Complete Vampire Chronicles (Interview with the Vampire, The Vampire Lestat, The Queen of the Damned, The Tale of the body Thief)

Amazon.com

For the first time you can find all your favorite night-stalking, blood-guzzling undead--Lestat, Claudia, Louis, Akasha, Armand, and Memnoch--all in the same place at the same time. Here, collected in one box-set, are the four bestselling, original titles of Anne Rice's sprawling vampire series.

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful Box Set but Incomplete.......2007-10-01

For any Anne Rice Vampire fans you cannot go past this beautiful Box Set with modern artwork cover designs. My only complaint is why on earth isn't the Fifth and final volume of the central plot Vampire Chronicles (before all those spin-offs) included??? The fifth and final volume "Memnoch the Devil" should definitely be included in the Box Set without which it is simply NOT complete when the finale ends nicely with Lestat's famous last words:

I am the Vampire Lestat. Let me pass now from fiction into legend.

THE END

9:43 February 28, 1994 Adieu, mon amour.

Lestat Rocks My Boring World!.......2007-09-16

Everyone else has basically described all four of these books for the most part, so let me make my review brief and to the point. Interview, Lestat, and Tale of the Body Thief were my favorite books of the four in the chronicles. Queen of the Damned, however was long, slow, and so detailed that it was the only book I managed to lose my attention to in streaks, and I have listened to them all unabridged, on tape, at work.

Sure, her books are a bit overrated, but they are also well-written and entertaining. Rice gives our dark heroes so much humanity that one can't help being attracted by them enough to want to become one as well at times. Nowhere is this point made more concise than by her favorite character, Lestat. I wish mortal men were as cool and insightful as "the brat prince!" Great, imaginative fun. Frank Muller's narration of the audio books is second to none.

Fantastic Reading!!!.......2007-09-16

I'm not big on vampire books but Anne Rice writes in such a way that you truly believe they are real people with real lives and all the thoughts and feelings we all have. In addition, they struggle with the issues of immortality and there are many.

great books from anne rice.......2007-01-28

i bought these books for my teen she couldnt put them down till they were all read anne rice is a great author

Thought provoking but belaboured.......2006-09-29

I would certainly recommend anyone who has an interest in this genre to read these books. Rice raises some very interesting concepts from the mind of the vampire. My only gripe (and a friend feels the same way) is that Rice tends to ramble - padding out relatively meaningless stuff, or stuff that you've already gleaned the concept of after two lines. I found myself skipping paragraphs & pages, which was detrimental to the flow. With some judicious editing and condensing they would be worthy of 5 stars. The fourth book doesn't quite hold up to the stds set with the first three...might be worth finding the trilogy.

Anne Rice's The Vampire Lestat: The Graphic Novel

Average customer rating:

Beautiful adaptation
Graphic SF Reader
Great book, but diappointing adaptation.
Lestat: A timeless vampire
In Love with Lestat

Anne Rice's The Vampire Lestat: The Graphic Novel
Faye Perozich
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Drawing | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books

General | Graphic Novels | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books

Horror | Graphic Novels | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0345373944
Release Date: 1991-10-29

Amazon.com

Collected for the first time, here are the twelve extraordinary illustrated volumes that form the graphic novel of The Vampire Lestat. Evocative full-color paintings and an artful abridgement of the original text capture the inimitable spirit and atmosphere of this passionate, complex, and thrilling tale.

Book Description

Collected for the first time, here are the twelve extraordinary illustrated volumes that form the graphic novel of THE VAMPIRE LESTAT. Evocative full-color paintings and an artful abridgment of the original text capture the inimitable spirit and atmosphere of this passionate, complex, and thrilling tale.
The story begins in our own time with Lestat, tall, blond, and handsome, a world-renowned rock star. His gifts are timeless, his youth never withers. But he was not always the powerful and famous child of darkness. Before his long earth-encrusted sleep, he was an aristocrat in the heady days of pre-Revolutionary France. It was then that he came face-to-face with the incarnation of evil and the temptations of love that he has ravenously pursued through time. Where it has led him and what he has become is the heart of the tale that has captured millions of readers.

