Anne Rice returns with the ever-famous character Lestat from the well-known novel — and movie of the same name — “Interview with the Vampire.”
Although Lestat has the spotlight in parts of “Blackwood Farm,” the newest addition to her Vampire Chronicles, it is Tarquin Blackwood who steals the show for most of the book.
Rice introduces Tarquin, otherwise known as Quinn, into her seductive vampire lore. Quinn is a newly inducted junior blood hunter who lives with his Aunt Patsy and their servants at Blackwood Farm, a haunted bed-and-breakfast inn where tourists come in hopes of sighting ghosts.
The fledgling blood hunter is the heir to the large Louisiana estate. Readers learn of Quinn’s traditional plantation family and his history — from his drug-addicted, hateful mother, Patsy, to the loving, but sometimes vicious, spirit friend and lover, Goblin.
The novel starts out with Quinn in search of the legendary Lestat, the vampire who oversees New Orleans and makes sure none of his kind prey on the city’s citizens. The young blood hunter sees Lestat as the one who can help fix his problems. Once Quinn finds the famous vampire, he spills out his life story to his beloved role model.
Quinn’s life encompasses the usual ghosts, spirits, witches and yes, even vampires, that Rice writes of in each one of her novels. It is in this novel that both of Rice’s two series about vampires and witches combine into one. In fact, Quinn falls in love with a witch from Rice’s famous Mayfair witch family. But readers cannot get tired of these creatures with all their power and mystery.
For those who have grown up reading Anne Rice’s novels, the new book may just be a repeat of her old ones. Rice continues to write about vampires and blood-sucking to excite her readers.
New readers, who haven’t read Rice’s previous books, may get a kick out of the ninth addition to her series. They don’t need to read her previous books to understand the plot of the story, because Rice makes it very easy to comprehend. As an exceptional writer, she knows how to tell a story.
Each detail she weaves makes fans want to find out what will happen next. Her words create colorful pictures of richness and luxury, but at the same time, there’s a hint of intrigue and thrill that carries readers into another world. It’s a world where everything is a mystery. The only way to unravel the world is by turning the page.
Although set in a contemporary era, readers catch a glimpse of belle Louisiana from the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Rice helps take readers back to a time of long satin ball gowns, properly trimmed tuxedos and extravagant jewelry. Sometimes readers may believe they’re reading about those early time periods, when words such as “computer” and “fax machine” come into play, and grasp readers from the old, elegant setting into the technologically advanced present.
Readers can almost hear the smooth jazz and deep bluegrass ballads playing in the background as they read the words on every page.
As a New Orleans resident, it was easy for Rice to incorporate French influence in her work. Readers get an original taste of the French language and culture in New Orleans and the Blackwood Farm, from Lestat’s vague French accent to Rice’s description of the furniture that decorates the farm.
There are scenes, however, that the story could do without. Rice has a tendency to include sexual scenes when they are not needed. Not to mention, the scenes do not contribute anything to the story. In fact, they would probably be better without them. One or two sentences describing the scene is probably enough.
Avid mystery readers may not be able to solve the mystery that unfolds in the events of Quinn’s life. Although the clues are evident throughout the story, readers will be too focused on what will happen next to worry about what they will discover at the end. Instead, the end is an added bonus that adds to the wealth of the story.
