Memnoch the Devil was nothing like what I was expecting as the next installment of The Vampire Chronicles. Absolutely drenched in theological argument, Memonch the Devil is not for anyone who dislikes religion in their fiction.Only two things happened in this entire book. Lestat stalked a victim for the first third of the book. He then spent the last two thirds of the book talking to the devil (and occasionally God). It was written as what appeared to be an extremely long-winded interview (think...

Memnoch the Devil takes Lestat on an extremely long tour of the past, creation, angels, evolution, the passion of Christ and more – because he has a job proposition for the Brat PrinceMemnoch the Devil, also known as “the Bible according to Anne Rice” or “Anne Rice’s theological musings”. Perhaps even “Memnoch lectures you endlessly while Lestat practices his melodrama”.What it isn’t, is much of a story or a plot. For a story or a plot to happen, well, things have to happen. Things do not happen...

MEMNOCH THE DEVIL is a brilliant reinvention of good and evil. I still think about this book 18 years after I read it. One of my all time favorites. Rice was at the top of her game here.

In Memnoch the Devil, Anne Rice has allowed herself to indulge in an orgy of purple prose. We hear so much about the lush greenery of the early Earth that we begin to forget what the story is about. And because of this, not much actually happens in the story. If this book were made into a film, in fact, it would probably be no more than 20 minutes long.Aside from that, this isn't much of a "vampire chronicle." The purpose of this book seems not to be to tell a tale of the vampires, but only to f...

Phfft. Flarp. Argghh. This book was so stupid. I was really looking forward to reading the entire Vampire series especially after I really enjoyed "Tale of the Body Thief" but this one is just terrible. 3/4 of the book is a monologue by Memnoch which is so boring and parochial; he just keeps repeating himself. It's like Anne Rice forgot how to write. Lestat does almost nothing the whole book. Notable hilarious exception involves a woman's menstrual blood (which is mentioned about 6 times through...

At the time that I read this book I was an agnostic, pagan, ex-catholic, confused about religion person. Anne Rice's technique and passion is so persuasive that I was a true believer after reading this book. And this was before she converted back to Catholicism! She is just so powerful, her narrative technique is, I want to say, loving towards her reader. I think her love for the characters she's created makes that happen. Anyway, this one is a must for followers of the chronicles and fans of Le...

Finishing this book was a chore. A sad realization considering how much I loved Anne Rice's previous books, but boy am I happy to be done with this one. My reading experience can be summarized the following way: Yay! Lestat!, ok I'm bored, holy mother of vodka this is dull, should I drink? maybe if I had a drink this would be easier, oh well- heaven sounds interesting, yup still bored, ARE YOU KDDING ME?, boooooooooreeeeeeeeeeed, OMFG EW and IS IT OVER YET? There is virtually no narration. Inste...

5.0 stars. Except for The Queen of the Damned, this may be my favorite installment of the Vampire Chronicles. I loved the descriptions of both heaven and hell and the arguments between Lestat and Memnoch regarding the nature of good and evil. Highly Recommended!!!

I read the first three books in The Vampire Chronicles a long time ago, and I enjoyed them very much. A friend of mine told me to skip The Tale of the Body Thief, so that's why I chose to jump ahead and read this, the fifth book in the series (I got my copy at a thrift store for a dollar a few years back). In this book, the vampire Lestat is stalking a drug overlord named Roger, who deals in cocaine and stolen art. Apparently, he's also killed a lot of people, he's supposed to be a really bad gu...

It would be a bit pointless to be reading Rice's books without having a notion of her journey through being catholic->agnostic->catholic->bitching about catholic church. Since last book of the series, The Tale of the Body Thief, Rice seems to be trying to write down and refine her thoughts on the way she perceives the catholics' religion, God, the Devil, and the moral obligations underlined by them. In the previous book this is somehow a secondary topic (barely touching the idea of the imperfect...

When I started out reading this series, a friend warned me that some books would be heavily impacted by Christian notions. Now, this is not a bad thing per se but I tend to struggle with books that focus too much on religious aspects. I thought the worst was behind me when I finished book 3. Book 4 (The Tale of the Body Thief) was amazing and I had great hopes for book 5.A book that features 'devil' in its title might easily be about religion but I wasn't prepared for the amount of theological d...

2 StarsReview:This wasn't my favorite in the series, so I'll keep this brief.Things I Liked:- I admittedly do not know much about the details of the history and mythology of Christianity, so I don't know how much this book actually aligns with that, but Anne Rice's take on things here with Heaven, Hell, Creationism, evolution, angels, and Satan was interesting in its own way. And I liked how this book combined Christianity and evolution.- This quote. Seriously, it just cracks me up."Armand envie...

When Anne Rice fans are asked which of her books they feel most passionate about — whether positively or negatively — the answer is almost invariable: Memnoch the Devil. Acting as a bit of a precursor to Rice’s Christian fiction novels of the mid-00s, this book is tonally out of step with the previous Vampire Chronicles (save for, perhaps, Interview With the Vampire, as this too has the ‘feel’ of an interview in spots) And seems to be cause for great joy, and disgust, in many readers. Lestat wan...

This is one of Anne Rice's best works in my opinion. It is part of the vampire series, but you should be able to understand & enjoy the book without reading the others.The vampire, Lestat, is taken to heaven, hell, and back in time to creation and during the Christ era by Memnoch, the devil. The story told is one very different than the Bible, but it's good. I love Anne Rice's books because she tells the story in a way that it could be true. Anyways, it's a good book, but if you get upset by peo...

This was the last Anne Rice book that I ever personally plan to read, because after reading this I went into a three month fit of depression.The events in this book were just so powerful and terrible in some cases that my mind couldn't take it. While I'm not going to say that I wouldn't recommend the book to people, I would at least put up the warning that a person may want to be weary about it if they aren't of any particular religion. Also, by the end of the book, Lestat had changed in many wa...

Seriously. Anne Rice was a Born Again Christian when she wrote this book. It shows. Too bad. Lestat as a wannabee saint? Please.

Here we are on book number 5 for the Vampire Chronicles. The narrator has to this point remained the same and has done an immaculate job bringing all of these characters to life. Lestat is once again sensing a presence around him. But this isn’t just any presence…. This is an evil presence. Could it in fact be the devil himself? What you must understand about Lesat is that through this entire series he seems to be warring with himself. He just cannot come to terms with what he is. He doesn’t kno...

This is the 5th book in the Vampire Chronicles series, picking up after the events of the Tale of the Body Thief. Lestat once again feels that he's being followed, except this time, it is not by a human being, but by the Devil himself. The Devil, who prefers to go by the name of Memnoch (and not Satan or Lucifer), approaches Lestat because he wants him to be his assistant. Memnoch takes Lestat through the story of Creation, takes him into Heaven and Hell, and explains his disagreements with God....

I deeply admired "Interview' w/its rich writing style of place and period, and its dispassionate portrayal of characters like Claudia, who after being a 6 year old vampire for decades has become a steely-eyed predator(ahem instead of a 100 year old vampire vegan w/an insatiable desire to...sit through high school english again and again). The Vampire Lestat was equally good w/a wonderful shift in perspective that gave a great new spin to the character an events that transpired. The books that fo...

Lestat continues to perfect melodramatic homosexuality in this one.