Memnoch the Devil: A Novel
Written by Anne Rice
Narrated by Roger Rees
3.5/5
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Currently unavailable
About this audiobook
In Anne Rice's extraordinary novel, the Vampire Lestat--outsides, canny monster, hero-wanderer--is at last offered the chance to be redeemed.
He is brought into direct confrontation with both God and the Devil, and into the land of Death.
We are in New York. The city is blanketed in snow. Through the whiteness Lestat is searching for Dora, the beautiful and charismatic daughter of a drug lord, the woman who arouses Lestat's tenderness as no mortal ever has.
While torn between his vampire passions and his overwhelming love for Dora, Lestat is confronted by the most dangerous of adversaries he has yet known.
He is snatched from the world itself by the mysterious Memnoch, 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.
He must decide if he can believe in the Devil or in God. And finally, he must decide which, if either, he will serve.
In the first four Vampire Chronicles, Anne Rice summoned up for us worlds that are fantastic and distant, making them as resonant, real, and immediate as our own. In this, her most daring and darkest novel, she takes us, with Lestat, into the mythical world that is most important to us--into the realms of our own theology.
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 Memnoch the Devil
1,777 ratings44 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I read the first three book of Anne Rice’s VAMPIRE CHRONICLES many years ago, along with THE MUMMY, and thoroughly enjoyed all of them, but for some reason or another, I put her works aside, even as she churned book after book as the 90’s moved into the 2000’s, giving her readers more adventures by her vast cast of blood drinking immortals, witches, and in recent years, werewolves. Some of those books ended up on my shelf, but only recently have I picked them up and found out what I had been missing out on.MEMNOCH THE DEVIL, published in 1995, was the fifth book in her vampire series, and it was certainly the most ambitious of her works to that date, in that her most beloved character, the Vampire Lestat, meets God and Devil, learns about Heaven and Hell, and is offered a job by the Fallen Angel himself. In these pages, we get a view of creation and human history from the title character, one that does not square with Christian teachings at all. If you are a fundamentalist or a materialist, this book is probably not for you, but if you are willing to indulge in something provocative, then MEMNOCH THE DEVIL should be a great read. But if you are expecting another adventure with Lestat and her large cast of the Undead, it may not be your book either, for MEMNOCH was her most atypical work up to that date. In the opening chapters, we meet, Roger, a cultured drug kingpin, who has been marked for killing and feeding by Lestat, and his daughter, Dora, a young TV evangelist. I agree with most reviewers who say these new characters are far from Rice’s most compelling, but once Lestat does away with Roger, he appears before the vampire as a ghost, an encounter that is the preamble for the book’s main act, where Lestat is confronted by a supernatural entity whom he has sensed following him for some time. It turns out be an angel named Memnoch, who reveals himself to be the Big Bad of Christian theology, and after watching Lestat for some time, he has a job offer for the vampire to come to work for him in opposition to God the Creator. It seems Memnoch and the Almighty are not on as bad a terms as the Good Book would have us think, instead they have a deep philosophical difference as to what God’s plan entails and the significance of human suffering. Memnonch wants Lestat to join him in Hell, or Sheol, to enlighten the souls there that God has seemingly abandoned, for according to the Gospel of Anne Rice, it is the one who walks with goat’s hooves who really loves humankind the best, because, though God created them, he can never truly understand the suffering he puts his most beloved creations through, even after assuming the flesh and blood of a man in the person of Jesus and dying on the cross.To many, this middle section is make or break for the book, profound to many readers, absolutely boring to just as many others. This is where Rice slips into her habit of having characters just sit and talk, and talk, and talk, recounting events they have participated in and observed, while giving us the action second hand. This might just be Rice’s ultimate conversation sequence, one that I found it riveting, as it we meet a version of God and a recounting of historical events from a unique perspective. What works in this section is Rice’s well developed skill at description; I could smell the trees and dirt of the primeval forest and the stench of the streets of Jerusalem at the crucifixion. The ending feels a bit anti-climatic, as there is a reveal that hints at the possibility that everything Lestat has been told is far less than the truth. Rice has been very up front with her own spiritual journey over the years, and it has infused much of her work, and though I have not read all of her works, I think MEMNOCH is her most personal work. So much so, that many think she went too far when Lestat encounters Christ carrying the cross on his way to Golgotha; I will say that what ensues does not offend me, but that is only in the way Rice handles it.There have been plans for TV series based on VAMPIRE CHRONCILES, I would sure be interested to see how they will tackle MEMNOCH THE DEVIL, which I feel is Anne Rice’s most ambitious book. All in all, a book that was well worth my time.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anne Rice is the author to go to when you want to read a really good vampire novel. Not the type of vampire novels where vampires sparkle and are just too over the top (eye roll). This is vampires done well, with all the rich details and history to go along with them. I love this series and need to pick it back up again - I got stuck on the 6th one and need to push through it!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Very interesting twist on Christian mythology. Anne Rice never ceases to amaze me with her ability to take something so well-known and spin it in a new way. Bravo!
