The Vampire Lestat

A vampire origin story? Sure why not. The circumstances which led Lestat to be who he is. Well written and a tad spookier than interview. We don't have as much of the self pity and depression as the first book. Apparently Before she died Anne Rice made the comment that the readers were not qualified to have an opinion on her material. It is unfortunate that she become one of those writers who like the smell of her own toots. ( )

hb

Overall I liked it. Part 7 onwards is a 4 star, but I can't forget that for more than half a book I was mostly rolling my eyes. Marius, was probably my favorite character, followed by Gabrielle.
I kinda want to continue, but the writing bothers me, so we'll see what happens after the New Year. ( )

I ended 2009 by wrapping up my reading of Interview with the Vampire, so it made sense for me to start up the new year by reading the follow up novel, The Vampire Lestat.

While reading Interview, I got the sense that none of the characters struck my empathy. It was hard for me to relate to its narrator, Louis. It created unlovable vampires that, at first, I thought it was my undead bias - I prefer zombies, after all. So when I picked up Lestat, I was already bracing for another novel that would drone on forever and leave me hating the creator of the first book's narrator.

The way this book was written had the ability to keep my attention for longer periods, even though at times it seemed to go on forever. Taking me longer than I would have liked, it's the first book of the year. (It's also the first book of my 100 book challenge of 2010 - the first year I attempt reaching that goal.)

There are times, however, that I began to question Lestat's ability to tell the story - how reliable could he have been? He mentioned Interview with the Vampire within his introduction piece, stated that there were exaggerations in Louis's story and so on. It seemed he set off to write a book about his side of the story - not much different, I suppose, when the Big Bad Wolf told his story about the Three Little Pigs.

In the end, however, it doesn't really matter. Lestat's the ring leader of this show despite his loathsome introduction in Interview. I'll stomach him for one - possibly two - more books and then I may turn my back on him forever. (more insight) ( )

Vampire Lestat, The (Vampire Chronicles) by Anne Rice (1993)