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful adaptation.......2007-09-23

This is a beautiful adaptation of the classic story of The Vampire Lestat. Lestat was the antagonist of Interivew with the vampire but in this book you get his own side of things. This is pretty much word for word the entire original novel but with beautiful, artistic accompaniment. The illustrations are gorgeous.

Graphic SF Reader.......2007-09-03

This is actually a reasonably well done take on this story.

Often would expect something like this to be rushed out and not done that well, but that was not the case here. Well worth a look.

Great book, but diappointing adaptation........2003-10-29

Anne Rice's "The Vampire Lestat" is a great book in and of itself, and I definitely reccomend reading it - however, not as a graphic novel. I am a huge fan of Anne Rice, but I'm also not prejudiced against the graphic format either. In fact, I love comics in any form. However, this graphic novel is a huge disappointment. The script is amazing, Faye Perozich manages to convey the wonder and excitement of the original book, but... The art is terrible. Lestat's face in many instances looks ugly and deformed, which directly contradicts the book - in fact Lestat was chosen for vampirism for his good looks. Marius, who was once a proud Roman Senator, wears a mullet. Armand looks all right at first, but when the book revisits the events told in "Interview With The Vampire", he looks positively hiddeous. Do yourself a favor. Don't waste your money on this. If you absolutely must have an Anne Rice graphic novel, buy "The Tale of the Body Thief", which is just as good a story, and much, much better art, which reminds me of P. Craig Russel at times and focuses on the lushness and beauty of Anne Rice's world.

Lestat: A timeless vampire.......2002-05-27

If fictional vampire stories are up your ally, then I encourage you to read the novel "The Vampire Lestat" by Anne Rice. Although it is the second book in "The Vampire Chronicles" I strongly urge you to read it BEFORE book one: "Interview With the Vampire." Where do I begin? This book is a phenomonal tale of a vampire who could survive and flourish in any epoch of history, and have a Hell of a good time too! In this autobiography of Lestat de Lioncourt, he will take you to his mortal boyhood in France, to his later luxurious life in New Orleans, and right up to the present when he is in the midst of waking the most ancient of vampires and holding his first ever rock concert in San Francisco! So as you see, one of Lestat's best traits is that the possibilites are endless and he can accomplish anything he desires. I gaurentee that when you're done drinking up this story, you won't have left a drop...

In Love with Lestat.......2002-02-27

Like a lot of people, I was introduced to Anne Rice through the movie "Interview With a Vampire". I never liked Tom Cruise much, but this character he was portraying was unbelievable. A longtime fan of vampire stories, I have never met in my books anyone like Lestat. When I saw this book, I immediatly read it in just 2 days. Is it possible to fall in love with a novel character? If I wasn't in love with Lestat before, I was after reading this book. I felt for him, I felt him, I saw through his eyes. His mortal life, his vampire life, his loves and loses. I wanted to actually reach out to him. I have continued reading the Vampire Chronicles just to get more of him. I have never read a more well written and complex book. Anne Rice goes so deep and I am forever grateful to her imagination for giving me such a wonderful character to love and follow.

Interview with the Vampire: Anniversary edition (The vampire chronicles)

Average customer rating:

an amazing vampire history book
Not Free SF Reader
The Great Modern Vampire Novel
A beginning that never ends!
Anne Rice Not only Rescued, but Ressurrected, the Vampire for All of Us

Interview with the Vampire: Anniversary edition (The vampire chronicles)
Anne Rice
Manufacturer: Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0394498216
Release Date: 1976-04-12

