The Vampire Lestat (1985)

My favorite from the Vampire Chronicles. ( )

Decadent, sexy and gripping, this does a lot better work of explaining Lestat than that terrible movie. ( )

Anne Rice, The Vampire Lestat – Book 2 of the Vampire Chronicles


It's been some years since I read Interview With a Vampire (great!) and the movie of the same name (a bit watered down, but still frightening), so I thought I'd move onto the next book in Rice's Vampire Chronicles, about the vampire Lestat.

In the first book, Louis decided to have a tell-all with a man regarding the life and suffering of a vampire. In that book he mentioned and described Lestat in great detail. The homoerotica was implied and the book paced well, with the requisite bits of horror left mostly to the imagination.

The second book is very similar. Lestat rises from the earth somewhere in New Orleans (all is explained why he was buried in the first place) after a several-decade absence and creates a rock band and writes lyrics all about vampires – their history, origins and so on – which he knows is expressly forbidden by all. He knows he's probably in for it, and feels that he is up to the challenge. Lestat craves notoriety among his kind, as strongly as, I would say, his thirst for blood!

Rice paints a picture of a sympathetic man with a rough childhood who beats the demons of his well-endowed family with an encounter with wolves – an exciting chapter that has the reader just as scared and feel the harsh breathe of the wolves as well as Lestat does! This changes him, and we see how this creates just the personality for a vampire.

An ancient vampire who is also prone to break the rules, Magnus, gives Lestat the freedom he desires – the kidnapping sequence is a bit hard to follow – and though committing suicide via flame – gives Lestat enough information and enough gold to create his own world. What world would that be?

Lestat has a relationship with his close friend Nicholas, the Theater in Paris, his disowned family (except his mother Gabrielle, who plays a strong female lead, especially in the last chapters) and the city of Paris. The development of Lestat and his attitudes are constant, are surprising, and delightfully morbid in their presentation.

The book proceeds through much of the "origin of Lestat" (my words) and though a plot hole or two are apparent (what's up with Those Who Must Be Kept?), I did like the mystery. What happened to Armand? Where did his old mentor Marius go in the 20th Century? And what of the deliciously stolid Akasha and her jealous king-husband? Were they really the first of the line?

Bottom Line: You really can't put this book down. Anne Rice mixes 18th century propriety and 20th century horror (complete with a rock concert at San Francisco's Cow Palace!) that to me was an improvement over "Interview With a Vampire" and made me crave "Queen of the Damned", the next Chronicle. Can't wait!


( )

The writing is good but I just did not like it as much as book 1. Too bad, was my son's favorite. I will perhaps give it a reread and also get whispersync or a book to follow along. The author is a good writer and I like her books on Vampires which probably set off the teen themed Vampires that followed the Vampire Chronicles. ( )

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