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A review by imaginary_space
The Tale of the Body Thief by Anne Rice
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Okay, yes, Lestat is super whiny and it's annoying as hell. But I can live with that, since it's also kind of a core point of his character that he always wants what he can't have, especially if it's dangerous.
What I could not deal with was him being constantly distracted by the stupidest things. I mean, David (whom Lestat allegedly loves deeply) is here coming up with plans and doing all the work and Lestat goes from "I want my body back and will do everything in my power, this is my only goal" to "So... can we have sex now?" several times in five minutes.
I blame lack of editing.
I blame lack of editing for a lot of things in this book.
Because it is an intriguing story, the characters are great, it's something fresh and new and a great book to write after the first three in the Vampire Chronicles. The story is very urban fantasy, in a good way, I like the antagonist and I love everything with David in it. Lestat is not only whiny, but an immense a**hole at times, but since he never was a likeable protagonist, so that's fine with me. I love the fact that he wants to be human at all costs and then absolutely hates it, not out of glee, but because I find it a believable reaction from a being that is so absolutely removed from being human and enjoys it.
There are a lot of meaningful conversations in this book, as always with Anne Rice, but also a lot of back and forth and repetitions of the same thing over and over, so it could definitely have benefited from some editing. And it could have been a lot shorter.
All in all, in my "great and possible several years-long re-read of the Vampire Chronicles and maybe the Mayfair Witches completely out of order", this book ranks below "Pandora" (the first book I re-read, this being the second) because of lack of editing and focus.
Next up: Memnoch the Devil
What I could not deal with was him being constantly distracted by the stupidest things. I mean, David (whom Lestat allegedly loves deeply) is here coming up with plans and doing all the work and Lestat goes from "I want my body back and will do everything in my power, this is my only goal" to "So... can we have sex now?" several times in five minutes.
I blame lack of editing.
I blame lack of editing for a lot of things in this book.
Because it is an intriguing story, the characters are great, it's something fresh and new and a great book to write after the first three in the Vampire Chronicles. The story is very urban fantasy, in a good way, I like the antagonist and I love everything with David in it. Lestat is not only whiny, but an immense a**hole at times, but since he never was a likeable protagonist, so that's fine with me. I love the fact that he wants to be human at all costs and then absolutely hates it, not out of glee, but because I find it a believable reaction from a being that is so absolutely removed from being human and enjoys it.
There are a lot of meaningful conversations in this book, as always with Anne Rice, but also a lot of back and forth and repetitions of the same thing over and over, so it could definitely have benefited from some editing. And it could have been a lot shorter.
All in all, in my "great and possible several years-long re-read of the Vampire Chronicles and maybe the Mayfair Witches completely out of order", this book ranks below "Pandora" (the first book I re-read, this being the second) because of lack of editing and focus.
Next up: Memnoch the Devil