Amazon.com

In the now-classic novel Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice refreshed the archetypal vampire myth for a late-20th-century audience. The story is ostensibly a simple one: having suffered a tremendous personal loss, an 18th-century Louisiana plantation owner named Louis Pointe du Lac descends into an alcoholic stupor. At his emotional nadir, he is confronted by Lestat, a charismatic and powerful vampire who chooses Louis to be his fledgling. The two prey on innocents, give their "dark gift" to a young girl, and seek out others of their kind (notably the ancient vampire Armand) in Paris. But a summary of this story bypasses the central attractions of the novel. First and foremost, the method Rice chose to tell her tale--with Louis' first-person confession to a skeptical boy--transformed the vampire from a hideous predator into a highly sympathetic, seductive, and all-too-human figure. Second, by entering the experience of an immortal character, one raised with a deep Catholic faith, Rice was able to explore profound philosophical concerns--the nature of evil, the reality of death, and the limits of human perception--in ways not possible from the perspective of a more finite narrator.

While Rice has continued to investigate history, faith, and philosophy in subsequent Vampire novels (including The Vampire Lestat, The Queen of the Damned, The Tale of the Body Thief, Memnoch the Devil, and The Vampire Armand), Interview remains a treasured masterpiece. It is that rare work that blends a childlike fascination for the supernatural with a profound vision of the human condition. --Patrick O'Kelley

Book Description

The time is now.

We are in a small room with the vampire, face to face, as he speaks--as he pours out the hypnotic, shocking, moving, and erotically charged confessions of his first two hundred years as one of the living dead. . .

He speaks quietly, plainly, even gently . . . carrying us back to the night when he departed human existence as heir--young, romantic, cultivated--to a great Louisiana plantation, and was inducted by the radiant and sinister Lestat into the other, the "endless," life . . . learning first to sustain himself on the blood of cocks and rats caught in the raffish streets of New Orleans, then on the blood of human beings . . . to the years when, moving away from his final human ties under the tutelage of the hated yet necessary Lestat, he gradually embraces the habits, hungers, feelings of vampirism: the detachment, the hardened will, the "superior" sensual pleasures.

He carries us back to the crucial moment in a dark New Orleans street when he finds the exquisite lost young child Claudia, wanting not to hurt but to comfort her, struggling against the last residue of human feeling within him . . .

We see how Claudia in turn is made a vampire--all her passion and intelligence trapped forever in the body of a small child--and how they arrive at their passionate and dangerous alliance, their French Quarter life of opulence: delicate Grecian statues, Chinese vases, crystal chandeliers, a butler, a maid, a stone nymph in the hidden garden court . . . night curving into night with their vampire senses heightened to the beauty of the world, thirsting for the beauty of death--a constant stream of vulnerable strangers awaiting them below . . .

We see them joined against the envious, dangerous Lestat, embarking on a perilous search across Europe for others like themselves, desperate to discover the world they belong to, the ways of survival, to know what they are and why, where they came from, what their future can be . . .

We follow them across Austria and Transylvania, encountering their kind in forms beyond their wildest imagining . . . to Paris, where footsteps behind them, in exact rhythm with their own, steer them to the doors of the Théâtre des Vampires--the beautiful, lewd, and febrile mime theatre whose posters of penny-dreadful vampires at once mask and reveal the horror within . . . to their meeting with the eerily magnetic Armand, who brings them, at last, into intimacy with a whole brilliant and decadent society of vampires, an intimacy that becomes sudden terror when they are compelled to confront what they have feared and fled . . .

In its unceasing flow of spellbinding storytelling, of danger and flight, of loyalty and treachery, Interview with the Vampire bears witness of a literary imagination of the first order.

Customer Reviews:

an amazing vampire history book.......2007-09-05

this is a beautifully written vampire book. its very atmospheric. everything was great. the only thing i wowld change is that there is a part near the middle-end of the book where louis the vamp dosent talk to or acknowledge the boy he is talking to for like 80 pages...

