative would push me through and it did. Over all a good book in the series and Simon was great.

Thought-Provoking And Fascinating

An incredible tale, albeit an off-focused side story about Lestat's encounter with the Devil. The story is quite fascinating with Rice's approach to the well-known Christian faith, as well as the origins of the Devil, taking a different and very convenient route to tell the story of creation while including a few other elements to tie in with the rest of the Vampire Chronicles. Memnoch, as one individual wrote, isn't so much a villain as he is a benevolent and misunderstood spirit, and his actions of trying to redeem the lost souls makes the reader wonder and ponder the details on the true meaning of the resurrection of Christ. The book also details how Rice's spirits came into being (such as Amel from The Queen of The Damned), and the significance of these spirits, laying down the foundation for the next books in the series.
The reason for the 4-Star rating is due to the sheer volume of the story being dedicated to Memnoch's point of view. It's a fascinating story, but I do feel like it would do better as a standalone tale for a different series of novels rather than what we had experienced with the series of origin stories earlier in the Vampire Chronicles (I.e., Interview with The Vampire, The Vampire Lestat, and Maharet and Mekare's origins in The Queen of The Damned). I would have enjoyed a bit more mystery, as Rice's books tend to leave me on the edge of my seat in anticipation. I do enjoy Simon Vance's voice-overs he provides for the characters, although at times I do feel the emotion doesn't quite match the characters in question. Still an incredible performance, and being someone who enjoys doing voice-overs myself, I can appreciate the effort put into making distinct voices for each of the characters.

The bottom line: Great book, great story, perfect lore to add to the growing series and providing additional structure for the series as a whole as it nearly approached its 20th anniversary. It can be summarised in less than five minutes, but I can honestly encourage reading it with an open mind. Content-wise, we don't necessarily get anything new, but think of it like an instruction manual for your car: You don't "need" it, but you'll be glad that you did when the situation arises. :)

rice does it again!

building her revised version of paradise lost, ANNE rice does a tremendous job of showing the humanity of lestat in an epic tale of legendary acts. A unique paradox.

Terrible voice.

I could have stood this if it weren’t read in a voice like Dracula. I may be partial to the narrator of the first two. But, Christ. Lestat is not Dracula.
Come on Anne. You coulda chose better.

An interesting Vampire Chronicles continuation

I was sooooo excited to begin reading this one. I enjoyed the story but let me just say- the ending disappointed me. There was A LOT of religious stuff mentioned in here which is fine, but sometimes it almost felt… I don’t know, forced in some way? The ending seems really FINAL without much to leave in the hands of mystery. Still, I quite enjoyed this book and the insane adventure it took me down.

The Narrations

Loved every part of this novel, I'm a fan of Anne Rice's Lestat, and all of her books she has written