Violin by Anne Rice

First impression

I bought this book one day when I found myself without a book (I know, the horror) but it took me a while to re start it. I have only read 5 books from the Vampire Chronicles (the first 4 and then Merrick without knowing it made part of the same series) but in general I've liked Rice's style so I figure, why not. The truth is, as I finished this book I was left with a disappointing feeling. I enjoyed the idea of using music (such beautiful music) but I never managed to really get into this story.

Final thoughts

It is the first time I read a book by Anne Rice that does not involve vampires. In here the supernatural is represented by the tortured ghost of a violinist, Stefan. He has come to the main protagonist, Triana, when she is in great pain due to the lost of her husband; pain that awaken other loses in her head and heart.

The description of the book talks about Triana as "a uniquely fascinating woman" but she felt rather bland to me as a character and so did her sisters. And Stefan...besides being mean, supposedly due to the fact of him being a tortured soul, for me he didn't feel that much interesting either.

The best parts of the book, for me at any rate, were the several references to beautiful pieces of music as well as the moment where the ghost of Beethoven was present. That said, I don't know if someone with less love for classical music would have the same reflex I had to look for each piece and listen to them while reading. I feel that if it is not the case, the references and momentum of certain scenes are completely lost.

While The Vampire Chronicles are not terrifying I certainly agree with them being considered as part of the horror genre. In this case, if you remove the fact that Stefan is an angry ghost, it doesn't really feel scary at all. It has a good pace and at no point did it feel like a heavy read, I would say it was mostly entertaining.

Unless you are very adept to Rice's style I wouldn't be able to recommend this book to you. 

The Tale of the Body Thief by Anne Rice (RIP #3)

Book Summary (from Goodreads)

Vampire-hero, rockstar and seducer of millions, Lestat is an immortal extraordinaire...

But Lestat yearns to be reborn a mortal. Tormented to the depths of his vampire soul he wanders aimlessly across the globe, from Amsterdam to the Amazon jungle, until he meets the one being who can grant him his wish. He is the Body Thief, more sinister and evil than any daemon. But when Lestat surrenders his vampire body he discovers what he'd so long forgotten: the awkwardness and anguish of being human...

My Review

This is my third R.I.P. review.I had high hopes for this book. I really like Anne Rice and the 3 first installments of The Vampire Chronicles didn’t disappoint me, even with the awful adaptation to cinema for The Queen of the Damned. Sadly I was disappointed, and how. 

The premise was really good. Lestat, after his encounter with Akasha is now powerful beyond limits, and he is starting to get bored with his unstoppable, immortal existence. Then someone appears in his life, someone who is capable of switching bodies, and he proposes and exchange with Lestat.

I don’t think it counts as a spoiler if I tell you that Lestat accepts the deal…but it all went downhill for me after that. Whereas we could’ve explored more of Lestat being human, all I got was him complaining about being human, how disgusted he is with himself (poop? Yikes! Peeing? What is that?) how he doesn’t like it finally, how awful people smell now…see, this one was particularly confusing for me, because as a vampire, he was supposed to have heightened senses, hence he should’ve been able to smell humans more before, not when he became human. And I know it’s been centuries since he became a vampire, but surely you do not forget certain basic stuff about being human, particularly when you still leave amongst them and see how they “work”. 

All the interactions with the Thief where borderline predictable, from the type of person that he was to what he did to escape. And the conversations with David, although far more interesting than the ones with the Thief or Louis itself, where a little bit disconnected in my opinion.

One of the comments in the back of the book is that it was fast paced…I respectfully disagree. Not once was I eagerly turning pages.  I did skim over paragraphs a couple of time, more to my regret, but it was just so slow some times. 

I still want to read the rest of the Vampire Chronicles, but I sure hope that the next one picks up the pace