The Vampire Armand : The Vampire Chronicles (Rice, Anne, Vampire Chronicles)

Action pack and unexpectedly romantic.

Este libro revive la narrativa de Anne Rice, que por un momento parecia perdida en su anterior "La vampiro Pandora". Aunque en la primera parte del libro la historia es un poco lenta, cuando se adentre un poco mas, será díficil que logre dejar de leerlo.Esta vez se trata de la historia de un personaje mas trascendente en la saga de las crónicas vampíricas, de el cual se han presentado muchas incognitas y misterios a lo largo de la serie. Aunado a esto, en este libro se responden las dos interrogantes que quedaron abiertas en "Memnoch el demonio" y "Pandora" (Si ha usted leido estos ultimos libros, sabra a que preguntas me refiero). Si no ha tenido la oportunidad de leer la serie completa, le recomendaría que lo haga antes de leer "Armand", de caso contrario, este libro podría causar que la lectura posterior de la saga no le parezca lo suficientemente buena. Es indispensable que haya leido "Memnoch el demonio" antes de leer "Armand".No espere la emocion encontrada en "Lestat el Vampiro", pero espere una buena lectura que lo mantendra al filo de su asiento por algun tiempo!

I read "Interview" 2 yrs ago, saw the movie & was fascinated with Armand's character. This book filled in all the gaps in Armand's personality, which the other Chronicles revealed here & there. The despair & abuse he suffered as a mortal boy explained his need for love from Lestat (TVL), his love-hate relationship with his Orthodox religion (Memnoch), his highly seductive courtship of Louis (IWV) from the development of his skills in summoning his victims. The beautiful May-December love affair between him & Marius, the only vampire making that ws made "out of love". I thought Louis was complex but Armand takes first place. Anne Rice handled his fall from his religious beliefs so well, (the church scenes in the Byzantine chapel & when Marius "makes" him, the entire flashback of his mortal life in Russia) and the florid fifteenth-century language she used added to the entire Renaissance feel of the book. A beautiful, dark and sensual story...I'm glad he finally found someone who loves him just for himself (Sybelle) Anne really dug deep into herself to plumb the questions of religious faith & all the dark despair of Armand's and her own heart. Now, I wait for "Blood & Gold" Marius' story!

This book tells the story of Armand, from his kidnapping from a Ukraine, via his initiation as a vampire, in Venice, to Paris and the Vampires' theatre, up to the present day. All of your Anne Rice favourites are here.This book is less about plot, and more about the investigation of an important character, and of course, the usual pure indulgence in sensual delights. Armand has tried just about everything, including abstinence, and we get his take on all of it.I've re-read this book, and it doesn't tire the second time round. There is so much detail, that there is always something new to appreciate. As historic fiction, this book is fascinating, because it takes you to unusual places. As fiction it is fun, because even minor characters get properly rendered.If you have started to read Anne Rice and like it, then this book is a worthy successor to the rest of the series. I can't be sure how this book would read by itself - obviously it has spoilers for the other books, especially the first, but I think that it would stand well on its own.

Okay...I really don't know what to think, having read most of these reviews. All I can say is, I've been an Anne Rice fan for a few years now, I've read all of her books, sometimes two or three times each....and I'm attached to her characters. So maybe I'm biased, eh? Especially in reviewing a book about my Armand. Of course it's going to seem as if you've heard the story before, if you've read the other Chronicles, because you have. But that story was surface details narrated by other characters, and thusly open to warping by outside influence and point of views. In this book, you find out the "real" history behind one of the most enigmatic characters in the series, as narrated by the character himself. The imagery and emotion carried in the writing is intricate as woven lace. You feel like you're getting caught up in a web, that simply *must* be for real! That's what makes a book great, in my opinion; the feeling that it wasn't written by any one person, but that the story wrote itself. It also doesn't hurt that i'm obsessed with art history; this book is set in the Italy of the High Rennaisance period! Rice is a descpriptive master, and her characters have the depth of personality so as to make them seam as real and physical as you or me. As for the sexual connotations...come on! This is a book about VAMPIRES! by ANNE RICE! What did you *think* it would be about? A tea party and after school movies? ^_^ It's not an excuse "I didn't know it would be like that!" Yes you did! Of course you did! And if you just cannot approve of fictional characters doing fictional things that do not agree with your real world ethics and morals, too bad. Close your eyes. The rest of us will not miss you, and neither will Anne herself!

Maybe it's because I'm kind of new to Anne Rice, but, by far, Armand is my most favorite character because of this book. It seems that most of the reviewers who didn't like this book were looking for a more "action" book (i.e. Queen of the Damned). Let's get this one straight, Armand is absolutely a different and very unique vampire even by, dare I say, Rice's standards. This is the kind of book you would read w/ your cup o' Java, not one that you'd expect to have all blood and glory. Armand seems like the ultimate brat prince but at the same time seems like a fragile angel teetering on the brink of oblivion, and in some parts of the book he falls in, but amazingly flys back up, reborn but still the eternal child. He's the fallen angel, but the only one worthy of Heaven. Rice, as always, is poetic in all her work and this book is no exception, she treats every detail as if it is a divine revelation. I say keep it up, her books just keep getting better and better, even if some of the things she writes aren't very agreeable to me, but at least I still respect her passion of HONEST expression. I don't think she even tries to sugar her novels up for the sake of readers. She writes what's in her heart (which is purely selfish) at that moment, and I praise her for it.