Memnoch the Devil (The Vampire Chronicles, #5)

by Anne Rice

book data

12,294 ratings, 3.53 average rating, 398 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		25%
4		25%
3		30%
2		13%
1		5%

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published

May 28th 1997 by Ballantine Books (first published March 1995)

details

Mass Market Paperback, 434 pages

isbn

0345409671 (isbn13: 9780345409676)

description

The fifth volume of Rice's Vampire Chronicles is one of her most controversial books. The tale begins in New York, where Lestat, the coolest of Rice's…more

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May 24, 2007

Kelly rated it:

bookshelves: favorites, fiction, goth-goth-baby, owned

Read in May, 2004

recommends it for: AR fans, also people with an interest in religion/philsophy

I just want to say that before I started writing this review, I read the reviews of others, and numerous people who wrote on this wrote that it was their least favorite, or gave it the least stars of any of the Vampire Chronicles novels. A precious few gave it the five stars that I did.

May I just say: You all are completely and utterly insane?

This is by far the /best/ of the Vampire Chronicles novels. It shows the most scholarship, learning, understanding, and beauty by /...more I just want to say that before I started writing this review, I read the reviews of others, and numerous people who wrote on this wrote that it was their least favorite, or gave it the least stars of any of the Vampire Chronicles novels. A precious few gave it the five stars that I did.

May I just say: You all are completely and utterly insane?

This is by far the /best/ of the Vampire Chronicles novels. It shows the most scholarship, learning, understanding, and beauty by /far/. It is erudite, well researched, and a tale such as one could almost believe was true. This is a truly fine myth. If you don't like this book, I just don't know how you have any appreciation for fine craftsmanship in a novel, or character development, or worldbuilding. This novel is deeply, primally beautiful.

In Memnoch, a man who purports to be the devil comes to visit Lestat and tells him the story of creation. He asks Lestat to come with him and redeem souls in hell for the rest of eternity. He offers Lestat the salvation and the heaven he believes that he's been yearning for for centuries, and once again, Lestat can't accept it. At the end of the novel, we do not know if he was really the devil or not, but I'm inclined to believe he was. This novel is perfectly constructed. It draws you in, builds you up, almost makes you forget about the novel's context as it builds thorugh the myth. Then all of a sudden, like Lestat, you come crashing back down into reality with choices to be made.

I'm Catholic. I know these stories of creation and descent. And to be honest, there are conclusions that Anne Rice reaches that I am more in sympathy with that official dogma. This was the height of her religion of earthiness, being in love with the world and love and passion and life. Hers is a devil that is cast out for sensuality and feeling and love. I'd believe in that. He does seduce you, thoroughly. I closed the book and almost believed in it all for a minute.

This was supposed to be the close of the series, and I wish it was. Lestat waking up on earth, among those he loves, having realized that salvation is not what he wants... Anne Rice's last words written are "Goodbye, my love," to her fascinating Lestat. It was the perfect ending to Lestat's journey. I wish she hadn't gone on, and with much lowered standards, with nowhere really to go. This would have been such a high note to go out on. This book left me so in love with life I can't express it.

In other words: You two star people on this book? I am sorry to state this so unequivocally, but: Fools! :)(less)

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5 comments

Nov 16, 2007

Allison rated it:

(review of isbn 096319254X)

bookshelves: books-that-shaped-who-i-am

Read in January, 1995

At the time that I read this book I was an agnostic, pagan, ex-catholic, confused about religion person. Anne Rice's technique and passion is so persuasive that I was a true believer after reading this book. And this was before she converted back to Catholicism! She is just so powerful, her narrative technique is, I want to say, loving towards her reader. I think her love for the characters she's created makes that happen. Anyway, this one is a must for followers of the chronicles and fans of Le...more

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Mar 27, 2008

Misty rated it:

(review of isbn 096319254X)

recommends it for: anyone who enjoys fantasy and is not a die-hard Christian.

This is one of Anne Rice's best works in my opinion. It is part of the vampire series, but you should be able to understand & enjoy the book without reading the others.
The vampire, Lestat, is taken to heaven, hell, and back in time to creation and during the Christ era by Memnoch, the devil. The story told is one very different than the Bible, but it's good. I love Anne Rice's books because she tells the story in a way that it could be true. Anyways, it's a good book, but if you get upset ...more

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Aug 12, 2007

Sakura Koneko rated it:

(review of isbn 096319254X)

Read in January, 2002

This was the last Anne Rice book that I ever personally plan to read, because after reading this I went into a three month fit of depression.

The events in this book were just so powerful and terrible in some cases that my mind couldn't take it. While I'm not going to say that I wouldn't recommend the book to people, I would at least put up the warning that a person may want to be weary about it if they aren't of any particular religion.

