October 29, 2020 – page 75 - 7.23% "I’m just confused about what this book is really about?"
November 11, 2020 – page 339 - 32.66% "This is going to take all year. But it’s soooo goood"
November 24, 2020 – page 630 - 60.69% "Chapter 23 done. that’s like at least 27 pages in each chapter, and each page has a margin of like 4 mm on each side, and the text is tiny. It’s exhausting!"

I just finished this brick of a book, and honestly I’m so disappointed. Rice sets up a realistic family, a backstory so detailed and well done, only to completely and utterly destroy it in the last 30 pages. It was so clear until the last 3-4 chapters that this was meant to be a standalone, and for some unexplained reason decided for it to be a trilogy, AFTER 1000 pages.

Okay, rant over. Anne Rice writes like she is right there in the book. The descriptions are rich and almost so real you could stretch out your hand to touch them. The characters are amazing, and she introduces so many people without losing us completely along the way. We get time with each of them, we understand them and we mourn them.

Our main characters are introduced slowly, and their faiths are slowly interwined until it all goes to hell in the end. Michael comes off as a kind, calm and resourceful man, traditional, but soft. While Rowan is ambitious, strong and free-spirited. Both have their demons, and their lives meet and collide.

Rice could easily have cut down 1/3 of the book without losing much of what happens. We get a lot of internal monologue and long paragraphs of thinking, but not nearly enough peaks. The big point of no return made absolutely no sense for our main characters, and it seriously annoys me.

This is definitely not a book for everyone, but all of this is my personal opinion and I see that a lot of people love this book deeply, but it lacked so much to me. Gosh, glad that’s overwith😅