I saw the reviews on this. I kinda dreaded getting into it, but I got the damn book for free, so I thought, hey, let's give it a go. It's Ira freaking Levin, so how bad can it be, right?

Bad. It can be really bad.

This reads like the entire thing was truncated, or badly condensed, and they kept only the boring parts. There's so many opportunities to explore some emotional depth that are simply blown right by. Instead, the reader gets a brisk run through of corporate meetings, marketing strategy meetings, business meetings, catch up meetings...meetings.

Nothing of any consequence occurs until about the halfway, then nothing until the very end of the book. In between, we're treated to the dullest non-horror a horror novel could ever produce.

And this fact? This is the real horror of this novel. It just sits there and does nothing...but, wait! Is the reader rewarded for their patience at wading through this mess?

No, they truly are not. Instead, the last few pages grabs the reader and slaps them around for their stupidity in sticking with the book that long.

Don't believe me? Read it and tell me I'm wrong. ( )

Sequel to Rosemary's Baby is a completely different type of book and I assume this was (is?) the reason why many people are not liking it. Unlike first book that concentrated on the small number of people and spooky location this book is concentrated on Rosemary, the mother and Andy, the son (half human and you know, half.... devil, not unlike Hellboy but with ability to better blend in). Again this is not slasher novel, there are weird accidents and deaths but what we do have is very slowly brewing story (that reads exquisitely fast) where we follow Rosemary constantly in fear and asking herself "What if?" while aware that she cannot trust anyone because if she tells them what she knows she would end up in mental hospital in express manner.

Rosemary knows what her son is but she is still his mother and she tries very hard to keep her faith in him. And Andy is like every superhuman out there, quite capable and aware of his powers and on the surface he seems to try to actually help but can he be trusted(and his feelings towards mother don't help with Andy being seen as ... a regular son I guess).

Ending is a true twist (in more ways than one) but I would not agree that it is bad. For me it is in spirit of first novel - Rosemary gets to live through Groundhog Day of her own. She is selected by someone (something?) to participate in the looong chess game and she might be unwilling pawn.

Recommended to horror fans. ( )

Not as good as the first imo....but, still a decent read! ( )

Terrible, just terrible. Not only was it poorly written, it was completely unnecessary! I can't even believe the same author wrote both of these books! AND, the end of this book basically ruins the first book! WTF? I'm just going to pretend I never read this. Maybe Satan could take me back in time... ( )

For some reason I wanted to re-read this. Again the book shows choppy sequences, an annoying Rosemary who becomes irritating with how much she wants to embrace fame, and a terrible ending - but it does have something in the beginning and middle that draws me in a bit. Full review posted on another read/reviewed edition ( )

The first one I snatched was 'Son of Rosemary' - yes, if you're thinking as in with Rosemary's Baby?, you're correct. The official sequel was written years ago and read by me when I was a teen. Another reread where I remembered liking the story but couldn't remember what happened in it.

It'd be hard to make a sequel that worked but Levin manages, the guy's a great author with a strangely serious themed style. His wording is short and to the point, being slow and psychological but never without action or importance of some sort. Told all through Rosemary's POV again, the reader is left in the air as to what is really going on with the son Andy. Is he really bad as the devil's son should be? Or are his words convincing and he's turned in the right direction as he's said?

Rosemary herself is fun to read through, although a little grating. You would think she'd be more remorseful for longer on how she lost 28 years of her life, but perhaps Levin just wants to keep it action-filled and not dwell on the past. Still I would have liked to see her reflect more, and I couldn't held find it odd how quickly she became wrapped up with not only Joe, but with the whole Andy campaign and welcoming arms with the public. It's obvious she'd want to be proud and supportive of her offspring, but with her former life having so little to do with the general public, didn't she accept the spotlight a bit too easily? Her character, from it's clothing and strangely lighthearted manner, was certainly eccentric. Andy himself was fascinating characterization, not only because you didn't know what to think of him, but he was charismatic in his own way, strangely repugnant - yet disturbingly not at times - with his incestuous cravings.

Either way, the two together were interesting to read about, even if at times they didn't make a whole lot of sense. Their weren't too many other main characters to concentrate on, although there were plenty scattered around, just none that took too much spotlight off the two who mattered most. In the beginning I was hooked with the unsettling opening, carried along speedily through the juicy middle to find my questions answered, but let down harshly at the ending. I've seen debates between readers on there perhaps being a cop-out of sorts to wrap the story up. I'm not sure on that, but I didn't like the last pages either way. The ending annoyed, leaving me wishing it had remained Andy as the focal point. Some parts of the finale weren't surprising, such as the candles, but other parts I didn't expect (which were, ironically, the parts I didn't like.)

I also wondered what happened to Guy. It would have been nice to have known for a wrap-up of sorts. I wouldn't say the book makes 100% sense either, but it remains a fun, if not frilly and slightly silly, guilty pleasure sort of read. If you're a big fan of the film or original book, you may end up enjoying this one. The story isn't the best, but there's something about the characters that glues you to the pages. But, egad, the ending is so horrible and cheesy!
( )

Very disappointing ending. Not sure how it should have ended, but... not a good ending. Interesting to a point, but disappointing in the end. ( )

This was either a wickedly brilliant piece of horror satire, or the worst book I ever read in my life, including Listen to the Warm.

Looking back, I feel deep shame either because I didn't get the joke, or because I actually finished the thing.

( )

As a fan of the movie, I was anxious to see how Levin would take this. Rosemary is really true to the previous book. She is idealistic and free of her ex she is much more independent. Overall I liked the way it was going but felt like it was rushed. So much more could have been done with it. ( )

The completely unnecessary sequel to Rosemary’s Baby.

What a slipshod book! Sentence fragments, overuse of the word “et cetera,” and (SPOILER) it all ends as a dream. It reads like the notes for a first draft. Levin must have dashed it off in a few days. Do yourself a favor and don’t even spend a minute reading it. ( )

A disappointment. It felt like Levin was (understandably) trying to cash in on the successes of his earlier work, but sadly this sequel did not live up to the original, Rosemary's Baby, in any way. ( )

I picked this book up at my local used bookstore. I had such high hopes, having loved Rosemary's Baby many years ago. Unfortunately this novel falls flat right out of the gate. It is hard to believe it was written by the same author!
A very disappointing book, and life is too short to read bad books. ( )

I found this book in the bargain bin at a grocery store. I liked Rosemary's Baby a lot when I read it in about 1969 so thought this sequel would be good. It was maybe the worst book I have ever read. It seemed like Levin forgot how to write. ( )

The bestselling suspense author who terrified readers with Rosemary's Baby picks up the story again with this sequel which opens in 1999, where Rosemary, the naive young woman who gave birth to Satan's own child, awakens from a coma that has lasted 27 years. The boy she raised for a few short years has come of age and the fate of the world now hangs in the balance as the millennium approaches. Her son Andy, now 33 years old, is a charismatic spiritual leader who commands a worldwide following by spreading his message of peace and tolerance. But an epic struggle between light and darkness is unfolding, and Rosemary can only hope that her nurturing during Andy's early years was enough to thwart the evil of his origins as the century draws to its close and the Evil One masses his forces for a horrifying conclusion. The author who brought us The Stepford Wives, Sliver, and Deathtrap proves that his abilities as a master of suspense are at their height with this mesmerizing novel.

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