None
Vampires are getting classier. Rice's formidable Lestat (given a bad press by his protege Louis in the author's Interview With a Vampire, 1976) sets the record straight with his story—from 18th-century fang-y to 20th-century rock star—all in Rice's faintly erotic, red-velvet-tasseled prose, festooned with swags of philosophical-theological expository flights, intra-vampirian warfare and sanguinary nightcaps. The seventh son of an impecunious French nobleman, Lestat, the family hunter and wolf-killer, who with his soul-mate Nicholas, another rebel, pondered the "meaninglessness" of the universe, was initiated into the Dark Gifts of the vampire in Paris. All, the "taste and feel of blood when all passion and greed is sharpened in that one desire!" But Lestat as vampire is in trouble almost immediately with the vampire establishment, since he loves living as a mortal and wants to do good. To save his beloved mother from an imminent death, there's that blood-for-blood ceremony, and zingo! Mother becomes the luscious "Gabrielle," charter coven member. She'll join him in a sectarian battle with Vampire Armand's cemetery gang, who've captured Nicholas (Lestate rescues him but later can't resist merging circulatory systems). Eventually, in narratives by Armand. and Marius, keeper of ancient Egyptian gods and vampirian annals. Lestat will learn of the vampires' complex history. It's rooted in Earth Mother cults and took on the coloration of various periods and places—hence the sectarian battling of demonic immortals. Rice dots Lestat's tale with some marvelous chillers: a giant killer-god on the march; a splendid crypt entrance before a terrified congregation; night prowls and rock-concert screams with telltale "tiny white faces" in the San Francisco audience. But worry not: vampire rules dictate that mortals are perfectly safe in Vampire Bars. A vampire bonanza in appropriate dark, humid, spider-web narrative—Rice's specialty. One giant step beyond Bela.
None
NonePub Date: Oct. 31, 1985
ISBN: 0345419642
Page Count: 680
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: April 9, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1985
PERSPECTIVES
A tantalizing, otherworldy adventure with imagination that burns like fire.
The third installment of this fantasy series (The Bone Season, 2013; The Mime Order, 2015) expands the reaches of the fight against Scion far beyond London.
Paige Mahoney, though only 19, serves as the Underqueen of the Mime Order. She's the leader of the Unnatural community in London, a city serving under the ever more militaristic Scion, whose government is based on ridding the streets of "enemy" clairvoyants. But Paige knows the truth about Scion's roots—that an Unnatural and immortal race called the Rephaim, who come from the Netherworld, forced Scion into existence to gain control over the growing human clairvoyant community. Scion’s hatred of clairvoyants now runs so deep that Paige is forced to consider moving her entire syndicate into hiding while she aims to stop Scion's next attack: there are rumors that Senshield, a scanner able to detect certain levels of clairvoyance, is going portable. Which means no Unnatural citizen is safe—their safe houses, their back-alley routes, are all at risk of detection. Paige’s main enemy this time around is Hildred Vance, mastermind of Scion’s military branch, ScionIDE. Vance creates terror by anticipating her opponent’s next moves, so with each step that Paige and her team take to dismantle Senshield, Vance is hovering nearby to toy with Paige’s will. Luckily, Paige is never separated for long from her Rephaite ally, Warden, as his presence is grounding. But their growing relationship, strengthened by their connection to the spirit world, takes a back seat to the constant, fast-paced action. The mesmerizing qualities of this series—insight into the different orders of clairvoyance as well as the intricately imagined details of Paige’s “dreamwalking” gift, with which she is able to enter others’ minds—fade to the background as this seven-part series climbs to its highest point of tension. Shannon’s world begins to feel more generically dystopian, but as Paige fights to locate and understand the spiritual energy powering Senshield, it is never less than captivating.
A tantalizing, otherworldy adventure with imagination that burns like fire.Pub Date: March 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-63286-624-0
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
Will simultaneously intrigue both romantics and skeptics. The science might oversimplify, but it’s gripping enough to read...
Marrs’ debut novel traces the stories of five people who find their soul mates—or do they?
Imagine if you could submit to a simple DNA test and then receive your Match in your email. Not just an online date who might be geographically compatible, but a true and unique genetically destined partner. While the potential long-term benefits may seem to outweigh the negative consequences, the system is far from infallible; as any science-fiction fan could tell you, if it sounds too good to be true, there’s usually a catastrophe lurking at the other end. Marrs’ novel traces five individuals who meet their Matches under varying circumstances and with widely conflicting outcomes. During the course of their romantic adventures (and misadventures), the entire DNA matching algorithm will prove to be susceptible to hacking, also proving that (gasp!) just because something may be driven by science doesn’t mean that it’s free from the world of human error. The philosophy posed by the novel speaks not just to the power of love and the laws of attraction, but also serves as a commentary on today’s world of genetic exploration. Do these breakthroughs simplify our lives, or do they make us lazy, replacing the idea of “destiny” or “fate” with “science” as a larger power that we don’t need to question? These ideas keep the novel moving along and create a deeper level of interest, since most of the narrative threads are fairly predictable. The two exceptions are the psychopathic serial killer who meets his Match and begins to lose interest in killing and the heterosexual man matched with another man, both of whom must then redefine sexuality and love, commitment and family.
Will simultaneously intrigue both romantics and skeptics. The science might oversimplify, but it’s gripping enough to read all in one sitting.Pub Date: Feb. 20, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-335-00510-6
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Hanover Square Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
