This is the first Anne Rice book I've not only completed, but actually enjoyed. It took me awhile to get the characters straight, but Ms. Rice explained their back story well. Now I wish I'd read Ramses the Damned first because I liked most of these immortals and mortals once I put the pieces together. I will definitely read future books in this series.
Advanced reader copy courtesy of the publishers at Netgalley for review.

This much-anticipated sequel (almost 30 years in the making!) sputtered off to an unfortunate slow start. All characters are meandering about, going somewhere, presumably, do something, I guess. Yawn. (Okay, okay, I'm being too harsh -- Alex and his mother are going to throw an engagement party for Julie and Ramses, and the whole world is invited.) The first 50%-60% was a bit of a slog.

With all of Ramses' news coverage and the media spectacle of the mummy's curse, other immortals (spoiler alert -- they're out there) notice that Mr. Reginald Ramsey is probably older than he looks. It seems the formula for creating other immortals has been lost to time, but when other immortals notice that twenty-something Julie suddenly has the tell-tale eyes of an immortal, clearly Ramses still knows the recipe; the villains are not above coming after the people Ramses cares about to get the secret from him.

Another immortal is introduced, Bektaten, a living relic of ancient Africa with mysteriously altruistic intentions. She is the most intriguing character of the book, notwithstanding an awkward and easily-skippable bodice-ripper scene made all the more awkward by the fact that a mother and son wrote it.

Poor Cleopatra's storyline is the most sympathetic; she simultaneously regains her sense of self-awareness while losing the memories of her past life. The most heartbreaking moment in the book is when someone casually mentions her son, Caesarion, and she realizes she has no memory whatsoever of having a son, I just want her and Alex to live happily ever after, is that too much to ask? Can the next book just be about nice things happening to them, please?

The overall existential melancholy is on par with other works by Ms. Rice. It explores the mythology of reincarnation; the way souls' journeys are explained in this universe is clever. Don't forget the age-old Rice question of the point of immortality -- is it even worth it? What is your responsibility to a world you can't check out of?

Worth reading, if you're into that sort of thing. I have a feeling a book 3 is coming, although I haven't seen any indication of it other than the fact that The Passion of Cleopatra didn't feel completely solved.

Ramses the Damned The Passion of Cleopatra by Anne Rice, Christopher Rice
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Was given to me through Negally. I was one of those people that actually went back and read The Mummy because I wanted to see how the two stories were connected. This review is my honest thoughts on how the story progresses.
This book continues two months after The Mummy, giving the reader enough time to realize that the biggest change is Julie’s eyes, they have been changed by a Fever or so everyone who asks her has been told but it’s the sign of immortal life. Julie and Ramses are now engaged while her almost husband Alex mourns the mysteries death of the women he met in Cairo. While some readers may complain that there are a substantial number of new characters to contend with I myself enjoyed seeing them weaved into the plot. I enjoyed reading the story and being lost in the locations and the dialogue and the agony depicted both between Ramses and Cleopatra both looking for Immortal Life and Immortal Love. I loved the character of Sybil the writer who was able write the history of Cleo while living her memories with her. I recommend this book to all die-hard fans and anyone who has read the first book and enjoyed it. This is my first read from Christopher Rice and I have to say they work together very well. If they plan on writing more please don’t wait another 30 years.

I loved this book. I love Anne Rice and Christopher Rice's collaboration and their take on Ramses and Ancient Egypt. It was such an interesting book, I couldn't put it down. Definitely a guilty pleasure

I enjoyed this book more than I expected. I had previously tried to read an Anne Rice novel, but stopped for health reasons. I have read the Claiming Beauty erotica series that she wrote.

This ended up being a really good book. The beginning started off kind of confusing with everyone going by multiple names and the viewpoint changing every chapter, but once you get the hang of the different names, the story starts to flow and it becomes really good.

I would recommend this book.

For authors with books and books of writing experience, the book has too many plot holes. I struggle to enjoy it as chapter by chapter the characters make decisions that defies their character and intelligence. Anne and Christopher Rice have experience in writing paranormal books, and this Ramses the Damned falls seriously short. I am just not convinced that someone who has spend years plotting and ruling a country can be gullible and naive! Although it is well written, who can deny the smoothness of the words, the plot and story are the ones bringing it down.

I did not read the previous book but understood (from other reviews) that this could be perfectly read a a stand alone.

I didn't finish it because I got bored with so many characters. I was expecting more credibility in the development of the story. For example, Ramses resurrected Cleopatra whose body was being exhibited in a museum; he then regrets resurrecting her and flees the museum; thus leaving Cleopatra to wake up and make sense of it all by herself. Next thing we know she is a Londoner!

For inmortal beings, Ramses and Cleopatra seem quite determined to copulate and marry humans.

I don't know how they could pass/live among us. The treasure that Cleopatra gave her love-toy Teddy, how was he able to make actual currency out of it?

All these new characters that keep appearing... I'm sure they have a purpose, but as I read I just didn't care.

I like stories that are believable and I just didn't buy these "mummies" living amongst us. Ramses resurrected and there are stories on the newspapers about it and that is just it?

