Rice has recovered from some gaily slipshod work, but this feels first-draftish, as if e-mailed straight to the printer...
The Queen of the Vampires offers one of the more wobbly works in the Vampire Chronicles.
After a 40-page opening of heavy exposition (a glance backward that adds little but reminds us of the major players), the big attraction here is the return of gorgeous baby vamp Claudia, the 70-year-old in a 7-year-old’s body, cremated a quarter-century ago in Interview with the Vampire (1976). Lestat also returns, though, sadly, Rice keeps these two lively creations offstage until the end. Again set in New Orleans, Merrick tells of octoroon Merrick Mayfair, an orphan raised among voodoo folks but now taken under the wing of David Talbot of the Talamasca, an ancient order of psychic scholars, so her powers of witchcraft might be studied. We follow her through her first 34 years as the Talamasca’s top scholar and earner while Lestat goes comatose but for the joys of his Mozart CDs. Ravishingly handsome Louis de Pointe du Lac, his closest companion, worries that Lestat blames himself for Claudia’s death and that her spirit is in torment. Louis wants Talbot to have Merrick use her magic to bring back Claudia and free Lestat from his torpor—but first Talbot must take Merrick to a lost Guatemalan temple to recover a jade mask for this purpose. Talbot, at 75, had an affair with young Merrick, but because Lestat won’t make Merrick a vampire, Talbot sees their love as doomed. Then Merrick seemingly falls for Louis—but Louis won’t give her the Dark Gift either and lead her into Lestat’s coven. Rice whets our appetite for the wondrously seductive child, Claudia, then, to delay satisfaction, offers us Merrick’s childhood and young womanhood instead. But when Claudia does show up and Lestat awakes, both are minor figures in a thickly descriptive tapestry that engages only in bursts.
Rice has recovered from some gaily slipshod work, but this feels first-draftish, as if e-mailed straight to the printer without a second thought, while the arch dialogue already feels a hundred years old.Pub Date: Oct. 19, 2000
ISBN: 0-679-45448-9
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2000
Less bleak than the subject matter might warrant—Hannah’s default outlook is sunny—but still, a wrenching depiction of war’s...
The traumatic homecoming of a wounded warrior.
The daughter of alcoholics who left her orphaned at 17, Jolene “Jo” Zarkades found her first stable family in the military: She’s served over two decades, first in the army, later with the National Guard. A helicopter pilot stationed near Seattle, Jo copes as competently at home, raising two daughters, Betsy and Lulu, while trying to dismiss her husband Michael’s increasing emotional distance. Jo’s mettle is sorely tested when Michael informs her flatly that he no longer loves her. Four-year-old Lulu clamors for attention while preteen Betsy, mean-girl-in-training, dismisses as dweeby her former best friend, Seth, son of Jo’s confidante and fellow pilot, Tami. Amid these challenges comes the ultimate one: Jo and Tami are deployed to Iraq. Michael, with the help of his mother, has to take over the household duties, and he rapidly learns that parenting is much harder than his wife made it look. As Michael prepares to defend a PTSD-afflicted veteran charged with Murder I for killing his wife during a dissociative blackout, he begins to understand what Jolene is facing and to revisit his true feelings for her. When her helicopter is shot down under insurgent fire, Jo rescues Tami from the wreck, but a young crewman is killed. Tami remains in a coma and Jo, whose leg has been amputated, returns home to a difficult rehabilitation on several fronts. Her nightmares in which she relives the crash and other horrors she witnessed, and her pain, have turned Jo into a person her daughters now fear (which in the case of bratty Betsy may not be such a bad thing). Jo can't forgive Michael for his rash words. Worse, she is beginning to remind Michael more and more of his homicide client. Characterization can be cursory: Michael’s earlier callousness, left largely unexplained, undercuts the pathos of his later change of heart.
Less bleak than the subject matter might warrant—Hannah’s default outlook is sunny—but still, a wrenching depiction of war’s aftermath.Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-312-57720-9
Page Count: 400
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Dec. 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2012
In his quest for easy moolah, Owen learns that the road to financial solvency can be rocky and fraught with work. Greene (Owen Foote, Soccer Star, 1998, etc.) touches upon the often-thorny issue of chores and allowances: Owen’s mom wants him to help out because he’s part of the family and not just for the money—while Owen wants the money without having to do tedious household chores. This universal dilemma leaves Owen without funds and eagerly searching for ways to make a quick buck. His madcap schemes range from original—a “free” toilet demonstration that costs 50 cents—to disastrous, as during the trial run of his children’s fishing video, Owen ends up hooking his ear instead of a trout. Enlisting the aid of his stalwart, if long-suffering, friend Joseph, the two form a dog-walking club that becomes vastly restricted in clientele after Owen has a close encounter with an incontinent, octogenarian canine. Ultimately, Owen learns a valuable lesson about work and money when an unselfish action is generously rewarded. These sudden riches motivate Owen to consider wiser investments for his money than plastic vomit. Greene’s crisp writing style and wry humor is on-target for young readers. Brief chapters revolving around a significant event or action and fast pacing are an effective draw for tentative readers. Weston’s (Space Guys!, p. 392, etc.) black-and-white illustrations, ranging in size from quarter- to full-page, deftly portray Owen’s humorous escapades. A wise, witty addition to Greene’s successful series. (Fiction. 8-10)
Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2000
ISBN: 0-618-02369-0
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2000
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