Makes you understand why Armand's mind and personality is just so scrambled. The poor thing, really...

I became a fan of Anne Rice while in grade school and read this book believing it was the most romantic piece of literature I've read. I read it again about a year ago and oof... I was a kid. Armand was a kid. We were both victims.

This was one of my TVC favs, in part because of the uncomfortable content. No one in this book is good with anything that is happening in it. Armand sees his past as a collection of tragic events that he, Marius, and a few others just somehow managed to survive. AR doesn't just tell us about Armand's struggle. She drags us through it with him. Like Armand, the reader is meant to come out of this experience a changed person.

Listen, I read this book a few years ago and the entire time I was like "What the fuck am I reading?" Marius and his house of boys was...I have no words! 😲😲

@mayaamis

3 ай бұрын

it's ridiculous how modern audience misunderstand this in medieval times it was common practice for rich people and masters of various trades to give apprenticeship to orphans and kids from poor families, they would learn trade and help as assistants in return they got lodging and highest educations to be able to have better life when they reach age. many people did it it's historical fact. Marius did not have a "harem" nor did he have anything with other boys there, this is clearly stated in the book as they had more distant and respectful relationship with him and spoke about him in reverence and all knew he has smth with Armand but not them. The thing with Armand is still questionable giving his age of course, but Armand was an exception, and that is literal point of vampires.. that they are groomers and manipulators and he was grooming him to be new vampire, Armand specifically. the rest of the boys were literal apprentices and Marius didn't have such relationship with them. Also in the books vampires dont even have sex, and Marius didn't even feed of other boys, all that is said is that they noticed he doesn't eat but never talked about it. and all other real relationships Marius has in the books were with two grown women, Bianca and Pandora. you all need to educate yourself and stop spreading shit narrative because you're ignorant of social norms of the time. now am I excusing Marius for Armand? No. do I think he made mistakes? absolutely he's morally gray character.. but he's no this deranged serial paedophile the fandom makes him out to me.. and he never wanted to make Armand vampire this young, he was forced to it because he was literally dying..

i love when immortal beings set fire to each others houses because they are pissed off 😂😂

