Bio
Anne, or by her original name Howard Allen Frances O’Brien, was born on the 4th of October, in the year of 1941, in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States of America. Anne is a very well-known and prominent American writer of gothic, erotic, and Christian fiction. The novels of Anne have been sold more than one-hundred-million times, which makes Anne one of the most read writers in nearer American history.
Life
As noted, Anne was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. Rice was daughter number two of four to Irish Catholic parents Howard O’Brien and Katherine Allen O’Brien. Howard was a veteran in the navy during the Second World War and worked as a Personnel Executive for the Postal Service. Following Howard’s death, his family published a novel he had wrote called The Impulsive Imp.
Best Anne Rice Books
Writing
The elder sister of Anne, Alice Borchardt, would become a notable writer of horror and fantasy writing, as well. The New Orleans area is where Anne spent the greatest portion of her childhood and youth and it also represents where most of her stories take place. Some of the best works are Rice’s Beauty books, Rice’s Vampire books, and Rice’s werewolf series. With that noted, we can now take a look at our picks for the best Anne Rice books.
The Vampire Chronicles
Famous Series
The Vampire Chronicles series is the series that most people know Anne from. It is one of the best Rice vampire series. The series consists of thirteen primary novels, so here we have Rice’s Vampire Chronicles books in order:
- Interview with the Vampire
- The Vampire Lestat
- The Queen of the Damned
- The Tale of the Body Thief
- Memnoch the Devil
- The Vampire Armand
- Merrick
- Blood and Gold
- Blackwood Farm
- Blood Canticle
- Prince Lestat
- Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis
- Blood Communion
Change Me, Oh, Change Me
The series’ first novel, Interview with the Vampire, by dint of its massive success, is also the reason why the series is often called the Rice’s Interview with a Vampire series. This novel considered by many as Anne Rice’s best book follows Louis, as his tale is told by no one other than himself.
Life of Vampires
Louis tells us the tale of how he was turned into a vampire by the infamous Lestat and how he, with time, was pulled into the life of the vampires. The tale moves from his New Orleans life, taking into account all of the important moments in Louis’ life, all up until he became the vampire he is today. One of the best Anne Rice book series you should not skip.
Lives of the Mayfair Witches Series
Amazing Trilogy
The Lives of the Mayfair Witches series is the series where one can easily find some of the best-selling Rice books. Oftentimes, the series is referred to as Rice’s Mayfair Witches series, as well. The series is comprised of three novels and we have put these Anne Rice books in chronological order:
- The Witching Hour
- Lasher
- Taltos
There’s Something Special About You
Not too seldom, we should add, the series is called Rice’s The Witching Hour series as there was a three-year gap between the first and second novels between which people clamored for more and got used to the first book’s name.
This Rice’s Witch series begins with a hushed, timid woman silently rocking upon her New Orleans veranda. The tale of Rowan Mayfair, a very attractive woman, along with being a great neurosurgeon. Rowan was always aware of there being something special about her, but she never knew what it truly was.
Saving the Man, Damning the Soul
Somewhat randomly, Rowan comes upon a drowned body just off the California coast and she resurrects this man. Michael Curry, a New Orleans resident, was a man that changed his life for the better, but during his short period of being dead, has gotten a certain sensory power. The two are drawn to one another from the very first moment, but what can they do with this love so illicit? Some of the top Anne Rice books that are worth your time.
New Tales of the Vampires Series
Underrated
Yet another great source of some brilliant Rice vampire novels is the two-book New Tales of the Vampires series. The series is not quite as famous as the other Anne Rice’s vampire series books, but it ranks among our favorites. Anne Rice’s novels in chronological order are:
- Pandora
- Vittorio, the Vampire
The Allure of Pandora
The novel begins in Paris of today in a café that is quite crowded. This is where David comes upon Pandora. Pandora, the two-millennia-year-old, was the first vampire ever created by the great Marius and David, by wit or by charm, persuades Pandora to tell him her own story. As Pandora begins, adamantly to be noted, she goes from Imperial Rome to Enlightenment Era France, then to Paris of the twentieth century, and even makes a stop in New Orleans.
A Tale as Old as the Box
We venture along with Pandora to her days of being quite mortal during the lifetime and rule of Caesar Augustus. Here Pandora met and subsequently fell deeply in love with the not yet immortal, frivolous, and charming Marius.