Not Free SF Reader.......2007-09-03

I can remember reading that one as an 8 year old, having scored it as a cheap 50c paperback from Woolworths, and very late at night, it was so lush and atmospheric, that it started to slightly convince you vampires were real, and that you wanted to go talk to the interviewer.

The Great Modern Vampire Novel.......2007-08-22

I will keep my review of INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE short, since I have very little to add to the many other fine reviews that have been posted already.

I really enjoyed INTERVIEW, but I will say that it's not a traditional "scary" horror novel. This is also not a fast-paced book with a lot of action and adventure. Instead, Rice concentrates much more energy on the psychological state of Louis, the central vampire character. She does a truly brilliant job of conveying to the reader a sense of Louis's moral anguish, as he is forced to deal with his immortality and the violent day-to-day reality of a vampire's lifestyle.

More than any other novel I've read, INTERVIEW explains what a vampire's life might really be like. It's a work of great psychological and emotional depth. Louis is not an easy character to spend time with, but I really felt a great deal of empathy for him.

Rice writes in a rather florid style, but she's very skilled in re-creating 18th and 19th century New Orleans. If you like books that create a vivid sense of place and time, INTERVIEW is a fine choice for that also.

Overall, I really loved INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE, although I will admit that it's not for everyone. But I think anyone interested in the Vampire mythos should definitely give this novel a try, since it is a classic of the genre.

A beginning that never ends!.......2007-07-31

I'll be honest, I saw the movie long before I was able to get my hands on the novel. Since then, both have become all-time favorites in my mind and nothing has topped them.

I have always been a fan of a good novel from time to time, but nothing prepared me for the journey that I took upon reading the first installment of The Vampire Chronicles! Instead of comparing the similarities or differences between the novel and the movie, I found myself completely immersed in the novel for what it truly is, an epic work of craftsmanship that will leave you spellbound.

The story itself is told from the point of view of Louie, who throughout the chronicles, remains the most human of all the vampires. The interview, is his story. How he became a lost soul with "The Dark Gift" and how he still feels remorse for those he kills. Louie (instead of embracing the gift) still suffers from lonliness and unanswered questions of who and what he has become! His only companion is the man who made him, Lestat!

Enter, the character of Claudia. Perhaps the most compelling and saddening chracter of the novel. Claudia is just a child when she is made into a vampire, and outgrows her memories of her "real" childhood! She is the true sufferer, as her innocense is lost, but her life, never ends!

I could go on, but I think you should purchase this novel instead. Anne Rice has a way of writing that will have you hooked from the very beginning. It all starts with this novel, and there are many others that follow! You will find yourself part of this world, and not want to get out!

Anne Rice Not only Rescued, but Ressurrected, the Vampire for All of Us.......2007-07-20

Interview with the Vampire is the first and best of Anne Rice's vampire chronicles. In it, a two hundred year old vampire recounts his early years after the light, and through his voice, the reader rides a wave of nightmarish delights, a soul-tempting excursion into evil. There's a quality about the dream Rice weaves; we can't tell if it's a good dream or a bad one, and whether we feel anger, pity,revulsion, dread, or envy towards the undead.

Rice does not conjure the absolute, linear horror of Stoker's Dracula, and she doesn't try to. She makes the reader complicit in the sin of the vampire by making it a thing of terrible beauty. Nor is it especially "hip" to be a vampire, at least not in the sense of "The Lost Boys" movie--her vampires are sophisticates, not prom kings, high society, not rock stars (at least not in this volume). "Interview" gives a whole new literal (and literary) meaning to the phrase "Eat the rich." Or perhaps we should say ... drink?

New vampire authors like myself owe Anne Rice for resurrecting a virtually dead subgenre. Vampire pop culture is everywhere today, the promise of the eternal night to tempt the darkened fantasies of guilty readers worldwide.

(This review has been posted by Marcus Damanda, author of the vampire book, "Teeth: a Horror Fantasy".