This is one of my favorite novels. It definitely has the trigger warnings for child slavery, child rape, pedophilia, child prostitution, child grooming, brainwashing, torture, and so on; it's not what everyone can tolerate, but I feel like it helped me grow as a person. It's a book I had to contemplate afterward. (I was quite shocked to encounter this material in my middle school library, though. Yikes.) Armand allows us to experience his life in those times and the ups and down. He is an easily-influenced child who wants to be the leader of the pack and is rarely alone, even as a vampire. He is ALWAYS a child and never fully breaches the cusp of being an adult, and this is of critical importance to his character. He strives to have companions and to be admired by them. As Andrei, he's influenced by the monks and even dreams of holing himself up in the ground to starve to death with them some day. As Amadeo, he quickly adapts to Roman life and becomes the leader of all the boys there. He excels in being crapicious, which is how his master instructed him to act. Once he's been kidnapped, tortured, and brainwashed as Armand by Santino and his cult, he adapts to their teachings and follows their orders even long after Santino is gone. When Lestat first meets him and destroys the cult, Armand begs to go with him only to be assigned to watch after the Theatre des Vampires for a hundred years. When Lestat returns and Armand hopes they can finally travel together, Lestat betrays his expectations by only wanting his blood to recover. He no longer needs Lestat's approval and lets Louis destroy the vampires there before traveling with Louis as his companion. Even once he separates from Louis, he stays and guards New Orleans for Louis and Lestat, protecting them from other vampires until they arise. He leaves with Daniel before uniting with the other vampires. Conveniently, he's bought an island in Florida for all the vampires to hang out together and meet each other. He's a teenager struggling with having a group to belong to. He's easily influenced and can be quite impulsive and destructive at times. Although he's been through a lot, he can't define himself or his own identity as an individual rather than a member of a group. Armand can be regarded as having been brain-washed twice. Although the second time was by Santino and the cult, the first time is as a slave. He "loves" Marius because Marius rescued him by buying him, and he's grateful to his hero/owner. He also loves Marius's appearance and his paintings. However, this is an unhealthy and predatory relationship where they are not equals and will never be equals. Should anyone mistake the two as having such a good relationship or having had one, Armand snaps readers of this by always referring to Marius as his "Master," even in modern times. This reminds the readers that Armand is a slave Marius took advantage of, and Marius acknowledges this. Marius himself lusted after Amadeo, but he wanted Amadeo to grow to his preference and also be more obedient to him. I appreciate how the pair describe this love as selfish. Although Armand was happy with him, it's also true that Marius took advantage of him and his situation. He never asks about Amadeo's home or religion since these were not part of the description Marius was grooming him to have. It's only when they visit Kyiv that Marius appears to truly realize Amadeo has his own story and background aside from being Marius's ideal lover and that Amadeo is actually... a person. When Armand makes his human friends with unconditional love, Sybelle and Benji, a childlike woman and a mature twelve-year-old, both are whom could be viewed as Armand's peers given their mortal ages, Marius turns them to give Armand a new group to be with but also to tie Armand more to the world of the living, so he doesn't try any more trips to Heaven. Unsurprisingly, this involves Marius breaking his own rules to never turn a child into a vampire. It's quite shocking the first time through, but Armand's representation of a teenager trapped in time while struggling to have his own friends and never maturing into adulthood is striking. Marius's "good guy" reputation is tarnished beyond repair after this book. I'm not entirely sure what the metaphor of the child's dress in the wall means, but I suspect it might represent Armand being a child or even a decorative item (slave) that was abandoned when hard times fell. After reading the previous books, Armand knows quite well that Marius refused to rescue him from the cult once Marius found out about him again. As a middle schooler, the series hit me a bit differently, and I couldn't appreciate it to this degree. It may have slightly traumatized me since it was my first exposure to written sex descriptions and featured and underaged slave and his master. WTF was this doing hiding in a middle school library??? Once I recovered from that, I empathized a lot with the tragic Armand as a teenager myself. I struggled with depression from undiagnosed Celiac disease, and I absolutely loved art. The Vampire Armand taught me a lesson that, even if you commit suicide, you may end up in a worse situation than you started with. If you remain alive, you can encounter something really worthwhile and meet people who love you unconditionally. I'm glad it has different meanings for different levels of comprehension.

@CarasEdrennyn

11 ай бұрын

Thank you for sharing! I just finished this book and think I need time to digest it, but I feel like you put to words some of what I was feeling. HIs journey with his religion really touched me and I'm not even religious. I feel like there is something here that really resonated with me-- maybe that he found something worth living for after he went into the sun, or that feeling of overwhelming love he has after and despite everything he'd been through. Definitely the most tough part is Marius. Absolutely hate Marius, I felt so much anger when he turned Sybelle and Benji and how he groomed Armand in Venice. And then he just abadons him to torture in a cult! It gives me complicated feelings about this book but I think in the end it will be one of my favorites. I resonate with his struggle in trying to understand suffering on earth and his emptiness through many years, and I wanted him so badly to finally have agency over himself. Also, this book really shouldn't have been in a middle school library!

@samanthacharlton4123

4 ай бұрын

I absolutely appreciate trigger warnings. Thank you!

@Jwa-fo6nb

Ай бұрын

​@@samanthacharlton4123I wished I had trigger warnings before I read the book😂😂

@samanthacharlton4123

Ай бұрын

@@Jwa-fo6nb oh, geez I should avoid this one, shouldn't I? 😅

@Jwa-fo6nb

Ай бұрын

@@samanthacharlton4123 I know I couldn't finish it, child sexual abuse or any child abuse is where I draw the line. It be different if the story was about him going through the abuse and showing how wrong it truly was for kids back in those ancient times but the author wrote the story like we supposed to enjoy the sex scenes between a boy and a adult man. Atleast that's how it seem to me. This is why I am one of those people who strongly believes that most people shouldn't be having kids because of people like this author. She gave birth to kids and she's making stuff like this? I just wish stupid people would stop having kids. I never say this but I wish I did have a warning before I read this book

