Merrick by Anne Rice

I was looking forward to the story of Merrick, a distant biracial cousin of the famous Mayfair Witches, who practices voudoun. I was looking forward to Louis's quest for the ghost of Claudia — but then I've always liked Louis.

In this book, in fact, a lot of interesting things happen to Louis — the Claudia thing, a new love, and a complete change of heart about how much vampiric power he wants. (I'll try not to commit a spoiler by telling any more details than that.) In other words, lots of character development.

So, my major gripe with this book is that it isn't told from Louis's point of view, but David Talbot's.

See, David has had a crush on Merrick since she was a teenager seeking refuge with the Talamasca. And while some of the interaction between David and Merrick is interesting, I would have preferred to cut a few of the chapters describing the infatuation, making room ... Read More