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    Merrick: A Novel
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    Merrick: A Novel
    Unavailable
    Merrick: A Novel
    Audiobook (abridged)5 hours

    Merrick: A Novel

    Written by Anne Rice

    Narrated by Sir Derek Jacobi

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    At the center is the beautiful, unconquerable witch, Merrick. She is a descendant of the gens de colors libres, a cast derived from the black mistresses of white men, a society of New Orleans octoroons and quadroons, steeped in the lore and ceremony of voodoo, who reign in the shadowy world where the African and the French - the white and the dark - intermingle. Her ancestors are the Great Mayfair Witches, of whom she knows nothing - and from whom she inherits the power and magical knowledge of a Circe.

    Into this exotic New Orleans realm comes David Talbot, hero, storyteller, adventurer, almost mortal vampire, visitor from another dark realm. It is he who recounts Merrick's haunting tale - a tale that takes us from the New Orleans of the past and present to the jungles of Guatemala, from the Mayan ruins of a century ago to ancient civilizations not yet explored.

    Anne Rice's richly told novel weaves an irresistible story of two worlds: the witches' world and the vampires' world, where magical powers and otherworldly fascinations are locked together in a dance of seduction, death, and rebirth.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateOct 17, 2000
    ISBN9780375417566
    Unavailable
    Merrick: A Novel
    Author

    Anne Rice

    A.N. Roquelaure is the pseudonym for bestselling author Anne Rice, the author of 25 books. She lives in New Orleans.

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    Reviews for Merrick

    3.5/5

    925 ratings22 reviews

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    • 4/5
      as always, I love little mixed witches and their demons.
    • 3/5
      Pretty good read. Much better than the last book. Pretty decent story. Well written.
    • 1/5
      Oh Dear. They just keep on getting worse.
    • 1/5
      The worst ever, cheep new character i realy wished that lestat burned her under the sight of her two idiot lovers . I should have stoped after the story of the body thief.
    • 3/5
      Pretty good read. Much better than the last book. Pretty decent story. Well written.
    • 3/5
      I related a lot to Merrick and David's relationship. I really enjoyed this book, though not as much as I've enjoyed some of her others.
    • 3/5
      Finally the Mayfair family and the vampires are combined and brought together. While reading of the Mayfair witches isn't necessary to read and understand this book, that series is so good, why wouldn't you?

      This is a tale of ghosts, vampiric death, spirits, voodoo, and love. Good fun!
    • 1/5
      Absolutely hated this book. After this I stopped buying Anne Rice's novels. I still read them from time to time, but I definitely don't buy them. I should not be able to figure out the plot before I'm halfway through the novel!

