Year: 2000
Publisher: Knopf
ISBN: 0679454489
Comments:
-mixes 2 of Anne's main subjects: the vampires and Mayfair witches
Just when you thought it was safe for a bloodsucker to go out in the dark in New Orleans, along comes Merrick Mayfair, a sultry, hard-drinking octoroon beauty whose voodoo can turn the toughest vampire into a marionette dancing to her merry, scary tune. In Merrick, Anne Rice brings back three of her most wildly popular characters the vampires Lestat and Louis and the dead vampire child Claudia and introduces them to the world of her Mayfair Witches book series.
It is Louis who brings about the collision of the fang and voodoo universes. Louis made Claudia a vampire in Rice's classic Interview with the Vampire, in which she was destroyed, and now he's obsessed with raising her ghost to make amends and seek guidance from the beyond. (Claudia physically resembles Rice's young daughter who died of a blood-related illness. Rice nearly died of a diabetic coma in 1998, and writing Merrick turned her excruciating recovery into an exhilarating burst of creativity).
Vampire David Talbot lobbies Merrick to call Claudia's spirit and slake Louis's guilt, but Talbot winds up in the grip of an obsession with the witch. You see, Talbot, unlike most vampires, lived 70 years as a human, so his sexual response to humans is still as strong as his blood thirst. Merrick can cast spells to make men crave her, and Talbot is tormented. After she reads his palm, he muses, "I wanted to take her in my arms, not to feed from her, no, not harm her, only kiss her, only sink my fangs a very little, only taste her blood and her secrets, but this was dreadful and I wouldn't let it go on."
The secrets of Merrick are dark and sensuous, but the book is a romp animated by Rice's feeling of coming back to life through the magic of a literary outpouring. The narrative flashes back to the past, to an Indiana Jones-ish adventure in a Guatemalan cave, and to scenes from many other Rice novels. It may be helpful to read Merrick with the Rice-approved guidebooks The Vampire Companion and The Witches' Companion at hand.
After many books, Rice's grand Vampire Chronicles tale was in peril of getting long in the tooth. Merrick Mayfair's magic represents an infusion of fresh blood.
Source: Tim Appelo
Other reviews...
From Publishers Weekly
The 22nd novel from the dazzlingly popular vampire chronicler (The Vampire Lestat, The Witching Hour, etc.) brings her familiar undead characters into New Orleans's underworld of witches, and then to the jungles of Central America. Charismatic, biracial Merrick Mayfair comes from a New Orleans caste bound up with traditions of voodoo; she's also descended from the powerful Mayfair witch clan. Once a supernatural detective, now a vampire himself, narrator David Talbot took care of Merrick when she was in her teens, but hasn't seen her in years. Rice-watchers will remember Talbot and the Mayfairs, and also the vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac and the girl Claudia, who now torments Louis from the afterworld. When Louis asks Talbot to raise Claudia's ghost, Talbot pleads with Merrick to use her rare talentsAand to revisit the past they share. Can Merrick really conjure the dead? Should she? What of the unspoken erotic charge between Talbot and Merrick? What secrets lie in the magical artifacts Merrick will have to find, and then to wield? And what do they have to do with her dead parents? This volume merges several long-running plots; the first chapters sag with the weight of their exposition, and the prose seems overheated even for Rice. Vampire fans will no doubt plunge on, however; soon enough, Merrick must revisit the Guatemalan rainforest, where she traveled as a young girl, to locate a secret treasure trove of ominous ancient runes. Displaying her imaginative talents for atmosphere and suspense, Rice creates a riveting scene that shows Merrick's awesome magic at work. A potent cameo from the vampire Lestat, with whom the fabled series began, leaves hints of more dark tales to come. 750,000 first printing; BOMC and Science Fiction Book Club main selections; Literary Guild selection; QPB alternate; Doubleday Book Club featured alternate. (Oct.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Replete with witchcraft and Gothic intrigue, as well as theological sentiments and a tale of the Guatemalan jungles, this seventh substantial installment in Rice's popular "Vampire Chronicles" series continues the fascination with vampires and their darkly romantic lives. Narrated once again by the fledgling David Talbot, the book introduces Merrick, a potent witch with the usual irresistible charms, who aids David in a request involving a desperate LouisDe Point du Lac request that climaxes in disaster and alters Louis profoundly. Although an intimate account, with its focus on Lestat, Louis, and David and their interaction with Merrick, this volume (like much of Rice's recent work) lacks the resonance and vivid passion of her earlier writings (Cry to Heaven, The Feast of All Saints). These beloved vampires have grown so much more distant and unapproachable. However, Lestat's revival is a welcome ember, and a plot twist involving the Talamasca ensures the continuation of the "Chronicles" and sparks hope for a return of the old flair. Owing to inevitable demand, Merrick is a required purchase.