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A little too religious for my taste, but I could easily see Lestat going that direction at least at some other time in his life
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Very interesting twist on Christian mythology. Anne Rice never ceases to amaze me with her ability to take something so well-known and spin it in a new way. Bravo!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5One of the best books ever read. It can be slow, but that page 150 years so you will never put it down again.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5So great. Reminiscent of Milton. I loved it.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Very interesting twist on Christian mythology. Anne Rice never ceases to amaze me with her ability to take something so well-known and spin it in a new way. Bravo!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The story, or more the point of view used to tell one of the oldest stories, is enchanting. I was entertained by the language used and the mythology added seamlessly to slightly, yet profoundly, alter the story of creation and heaven to fit the characters journeys. I'd recommend it to anyone who can restrain themselves from being offended and take the story as fiction. I'd suggest reading The Vampire Lestat first at the very least in order to understand some of the story.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Interesting religious diatribe, but not very good as a vampire tale. I did find interesting the explanation of hell as only a type of purgatory where Satan worked with the souls to get them ready to go to heaven. Interesting concept, but other than that, not a very good read.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This book blew me away. It's different from her other books. Not bad different or good different. Just different. It is an entirely different KIND of book than the rest of the series has been so far. I loved it. It was powerful, thought provoking, inspiring. Just plain incredible.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This is the 5th of the Vampire Chronicles, and while it was an interesting storyline, I didn't particularly like the way it fit into the series...or didn't fit.
Obviously I'm not the author, and so perhaps reading the rest of the series (and then some of the companion series as well), I will gain a better perspective.
But to give a little more of the story of the novel, it starts the way several Chronicle books do--Lestat is getting into trouble. He's been stalking a man he is obsessed (and in love) with. Sounds normal so far, until he meets up with his recent-convert David to tell him he thinks he is being stalked...by something terrifying. He kills the man he has been lusting after, only to be visited by his ghost, who implores him to care for his daughter.
Had the storyline stayed here, I think it would have been a fantastic tale...but the story shifted to that of God, Devil, Hell, Heaven. And it was an interesting and well-told novel, but not quite the novel I expected when I picked it up. - Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5By the time I got to this book by Rice, I was quite disappointed because it seemed to me she'd become quite preachy and stopped having fun with her stories.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This was a hard book to get through for the first half. Part of this was the fact that I felt like too much time was spent on things that didn't matter in the long run. But part of it was that I remembered not liking this book when I read it for the first time long ago. I wasn't interested in reading a creation story. But this time around I found that, while I didn't love it, I did appreciate it much more as a good story told. And actually, I did find it a fascinating, this version of the classic tale: this idea of a negligent god. I also kind of enjoyed the revelations part where Memnoch goes through the big steps of evolution, abet in a intelligent design fashion. In the end, I think I enjoyed the book quite a bit, even though it stands as totally different from the first four books in this series.
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- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5After writing the two best novels in her Vampire Chronicles, Anne Rice puts out a dud in this fifth installment. In this novel, the Devil, Memnoch, recruits Rice’s vampire bad boy Lestat, to fight God. Perhaps the premise was too far reaching for an effective novel, but the novel had too much backstory, and not enough actual story. Too much of the novel focuses on the story of creation and Memnoch’s fall from grace as an angel, who believes his damnation happened because he refused to accept that human suffering should be part of God’s plan. God and the Devil often take human form and get into philosophical debates. Meanwhile, Lestat is just there for the ride, more of a passive observer than an active participant.This is the point in Anne Rice’s writing of her Vampire Chronicles that she starts to lose her way. Her previous novels were gripping and intriguing. This one really falls flats. The novel is overwritten. She could tell the same story with far fewer words and it would be much tighter. Lestat, normally entertaining and intriguing loses his luster. Not one of Anne Rice’s better novels.Carl Alves – author of Blood Street
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Thank God!!!!! I made it through this book!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is my absolute favourite work by Anne Rice. Many disagree with me on this point. I enjoyed the exploration of faith, Christianity, good and evil, the alternate creation myth... that and Lestat goes completely off on one. A rather large cast list, but it's mostly Memnoch and Lestat.