The Tale of the Body Thief
No. 4 in The Vampire Chronicles series
by Anne Rice
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Alfred A. Knopf (New York): October 1992. Hardcover: 430 pages. ISBN-10: 0-679-40528-3 Suggested retail price: $24.00 (US) Tags: Fantasy; mortality; vampires Tactical strength: [9/10] |
Compare prices on The Tale of the Body Thief by Anne Rice at Book Cost
In The Tale of the Body Thief, Anne Rice continues the adventures of the vampire Lestat. She has elegant writing that captures the mood and emotions of her characters -- especially well done considering a limited first person point of view (a fictional memoir).
In this adventure, Lestat doesn't want to go on living and tries to kill himself by exposing himself to the sun. But he is too powerful a vampire to be killed by the sun -- it just hurts him a lot. After this attempt and his recovery at the home of David Talbot, Lestat receives an offer: to trade bodies with a mortal. Lestat goes through with the plan for a 24-hour trial, only to have his body stolen. The rest of the adventure details Lestat's attempt to regain his body and explains his subsequent conclusions about living as a vampire.
The plot elements of the story are relatively simple and take place over a two-week period. The beauty of Rice's writing is her elegant way of always expressing the emotions of the characters. She uses the setting to enhance or contrast these feelings (as would be expected in a memoir). The dialog always communicates more than the simple meaning of the words -- we see the underlying emotions. Rice tells an exciting, suspenseful story built around solid characters who exhibit feelings that are human, even for vampires.
As I read items from the slush pile at Covenant, I often turned to Rice for refreshing examples of good writing. Without these frequent reminders, an average manuscript might look superior compared with much of the garbage submitted. Rice's flowing phrases and exciting scenes brought me back to the reality of the type of writing that I want to find in a submission and that I want to produce myself.
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