Memnoch the Devil by Anne Rice

(Cover picture courtesy of Midshelf.com.)

In Anne Rice’s extraordinary new novel, the vampire Lestat—outsider, canny monster, hero-wanderer—is snatched from the world itself by the most dangerous adversary he has ever known: Memnoch, a mysterious being who claims to be the Devil.  He is invited to be a witness at the Creation.  He is taken like the ancient prophets into the heavenly realm and is ushered into Purgatory.  Lestat must decide if he can believe in the Devil or in God.  And finally, he must decide which, if either, he will serve…

I really didn’t see why so many people were upset about this novel until I actually read it a few times.  Now, however, I can see why it has been deemed offensive—or even blasphemous—and why Anne Rice, now a born-again Christian has repudiated her Vampire Chronicles.  Especially since this one.  Memnoch the Devil doesn’t tell the conventional church-approved story of Satan’s fall from heaven.  No, it is Satan, or Memnoch, who tells his side of the story.

From a theological perspective, this is a very interesting book.  In it, Anne Rice has combined both old and new Christian ideas from many denominations with a bit of Jewish theology.  Memnoch’s justification for his rebellion reminds me very much of the character of Satan from John Milton’s Paradise Lost.  Without getting into all of the nasty little details, let’s just call this novel experimental theology and leave it at that, shall we?  I’m not going to bring my personal beliefs into this review.

From a less biased, more literature-focused perspective, Memnoch the Devil is not exactly the greatest novel ever written.  Lestat is a cardboard cutout by now, the plot is slow and predictable and Memnoch is the only redeeming thing, character-wise.  Memnoch is complicated, yet sympathetic in a bizarre way if you put your religious beliefs aside while reading this.  But other than Memnoch, this novel doesn’t have much going for it.

As usual, my warning: Memnoch the Devil contains mature content including bad language, explicit sex scenes and violence.  Personally, I would not recommend it for anyone under the age of 14, but it really depends on the reader’s maturity level.

I give this book 2/5 stars.

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Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Today’s Wednesday, so you know what that means: guest posting over at We Heart Reading.  So what did I review for my third guest post over there?  Why a science fiction retelling of Cinderella, of course!  What else?  For those of you that are interested, here’s my review: Cinder by Marissa Meyer.

And for those of you that are just checking in, here are some things you’ve missed:

Sunday: Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code by Eoin Colfer

Monday: The Eagle and the Raven by Pauline Gedge and Things Authors Should Know About Bad Reviews

Tuesday: Ark Angel by Anthony Horowitz

 

 

Ark Angel by Anthony Horowitz

(Cover picture courtesy of BRHS Book Reviews.)

The sniper’s bullet nearly killed him.  But Alex Rider, teen superspy, survived—just in time to intercept a kidnapping of billionaire Nikolai Drevin’s son.  Drevin’s been targeted by a group of deadly eco-terrorists who think nothing of killing millions to achieve their goals.  Unless Alex can stop them in time…

This sixth volume in the Alex Rider series is pretty much the same as the previous five books: Alex goes out on a mission to save the world and succeeds.  Again.  And all at the tender age of fourteen.  Throw in some cliché characters, a few plot twists and a cliffhanger at the end to keep readers hooked and you’ve got the perfect James Bond knockoff series.

Anthony Horowitz really is a talented writer, especially when it comes to writing action novels, but he seriously needs to tone down the cliché.  I know that most of his audience, being tweens and young teens, does not care that the Alex Rider series is predictable, but Horowitz could at least make an effort to change things up once in a while.  True, I would rather that young adults be reading something rather than nothing at all, but that’s no excuse for lazy characterization.

As for the plot, it’s incredibly fast-paced with a couple of twists and a good cliffhanger at the end.  Anthony Horowitz balances description, interior monologue and dialogue perfectly for an action novel.  More experienced readers will be able to predict the ending, but then again I think everyone knows that Alex is going to save the world.  The main reason for reading this book is the heart pounding journey, rather than the predictable destination.

I give this book 3/5 stars.

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Things Authors Should Know About Bad Reviews

In the four or so months I’ve been book reviewing on this blog, I’ve given out some pretty bad reviews.  As an amateur writer myself, I can understand the crushing feeling authors get when someone gives them a bad review.  Although I can sympathize with writers, I would never have started a book reviewing blog if I couldn’t handle giving out bad reviews when they are deserved.  So, all you writers out there, please read on and keep these things in mind when (not if) you get a bad review.

1.  It’s not personal.

Unless the reviewer is a complete jerk, a bad review is never personal.  They aren’t criticizing you; they’re criticizing your work.  There’s a huge distinction between the two, although it doesn’t seem that way when your precious work is being trashed.  Giving you a bad review is not an attack on your character, beliefs, etc.  It is simply criticizing a product you have put out into the world with the expectation that people will buy it and talk about it.  If you’re still convinced that bad reviews are always personal, let me ask you this: When you last criticized a product, were you personally attacking the creator of the product?  Probably not.  And yes, your book is a product for all intents and purposes because you are selling it. Continue reading →

The Eagle and the Raven by Pauline Gedge

(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)

She was the flame-haired Boudicca, Queen of the Britons, whose passion and pride lit up the mysterious world of the ancient Celts.  From the valleys and mountains of still barbaric Britain to the classic grandeur and corruption of Claudius’s Rome, here is the unforgettable drama of a warrior queen torn between love and destiny.

When I read this book I was, of course, expecting it to be about Boudicca.  The blurb and the cover made me expect it to be an epic saga about the warrior queen who led the doomed rebellion against Rome.  Yet out of the 892 pages of my edition of The Eagle and the Raven, I would say that less than 200 of them are actually about Boudicca.  Most of the novel is about Caradoc (usually called Caratacus), the man who led a failed rebellion before she did.  Boudicca’s actual rebellion doesn’t start until the last 100 pages, which requires some creative pace-changing on Pauline Gedge’s part to get through all of the rebellion in such a short amount of page space.

I truly would not recommend this novel.  It’s one of Gedge’s early novels, but it does not match the quality of Child of the Morning at all.  She does not do as well with ancient Britain as she does with ancient Egypt, so I can certainly see why she returned to ancient Egypt after she finished this novel.  The Eagle and the Raven is long and meandering, without any hint of the tension that is present in all of her other novels.  I truly had to struggle to finish this novel, something that I don’t do often, no matter how boring the novel is.

The main characters in The Eagle and the Raven are very well-developed.  Caradoc is believable and grows through the novel and despite her brief appearance, Boudicca develops in an incredibly short amount of time.  However, secondary characters are somewhat neglected, especially Aricia, who had the potential to be a really amazing villain but ended up coming off as your cliché evil seductress.  Venutius just came across as an idiotic, brow-beaten man, but there were obvious attempts to give him depth, which failed spectacularly in my eyes.

My overall impression?  I’m sticking to Pauline Gedge’s Egyptian novels.

I give this book 1.5/5 stars.

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