    • 1/5
      Plot: The usual Vampire Chronicles setup of a character narrating his or her life. Very slow-moving, with odd side stories that don't always make sense when connected with the main story. The central story doesn't really go anywhere for two thirds of the book. The ending doesn't fit the rest of the book (or the series, for that matter) and is very, very clearly a setup for the next books. Characters: Old characters are collectively assassinated. There's not a single character from past books who survives unscathed and who still is recognizable. The central character is new, and so incredibly irritating in her perfection and carefully chosen flaws. Characterization, for her, doesn't happen beyond all males lusting after her. Style: Too many words. Far too many words. The description weighs down the narrative to a point where you can skip pages without missing any action or dialogue. Motifs are repeated so often that it gets boring very quickly. Punctuation is erratic, as is grammar on occasion. Sentences have a tendency to run on over entire paragraphs.Plus: Some more background on the Talamasca.Minus: Almost everything about the book. Boring story, irritating main character, a plot that is missing in action most of the time, horrible style. Established characters are twisted beyond recognition.Summary: It's downright terrible.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      Bought at work from the 10p bookswap shelves - the only way I can bring myself to read any of AR's books, and even then I'm regretting it already. Several years back I deaccessioned all of the Rice books on my shelves; they'd gone from being a fun read to a guilty pleasure to one that made me feel more nauseous than guilty. I only bought this one because, I dunno, I'm short of books to read due to lots of ours having been in storage for ages, and why not give this a go, can't be all that bad, can it?It's not all that bad, no, but it isn't well written. In its defence, I liked the face that the kind of magic brought into this story was specifically American-continent - Brazilian Candomblé, Mesoamerican Mayan shamanism. But she doesn't do anything with it, once she's got a couple of exciting scenes out of the way, and achieved a MacGuffin. I also rather liked (as well as being a bit annoyed by) the uncertainty of whether the central witch character was going to end up having a negative effect despite the positive spin she was given from the start - a bit like Rowan Mayfair having been set up as the main heroine but actually bringing disaster to her nearest and dearest. The actual ending was pants though.
    • 1/5
      A selection of prose, drama, poetry and literary criticism by the German author and Nobel Prize winner of 1919, Carl Spitteler. Poetry, drama and prose bear a close relationship to that of the last quarter on the nineteenth century, with many references to classical mythology.
    • 3/5
      This was okay. Mrs. Rice combined different supernatural elements quite well.
    • 3/5
      After being a fan of the first three of the Vampire chronicles and having some spare time on my hands, I thought that I'd give this one, 'Merrick', a go. I was terribly disappointed by the Tale of the Body Thief (dull) and by Memnoch the Devil (too religious), but thought I'd give this one a try anyway. Unfortunately, it didn't quite manage to renew it's former magic. The majority of the book is David explaining to Louis how he came to meet Merrick, her family history, and their history. Interesting enough, I suppose, but I felt that it just went into too much detail. I personally wanted to find out what happened to Louis and I wasn't really interested in the character of Merrick - although a sad story, I just couldn't relate or sympathise with her. I wasn't endeared to Merrick at all by the end of it - I was surprised that Louis, David and Lestat were so happy to welcome her into the group without question! I know I certainly wouldn't have. The ending didn't sit well with me. I did enjoy parts of it, which is more than I can say for the last 2 I read, but I did find myself skipping through paragraphs that were just irrelevant. Worth a read if you're a fan of Louis, but not, in my opinion, worth going out of your way to read otherwise.
    • 3/5
      In the latest tale of the Vampires, Louis is consumed by an obsession to call the spirit of Claudia, so David seeks out a member of the Talamasca who might be capable of doing so. Even though we have not heard of her before, David shares a long history with Merrick, which he relates to us here. They even go on a trek through the South American Rainforest!This book seems more like a bridge between two tales than a story that can stand alone. One must be completely familiar with the characters and their history to really appreciate this adventure. It was worth reading, I think, if one intends to continue to read the chronicles, but not for its own merit. Ultimately, my opinion is "meh."
    • 1/5
      I didn't even finish this book. And that's a first time for me. I just can't understand it. It's too confusing. And besides, I find it weird that David finds Louis attractive and beautiful. I mean, their both guys. But I'm not saying that David is gay. It's just, well, weird. I guess the reason I didn't understand it is because I haven't read anne rice books before this. This book literally gave me a headache.
    • 4/5
      It's been a while since I last read Anne Rice, particularly The Vampire Chronicles, and it was nice to revisit old friends. I'm not a big fan of David Talbot though and much prefer Lestat's voice, so this wasn't as great as the previous books for me. Still, it's a well-told story, and Rice once again amazes with her eye for details. It was also interesting to see vampires and witches side by side.
    • 3/5
      SPOILERS BELOW****************************************************Lestat wakes up, Louie tries suicide, and Merrick becomes a vampire. Good writing, but not a lot happened.
    • 4/5
      Bringing together the vampires,the witches, and the gens de coleur with a really good central character, Merrick.
    • 4/5
      This is my favorite of the vampire chronicles because the reader experiences Merrick's tumutltuous relationship with Pandora. He truly loves her, but since he had to betray her and follow his Queen's orders, they're relationship is vulnerable and full of deceit and lies. The counterpart to this book, 'Pandora' is pretty good, too.
    • 2/5
      The only thing I liked about it was I got to read about Louis :)
    • 4/5
      I didn't like the ending. I did not think it made sense for Merrick's character, and came out of left field.
    • 3/5
      A pretty good read. Not my favorite but i did enjoy it. You don't have to read the Mayfair chronicles to understand this, but I strongly recomend that you read them!!