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5In the late 80s, I was a big an of Anne Rice. She wrote two of my favorite novels--The Vampire Lestat and The Witching Hour--and others that were just great, fun reads like Queen of the Damned and The Mummy. Then something happened in the early 90s. The Tale of the Body Thief was the first indication of a problem. Then Lasher and Taltos were so bad that I just stopped reading her books altogether. Over the next 20 years, the only one I picked up was Pandora, which was OK but not good enough to rekindle my relationship with Rice's work. Then last month, I saw Memnoch the Devil in a thrift store for a dollar and decided I would give it a try since it was the next book in the Vampire Chronicles from where I left off with Tale of the Body Thief.What a frustrating read. The first half of the book is actually pretty good. Interesting characters, settings and plot points are introduced. Everything is moving along and quite promising. Then at the midway point, the whole thing shifts to a self-indulgent mess when Lestat basically leaves the entire story set up in the first half and goes off with Memnoch on a tour of heaven and hell with just endless boring monologues about creation, the Passion of Christ, God, angels.... For over 120 pages, Lestat basically has little to do or say. The ending is just totally bizarre.I just don't know what was going on with Rice in the 90s or whether the Vampire Chronicles series ever gets back on its feet. But unless you're a hardcore Rice fan, avoid this one.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The best of the Vampire Chronicles. Provocative and if you are of the Christian faith you might find it scandalous and at time blasphemous.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Too much religious philosophising for my tastes.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The vampire Lestat is given a proposal to join the fallen angel or the "devil" Memnoch and be his second in command. He is taken on a journey to heaven and hell before he makes a decision. An interesting take on heaven and hell and the role of god and the devil and how mankind fits into the spectrum. In the end the reader is left wondering if any of what Lestat experienced was real or was it just a ploy for another cause.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I loved this book. I believe it's the best one she ever done.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5I really liked this book as a teenager, but a recent re-read has made me bring down the rating from 4 stars to 2.Why?The writing is vain, self-centred, annoying, focused more on clothing descriptions than on actual plot. Either that or it seems to be a lecture on religion. I like the ideas, I enjoyed the story, but the writing style left me unsatisfied.Yes, I realize that Lestat is vain and self-centred, that the writing reflects his personality. This doesn't make it any less annoying.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5I’m sad to say that this is the first Anne Rice book that I REALLY disliked. From the first moment I picked up Interview With the Vampire I became a crazy Anne Rice fan and I loved every one of her books that I read since. It took me forever to get through Memnoch the Devil; I started reading it about a year ago and then put it down because I couldn’t stand all of the religious drivel. I finally decided that I had read enough of the series that I needed to finish it no matter how painful it was. I personally don’t want to read a story that revolves so entirely around the Christian religion, as I happen to be an atheist. Putting my dislike for religion aside, this book felt preachy. Memnoch talked for far too long about his speculation on evolution, the nature of human beings, theology, and every other monotonous detail of the Christian religion. My only consolation was that by the end of the book Lestat still hated god and the devil though I would have preferred that they had remained out of the story altogether. I only read this book so that I could understand the rest of the story, even though I thought it was extremely boring. I makes me truly sad to know that Anne Rice has since gone on to become Catholic and write about Christ in earnest. I would definitely NOT recommend this book even for Anne Rice fans, it isn’t worth it!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Memnoch the Devil is a tale far more philosophical and religious than any of Rice’s previous Vampire Chronicles. Her vampires have always wrestled with these questions of religion, philosophy and Their Place in the Grand Plan of ….whoever. In this book, Lestat meets the Devil himself. And, God Incarnate. With so many capitalized pronouns, Rice lays out a reimagining of the struggle between these two entities. Frankly, I’d like to believe it as Gospel Truth. But, of course, Lestat is the Damndest Creature and even he doesn’t believe what he experienced. So? What was the point of that, exactly? Those who are fans of the campy suspense of Queen of the Damned or Tale of the Body Thief: this is not the book for you. Those who are fans of the historical backstory and scholarly interests of The Mayfair Witches and The Vampire Lestat: this book is not for you. Those who actually like the broody, questioning Louis of Interview with the Vampire, and the introspective Taltos: you might enjoy this book. Those who obsessively read everything Ann Rice has ever written (including her pseudonymous works): this book is for you (and me).
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book, I could not put down. I am a slow reader (and I mean slow) and I finished this book in two days. In this book, Rice illustrates the age old battle between good and evil. Lestat must decide what side he wants to be on. Though I did not see as much symbolism (though it has been a long time since I have read it), the story still had more to offer than the average formula fiction. The metaphor Rice created in her first book, Interview with a Vampire, is still strong in this book. Though Lestat is a vampire, he can be anyone. He represents the everyday person fighting his own battles. Sure, his battles are a little more supernatural, but the conflict remains the same. Good or Evil.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In the fifth installment of the vampire chronicles, Lestat meets the devil. Presenting a poetic view of heaven and hell, Rice attempts to give form to religious beliefs. While it fits along the general storyline of the vampire chronicles, this installment showcases Rice's religious attitudes more than any other of the previous books. Appropriate for high school and beyond.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5To quote Buffy, “I think I speak for all of us here when I say, ‘Huh?’” This is a really bizarre diversion. It is worth reading, but leaves you unsatisfied. It raises many questions and answers few. Perhaps that is as it should be.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I sobbed through a good portion of this book. Her sympathetic portrayal of Jesus in this book was obviously a precursor to her recent religious fiction.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Exquisite. My favorite of the Chronicles. Perfect, beautiful imagery...superbly written.