I read a lot of Anne Rice before she went all religious and i havent read anything of hers since and this sounded really interesting so i thought i would give it a go.

Ramses was the prime minister for Cleopatra, he discovers an elixir that makes him immortal and Cleopatra begs him to give it to her lover Marc Anthony so they could create an immortal army, Ramses refuses and Cleopatra kills herself.

Ramses travels the world alone for the next few thousand years and then in the museum of Cairo in 1914 Cleopatras body is unearthed and Ramses goes to see her. Feeling guilty for what he did he pours the elixir over her mummified body and Cleopatra rises from the dead as an immortal.

Things do not go well for either of them as Ramses trys to find redemption and Cleopatra trys to find her soul which had been ripped away from her and is now living in another person.

It was a cracking good read, it takes you from Egypt to Alexandria, to London, Monte Carlo, and Yorkshire. It did get awfully religious and preachy at the end but i ca skip over that part..

From doing some research this is a reprint or rewrite of the Mummy which Anne Rice wrote in 1989, im not sure this can be classified as a sequel as its exactly the same story. Never the less it is still a good read.

I loved this book. Anne Rice is an amazing author who knows how to create characters that stick with you. This is the first book that I have read by Christopher Rice so I can now say the same thing about him. I have loved Anne Rice ever since I was a young girl and saw the movie "Interview with a Vampire" I have then slowly started reading her novels. Each one of her novels makes you think. The Passion of Cleopatra is no different.

The characters in this book were well developed and the plot was well developed. It was great to see how the story unfolded and I was genuinely pleased with the twists and turns that were present.

I will say, this was a long book to read. I struggled a bit to read it simply because I had audiobooks I was also reading. Just because it took me a little over a month does not mean that I didn't love the book. I just wanted to savour it.

All in all, I loved this book. It was beautifully written and had well developed characters that spoke to me as a reader. Hands down, this is a 5/5 star book!

I have not left a review because it would have been so bad. I did not finish reading this book. I am very disappointed because I read the original The Mummy and loved it. Too much exposition, not enough real dialogue makes for a boring book.

Ramses The Damned, The Passion of Cleopatra: Great for fans, other buyers.. maybe not as much

In the mid-1990's, I was an adolescent mess. I wore a studded dog collar and wallowed (happily) in angst. I listened to a lot of Joy Division and Nine Inch Nails; I had eyeliner tattooed on and wrote shitty poetry I believed was groundbreaking. I was young and frequently drunk off cheap liquor; pumped full of testosterone and teenage idiocy.

The stereotype you are surely forming of me is probably spot on, so it is no surprise I also read a lot of Anne Rice and Poppy Z Brite books. I distinctly remember picking up a copy of 'Interview with a Vampire' and was blown away by its existence, never realizing it was close to twenty-five years old at that point.

More relevant to today’s topic, During this same window I picked up a copy of 'The Mummy, or Ramses the Damned'. Unlike other Anne Rice novels, as I aged and my eyeliner faded, The Mummy stayed fresh in my mind. While still a fan, I grew out of my Anne Rice phase. Over the years, The Mummy showed staying power, sticking out in my longterm memory. It seemed to be underappreciated and infrequently read in my circles. This was a shameful fact as my opinion held it in high regard even as the vampire chronicles became passe and ignored.

Ramses the Damned: The Passion of Cleopatra (Anne Rice, Christopher Rice)
416 pages
Anchor publishing
ISBN-10: 1101970324
ISBN-13: 978-1101970324

PREORDER! November 21st Release date.
Buying a copy through this link supports this site but cost you no extra money.
Put it in the closet for an awesome x-mas gift.

This book was pretty good, but I have to recognize that my brain is applying some of the enjoyment thanks to nostalgia. This novel is categorized as "Good not great". I am not sure as to the details regarding the co-authorship via Anne and her son Christopher. Were they equal partners in the writing? Was he writing and only simply using her as a data source/sounding board? Was she dictating the entire thing and he was simply a keyboard transcription monkey? Unfortunately, though enjoyed, this was probably one of the least successful Rice novels I have read. It had areas of clumsy prose and it was guided by repetition. Interesting regardless.

The Rice duo are still bound to make a killing on it from folks in my generation. Rice fans will find this to be on par with other novels and will find this to be readable/variations of worthwhile. It was deeply detailed and verbose. Per the norm, the novel spends a great deal of time talking about clothing, food, and backstory. I know this is how Anne writes and it was not a big deal, though this is one reason why I have stayed away from her works in general over time. I have never read Christopher and have no experience with him to judge against.

If you are not an Anne Rice fan, this book is probably not going to be a great choice for you. Reading the original novel should be a prerequisite for any new readers. The Passion of Cleopatra should not be considered standalone, you will probably be driven nuts if you have to work through the knowledge gap organically via the inline character conversations. These same conversations (included to help allow this to be standalone) added fuel to some contrived language and lead by the nose plotline. The combination left very little to the imagination and was instead a tourist guide to the Ramses world.

Some spoilers follow as there is context needed in reference to the original novel.

The Passion of Cleopatra picks up where the original leaves off. The difficult bit is that the original novel is 28 years old. The Passion of Cleopatra is intended to rebuild that world and take the reins dropped back in '89.

