Product Description

In this stunning, terrifying new novel from the phenomenally successful Anne Rice, Lestat, her vampire hero, makes a Faustian pact with Memnoch, the fallen angel and devil. When the novel opens, Lestat is being stalked through the squalor and opulence of New Orleans, sensing for the first time what it must be like to be one of his own victims. The dramatic plot hurtles through space and time from the New Orleans underworld in the 1990s to the first century AD, the Fourth Crusade, and an apocalyptic denouement in hell. Lestat brings back the shroud imprinted with the face of Christ, and is saved from damnation only by will of Dora, the saintly nun whose blood he desires but whom he could not bring himself to harm. Blind in one eye, and weak, he returns to earth and the present as a captive of his own kind and Dora's charge, uncertain whether he will ever be able to kill again...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #22614 in Books
• Published on: 1996-08-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 432 pages

Customer Reviews

READ IT, LOVE IT, CHERISH IT!!
For anyone who loves Anne Rice's novels (and to be fair I haven't read a huge amount of them) this should be an awesome addition to the already brilliant series of novels she's written! Those of you who aren't familiar with Anne Rice (or indeed the whole Vampire area) will probably find this one of the most fantastic, thought provoking, exciting and unimaginably awesome books you ever read!!! Memnoch the Devil portrays Memnoch (the earliest known word for Satan/Lucifer,etc., I believe it's Hebrew) not as the inherently evil 'Enemy of God' or the fallen angel but almost as a confused child who cannot comprehend God's merciless views on creation. Memnoch fails to understand God's decision (as we all do at times) to create the Universe in all it's glory and splendour and then also create the elements that destroy environments and habitats and kill the creatures he supposedly made in his own image, i.e. mankind. Menoch sees this as the proverbial gladitorial arena and can't agree with God's decision to let things run their course when he has the power to prevent the suffering, the disease, the death, and the destruction.

Due to this strong disagreement with God on the running of the Universe, Memnoch is cast from Heaven until he can, effectively, recapture his 'blind faith' in God and accept that whatever God does is right and nobody may question him. Memnoch then creates 'Hell' ~ a place where the souls of the dead are locked in limbo. These spirits are from those of us who don't believe in God and thus haven't earned a place in Heaven. Memnoch sees it as his mission to strip these souls of everything they have and inflict in them such horror that all they have left is to pray to God and thus have faith in the All-Father to save them, thus gaining them access to Heaven.

To give him the upper hand Memnoch tries to enlist the help of Lestat as his 'man on earth'. Lestat at this point is the most powerful of all Vampires and thus the perfect parter in crime for Satan in his quest to 'help mankind'!!

However, the one thing we are all taught about Lucifer? His words are as sharp as betrayal, his tongue as deadly as deceit; and nothing he says, no matter how small, irrelevant and inconsequential cannot be trusted nor believed!

TRUST ME: YOU WILL LOVE THIS BOOK IF YOU LIKE FANTASY NOVELS!!

Read it and you'll see what I mean.

I don't understand the critics reviews of this book ...
... I have read and loved all of the books in The Vampire Chronicles, currently reading The Blood Canticles. What I don't get, is WHY the critics slammed Memnoch the Devil so much, and why Anne Rice devotes almost a chapter of her new book defending her work of genius. Memnoch takes Lestat to hell, literally, where the Devil seeks him to become his adversary. The writing throughout the book can be described as nothing but passionate, and Anne's ideas on the concepts or Heaven and Hell are something amazing. Lestat walks with the Devil, talks with God, and still this book has all of the detail and pleasure we have came to expect in the Vampire Chronicles. In my opinion, the best of the series. I would really recommend you forget what the critics say, read this book and make your OWN mind up!

share the emotions
this book is one of the most best written books i have ever read i have read all the vampire chronicles and this one supasses them all. the emotions felt when reading this book and the others in the series is what i wish everyone to feel at least once in there life. i think it would be best to read 'the vampire lestat' and 'the tale of the body thief' before reading this book so you know about the characters if you do that this book will be a book that you remember for a lifetime