Occult

Anne Rice gives us a new twist on the old mummy horror stories. She gives us "Ramses the damned" a human who is doomed to walk the earth alone forever. She explores the concept of being the only person with immortallity, the power to grant immortallity and the tremendous burden this secret carries. Ramses lives for 1 thousand years without sharing immortallity. The fear of this power causes him to lose his true love. He then locks himself away and sleeps for 2 thousand years only to be awakened in the early 1900's.

I couldn't put the book down. My wife also read it and she too loved the book. This is an excellent story but not a true horror story. It's more a human interest fiction. The Mummy is highly recommended.

Mummies awaking,a pretty girl we have all seen a movie or read a book with a plot that is almost identical. What is different is Anne Rice's very unique perspective;she puts a very special touch on a very played out subject.The story begins in Egypt in the 1920's with an archeologist named Lawrence Stratford and his assistant Samir. While on a dig in the barren hills south of Cario they come across a great tomb and written upon it in three different languages dating thousands of years apart is "Robbers of the dead, look away from this tomb les you wake it's occupents whose wrath cannot be contained, Ramses the damned is my name!" A little bit of foreshadowing don't you think? It turns out Ramses took an immortality elixir and is now destined for a museum in London. Ramses still exhibits human natures and qualities and even falls in love with Lawrence's daughter Julie. Even though Ramses is enjoying his time in London there are two things bothering him. First he must avenge Lawrenece's death. But Ramses also feels he must say his final goodbye to Egypt before Julie and he can run off together. But will Egypt bring a horrible end for Ramses and Julies Love? Read the book and find out. This book is great if you're sick of the avaerage mummy story. We highly recomened this book.

Sexy immortals with angst to spare are the cornerstones of Anne Rice's fiction. "The Mummy or Ramses the Damned" takes a different direction, mixing romance with horror and supernatural thrills. It has its flaws, but the raw energy of the book keeps it roaring up to the finale.

Lawrence Stratford uncovers the mummy of Ramses the Second, or "Ramses the Damned." But before he can unravel the mysteries around the mummy, he's murdered by his amoral nephew Henry, and the mummy is shipped to England. Lawrence's daughter Julie takes possession both of the family fortune and the mummy -- only to have the mummy revive when exposed to sunlight, and try to kill the murderous Henry. He's Ramses, an Egyptian king who drank an elixir of eternal life taken from a Hittite priestess.

Long ago, he faked his own death and wandered the world, eventually returning to Egypt and becoming the mentor/lover of the legendary Cleopatra -- only to lose her first to Antony, then to death. At first, Ramses is thrilled by the early-twentieth-century England, and he and Julie start to fall in love. But on a trip to Egypt, he comes across the mummy of Cleopatra, and revives her with a vial of the elixir. Except that this Cleopatra is mad, murderous, torn by her old loves and hates -- and unkillable.

This is not your parents' "Mummy" story. Except for one mildly funny scene where Rameses first revives, there are no stumbling mummies covered in bandages. Instead we have a tortured immortal who wakes up into a new world, while still being rooted in the Egypt of three thousand years ago.

Rice's lush prose is well-suited to the splendor of early twentieth-century England, when Egyptology was the fad -- she has lots of fun with the lace, pearl buttons, and opera houses. Her most awkward points are when Rameses is marveling at/criticizing 1914 England. At the same time, she gives new twists to the tale of the mummy, such as having him romance Cleopatra.

Ramses gives a slightly new twist to the tormented, lonely immortal, by having his almost childlike response to things like faucets and shoes. Julie falls for him a bit too quickly (yes, he's gorgeous, but what else?), but a good love interest. The other characters -- the youth-craving Elliott, his clueless but sweet son Alex, and the money-hungry, evil Henry -- are all intriguing and fully explored. But Cleopatra is what makes the book -- she's seductive but mad, tormented but still loving. Dislike her, but Rice will make you pity her too.

"The Mummy or Ramses the Damned" gives new twists to the story of a mummy come to life. Rather than an undercooked horror novel, Rice gives a thrilling, chilling look at immortality, and how what you want is not what you get.