Author: Anne Rice
Series: Vampire Chronicles #9
Genres: Paranormal, Classics, Gothic
Publisher: Mass Market Paperback
Release: 2003
Source: Audiobook
Pages: 774
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BLURB:
Lestat is back, saviour and demon, presiding over a gothic story of family greed and hatred through generations, a terrifying drama of blood lust and betrayal, possession and matricide. Blackwood Farm with its grand Southern mansion, set among dark cypress swamps in Louisiana, harbours terrible blood-stained secrets and family ghosts. Heir to them all is Quinn Blackwood, young, rash and beautiful, himself a 'bloodhunter' whom Lestat takes under his wing. But Quinn is in thrall not only to the past and his own appetites but, even more dangerously, to a companion spirit, a 'goblin' succubus who could destroy him and others. Only the unearthly power of Lestat combined with the earthly powers of the Mayfair clan could hope to save Quinn from himself and his ghosts, or to rescue the doomed girl Quinn loves from her own mortality. Shocking, savage and richly erotic, this novel with the deceptively gentle title bring us Anne Rice at her most powerfully disturbing. Here are vampires and witches, men and women, demons and a doppelganger, caught up in a maelstrom of death and destruction, blood and fire, cruelty and fate.
EXPECTATIONS: So here I am freely saying I don't like Anne Rice as a writer and boom I come upon Blackwood Farm. It is like Anne hired a Ghostwriter to write it, I mean really. It is so different in such a good way! I think I will never be truly convinced Anne really wrote this one.
THE WORLD: Okay so we are still in Vampire Chronicles typical setting but instead of going back in history to old time we actually stay in pretty modern ones. And modern I mean the times when computers were already freely available. Most of the time we also stay in a one place called Blackwood Farm. We do travel to NY once and a little bit to Europe but the majority of the book takes place in the Farm. And let me just tell you that I adore this farm.
CHARACTERS: This book is for some reason marketed as Lestat is back. Well nope. Lestat plays a very minimal role in this book, yay! This book is actually about this boy called Quinn. As typical to Vampire Chronicles he is a vampire and is telling us his story. And let me just say that his story is my absolute favorite! So we meet Quinn when he is still a little boy. He had problems with writing and in general education. But it is not because he is slow or stupid. Actually Quinn has an imaginary friend named Goblin. He looks exactly like Quinn but only Quinn can see him. But very often Goblin takes over Quinn and so he gets in trouble. That is why he could not continue going to school and had to be home schooled. Very soon his teacher finds out that Goblin is actually better at writing and reading than Quinn and talks Quinn into listening to Goblin who eventually really teaches him to write and read. What is important is that Quinn and Goblin are often accepted as separate. Yes, it is Quinn's imaginary friend. But at the same time everybody is so used to Goblin that he is considered as really there. Anyways with time things start to get dark, Quinn is seeing some ghosts and uncovers a murder scene. He also can interact with ghosts which makes this story even cooler. But at the same time this story is still very simple, Quinn is struggling with his identity, with everyday problems like a normal teenager boy. He is even affected by crazy hormones and goes on to explore his sexuality. I don't to tell you too much in fear of spoiling but really...I just adore Quinn, he is the best character Anne Rice has ever created.
ROMANCE: I think this was the biggest shock to me. Up till now Anne really wrote these cheesy romances where love was pretty fake. But in this book Quinn is exploring his sexuality in very different way. He loses his virginity with a girl ghost which might sound weird but really is not. But what really got my attention was that Quinn also has sex with Goblin and does talk about him being queer. I have never ever heard Anne use this word before. On top of that Quinn gets a new teacher who is gay and so they actually discuss it. Quinn says he thinks he is queer but he does not think he likes his teacher and when the teacher wants to leave his job because he is gay Quinn actually fights him to stay and that being gay does not affect their relationship. I just loved so much that Anne finally touched these topics. It really made a difference.
GOOD: Where do I even start? So many amazing things are addressed in this book that previously were tabu. This book really did read as Urban paranormal and it was just fantastic! I think the setting and location were just great, makes you really want to be there. Also Quinn and Goblin were so unique and such complex characters. Plus the development of Quinn...ah I am out of words. And even the second part of the book with Quinn's love interest was great. It was just really perfect, tho whole book itself is one big good.
BAD: I slightly wish we would have done it without Lestat at all. He does come at the end of the book to annoy you and that kinda influences your final impression I think. But yeah, that is pretty much it.
OVERALL: Love love loved it! It was hands down the best book of Vampire Chronicles and Quinn the best character Anne has ever written. Yet I am still not fully convinced Anne has written this book herself, it was just too different in a good way in comparison to her other books.
What do you think about BLACKWOOD FARM?
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