Ratings10
Average rating2.8
Another entry on par with the previous ones. Rice goes out of this world, literally, to go even further back on the Vampire mythos, revealing a host of new information regarding their origin.
Rhoshamandes is again the villain of the story, and Rice still does a bad job at painting him as such. But all the other characters are they usual self.
The vampire council is establishing the rules to govern its kind when a new threat present to their existence. A new type of supernatural entity appears, and it is unclear what their goals are. A few encounters with them and vampires have turned into bloodshed, but that might just have been a mistake.
The plot was confusing at the beginning but stablized before I gave up on the book. Intriguing ideas and concepts and alot of ‘Is the author making a statement here?'
Alot of references to prior books, many of which I couldn't stay invested in the story and others that were just to creepy for my taste. I may reconsider reading them..
Was there really a need for introducing aliens in the books about vampires?
Once again there are lots of new characters. However, they suffer the same treatment as in the previous book. They hardly have any characterization and they just feel flat and one-faced. It does not feel like t hey had any built up and might as well have been not existent. Atlantis had so little to do with the story, and it would have interesting if this side of the story was expanded and done more coherently.
The only vampire who had some characterization was Lestat, while all the other vampires that used to be so compelling and charming in previous books became just background scenery in most scenes. There was a try to create so tension and drama with Armand's hostility towards the Replimiods. But the potential conflict just got nowhere, it was neither resolved nor acted upon.
As for Amel, he was more intriguing as a spirit summoned by Mekare and Maharet, than as a Replimiod. There was some mystery to him, which was shattered in this book.