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Jan 14, 2011

Nick rated it:

Being a long time Anne Rice Fan, I had looked forward to reading this book. Her religious journey, like mine, had been bumpy at best. So, I was very curious after the Christ the Lord series what she may do next...and I wasn't disappointed.

Angel Time is an exceptional novel dealing in the story of an assassin who is contacted by an angel and walked back through time through the err of his ways and how it was he became an assassin. Then, through Anne Rice's skilled writing, she take More...

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Aug 10, 2011

Vanessa rated it:

First off, I'm not an Anne Rice fan. I am reading this book because of my book club. I can't believe how repetitive she is. Her first chapter was about twenty pages stating that the main character was a hit man. I could have summed it up much quicker.

Plus the whole lute player angle, I just envision a LARPer as an assassin and laugh. I mean I just literally thought of someone dressed up as a renaissance festival nerd just did not seem plausible in my head.

Only at around page 100 di More...

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Mar 24, 2011

Ben rated it:

WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS

This book was a fragmentary novel, composed seemingly in two parts. The first, where Toby O'Dare is a hitman residing at the moment in his haven, The Mission Inn, is classic Anne Rice. He is in an internal turbulence, characteristic of Rice's Vampires. This and the aesthetic conciousness given to the reader brings back fond memories of early Ricean novels. That is the praise I have.

The cons soon become obvious...when Toby comes to his spiritual r More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Aug 09, 2011

Aaron added it

Angel Time is basically about a serial killer who is ready to be done with life. On his last kill, he is visited by an angel who offers him a chance to help angels answer prayers since angels are only messengers of God. "Angel Time" refers to the timelessness that angels live in, which allows them to visit any period of time during "human time" or whatever.

Overall, I really liked the book. Anne Rice is a historian, and like always, I'm learning things I never knew about hi More...

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Nov 20, 2011

June rated it:

to begin with I'm not a fan of Anne Rice although she is a very good writer, her books are not my cup of tea. But! I ended up with this book and decided to give it a go since it wasn't about vampires.
I did struggled between three or two stars, but her fine writing pushed me up or perhaps it was God nudging me forward.

Again, her writing skills are strong. Not so much in the beginning where they are good, but later in the shift of the plot, the more vivid and real details and passi More...

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Oct 27, 2011

Ismail rated it:

Toby O'Dare is an assassin by choice. After suffering a harrowing ordeal in his birth city of New Orleans, he took off to New York where he got to learn about his insatiable appetite for ending lives. Such appetite drew attention from a man whom Toby grew to call, The Right Man, who fed Toby's hunger for murder and loved him all in the same measure.

Toby is twenty-eight years old and was in the process of becoming a Dominican priest back in New Orleans. Before his macabre career took o More...

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Sep 05, 2011

TinasBookReviews rated it:

Angel Time opens with the dreary story of assassin Toby O’Dare, his thoughts are heartbreaking and numb. As we follow Toby through a murder he struggles with the inner demon always taunting him, the darkness that pushes him and always underneath this shell of man we see the wanting. We suffer with Toby and his despair to be loved and have purpose.The first half of the book focused on Toby’s past and what lead to his murdering ways. His life an echo of so many others caught in the world of bad pa More...

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Jun 27, 2011

Joel rated it:

This review is a little like High School where we all complained, "Why do I have to know about the author's background". But in this case it explains everything. Anne Rice was raise a Catholic, but became an atheist at 18. Despite this, her Catholicism was clearly present in her Vampire and Mayfair Witch books (which I loved reading). (She even had God as a character.) About 10 years ago, after a series of personal tragedies she rejoined the Catholic church and apparently became More...

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Apr 08, 2011

Supernatural Book Club rated it:

This is the first Anne Rice book I have read, so I can't say how well it compares to her older books. I have heard the older books are WAY different due to Rice's recent conversion back to Christianity. Before I read "Angel Time" I had heard it was "preachy", and yeah, it is, but that's not really the issue.

Overall the book was sort of flat. I can tell that Rice is capable of telling a good story, I just don't think this is it. The story is about redemption of a pro More...

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Mar 21, 2011

AstrogirlM42 rated it:

Actual Rating: 3.5

I first fell in love with Ms Rice 20 years ago when I was a first year uni students. Her angst ridden Vampire characters of Louis and Lestat were so engaging to me that I read every book she published. However, when I finished uni, I seem to also finish with Ms Rice and stopped reading her new work. When I signed up to facebook I saw that she has a fan site and read about her return to religion. Not being religious myself, I didn't feel compelled to read her new " More...

