Rue Royale: Lestats Coven

TITLE

Cry To Heaven

PUBLISHED

1990

AUTHOR

Anne Rice

PAGE COUNT

582 PAGES

PUBLISHER

Penguin Books

ISBN

0-14-013202-3

CRAIG'S RATING

PLOT

IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY ITALY THE CASTRATI RECREATED HEAVEN ON EARTH

Their exquisite voices soared above the glittering world of courtiers and nobility. Those who achieved fame were showered with riches and carnal favors. But their success also hid a terrible sadness.

TONIO, of noble birth, is the victim of a vengeful brother. Disinherited and forced to join the ranks of the castrati, he plans his revenge while striving to become the greatest of all singers.

GUIDO, sacrificed to the knife at an early age, composes opera and dreams of the perfect voice to give it life. He discovers Tonio and becomes his teacher.

As together they reach the very pinnacle of success, Tonio is pushed to the extremes of endurance as he tries to resolve his lust for glory and for vengeance.

CRAIG'S REVIEW

Anne yet again gives her characters a bold flare and depth that you can feel from the beginning till the end of the book. Although it is quite interesting to read about the castrati opera singers, and you can see that Anne put a lot of time in researching this particular subject. But you may find that the story suffers for this as it lacks imagination and creative flare that Rice fans are used to. In my opinion I think Anne might have researched this subject too much and put what she learned into the book and therefore the story took a backseat for most of the book. Although the sort of face off between Tonio and Carlo is well written and enjoyed that bit quite a bit.

I do suggest you read this book, especially if you have keen interest in history as this book is full of interesting things.


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