The Vampire Lestat (1985)

Enjoyable re-read, I like the character of Lestat and the sensuality of the writing. ( )

A vampire rock star. Now who wouldn't love that??? ( )

I love these books. I love this romanticizing of vampires. I love the emotions and the talk of life and death and what it all means and what's the point. I love Anne Rice's writing in that time of her life where she was asking all these questions too. I will definitely be reading the whole Chronicles over again like I knew I would eventually but I'm beginning to see signs of her other books, outside of the chronicles that are connected. Great writing, great stories, fantastic characters. I'm loving these rereads. ( )

Set in the late 18th century to the late 1980s, the story follows the 200 year long life of the vampire Lestat de Lioncourt, and his rise from humble beginnings as an impoverished aristocrat in the country side of France to the city of Paris to become a vain and arrogant Vampire. After escaping his family and running off to Paris with his friend and confidante Nicki, Lestat is bitten by the rogue elder vampire Magnus who orphans him on the night he is made. He abandons Nicki for fear of causing him harm, and shuns contact with his loved ones, until one day his mother, Gabrielle, arrives in town. Gabrielle is dying, and in order to save her, Lestat bites her, transforming her into his first companion.

The pair are antagonized by a coven of more "traditional" vampires living in the nearby cemetery Les Innocents. This coven, led by the vampire Armand, are convinced that all vampires must worship Satan and do his work on Earth; terrifying their human victims, dressing in rags, and returning to crypts at night. Armand and his coven kidnap Nicki in order to force a confrontation with Lestat and Gabrielle, but when Lestat demonstrates to them that vampires can easily co-exist with humans and live comfortably among them, the coven dissolves, leaving Armand distraught and alone. Nicki, however, is now aware of the world of vampires, and feels betrayed by Lestat. Lestat bites Nicki, turning him into a vampire, but he takes to his new lifestyle poorly and rejects Lestat, instead banding together with some of the dissolved cemetery coven to form the Théâtre des Vampires. Lestat then begins a worldwide search for the vampire Marius, a wise and ancient vampire who he learns of from Armand, in an attempt to find out the history of the vampires.

Lestat eventually parts ways with Gabrielle, due to irreconcilable differences in their natures - Gabrielle yearns for desolate spaces and loves nature, while Lestat is perpetually drawn to humankind. He eventually finds the fabled Marius, who teaches him much about the origins of the vampire species and Marius's own past. He also reveals his secret, one he refused to unveil even to his former protege Armand. He is the guardian of Those Who Must Be Kept, a pair of immobile vampires of unbelievable strength and power. These two are named Akasha and Enkil, and are the original vampires from whom all others are descended, but over the millennia they have lapsed into stillness and hardly ever move or communicate. They must be protected, because any harm done to Akasha and Enkil is also done to all other living vampires.

From Marius's island in Greece, Lestat travels to New Orleans. After the events detailed in Interview with the Vampire, he "goes into the earth" again in 1929. In 1984, Lestat emerges to become a rock star with a mortal band that consists of Alex, Larry and Tough Cookie. He writes a manuscript entitled The Vampire Lestat (which comprises the bulk of the actual novel), and publishes it, thereby using his new found fame to reveal all the secrets of the vampire world. With the eyes of the world on him, Lestat seeks to start a war. Just before the night of the band's unveiling concert, Lestat reunites with Louis, who fills him in on recent events in the vampire world, including the new system of meeting grounds known as the Vampire Connection and Lestat's own danger as a pariah among vampires.

Slightly better than Interview, but the writing is so clunky and the characters so unlikeable that it just doesn't matter. ( )