Average customer rating:

So-so
I didn't realize this was the end...
Very dissapointed
Reviewers too hard on Anne Rice
Shipped quickly and recieved on time.

Blood Canticle (The Vampire Chronicles)
Anne Rice
Manufacturer: Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 037541200X
Release Date: 2003-10-28

Book Description

Anne Rice continues her astonishing Vampire Chronicles in a new novel that begins where Blackwood Farm left off — and tells the story of Lestat’s quest for redemption, goodness, and the love of Rowan Mayfair.

Welcome back to Blackwood Farm. Here are all of the brilliantly conceived characters that make up the two worlds of vampires and witches: Mona Mayfair, who’s come to the farm to die and is brought into the realm of the undead; her uncle, Julian Mayfair, guardian of the family, determined to forever torment Lestat for what he has done to Mona; Rowan Mayfair, brilliant neurosurgeon and witch, who finds herself dangerously drawn to the all-powerful Lestat; her husband, Michael Curry, hero of the Mayfair Chronicles, who seeks Lestat’s help with the temporary madness of his wife; Ash Templeton, a 5,000-year-old Taltos who has taken Mona’s child; and Patsy, the country-western singer, who returns to avenge her death at the hands of her son, Quinn Blackwood. Delightfully, at the book’s centre is the Vampire Lestat, once the epitome of evil, now pursuing the transformation set in motion with Memnoch the Devil. He struggles with his vampirism and yearns for goodness, purity and love, as he saves Patsy’s ghost from the dark realm of the Earthbound, uncovers the mystery of the Taltos and unselfishly decides the fate of his beloved Rowan Mayfair.

A story of love and loyalty, of the search for passion and promise, Blood Canticle is Anne Rice at her finest.

Download Description

Anne Rice continues her astonishing Vampire Chronicles in a new novel that begins where Blackwood Farm left off -- and tells the story of Lestat's quest for redemption, goodness, and the love of Rowan Mayfair.

Welcome back to Blackwood Farm. Here are all of the brilliantly conceived characters that make up the two worlds of vampires and witches: Mona Mayfair, who's come to the farm to die and is brought into the realm of the undead; her uncle, Julian Mayfair, guardian of the family, determined to forever torment Lestat for what he has done to Mona; Rowan Mayfair, brilliant neurosurgeon and witch, who finds herself dangerously drawn to the all-powerful Lestat; her husband, Michael Curry, hero of the Mayfair Chronicles, who seeks Lestat's help with the temporary madness of his wife; Ash Templeton, a 5,000-year-old Taltos who has taken Mona's child; and Patsy, the country-western singer, who returns to avenge her death at the hands of her son, Quinn Blackwood.

Delightfully, at the book's center is the Vampire Lestat, once the epitome of evil, now pursuing the transformation set in motion with Memnoch the Devil. He struggles with his vampirism and yearns for goodness, purity and love, as he saves Patsy's ghost from the dark realm of the Earthbound, uncovers the mystery of the Taltos, and unselfishly decides the fate of his beloved Rowan Mayfair.

A story of love and loyalty, of the search for passion and promise, Blood Canticle is Anne Rice at her finest.

Customer Reviews:

So-so.......2007-08-24

This book was ok. I started out liking Mona Mayfair, but by the end I couldn't stand her. Now don't get me wrong, it was nice to have the 'Brat Prince' "write" again, I think that Anne has given up on the dark side. She's gone spiritual. There's nothing wrong with that, but if you've read other books of Anne Rice's you'll notice a difference in this one. The first chapter was tedious and boring; it made me want to stop reading, right then and there! However it's a lot of babble so I skipped to chapter 2 like Lestat suggests. It does tie up the loose ends with the Taltos, which I always wondered about. I hope that if Mrs. Rice decides to do another Vampire book that she looks back to her original books. There was nothing wrong with "Memnoch the Devil" a lot of what is talked about in the first chapter, I just think that a lot of people didn't understand that she was trying to warn us that maybe we've reached the end with Lestat. This is the first book since "Memnoch the Devil" that has been written by Lestat, maybe she's out of ideas. I mean come on! How much MORE can he do? After you've been to Heaven and Hell and back, there's just not much left that seems to be so important right? I'm sure that's how she's looking at this through Lestat's eyes. So those of you criticizing Anne for being full of herself, you all are just silly! Overall the book was ok. Had its high points and low points. Not one of her best work but I will continue to keep it.