Also, by the end of the book, Lesta...more

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Feb 17, 2009

Alexis added it (review of isbn 096319254X)

memnoch the devil is a compelling story of betrayl pursuit and darkness;vampires.The lead character lestat from the previous ann rice book chronicles tells his story of dark paranoia.He tells of first himself and how he has gotten where he is today."I don't like myself you know. I love myself. I'm devoted to myself till my dying day. But I don't like myself."-lestat
Thus forth continuing the story, He pursuies an accomplis so he turns a distant stranger into your dark erie vampire...more

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Sep 28, 2009

Suna Dasi rated it:

bookshelves: vampire-fiction

As far as I'm concerned the ONLY installment of the Vampire Chronicles that stands the test of time and Lestat's whinging nearly spoils it.

I say nearly, because at least in this novel his voice as the voice of humanity at large is vital to this particular plot; doubting, despairing, morally and spiritually wringing his hands.
Even though that's not who he was at first.

In essence Rice made a mistake with Lestat as far as I'm concerned:
We meet him in the first ...more

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Mar 13, 2009

Gregory Spiker rated it:

Read in February, 2009

In Memnoch the Devil, Anne Rice has allowed herself to indulge in an orgy of purple prose. We hear so much about the lush greenery of the early Earth that we begin to forget what the story is about. And because of this, not much actually happens in the story. If this book were made into a film, in fact, it would probably be no more than 20 minutes long.

Aside from that, this isn't much of a "vampire chronicle." The purpose of this book seems not to be to tell a tale of t...more

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Nov 13, 2009

Lisa rated it:

bookshelves: 2009

Read in November, 2009

recommended to Lisa by: Jade Brelsford

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

I was initially horrified with the premise of this book – as part of the Vampire Chronicles I expected that it would be another tale of vampirism, or of Lestat, but instead it focuses mainly on the story of Creation and the great misunderstanding between God and the Devil which leads to the Devil ruling over Hell as related by Memnoch (the aforementioned Devil) to Lestat in a journey of earth, Heaven and Hell. I wouldn’t normally choose a book that focuses so much on religion (unless as an a...more I was initially horrified with the premise of this book – as part of the Vampire Chronicles I expected that it would be another tale of vampirism, or of Lestat, but instead it focuses mainly on the story of Creation and the great misunderstanding between God and the Devil which leads to the Devil ruling over Hell as related by Memnoch (the aforementioned Devil) to Lestat in a journey of earth, Heaven and Hell. I wouldn’t normally choose a book that focuses so much on religion (unless as an argument against it, which in retrospect this seems to be) and was a little put off by this as I seem to find it far harder to suspend my disbelief for religion than for vampires, but soon found myself sucked in despite myself.

Incredibly well-written (as usual) and compelling, I found the telling of this tale to be extremely imaginative and surprisingly plausible (surprising to me anyway, as a staunchly stubborn atheist). Memnoch was a hugely sympathetic character and whilst I could understand a little of God’s reasoning around the time of the crucifixion, I couldn’t help but agree wholeheartedly with Memnoch’s point of view and thought that God seemed less a benevolent, all-knowing and wonderful creator than a petty asshole for most of the time, struggling to justify himself for all of the suffering that abounds on earth and pretending like that was part of the plan all along. I realize that this might be due to bias as it’s Memnoch’s telling rather than God’s, but I don’t think I’d have thought any differently had it been the other way around.

Come the end, I turned out to be heartbroken about Armand (I don’t think I’d realised how much I liked him up until that point!), and with Mael about to suffer the same fate I was just as angry as Lestat at Memnoch and God for how he’d been used.

As Lestat signs off, he can rest assured that he still keeps that place in my dreams that he hopes for from his reader, as a fabulous and classic character that I’m sure will stick in my memory for many, many years to come.(less)

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Dec 14, 2009

Guri rated it:

(review of isbn 096319254X)

Read in November, 2007

i read some of the reviews and some ppl said that d book dint have a story and that it wasnt a vampire chronicle....and that all things abt earth and the beginning of time wasnt realted to vampirism....to those people get some imagination into ur head!
i think the book was amazing ...specially how rice has explained and described certain things...it just blew me away. for quite some time i could pick up a book because i felt really saturated after reading memnoch. the book talks about so ...more

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Aug 20, 2008

Wendy rated it:

(review of isbn 096319254X)

I "L O V E D" this book. Very intriguing with its ideas and topics, highly unusual and controversial to say the least. In short, an awesome story of the vampire chronicles that just continues to mesmerize its readers. Same series, totally different direction. A. Rice is a talented author. Hard to put this down.