-DAnn Kim, "Library Journal"
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From AudioFile
Die-hard fans of Anne Rice will likely prefer the full text of this novel, which straddles the Vampire Chronicles and the Mayfair Witches, but this abridgment serves its purpose and leaves no obvious gaps. Sir Derek Jacobi narrates with intensity and sensitivity. He presents his characters with distinct voice and inflection, as well as personality. He never deviates from the clear narrative voice, which he embues with a restrained formality that suits the character who tells this story of magic and intrigue. Jacobi's voice is sensual and warm, cold and detached, and anything in between that the story calls for. J.E.M. � AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine-- Copyright � AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.
Book Description
In her mesmerizing new novel, the author of The Vampire Chronicles and the saga of the Mayfair Witches demonstrates once again her gift for spellbinding storytelling and the creation of myth and magic. Here, in a magnificent tale of sorcery and the occult, she makes real for us a hitherto unexplored world of witchcraft.
At the center is the beautiful, unconquerable witch Merrick. She is a descendant of the gens de couleur libres, a society of New Orleans octoroons and quadroons steeped in the lore and ceremony of voodoo, who reign in the shadowy world where African and French--the dark and the white--intermingle. Her ancestors are the great Mayfair witches, of whom she knows nothing--and from whom she inherits the power and the magical knowledge of a Circe.
Into this exotic realm comes David Talbot--hero, storyteller, adventurer, almost-mortal vampire, visitor from another dark realm. It is he who recounts Merrick's haunting tale--a tale that takes us from the New Orleans of past and present to the jungles of Guatemala, from the Maya ruins of a century ago to ancient civilizations not yet explored.
Anne Rice's richly told novel weaves an irresistible story of two worlds: the witches' world and the vampires' world, where magical powers and otherworldly fascinations are locked together in a dance of seduction, death, and rebirth.
Download Description
At the center of Anne Rice's new novel is the beautiful, unconquerable Merrick, a child--a witch with the power and magical knowledge of a Medea and a Circe. She is a Mayfair of New Orleans, descendent of a family rich in its French and Spanish past, steeped in the age-old tradition of voodoo. Into this strange and exotic world comes David Talbot, hero, storyteller, adventurer, almost-mortal vampire, a visitor from another realm of the dark world. --This text refers to the Digital edition.
From the Back Cover
�SPELLBINDING . . . LUXURIOUSLY LUSCIOUS . . . There is the promise of more chills to come.�
�USA Today
�[Merrick�s] greatest strength is Rice�s skill at constructing a believably eerie New Orleans overrun by the charismatic undead and those who wish to join them. . . . Its closing pages prime the stage for the continuing adventures of the beguiling Merrick and her new fanged pals. They will all be back, of course, and Merrick leaves you looking forward to their return.�
�The Boston Globe
�RICE AT HER CHILLING BEST.�
�The Seattle Times
�RICE�S PACE HAS RARELY BEEN BETTER. . . . For those already enthralled by Ms. Rice�s witches and vampires, Merrick will strengthen the spell. And for those who haven�t been . . . well, sucked in yet, Merrick proves a worthy initiation.�
�The Dallas Morning News
--This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.