Armand was always my favorite character, even since Interview, so you can understand why my copy has damage from throwing it against a wall and I didn't read another Anne Rice book for three years 😅 (I started the Mayfair Witches this year and haven't continued with VC yet) I was hoping Lestat showing up at the end was so he could help Armand kill Marius. I think Armand should bring back his mad scientist era to try to find the ideal way to kill an old vampire and Marius should be the test subject.

@jamesisaacson6379

Жыл бұрын

Why kill marcus sound cool and is one best vampire

Sounds like the security at Marius's mansion was terrible

As great of a writer as Anne Rice was, her works reek of a bygone era. The consent thing especially gives me so much pause. Lestat’s behavior in the body thief was bad enough but this book was just jaw dropping. She’s essentially the EL James of her day. Although, EL could never hope to be as creatively inspired. I’m glad the TV show is reimagining her work with a more contemporary lens. Hopefully Armand gets the same treatment.

@falsarnaexposure

Жыл бұрын

though i completely empathize with anyone being uncomfortable or opposed to reading depictions of sexual abuse (as a survivor of s. assault myself) i think it's important to recognize that this doesn't devalue an artist's work. the books, as can be said for all art, exists for innumerable purposes besides simply entertainment. i think there's a lot of worth in conveying the extent of fuckedupedness and violence and wretchedness that people (and vampires) can experience and/or inflict without it meaning that the artist condones or agrees with those behaviors. if it gives one pause that just means it was written well. it Should give one pause! vampires are monsters after all and her vampires were fucked up Before they became vampires so, it makes sense they'd commit unpalatable atrocities. that being said (and on a slightly different note) i can't deny i'm beyond thankful that they decided to make louis not a slave owner in the series

@spicy_kitty7983

Жыл бұрын

"more contemporary lens" = woke PC garbage. They literally made Armand Arab in the show, which shouldn't be surprising considering they changed the entire story just so Louis and Claudia could be black. (and these 2 characters aren't even major in the rest of the vampire chronicles) Anne is timeless, and just because you're squeamish and need trigger warnings doesn't mean there is anything wrong with her writing. Maybe you just need to nut up?

@lennonzamora5387

Жыл бұрын

Sounds like a perfect conservative talking point. The lines between extremes seems to blur and disappear more every day.

@endlessgendervoid

Жыл бұрын

RIGHT. like the armand was abused thats not okay

@ashscott6068

5 ай бұрын

Nah. If you're not going to tell the story as it was written, find another story to leech money from. Stories are products of their time. We don't modernize Shakespeare, because people UNDERSTAND that. We don't modernize the bible...anymore. What are we gonna do next, re-write HISTORY, too, to make it PC? It is what it is. If people aren't comfortable with what it is...if they're too stupid to realise it's not real, and today's right-and-wrong, was not yesterday's, and will not be tomorrow's, then just find another story.

So, I read this a few months back and have had time to think this over. With the content being as disturbing as it is, I believe that is intentional. With the vampires being anything but human and have a penchant for suffering, I can see how the idea of consent and grooming is lost on them. My take away is that a vampire sees someone who could make a great companion regardless of age, mostly so they can be disposed of or turned whenever that time comes. My philosophy on the Marius and Armand relationship is that Marius saw someone who he could be connected to that is slightly similar to Pandora (like he trying to redeem himself for what happened with her). That's my take, so take as one will. It's disturbing, but I can see it as intentional.

@MarthadelPilarMoreno

Ай бұрын

Absolutely disturbing, but I agree with you. Too old to remember what time actually is, more like looking for kindred souls. I read that book a while back, and probably I'll read again with different eyes, but it's a very luring story.

Anne Rices characters slowly and gradually became more and more degenerate the more books she wrote

You people must be crazy. Anne Rices books are the best. Some of my greatest books I love to read.