I didn't realize this was the end..........2007-06-27

I read this book and thoroughly enjoyed it. Not as much as some of the other Chronicles, but I still devoured it.

What I didn't realize was that this is the last of the Vampire Chronicles. Yes, I am a little late in the game figuring it out, but the shock is still palpable! I finished Christ Our Lord: Out of Egypt, and began to wonder about her return to vampires and witches.

I read Anne's post here, in which she declared "...thank God..." regarding Blood Canticle being the last of the Chronicles. I have to very, very sadly and vehemently disagree. I am going to miss looking forward to that next adventure.

I will be reading the next Christ book, but not with the same enthusiasm I held for our old friends Lestat, Louis, Marius, Armand, Pandora, Gabrielle, Rowan, Mona...all of them.

I would like to thank Anne for giving me such a great escape--for creating a world that was so easy to slip into and get lost in.

Very dissapointed.......2007-06-24

I was angry enough after reading Memnoch, and I wasn't interested in the books that came after, as they did not have Lestat (or Louis)as the narrator. But Blood Canticle had. Or so I thought. After reading the first ten or twenty pages I came to the conclusion that the narrator of this book was not Lestat, but the author trying to find back a character she lost so long ago. I mean, Memnoch was bad, but at least she used the right voice! After those twenty or so pages I decided I did not want this book in my bookcase any longer, it being a disgrace to the other vampire cronicles stored in there, so I brought it to the nearest second-hand bookshop and never ever wanted to look into it again.

Reviewers too hard on Anne Rice.......2007-06-15

There are some extremely harsh reviews here, and I think they are very insulting to Anne Rice. She is right in her response: if you don't like her writing, don't read it. She doesn't owe any of us anything, especially not closure. The Vampire Chronicles, like the rest of her work, belong to her. They are her intellectual property to do with as she sees fit: she can take the story in any direction she wishes, and she can stop writing them all together. Lestat is hers, not ours. I really don't understand the nastiness and anger in so many of these reviews.

This is an interesting book. It's a kind of part 2 to Blackwood Farm, which is wonderful, and it continues the blending of the Mayfair Witches and Vampire Chronicles, which is intriguing, illuminating, and fun. I loved it, and I'll surely reread it over the years. I say that if you are buying Blackwood Farm, absolutely buy Blood Canticle with it, no question.

We all need to respect authors and their work. We're lucky to have been able to read Anne Rice's stories. I'll consider myself lucky to read more of her stories if she chooses to publish more, and I hope she knows that she is deeply respected and valued by many, many readers.

Shipped quickly and recieved on time........2007-05-19

This sellers turn around time was better than i ever expected.

The Tale of the Body Thief: The Vampire Chronicles

Average customer rating:

Very pleased
Not Free SF Reader
Quite a Tale indeed!
Not that bad
The Best Vampire Chronicles Since "Interview with the Vampire."

The Tale of the Body Thief: The Vampire Chronicles
Anne Rice
Manufacturer: Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0679405283
Release Date: 1992-10-04

Amazon.com

It's been said that Vladimir Nabokov's best novels are the ones he wrote after starting a failed novel. Anne Rice wrote The Body Thief, the fourth thrilling episode of her Vampire Chronicles, right after she spent a long time poring over that most romantic of horror novels, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, to research a novel Rice abandoned about an artificial man. Perhaps as a result of Shelley's influence, The Body Thief is far more psychologically penetrating than its predecessors, with a laser-like focus on a single tormented soul. Oh, we meet some wild new characters, and Rice's toothsome vampire-hero Lestat zooms around the globe--as is his magical habit--from Miami to the Gobi desert, but he's in such despair that he trades his immortal body to a con man named Raglan James, who offers him in return two days of strictly mortal bliss.