As she is forced to flee Rome, Pandora waited each day until she finally met Marius, though when they do meet, Marius is quite changed. That’s alright, Pandora was ready for the change, too. These two are some of the best-rated Anne Rice books, too.
Ramses the Damned Series
Different Beings
The series at hand, Ramses the Damned series, is one that is most often called Rice’s mummy series. The two-novel series is a great one and one that showcases the talents of Rice not just in the context of vampires and werewolves, but of other preternatural beings. We have put these particular Rice’s books in order and they are:
- The Mummy
- The Passion of Cleopatra
A Pharaoh in London
Ramses the Great is not young by any standards of the word. When he awakens from his slumber in the period of Edwardian London, he is mesmerized by the advancements and development of the known world. Ramses had, prior to his death, drank from the elixir of life, so that at present The Great portion of his name may be transformed and turned into Ramses the Damned so as to be more correct.
Alien Time and Alien World
Ramses the Damned is now forced to walk the Earth, always yearning to sate the appetites and the needs, but never being able to do so. An heiress, Julie Stratford, is someone that becomes a close attendant of Ramses, but the curse that hangs over him doesn’t give up. As Ramses walks the Earth of today, he can’t help but feel his skin crawl at the thought of what he lost millennia ago. Some of the best books by Anne Rice.
Servant of the Bones
A Babylonian Death
A Babylonian DeathServant of the Bones is a standalone novel from Anne and one that we think is very much worthy of being called the best Anne Rice book. Servant of the Bones was published in the year of 1996 and it spans about four-hundred or so pages.
The main character of Servant of the Bones is none other than Azriel. Azriel is a twenty-five-hundred-year-old unrestful Jewish spirit. Azriel was born in Babylon and she can be summoned by anyone that possesses and comprehends the arcane mystery of casket wherein Azriel’s golden bones lie and to which they are tethered. In limbo between heaven and earth, Azriel can’t do anything but watch as the greatest travesties of human civilization happen.
On the Margins of History
Going from the ancient Greek philosophers, to Alexander the Great on his deathbed, to the Mongolian time, and even to Strasbourg, where and when the Jews were blamed for the Black Death as it coursed through Europe.
At the moment, though, Azriel has been called on to witness and to exact revenge for a murder on Fifth Avenue. Gregory Belkin’s daughter Esther is the one that has been killed. Gregory is a fanatic and a cult leader, but his history and his ties are, oddly enough, close by to Azriel’s.
Cry to Heaven
Living Men as Gods
Living Men as GodsCry to Heaven is one of the most popular Anne Rice books and a book that we sincerely recommend our readers pick up. Cry to Heaven was published in the year of 1982 and it spans a little over five-hundred-and-fifty pages.
The Castrati society of the eighteenth-century period was something to marvel at. The men sopranos had the most divine bodies and the voices to match them and they were brought to the adulation of royal courts, of opera houses all across Europe. These were men that were adored, worship, and they lived as idols. They were, for all intents and purposes, avoided as some half-people, yet also beloved as angels would be.
Skeletons at a Party
As we enter the spine-tingling and marvelous tale and one of the amazing books written by Anne Rice has for us here, we see a world that is tenebrous and ghostly. Neapolitans, Romans, and Venetians, along with the noblest of the people, then even the peasants, the princes, the saints, the musicians, and even the swindlers, all come together to create the sweeping story that Anne has in store.
As decay and decadence begin taking their toll upon society, the skeletons in the closet become restless. A tale that the reader will not forget any time soon. Perhaps even the best Anne Rice novel.
The Feast of All Saints
People On the Sidelines
People On the SidelinesThe Feast of All Saints is a standalone novel, one of Rice’s best-sellers and oldest books too, that we absolutely and unabashedly love. If we were forced to give Rice’s books listed from best to worst, then The Feast of All Saints would be part of the former. The Feast of All Saints was published in the year of 1979. In the period of the Civil War, just prior to its beginning, the gens de couleur libre people lived in New Orleans.
They were half-castes that had the skin color of copper. While they were freed by the owners, the skin color always left them as being inexistent and were forced to be subordinated. Nonetheless, the time would come when in society their people would be counted as being one of the scientists, one of the artists, and such, they are sure of this. Without a doubt, one of Rice’s best books
What Divides Us
The story of The Feast of All Saints is a tale that introduces us to Marcel. Marcel is a sensible and very sensitive scholar, with eyes the color of the bluest skies. Marie, on the other hand, is his sister, a very beautiful woman, who, for better or worse, has not been stricken by the color of her ancestors.