@nursemain3174

4 ай бұрын

You’re calling people crazy for criticism of pedophilia?

@Jwa-fo6nb

Ай бұрын

​@@nursemain3174 exactly I'm happy you caught that, This author has made some interesting books but I look at her sideways with all scenes involving kids...

please read the rest of the books, I need you to suffer through them for me, I can't do it

Armand was seventeen when he was made a Vampire due to the fact that he was dying because of a injury caused by a with a guy he was seeing.

I'm really enjoying these videos. I can't wait till you get to the end of this series. It really goes off the rails in the best way.

@UncleTonyK

Жыл бұрын

Idk if I would agree that it's "the best way." But I certainly agree that this series left anything resembling sanity FAR behind. It ended up somewhere in the Outer Limits. 😂

I love your review! It was fun to watch. The delivery of your reactions on what was happening in the book is on point

I’ve been thinking about reading all of Ann Rice books 📚 about the whole vampire drama. Also I really liked your take on the books. Good.

i love your reviews! Can you do all of the books? i'm up to Blood and Wine but i skipped Pandora.

Loved your commentary 😊 You and Bailey Sirian would be so cool together! New sub ❤

Thanks for reading this because I don’t wanna read it but I wanna know the story 😂

@samanthacharlton4123

4 ай бұрын

You might like this one "The Life of Armand" by Vampire Folklore kzread.info/dash/bejne/dHts1KuxqrW4fLw.htmlsi=JT85oNNGLku-47pt

There were a lot of things I had forgotten or never processed I guess, this helped a lot.

Excellent book review! Thx

Yeah, I Iiked Marius's book, Blood and Gold, and Pandora, but they are older when made vampires in their 30's and 40's I believe and while he is saving the young people he brings into his life, you have to remember he comes from a much different time of shorter life spans and slavery, where him and Pandora are hiring house servants/ slaves to be part of their household. His icky underage relationships are questionable in our time. But the books are worth reading to get the Roman environment they began their lives in. I would love to see their story come to life as two Roman vampires in TVC series. They also discuss religious themes of their times, like Osirus and Isis, then to the time of Jesus coming and then being crucified. They bring up questions of religion and history being written by people but is what is written truth or lies told by the person writing them.

One of the absolute best books of series! I dont care what everyone say I adore this book.. even with acknowledging all the messed up part as messed up.. I still love it it's such insane emotional luscious dark sexy but also messed up and heartbreaking and impactful roller-coaster... essential to understanding who Armand is and why. one of my absolute faves! also renaissance Italy is one of my fave moments in history so this books is extra treat in the respect. the inability and illiteracy of today's generation to remove themselves personally and read something in historical context and culture of the time it is set in is kind of sad... Comparing this to 50 Shades crap in any way reeks of totally lack of understanding yikes....

@dodoswrld

3 ай бұрын

i have less issues with the content of the book and more with the editing or lack thereof. god, it was a chore getting through it. i love anne rice but someone should have proofread the manuscript before publication. literally a first draft

@mayaamis

3 ай бұрын

@@dodoswrld well I'm sorry than it's not what comment sounded like to me. but well I can understand that argument..if it's editing specifically you talk about, well Anne famously (or infamously) decided she doesn't want any more editing after Queen of the damned, and was requesting her editor to accept her books as is. Her husband did some editing for her to some extent, and after he passed away, no one did. Pretty much all fans can admit it shows lol

@dodoswrld

3 ай бұрын

@@mayaamis so i have heard, which is really unfortunate. i’m still in love with the series but having not enjoyed this one as much as i really wanted to kinda hurts. objectively, even the two before armand weren’t masterpieces by any means but subjectively i still loved them for all their flaws. younger me would have gobbled this shit up though and left no crumbs

Love your vids

@TheNaughtyLibrarian

11 ай бұрын

Thank you!