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Mar 02, 2010

Tamcamry rated it:

Read in September, 2006

• This is the kind of book that if it isn’t done exactly correct then it doesn’t make any sense at the end. I guess Lestat is used by the devil and all that, but how does that fit in with anything that was shone to Lestat? Even if it is all lies, the question is why? If Memnoch or God or anyone needed to get the veil of Veronica out to the public there were many easier and less time consuming way to do it. Why waste all this time and answer no questions? Again, it just doesn’t make ...more

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Aug 31, 2007

Daetaya rated it:

(review of isbn 096319254X)

Read in January, 2005

...and the Catholic Church thought that The Da Vinci Code was blasphemy!! Well Mr. Pope and Bishops, wake up and smell the coffee!! Read it and weep.

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Jan 19, 2010

Christine Rother rated it:

(review of isbn 096319254X)

Read in August, 1995

The first time I read this book, I was still a teenager. I waited in line for four hours to have my first edition hard-copy signed by Ms. Rice herself. Because of this, Memnoch the Devil holds a special place in my heart, but in addition to my own personal experience with the book, the story itself is an incredible story of a tragically flawed and hopeless creature and his reluctant search for possible redemption.

The novel is well-written, with beautiful characters and living, breath...more

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Jan 27, 2010

Joe rated it:

(review of isbn 096319254X)

Read in February, 2010

Phfft. Flarp. Argghh. This book was so stupid. I was really looking forward to reading the entire Vampire series especially after I really enjoyed "Tale of the Body Thief" but this one is just terrible. 3/4 of the book is a monologue by Memnoch which is so boring and parochial; he just keeps repeating himself. It's like Anne Rice forgot how to write. Lestat does almost nothing the whole book. Notable hilarious exception involves a woman's menstrual blood (which is mentioned about 6 t...more

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Sep 13, 2009

Rodrigo Cesáreo Pampin rated it:

(review of isbn 8466305084)

Read in January, 2007

I didn´t like it.... why? because, this book, destroy the vampire world created in the first 2... The Queen of the Damned was an exageration of power... The Tale of the Body Thief was a typical like adventure book, and this one.... so far this was a world with vampires, but without god/s... i loved that, this one, destroy that fantasy, it seems that older you get, more a believer you get...
It fells like this book was an explination... readers always want this, but like a writer, you shoul...more

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Jul 30, 2009

Mazel rated it:

(review of isbn 2266083481)

bookshelves: littérature-étrangère--roman-, roman-gothique-

Vampire impie, ivre d'amour, de sensualité, de métaphysique, Lestat cherche dans les rues enneigées de New York Dora, une jeune prédicatrice aussi belle que charismatique.

Fille d'un des gros bonnets de la drogue, elle est peut-être, n'ayons pas peur du mot, une... sainte.

Déchiré entre ses appétits vampiriques et sa passion débordante pour la jeune femme, Lestat ne se préoccupe pas autant qu'il le devrait de cette étrange impression d'être observé.

...more

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Oct 14, 2008

Tami rated it:

(review of isbn 096319254X)

Read in August, 2008

recommended to Tami by: It was a gift.
recommends it for: Anyone who's open to different ideology.

This book was genius and turned concepts based on traditional ideology, upside down. It wasn't about good and evil (which is boring, in comparison), but suggests A truth which is that we can never know THE real truth about supernatural things, including God. It shows how eager we are to believe in something, even Lestat, a vampire and the main character (and also THE Lestat), needed to believe. Anne Rice said of this book "I was also tormented by a multitude of theological and sociological ...more

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Jul 12, 2008

Marian rated it:

(review of isbn 096319254X)

bookshelves: horror

Read in January, 2003

I want to say that I loved this book...it has so many of my favorite Anne Rice elements! The subject is also one close and dear to my heart - romantic reinterpretation of the devil. And in truth, I loved the ideas Anne presented, I loved the story Memnoch told, and I would have loved the novel itself if it wasn't so horribly written. Her penmanship slipped dramatically from the third (Queen of the Damned) of the installment to the fourth (Tale of the Body Thief, which, while not masterfully c...more

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Apr 15, 2008

Catt rated it:

(review of isbn 096319254X)

Read in January, 2006

i could see how some would have been greatly offened by Anne's choice to have such a heavy religious theme. Being raised Catholic myself, (though experiencing a change of heart while growing up) i wasn't shocked by a lot of what was said.

But, the only thing that truly, TRULY shocked me and almost made me forget the book all together was the -very- graphic scene where Lestat drinks from Dora's menstral blood. That is a very taboo line that shouldn't have been crossed, Mrs. Rice. And ...more

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Feb 24, 2008

Arthur rated it:

(review of isbn 0345389409)

Read in February, 2008

Lestate has what is called a superego and when he goes on these hunts to scavenge just victims, he lives a life nocturnal and even bestial. He identifies himself normally as The Vampire Lestate. Has keener senses. An artistic sense which made uses to hunt down his kill. He startles his prey then witlessly numb the preys senses and to its point for subduing victims and that may cause its death. He communicates his ideas to other vampires. He knows he is capable of cloaking himself in the public. ...more Lestate has what is called a superego and when he goes on these hunts to scavenge just victims, he lives a life nocturnal and even bestial. He identifies himself normally as The Vampire Lestate. Has keener senses. An artistic sense which made uses to hunt down his kill. He startles his prey then witlessly numb the preys senses and to its point for subduing victims and that may cause its death. He communicates his ideas to other vampires. He knows he is capable of cloaking himself in the public.

