Buy Used/3rdParty

More product information

Find other editions of Merrick (Vampire Chronicles) (Softback, Hardback, Audio, E-Book)

Similar Products

Audio CD Description Just when you thought it was safe for a bloodsucker to go out in the dark in New Orleans, along comes Merrick Mayfair, a sultry, hard-drinking octoroon beauty whose voodoo can turn the toughest vampire into a marionette dancing to her merry, scary tune. In Merrick, Anne Rice brings back three of her most wildly popular characters--the vampires Lestat and Louis and the dead vampire child Claudia--and introduces them to the world of her Mayfair Witches book series. It is Louis who brings about the collision of the fang and voodoo universes. Louis made Claudia a vampire in Rice's classic Interview with the Vampire, in which she was destroyed, and now he's obsessed with raising her ghost to make amends and seek guidance from the beyond. (Claudia physically resembles Rice's young daughter who died of a blood-related illness. Rice nearly died of a diabetic coma in 1998, and writing Merrick turned her excruciating recovery into an exhilarating burst of creativity). Vampire David Talbot lobbies Merrick to call Claudia's spirit and slake Louis's guilt, but Talbot winds up in the grip of an obsession with the witch. You see, Talbot, unlike most vampires, lived 70 years as a human, so his sexual response to humans is still as strong as his blood thirst. Merrick can cast spells to make men crave her, and Talbot is tormented. After she reads his palm, he muses, "I wanted to take her in my arms, not to feed from her, no, not harm her, only kiss her, only sink my fangs a very little, only taste her blood and her secrets, but this was dreadful and I wouldn't let it go on." The secrets of Merrick are dark and sensuous, but the book is a romp animated by Rice's feeling of coming back to life through the magic of a literary outpouring. The narrative flashes back to the past, to an Indiana Jones-ish adventure in a Guatemalan cave, and to scenes from many other Rice novels. It may be helpful to read Merrick with the Rice-approved guidebooks The Vampire Companion and The Witches' Companion at hand. After many books, Rice's grand Vampire Chronicles tale was in peril of getting long in the tooth. Merrick Mayfair's magic represents an infusion of fresh blood. --Tim Appelo

Customer Reviews not the best Although the book itself was entertaining it wasn't even close to being near the pinnicale of what Anne Rice is capable of writing at. With this book we find Loius once again as a main character along with Merrick and our old friend from The Talmasia. This book never quite able to capture the intimacy or "Human" aspect of the characters as Anne Rice's previous stories have. It is just another book that a great writer as written well below her capablity. Character counts Ms. Rice! Like many here, I thoroughly enjoyed the first three Vampire Chronicles. I even liked the next two, although that's where the character development began to deteriorate. After "Memnoch..." though, I'm just reading entire books for a few bits of plot. I can understand a character changing in the course of a book, or several books, but on the same page? David is in love, then he's angry, then he's in the depths of despair, then he's in love again, etc. Merrick is strong, then a weak young girl, then strong, then a drunk, then a powerful witch, then a weak link. I know that IRL people are complex, but it seems like all the characters in this book have ADD, or Anne Rice has developed it while writing about them. And is it part of the vampire blood that you lose all ability to stick to your convictions? I was so hoping that Merrick would not be turned, and yet she was. Making her confess it was a "spell" did not make it all right either. I liked Merrick for what she was, just like I liked Louis for what he was, and now they are each something new, and different, and horrible. This could be intriguing, or tragic, but to me it's just disappointing and sad. A pleasent melding of two chronicles. Merrick is Anne Rice's return to her beloved Vampire Chronicles, this time with a little twist. She also melds her Mayfair Chronicles into the story, creating a thrilling page-turner of a book. The story follows Rice's best vampires, Lestat, David Talbot, Louis and Claudia. Louis is even more melencholy than usual because Claudia is on his mind. Ever since Jesse, another member of the Talasmaca told him she knew of Claudia's ghost, Louis can't get her out of his head. Lestat is still in his deep slumber, so Louis enlists David to contact one of his old students, a powerful witch named Merrick Mayfair, who still works with the Talasmaca. Louis wants Merrick to contact Claudia's ghost, to see if she is at rest or if she still wanders lost for all time, so if she isn't at peace, either Merrick or him might make her move on. By doing this Louis feels he'll somehow fill a hole that's been there ever since Claudia was originally murdered way back in Interview with the Vampire. David agrees and recounts serveral stories about his days with Merrick when he was still human. He tells many tales of how Aaron and him came to take her into their fold and many other tales of adventures they set out on together and how powerful a witch she really is. The story comes to an end with a fateful meeting with the ghost of Claudia and a few things that happen after the fact. Don't be too fooled by the Vampire/witch meshing though. Although Merrick is a Mayfair, she's only of distant relations to all of the main characters from Rice's original witch chronicles. Not that Merrick isn't a great character, because she is, but it would have been nice to see some of the other Mayfair's make an appearance. Still, it's nice to see the two tales join together. This book is another well written tale by Rice. Once again she paints rich new characters, as well as furthering the immensely interesting lives of her returning characters. The tale is rich in detail and has several adventerous parts like when Merrick and David go in search of a cave secreting lost artifacts. It's fast paced and always fun.