In the 1989 novel, Ramses the Great, immortal and in love, shares his secret elixir with Julie Stratford causing her to also become immortal. They both collect sunlight like plants and will live as long as the sun shines on our Earth.

An insane Cleopatra, raised from a corpse by Ramses during a moment of utter idiocy, has been immolated in a fireball caused when two trains heavy-handedly crush the car she is driving. Everything is wrapped in a semi-nicely wrapped package and we are all left annoyed by lack of continuation, but satisfied. None of us believed there would ever be a sequel to it, though we believed one would be awesome. A sequel was probably highly requested but not long-term in the planning.

This new book rekindles the universe, bringing a different tale and a potential for more books to follow. For better or worse, I will likely read them. I won’t be able to help it.

Several months after the train accident, Ramsey and friends find that Cleopatra has survived the train crash and continues to lose her mind. Her homicidal tendencies appear to be mellowing as she begins to more firmly root in the new century. She is a creature without a home, out of time, and failing to gain or retain a sense of identity.

Introduced in this novel are a couple new faces:
1) Bektaten is an immortal queen of 6000 years and the elixir originator. She is what the Vampire novels "Queen of the damned" wishes she could have been. She is an imposing and regal character. -side note- Rice has named too many "damned" characters, this is not one of them, but there are tangential correlations and templatization that can be felt.

2) Anne Rice herself seems to be making an appearance as a key character named Sybil Parker. She has several chapters dedicated to her. Sybil is an American author known for writing complex and deeply detailed stories about ancient Egypt. It is a bit Meta, but this seems to be a thing for authors these days, so climb aboard.

3) Best characters, Bektaten's 6k-year-old servant/lovers. They are badasses, neither gets the page time they deserve.

Other characters in this novel are asinine at best. They could be deleted. In any follow-up novels, either Rice author may easily abstain from even mentioning them:

** Ramses spends the entire book chatting in circles and over explaining things. He fails to do anything of importance.

** Similarly, Julie Stratford is just scenery to help drive other story elements. The most fascinating thing about her is that she has fully adopted menswear against the turn of the century norms.
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Disclosure:
This book was provided for review purposes by the publisher. Similar to when the dentist asks what you do for a living while they are wrist deep in your mouth, the review process requires some drool and blood to communicate successfully. I am well brushed and cavity free, gently pushing the tools aside with my tongue to tell you that more nitrous is needed. If it hurts or feels good, I will advise. Remember to floss, kids.

Another great book by Anne and Christopher Rice. Same pacing and interesting characters. There are some really great scenes in this book including the dinner party where they are arguing ancient Egyptian history with Ramses himself. If you like Anne Rice books, you will love this one.

What if you were caught up in all of the chaos? What would you do? How would you find your way out of a consuming situation? Truly a masterpiece! RAMSES THE DAMNED THE PASSION OF CLEOPATRA by Anne Rice and Christopher Rice, two marvelously skilled authors, brought these wonderful characters to life for a reader like myself to enjoy. And, enjoy, I did. A true romance! The characters were great! The plot was amazingly filled with suspense! Along with all of those twists and turns. I loved the first book! In my opinion, this second book went a little deeper and was so well thought out and written to perfection.

Take for instance, pages 190-191. Very intriguing. And, there is one part of the story, in part 3, page 234 that I found amazingly interesting and filled with a lot of thought. So many carefully thought out movements. Very enjoyable. I simply devoured every word. A must read.

I wasn't sure what to expect with this book since I have not read the first installment of the series. I am very familiar with Anne Rice's work and have devoured several of her books. The story was good and with writing was done very well. I don't feel as if I missed too much by not reading the first book but I will probably read it anyway. I enjoyed it but wasn't blown away.

Absolutely loved the saga of the Witches of Mayfair, and was excited to read something new and different from Anne Rice. Ramses is a strong, commanding guy, caught out of time and place and adapts extremely well.. The history was enthralling, and most of the characters very entertaining. Portrayal of Cleopatra was an interesting one. Overall very enjoyable novel.

I have also been a fan of Anne Rice and this book didn't disappoint. I loved the fast paced movement and the way the words flowed off the page. The beautiful prose, the sublime horror that weaves around this tale made me finish it in one sitting. I would highly recommend for anyone that loves a good scary tale.

I'm not sure what I expected from this book. It was a good read but didn't knock my socks off. Ramses is portrayed as a likable monster who finally finds a woman to love and take away his terrible loneliness. Set in the early 1900's in various locations around the world this book can stand alone. It is the 2nd book in a series.

I waited so long for this book I couldn't put it down when I got it. Now there is a whole crew of immortals out there, with Ramses and his Julie in the middle of it all. Great book and there could be another. Kind of left it wide open..

Thanks Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group and netgalley for this ARC.

Out of this galaxy great, unparalleled, and pure Rice's kinda fiction that you can't beat. This novel covers so much of the questions I've always had in the back of my mind. It's also a completely new story that will blow people away.

Characters who are immortalized from a magical elixir weave in and out of the plot. An interesting and entertaining collaboration of two excellent writers.