![]() ![]() They forge a connection with humans by taking riders. These dragons channel the power of water and are said to be born of stars. In the East, dragons are worshiped as gods-but not the fire-breathing type. These events brought about the current order: Virtudom, the kingdom set up by Berethnet, is a pious society that considers all dragons evil. The leader of these creatures, the Nameless One, has been trapped in the Abyss for ages after having been severely wounded by the sword Ascalon wielded by Galian Berethnet. Here, evil takes the shape of fire-breathing dragons-beasts that feed off chaos and imbalance-set on destroying humankind. No, the Nameless One is not a new nickname for Voldemort. Rice’s latest excursion into otherly realms may leave some readers feeling overstuffed-but others, to be sure, will be hungry for more.Īfter 1,000 years of peace, whispers that “the Nameless One will return” ignite the spark that sets the world order aflame. Fans of Rice’s vampire fiction will feast on whatever they can of hers, but Ignatius Donnelly/Edgar Cayce aficionados may twitch at all the “kindred in the Blood” stuff uneasily mixed in with the old lost continent mythos. Inner voice, nothing: Amel is much more than a haunting spirit, “as different from ghosts,” another superevolved being tells us, “as angels are from humans.” Who will prevail? Well, if Amel sometimes conjures Charlie Manson, Lestat sounds like Twiggy once the fussing and feuding between immortal domains is settled: “This is our universe,” he says, “We too are made of stardust as are all things on this planet we too belong.” Yeah, well. But the Atalantayans have their hungers, too, and the hungriest of them seems to have latched on to poor Lestat. Down in that watery realm, the denizens scorn the place where “a dreadful thing had happened in that mammals had gained self-awareness and intelligence and now ruled the planet.” The better to provide vampire chow, one might say. One constant source of irritation is the stately Rhoshamandes who has suddenly come into an all-day sucker of a captive whose ever flowing juice has “nutrients that human blood does not have.” A fine thing for a vampire’s inventory, to be sure, but a portal as well into a world whose technology, as so often happens, has outpaced its morals. ![]() Pity poor Prince Lestat he was once able to roam the world without a care, nipping and frolicking, but now he has administrative duties and, with them, fresh enemies seeking a shot at power. Having perhaps bled all the possibilities out of earthly children of the night, Rice ( Prince Lestat, 2014, etc.) takes a bite out of two big bodies of myth. ![]()
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