Lestat has always had a faulty impulse-control valve, and it gets him in truly intriguing trouble this time. On the plus side, he gets to experience romance with a nun and orange juice--"thick like blood, but full of sweetness." But Lestat is horrified by an uncommon cold, and his toilet training proves traumatic. He's also got to catch Raglan James, who has no intention of giving up his dishonestly acquired new superpowered body. Lestat enlists the help of David Talbot, a mortal in the Talamasca, a secret society of immortal watchers described in Queen of the Damned.

The swapping of bodies and supernatural stories is choice, and there's even a moral: never give a bloodsucker an even break. --Tim Appelo

Book Description

In another feat of hypnotic storytelling, Anne Rice continues the extraordinary Vampire Chronicles that began with the now classic Interview with the Vampire and continued with The Vampire Lestat and The Queen of the Damned.

Lestat speaks. Vampire-hero, enchanter, seducer of mortals. For centuries he has been a courted prince in the dark and flourishing universe of the living dead. Lestat is alone. And suddenly all his vampire rationale--everything he has come to believe and feel safe with--is called into question. In his overwhelming need to destroy his doubts and his loneliness, Lestat embarks on the most dangerous enterprise he has undertaken in all the danger-haunted years of his long existence.

The Tale of the Body Thief is told with the unique--and mesmerizing--passion, power, color, and invention that distinguish the novels of Anne Rice.

Customer Reviews:

Very pleased.......2007-10-04

I was very happy with the condition of the item and how fast it came

Not Free SF Reader.......2007-09-03

Some time has passed since the Queen of the Damned, and Lestat is a bit depressed. He tries to get a tan, but that doesn't work, and he can't talk his best human friend into becoming a vamp.

Thereafter we get a triangle, after the Body Thief turns up, and offers to switch bodies with Lestat, then Talbot gets a turn at youth, etc. Eventually Lestat gets mad, and does away with BT and turns Talbot.

A significant drop in quality from the first three books.

Quite a Tale indeed!.......2007-08-10

Even if you haven't read the previous three novels, you can read and enjoy this one to the fullest! Anne Rice continues her and our journey into the world of the vampire with another addition to The Vampire Chronicles! This time, its all on Lestat and his mortal friend David Talbot, pretty much all by themselves!

Lestat longs to be human and mortal again, so when a body thief named Raglan James approaches him with the offer to switch bodies, he gladly accepts! Despite repeated warnings from Talbot, his dear immortal companion Louie, and even Mr. James himself, Lestat cannot refuse. Once the switch is made is when the real fun begins!

Lestat quickly realizes that being mortal is something he has forgotten and what follows is elements of humor, despair, and even bits of romance. It was this reletively quick and small love story that surprised me with this reading. Anne Rice is one to point out that the way Vampires love is dramatically different than humans, and that is why having Lestat re-discover true "human" love was quite a new twist and something I'm glad Rice did.

Above all, I feel that Rice had a deeper message within this novel on top of the story of Lestat. Be thankful and be happy with the life you have now, because you never know when it could be gone. Lestat was taken out of his mortal world by force the first time, and it is with this tale, he learns that he has grown to accept and even love the new life he has as a member of the "Dark Children."

Wonderfully crafted novel, and a true step up from the previous "Queen of the Damned." I highly recommend it for all fans of reading.

Not that bad.......2007-06-24

This was not a bad book, but not that special either. I found the whole introduction to the Body Thief and who he was (the first half of the novel) rather unneccary,as the title and the summary already had made that clear. I liked the pages about sunlight, laughed during Lestat's first night as a human again, disliked Grethchen the Nun (but nevertheless cried at their seeing again when he's back a vampire), absolutely loved but also cried during the scene where he seeks help from Louis and Louis rejects him outrightly and you have Lestat crying in the rain, saying "I don't want to stay human, I don't want to save my soul". I really loved that part, and that's the whole fourth star.