I havent read this one. And honestly I am not sure, after this review, that I want to. I read up to Memnoch and pandora in my late teens but may do a reread one of these days. Out of curiosity have you read or do you plan to read Rice's (it was under a pen name but I can't remember the pen name at present) Sleeping Beauty series? I read it as a teen but pretty sure as an adult I would be a bit uncomfortable because it too has consent issues and some general icky content. When you were talking about the bdsm in this book it made me wonder if she was channeling her other pen name for that bit.

@mayaamis

4 ай бұрын

you're missing out it's an amazing book dont believe anyone's opinions on the internet

I'm so, so sorry for the length of this comment but, bloody hell, i have to rant or die: so I have been looking forward to listening to your review of Armand ever since I began the book, because a) I love your reviews, and b) as much as I love Anne Rice, I firmly believe that her vampires have no sense of humour whatsoever, and you provide it to them so, thanks for that 😂 anyway, I 100% agree with you, the book is well written (although dialogue is not Anne's forte, in my opinion), it is brilliantly researched, but the sheer amount and detail of the er0tic scenes is just unnecessary, and the pay-off of the whole book is arguably nill: after nearly 500 pages the only thing relevant to the larger story happens in the last five, and even so we are left with nothing but two new vampires we probably dont care about and Lestat and Armand back to being their usual bitchy selves. I mean, I did read the book for the descriptions of Venice in the Rennaisance and byzantine art which I love, so I did not leave quite empty handed; but even so, I feel like Anne took everything that was questionable or plainly all levels of effed up in her previous work and crammed it up into poor Armand's life. Also, the Claudia bit??? I don't accept that, I just won't, it's too bloody much, just... no! And the consent issue??? And the violence?? It's just wrong!! I apologize again for the rant but I just had to let it all out!

😂😂i love how you are sipping wine while getting through the story

yeah. that all scans. _JC

*so **_THATS_** what hapnd to all of my relationships.* incredible. _JC

I think 'apprentices' is the word you're looking for. He takes in young boys as apprentices/mentees.

50 Shades could never....

@MarthadelPilarMoreno

Ай бұрын

50 shades is a child story in comparisson

another crazy book by anne rice.

You have to review Bold and Gold

@TheNaughtyLibrarian

Жыл бұрын

I just did recently!

prettty sure this bk taught me what love is. so whatever you say; yeah. yep. _JC

One thing I know it’s because a long time ago age with people didn’t seem to matter unlike now. Thank you again.

@Jwa-fo6nb

10 ай бұрын

That's just a overuse excuse

@nursemain3174

4 ай бұрын

It did actually but yeh

You are so wrong !! It’s wonderful

"Albeit extra crispy"

*1st!* the internet will nvr dxe. _JC

Shame Armand didn't just try to magically swap Claudia into a new body.

me convenceu a ler kkkkkkk

So technically Armand himself is a child vampire 😅 ironic

This was where I stopped in the series which the first installments are some of my favorites of all time I’m even one of the rare fans that liked memnoch and the body thief despite them being a bit of a downgrade from the first three

Thank you because I couldn’t get myself to keep reading past page 77. Just too much 🤢 yikes 😬

Poison Land 😅

Yeah Armand is a little tapped....

@ladylau8975

Жыл бұрын

I think he should stick to dudes... 😱🌈

This is literally where I’m stuck at in the series. I recently read Memnoch but now I’m stuck because I don’t want to read an entire book about Armand😬

why so many minors in this series?...I mean like all the children under 15?...it makes me uncomfortable with so many children...i don't think i want t read any of this...and also, why do all the vampire series have to be teenagers like in Twilight (is that what people want and fantasize about, being a teenager forever)?...or is that what women want, to be 17 forever because 17 is the age when a woman is the most beautiful (not to me)?...I"m a male and if I had to pick the age to be forever it would be in my 30's...

I must admit Ms. Rice’s stories are good tales. However she writes like she’s paid a penny a word. Not my thing but hats off to those who can deal with this.

😻😻😻😻😻😻😻

Your goblet of wine is off-putting and trashy

@coltonmartin5057

3 ай бұрын

Gross opinion