He does obviously regret the shape of things, because he consciously believes in a God and the Devil, but his suspicions were: would either take interest in me? If I was Lestate and when experiencing being in this dream where all things were not its right shape, and I was released from but first because I was under a power so strong from its inducement where both are there enough realism and to control my waking, I would scare too. But Lestate realizes this too. So “...it was. Nobody has a hair out of place.” Now he is saying he was certain.

It becomes appreciation for forces of good and evil with Lestate. He has become encompassed in a mixed path between elements he would rather have had his will and to control. He explains that he doesn’t have such powers to observe and that in this way his will is maybe being tested, and from and by what he uncontrollably has already attempted to describe.

‘ “I hear Armand and I see him and I ignore him,” ’ Lestate says while he prepares his thoughts on the matter.

Later though, Lestate is detained by an astral spirit in the form of his latest victim, who insists Lestate listen to his life’s story, named Roger. Why this? to be heard, to be understood. The spirit describes his adventure; from the very beginning of his becoming of youth, then both too, to becoming powerful and controlled an ‘arch self-deciever’ to a point he politely puts it [he’s talking with Lestate about his own justice and now death.] “It’s fun for you to kill people, but then you’re not human. No, it wasn’t that. It was the fact that it had been possible to do it, to just walk up to that son of a bitch and make the most unexpected gesture, to just take that gun from him.like that, because it was the last thing he ever expected could happen, and then to kill them both without hesitation. They must have died with surprise.” The gun and all the events were out of his hands, and while at least alive, the spirit talking to Lestate, can describe the feelings of vulnerability and his uprising’s feelings that occurred to his power that he personally felt apprehending his first kill.

This is nothing but very different from ‘the body thief.’ In fact, the argument that the body thief was not as good or a pretty good book compared is not understandable. After all, in this it’s all rougher, and blander, an almost easy read. It has it’s very own required clues, ones of the last books to help also. The philosophy the author uses is much the same in this book as I understood in ‘the body thief.’ Rice knew and showed a highly nifty craft of explaining some mere origins as if she pronounced them herself. In fact the philosophy used in ‘the body thief’ has all already been more of a surprise and not like these reflections either, which are altered and then willed by sheer force and adhere the reader to its quality. She crafted a very wondrous book. If anything doesn’t sound true then you are admitting a limit, like that of some who may have enjoyed but criticized this book and said it wasn’t worth the read after ‘the body thief.’ They perhaps exaggerated they’re beliefs and knowledge. Or were simply disappointed at the wondrous descriptions that would lose them, or another, they are wishing to tell this too about, suspecting? But w-really, its only a vampire going through what could be compared to – using expressions of Memnoch the Devil’s compared to Darwin’s evolution – not that I’m all Darwinian, or anything – I just thought the description believable and truthful enough to ascertain the argument for one’s faith and still discern the figments of one’s imagination.
Memnoch obviously feels it’s safe to speak in such manner with the Vampire Lestate. The turn of conversation is symbolic of an evolution that occurs to man once again, in its perfection under the guise that Memnoch is capable of perceiving and collecting his thoughts and then to deliver them directly to Lestate. Lestate should after all feel as if he were in awe. The course of its adventure becomes one of strange contradictions to inspire Lestate and to acknowledging a heaven and a hell.

Lestate could have been feign all of this time, but Memnoch continued. Lestate is not leery about his new friend Roger – perhaps he felt he should have felt that way, but how was Lestate to know his feelings for Roger when he ought to have felt revolt and caution of a ghost. It’s a two way door, and Roger swung merely into Lestates life out of a surprise visit. The ghost had arisen. And now the Vampire Lestate assumed one of the possibilities. The possibilities may be interfering with the way the world was in it’s order. And that is the reason Memnoch has associated with Lestate. But Roger had either gained permission with God, or had been a mere wandering spirit for a short limbo of time.

If man had been caught a history rich with intellect and from a purpose of living, living beings - this creature - Memnoch lies a good chance to succeed in inventing all of the algorithms needed to cure and to culture living men; from Memnoch’s perspective - the well of his telling of his story. Lakes are feed by rivers etc cetera. In the tale Memnoch plays the leading role. He has this chance now since discovering himself while with the earthling human race. He insists he has found his true wisdom since he was living as a being among them, that he was all the more wise and human. He tells this.(less)

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