Marie can quite easily be taken as a white woman. Christophe is a writer and a teacher, and then we have Anna Bella, who is obsessed with the well put white men. One of the most inventive stories Anne wrote, and one that we consider as being atop the best Anne Rice books. And we are not the only ones, this novel also received many positive Anne Rice’s book reviews.
The Wolf Gift Chronicles Series
Unbound Talent
Rice’s Wolf Gift series, more formally known as The Wolf Gift Chronicles series, is yet another striking example of how unbound the talent of Anne is. The books that comprise Rice’s Wolf series are the following:
- The Wolf Gift
- The Wolves of Midwinter
Everything Going Awry
A reporter has just received a task from the San Francisco Observer. He has to write about an elderly woman, one that will let him into her sprawling, beautiful, and large mansion. In fact, the subject of his writing is actually the mansion, one that the lady needs to sell quite soon.
As the young reporter begins on his business, there is an odd thing that happens between two people that in any other place would never have been subject to such a thing. By the end of it, the reporter is bitten by a beast that vanishes in the tenebrous darkness of night. Before he knows it, the man has turned into a werewolf. It sounds like the best Rice’s werewolf books, doesn’t it?!
Coming to Terms
Try though he may, the man cannot reconcile with what he has become. The power and the unbound inclinations that he feels when he is a werewolf, for one, is something that he couldn’t have accounted for. Before the man can make heads or tail, he is being chased and hunted as the Man Wolf.
Wrestling with his own identity, that of both a man and a wolf, the young reporter has more than one obstacle on his journey. The series is also the home to some of the few new Anne Rice’s books that have come out.
Christ the Lord Series
Wonderful Series
Rice’s Christ the Lord series, also familiar to many of the readers surely as just Rice’s Christ series, is one of the authoress’ absolute best. This best Anne Rice series is comprised of only two books, but both are wonderful. The two books are:
- Out of Egypt
- The Road to Cana
Savior’s Eyes
Out of Egypt tells the tale of a fictional Jesus Christ, from the age of seven onwards. It is told in the first person and we learn the story, as visualized by Anne, of how different Jesus was to those of his age. With the ability to turn clay birds into live ones, to cast life or death upon anyone at a moment’s notice, Christ was a source of fear to his people.
Upon being the reason for a boy’s death, but then resurrecting him so as to expel the pain and grief of the boy’s parents, Jesus and his family are forced to leave Alexandria and go back to Jerusalem.
There Is More to the Story
Christ is aware that they are leaving by dint of what he has done. There isn’t a place that he has gone to where he hasn’t heard the hushed rumors of something that happened in Bethlehem seven years ago.
Jesus learns that while Mary is his mother, Joseph actually isn’t. All his questions are met with resignation and denial, but one day his mother tells him the truth – he is the Son of God. Rice’s Jesus books are some of her best.
The Songs of the Seraphim Series
Angels Among Us
The Songs of the Seraphim series by Anne is rightfully on our list of Rice novels that we have found to be the best. The Songs of the Seraphim is comprised of two books and they are the following ones:
- Angel Time
- Of Love and Evil
A Preternatural Hitman
One of the best Anne Rice novels, Angel Time, is a tale that begins in the present day. Toby O’Dare is a contract killer. Toby, for virtue of his skills and expertise, is revered and venerated in the underground scene. Here, he once again has a task to kill someone.
The man he is tasked with killing is a man without a soul, a veritable animated dead man, who goes by not just one name, but many aliases. Lucky the Fox is the current one he is using and he takes the orders he gets from a certain Right Man.
Making Amends
As Toby begins his mission of lonesome, isolated, yet deathly results, he comes by a certain strange figure that gives him an offer. This stranger, a seraph, gives Toby the opportunity to change his life and to save not just destroy lives.
Toby, a long time ago, wanted to be a priest, before turning to his current occupation, so he accepts. Just like that, Toby is taken centuries into the past where his tale of retribution begins. Rice’s Sleeping Beauty series is one that we recommend picking up next.
Alissa Wynn
Alissa is an avid reader, blogger, and wannabe writer. (She's a much better cook than a writer actually). Alissa is married, has one human, one feline, and two canine kids. She always looks a mess and never meets a deadline.
