Book 3 of The Vampire Chronicles. I enjoyed this story more than the second one (The Vampire Lestat - TVL) and I like it just as much as I did the first book (Interview with the Vampire - IWTV). It picks right up where the second book left off. We learn about what happened before and after the concert to various vampires who has or will play a big part in Lestat’s life. The Legend of the Twins is very interesting, and we get snippets of it in the ‘dream’ from several points of views until the final explanation close to the end. Of all the characters, I would’ve liked to learn more about Khayman; Marius’s and Pandora’s romantic relationship as vampires (because, so far in the series, vampires are seen as nonsexual creatures so how did Marius and Pandora fall in love?); and I wanted Armand to feel regret for how he manipulated and terrified Daniel Malloy for over a decade but Armand never did.
As with the other books, the description is over-the-top and so vivid I skimmed the pages until I found quotation marks. I don’t understand why the author prefers to describe a couch or the shape of Lestat’s mouth for several paragraphs but she says very little about what’s actually important.
Though I’m interested in the characters and would like to know what will happen to them in the future, I will not read anymore books in this series. I just don’t like the style of writing, the format in which the chapters are laid out and the confusing timeline for each book. For example, in TVL, the concert starts in the spring but, in The Queen of the Damned, it starts on Halloween. Unless I misread something, this is a big timeline error.
I watched the movie, Queen of the Damned, after I read this book and now I no longer like the movie. They’re totally different from one another. The book is better and more detailed while the movie cuts major characters like Louis and Armand, and the movie gives Lestat a girlfriend. So wrong!
3 Stars

Disclaimer – I received this book as a gift from my grandmother-in-law. I am not paid or compensated in any way, shape or form for this honest review. I will not change or alter this review for any reason unless at my discretion.
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See Interview with a Vampire. ( )

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My second favorite of the Vampire Chronicles... ( )

After a grueling month, I finally finished Anne Rice's The Queen of the Damned. Unlike the first two - Interview with the Vampire and The Vampire Lestat - Queen of the Damned felt slow moving. It lacked the same emotion the previous two presented - not stating that the book was without the human emotions that we've come to admire from Lestat and his pal Louis, it's just that the majority of it wasn't presented until the end.

Originally, I wanted to finish the novel before the turn of the new year, but the slow movement in the book caused me to put it down several times and ignore it for days at a time. The novel, like the first two, is teeming with new and old characters - we even learn the name of the boy reporter from Interview - that all play an essential role in the story, one way or another. However, there are several times when I wonder why exactly I have to know about Baby Jenks and what role she played after her short life as a vampire.

Of course, her death was used to paint a portrait of the afterlife, but it still felt unnecessary.

Power is the force that drives this novel. Power to be seen. Power to be heard. Power to change the world. From Lestat to the vampire queen, Akasha, everyone wants a slice of the power to exist. Each knows that the queen is the central point of their existence, so when she raises from her slumber to mold the world into her liking, they have to weigh the consequences - to destroy her would to destroy all, that is, if they can destroy her at all.

I did like the Legend of the Twins story that appears in the novel - as told by Maharet. It gives a rather original, detailed account of how vampires came to exist - rather than the brief explanation in Lestat. Other than that, I can't think of a single detail that stuck with me. Which is sad, because I really did like the second novel.
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