Blackwood Farm [Mass Market Paperback]

I loved Pandora, but I still thought Blood And Gold was great, I don't feel it merely re-treaded old ground, covered in Pandora and The Vampire Armand. I actually added it up and more than half of Blood And Gold details events outside of those books. And the parts that do retell scenes from Pandora or Armand are different, because they are seen from Marius' point of view. I've always loved his character and it's nice to get to know him a little better.

But this isn't about Blood And Gold, this is about Blackwood Farm.

If you hated Blood And Gold you might not like Blackwood Farm, not for any strong similarities, but if you are one of the people who feel that Rice's writing has gone downhill, I don't sense any major difference between this and her other recent output.

I loved Blackwood Farm. I loved the intimate nature of experiencing the family's history without the tedious charts and family tree of Mayfair Witches. After a while I felt at home in Quinn's house.

I like the character Quinn, and I loved reading about his past, his teachers, and especially Mona.

I didn't like the vampire that sired him very much, but that's more personal taste than anything.

I should also note that I started reading Mayfair Witches *after* I read Blackwood Farm.

But if you are like me, and you didn't mind Memnoch The Devil, loved Pandora, had to fight through The Vampire Armand (all the boring descriptions of Vennis and it takes so long for him to become a vampire), and liked Blood And Gold, for instance, then I think there is a good chance you'll enjoy Blackwood Farm.

The entirety of the book is narrated by Quinn Blackwood, a very hard-to-like character despite his many similarities to Louis, the other "sensitive"-type vampire prominent in the Chronicles. Quinn's relationship with Goblin, his doppelganger and spirit companion, could have proved fascinating plot fodder, but the very character of Quinn is so off-putting it's difficult to enjoy. His story is filled over the top with angst ("Oh, it's so difficult to be a ridiculously wealthy 18-year-old Southern Catholic genius who sees ghosts...") and a rather nauseating relationship with fellow 15-year-old chronically ill promiscuous rich genius Mona Mayfair. If this is starting to sound a little absurd, you're about right. Mona is a detestable character: pretentious, self-pitying at turns and ridiculously self-assured at others, and fancies herself the drowning Ophelia of Shakespeare fame (stereotypically Gothic angst, anyone?). Finally, the story is tedious and Quinn's narration plods and falls very flat, very often.

Truly, the only thing saving this particular installment of the VampChrons is the mere PRESENCE of Lestat. I say "presence" because as any Lestat fan will tell you, since his awakening in "Merrick" he just hasn't been the same character he once was, and the rather unpleasant change becomes even more apparent in "Blackwood Farm". I really can't hate Anne Rice's earlier work; I loved every Chronicle, including "Memnoch" which many did not, and "Blood and Gold" which for some reason suffers horrible Amazon reviews (in all honesty, I really liked that one!). But everything from "Merrick" onward, I simply prefer to pretend they're an entirely different narrative that's not even part of the VampChrons we all know and love. I haven't yet read "Blood Canticle", but rest assured it will not be a love for the new characters or high hopes for the writing that drive me to read it; rather, a sense of completion and sheer fangirlish Lestat-love, which was incidentally what brought me back to these after finishing "Blood and Gold" and vowing to be through with the Vampire Chronicles forever. If only Rice hadn't been driven by the same kind of whim, we might not have to deal with such disappointing books as "Blackwood Farm".