7.4 /10 1 Votes7.4
Country United States Publisher Knopf Pages 320 Page count 320 | 3.7/5 Goodreads Language English Media type Print (Hardcover) Originally published 28 October 2003 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Series The Vampire ChroniclesThe Mayfair Witches Similar Anne Rice books, The Vampire Chronicles books, Horror books | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Blood Canticle is a 2003 novel by Anne Rice which incorporates the new characters from her novel Blackwood Farm with those from her previous Vampire Chronicles and Mayfair Witches series. The novel was originally intended to conclude the saga of Rice's famed vampire Lestat de Lioncourt, but in March 2014 she announced a sequel titled Prince Lestat.
Contents
Plot summary
Narrated by Lestat, Blood Canticle finds young Mayfair witch and heiress Mona wasting away, victim to a mysterious disease brought on by the birth of her daughter. As the novel plays out, Mona and her guardian, Rowan Mayfair, reveal more and more about the powerful genetic plague that has haunted the Mayfairs for generations: their connection to the Taltos, an advanced species of human to which both women have given birth. Mona and the young vampire Tarquin "Quinn" Blackwood are in love. Lestat turns a dying Mona into a vampire so that the lovers can be together forever, also knowing that if Quinn had done it himself, he and Mona could not have shared thoughts as most vampires do.
While trying to prevent Mona's family from discovering her transformation, Lestat falls in love with Rowan; secretly, she pines for him as well. As Mona adjusts to her new power, Lestat enlists the ancient vampire Maharet to help find Mona's Taltos child. Lestat, Quinn and Mona arrive at the remote island colony of the Taltos, but instead of finding a secluded utopia they discover that years of intrigue and civil war have taken their toll. The remaining Taltos join the Mayfair clan at their New Orleans medical center where they can be safe, learn and be together as a family.
Mona and Quinn are taken by Khayman to be properly instructed in the ways of vampirism by Maharet and Mekare. Rowan seeks out Lestat, half in love with him but torn by her love for her husband Michael; exhausted by her life, she requests that he give her the Dark Gift. Lestat declines, pained though he is, because she is a guiding force for the Mayfair family and he cannot take her away from it.
Critical reception
After Blood Canticle received many "virulently negative reviews" from readers on Amazon.com, Rice responded on the site with "a blistering 1,200-word defense" of the novel. Compelled to speak out because many of the postings included personal attacks on her writing ability, health and state of mind since her husband's 2002 death, Rice added that she had received many emails of support from fellow writers who had also felt "savaged and trashed" by Amazon.com reviews.