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Mar 13, 2011

Amy rated it:

It is good but I like the second book more. It is interesting to know Toby's past and how he worked as an assassin, how poor his family was, but how talented and patient he was to support the whole family only by playing flute on the street. It inspires me although I know I cannot do it because I dont have such talent. Toby was from the beginning an amazing and mature boy, I do not think anyone at that age can work so hard selflessly for others. Liona was a lucky girl to sleep with him and I und More...

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Dec 23, 2009

Trish rated it:

I have read every book Anne has published and have enjoyed them all, some a very great deal (Cry to Heaven, most of the Vampire Chronicles - esp. Memnoch, The Mummy, Feast of All Saints, Christ the Lord series) and some not as much (Mayfair Witches saga, Violin, the last Beauty book, East of Eden).

I know when her name is on the cover, I'm going to get vivid characters, evocative prose, solid scholarship, and an entertaining if not completely engrossing plot. She hit all the notes More...

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Nov 21, 2009

Aaron rated it:

Anne Rice is starting off a new series entitled Songs of the Seraphim with her newest title. As you can probably guess, they will be focusing on angels. This first volume tells the table of a man called Lucky. It is not his true name, but it is the name that he goes by to protect himself since he is a hired assassin. He is visited by his guardian angel, who offers up the name Malchiah when Lucky wants to know his name. Like Lucky, angels are not supposed to share their true names, so this will j More...

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Nov 18, 2009

RNOCEAN rated it:

Full of provocative moral reflections, this kickoff to bestseller Rice's new Songs of the Seraphim religious romance series centers on hired assassin Toby O'Dare, a one-time aspirant to the priesthood until personal tragedy unmoored his life. Guardian angel Malchiah visits Toby, who's just consummated his latest kill, and offers him redemption for his sins. After accepting the offer, Toby is whisked away to 13th-century England, where, in the guise of a Dominican friar, he becomes the protector More...

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Nov 19, 2010

Fabian rated it:

The first series from the 'Songs of the Seraphim', which as of this date (November 2010) has not been followed up by a sequel. Anne Rice might be cooking up a dish for the upcoming book, and I hope she'll do it as planned because the book looks promising enough to be a hit. Already on the bestsellers shelf of my local bookstores, so I know the it's doing great (this is Anne Rice we're talking about right?).

EDIT : The sequel, 'Of Love and Evil', will be released on November 30th.

More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 30, 2009

Erica R rated it:

I was pleasantly surprised with this book. I was interested, entertained, and at the same time expecting some of the more homoerotic and/or gruesome detail that her old books used to contain but this book had none of it.

The book is lovely and written perfectly. Anne Rice always has a tendency to over-describe different things and dive into memories for more time than needed but I feel she worked out exactly as much 'time' as needed in this story. Each memory was presented to the degr More...

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Sep 28, 2009

Samantha rated it:

I loved the old style Anne Rice. I was hoping that she was back and she is in some ways. Her descriptive style is back and her ability to make you see and feel what she is writing is back. However, her plot in this book leaves a lot to be desired. The description on Amazon, the title and the back of the book make a reader think that this book is about assassins and angels. It's not really. It's about a man who is finding himself. I was confused throughout the book about where it was going and wh More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 28, 2011

Jeremy rated it:

Rice’s narrative flow is effortless and breath-y, as always, and she manages to compel the reader along, sometimes with a whip, sometimes with a carrot, but the energy of this story really flags. There are some gear-shifts structurally, but Rice has often used this kind of technique very powerfully. What is particularly lacking is the sense of ambiguity and menace emanating from central characters. Plenty of sanctimony and undying love – enough to make you choke at some points and almost find a More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 02, 2010

Derek rated it:

I love Anne Rice. I have pretty much read every word that the woman has ever written, and "The Witching Hour" stands as one of my all-time favorite novels.

That being said... I really struggled to get through this one. She has famously taken a Christian turn in her writing (and I would recommend her "Christ the Lord" series to anyone, they're brilliant) but this one rubbed me the wrong way.

It starts out with no less than 20 pages describing a building. More...

3 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 25, 2009

korey rated it:

I knew there was going to be trouble with this book as soon as I read the main character, an assassin, is a great lute player. Uh, yeah, right. Maybe it's just that I love the old style Anne Rice, but this book found me shaking my head and saying "oh, Anne, Anne, Anne". I think her recent return to the Church made her incredible writing talent go running out the vestibule door. So sad. There wasn't anything in this story that was really believable. Characters were just so trite and so More...

