This novel covers 2 categories in the reading challenge:
A book that was published in 1995 & A book that was written by a woman and features a male protagonist.
Memnoch The Devil is also the Second book I've read in this challenge which is part of a series. But I've only read 3 books so far. (I've nearly finished the fourth).
At some point a few years ago, I decided I wanted to try and work my way through Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles. Interview With The Vampire is one of my favourite films, and certainly my favourite Anne Rice read. The Vampire Lestat, the second novel in the series did not leave me disappointed as a follow up. The Queen of the Damned, although the film was certainly disappointing (except for the bits with Jonathan Davis clearly singing) I thought was interestingly written. I enjoyed how it was sectioned into separate stories for separate characters, almost like a short story collection.
I became a bit sick of the character Lestat though and of the way Anne Rice writes. The Tale of the Body Thief, the 4th novel in the vampire chronicles, was a trial to read. I'd become a bit sick of Lestat in The Queen of the Damned.
I picked up Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches trilogy at the time I was struggling with The Body Thief. This series was a lovely break from Lestat and the vampires, although set in the same world. It introduced some new supernatural beings. I really enjoyed the trilogy, however I still found myself getting annoyed by certain repetitive quirks in Anne Rice's writing style. Memnoch the devil suffered from this too.
The beginning of Memnoch the Devil surrounded itself with the intricate descriptions and knowledge of architecture and religious art, which Anne Rice likes to show off. I don't mind this, Anne Rice is great at descriptions and settings, but it can get a bit much. I also find that her characters tend to sound the same, using a frilly way of speaking I don't find believable. Everything always has to be 'delicious'.
The best thing for me about the novel, which is something a lot of people seem to have hated, is that the story barely concerns Lestat. The story is told from the perspective of Memnoch, who is the fallen Angel. This is Memnoch's story; how he viewed the creation of earth and the evolution of life; how he came to earth and questioned God; how he perceived God (or how, perhaps, Anne Rice, viewed God). I really enjoyed the way Anne Rice dealt with the subject matter of creation, evolution and religion.