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Nov 07, 2009

Richard rated it:

Anne Rice has crafted both an entertaining and educational story with Angel Time, the story of Toby O'Dare, a hitman for the government who is visited by Malchiah, an angel. For a decade, Toby has used his talents to take life, and Malchiah asks him to turn his back on that life and to give himself to God. Toby is reluctant to follow Malchiah until the angel shows him the evolution of his life from a young, talented musician obsessed with learning to play the lute who cares for his younger sib More...

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Jan 06, 2012

AennA rated it:

Been hearing about Anne Rice but I never had the chance or the luxury of money to buy any of her book. Besides, bookstores are overwhelmed with vampire books that I cringed whenever I think I'll be reading another vampire story. Though, I know Anne Rice is way better than Stephenie Meyer (sorry, I am a fan of Twilight Saga, but hey it's the truth, eh?). Anyhow, I decided to buy one of her new book, Angel Time, to see how she write her story.

This book is truly engaging. The writing is More...

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Oct 11, 2011

Vicki rated it:

Oh, I really wanted to like this book. Anne Rice was one of my all-time favorite authors back in the day. Vampires, witches, tortured souls looking for meaning in their otherness. But then she rediscovered Catholicism, and wrote two very long books about the life of Jesus Christ. Bleh.
So out comes this book, the first in a series about angels. Okay, maybe I can do this. I see glimpses of Rice's wonderful characterizations, that suck you in and make you care about her characters. But More...

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Sep 08, 2011

Joe rated it:

"Christian Fiction"- That is how they list the category for this book.
Anne Rice attempts to write a book that will appeal to both Christians and Jews. Well, "he who tries to please everyone ends up pleasing no one". Well, not me at least.
I was intrigued by the subject of Angel Time and picked up this story about a hit man who is visited by an angel and given a chance to redeem himself. I was thinking that this sounds like a blend of "Highway to Heaven" mee More...

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Jul 08, 2011

Steve rated it:

Hadn't read any Anne Rice for years, after having read her first 15 or 16 books. Of those, I really enjoyed at least half a dozen. (My sister bought this one for me, autographed no less, so I figured I'd give Rice another try.) Alas, overall, the lion's share of the story bored me (deeply) and, if the book wasn't relatively short (and if I wasn't spending a lot of time on airplanes), I'd have given up. The "main" part of the story came across as shockingly artificial, and I wasn't t More...

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Nov 04, 2010

Merredith rated it:

Anne Rice has been one of my favorite authors since I was a kid. I started reading the witch and vampire books when I was just 12 or something. Now she's starting a new series, and this is book #1. It's about a hit man who is visited by an angel, and recruited by him. There is your typical Anne Rice type stuff - New Orleans, tragedy, descriptions of places, churches, clothes, and the particular way that the people are, are just like the witches and vampires were. We also travel around in time. More...

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Dec 28, 2009

Andrew rated it:

WARNING: Possible spoilers ahead.

Short Review: Quantum Leap with a religious spin.

Long Review: Don't get me wrong, I like Anne Rice. Interview with the Vampire and The Vampire Lestat were the things that got me through high school. Rice's ability to really let you not only into a character's mind, but into their very soul is what has continued to hold her in such high regard for me. Louis is who I was, Lestat is who I wanted to be. Her characters, just their names spoke More...

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Jul 12, 2011

Nisro rated it:

( be warned that this review contains few spoilers)
I have been a long time fan for Anne Rice, Her amazing imagination & her velvet, rich and poetic prose writing. Angel Time didn't sweep me off my feet as I wished it would do! Rice still keeps that velvety poetic flowing prose but while reading the novel I had a feeling as if this book is a deja vu of another book or perhaps a synthesis of other Rice's books!
The Angel visiting Toby and the journey Toby takes through time & ages reminds m More...

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Oct 04, 2010

Gene rated it:

I love reading Anne Rice's books, but I'm not unaware of her faults, especially in the books written in the past decade. Like a great many of her books, Angel Time starts off painfully slowly, and I almost gave up during a long, boring flashback to the protagonist's past, which was written (purposefully, I believe) in the most generalized and impersonal manner possible. The first half of the book was a tedious slog, first detailing the alienated life of a young, successful hitman (written as a More...

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Feb 14, 2011

Eva rated it:

The back cover of Angel Time sounded quite exciting, but once I started reading I was harshly reminded of the fact that "you shouldn't judge a book by its cover".
The main character wishes salvation (as he likes to remind you every fifteen seconds or so) and after a hit (as he is a hired assassin) he meets an angel who has been watching over him. After the longest chapter I have ever read that recounts his sad past, the angel gives him a "mission" which is to stop a town More...

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