The Best Vampire Chronicles Since "Interview with the Vampire.".......2007-06-19

Anne Rice has a bad habit of concocting terrific plot ideas and not carrying them out in the best way possible. Sadly, her writing tends to be tedious and dull...Up until now, I've felt her only 5-star novel was "Interview with the Vampire." The 2nd entry in The Vampire Chronicles, "The Vampire Lestat" was pretty good and "The Queen of the Damned" was too drawn out; I wasn't expecting much from "The Tale of the Body Thief." Incredibly, this is the best novel in The Vampire Chronicles since "Interview with the Vampire" and it may even be better, but it's been so many years since I read that novel I can't be sure. Narrating this tale is Rice's immortal anti-hero Lestat de Lioncourt, who has been spending his time in Miami hunting serial killers by hacking into the police mainframe via computer. The last time we saw Lestat in "Queen of the Damned" he had joined a(nother) coven with Louis, Armand, Pandora, Marius, and others. Now, the coven has broken up and Lestat passes time by hunting and speaking with his mortal friend David Talbot, Superior General of the Talamasca (a group that investigates otherworldly events). Then, something strange happens. A man, a mortal man, has managed to track down Lestat in three places and has been handing him short stories before running away. Lestat is getting angry that his space is being invaded by a mortal and soon confronts the man named Raglan James, a body thief. James has been following Lestat with a proposition in mind. They trade bodies for two days, so Lestat can see what it's like to be mortal again and James can find out what it's like to be a vampire. Despite everyone's warnings, Lestat accepts this offer...It soon becomes one of Rice's most entertaining novels and rarely has Lestat been this humorous. Lestat is soon confronted with the sicknesses and weaknesses of the human body, as well as falling in love with a nun named Gretchen. Doing what Dean Koontz has done countless times, Rice also gives Lestat a dog named Mojo, who is just as memorable as Koontz' Einstein and Wolfer. It seems that Rice had some sudden burst of creativity while writing this novel, because she also inserts quite a few surprising plot twists (not something she's usually known for). My favorite passages of her novels have always been when Lestat is with characters like Louis and David and there's plenty of that here. I mentioned in my review for "The Queen of the Damned" that the best part of the novel was the last 15 pages where Lestat and Louis were merely walking around. Some of the best passages of this novel are with Louis and Lestat conversing. If all The Vampire Chronicles were like this, I'd have no problem considering Rice one of my favorite writers.

GRADE: A-

The Vampire Lestat (Vampire Chronicles, Book II)

Average customer rating:

Not Free SF Reader
Lestat - the story
I loved this book
From his own words!
Rice knows how to write a serious series.

The Vampire Lestat (Vampire Chronicles, Book II)
Anne Rice
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0345313860
Release Date: 1986-09-12

Amazon.com

After the spectacular debut of Interview with the Vampire in 1976, Anne Rice put aside her vampires to explore other literary interests--Italian castrati in Cry to Heaven and the Free People of Color in The Feast of All Saints. But Lestat, the mischievous creator of Louis in Interview, finally emerged to tell his own story in the 1985 sequel, The Vampire Lestat.

As with the first book in the series, the novel begins with a frame narrative. After over a half century underground, Lestat awakens in the 1980s to the cacophony of electronic sounds and images that characterizes the MTV generation. Particularly, he is captivated by a fledgling rock band named Satan's Night Out. Determined both to achieve international fame and end the centuries of self-imposed vampire silence, Lestat takes command of the band (now renamed "The Vampire Lestat") and pens his own autobiography. The remainder of the novel purports to be that autobiography: the vampire traces his mortal youth as the son of a marquis in pre-Revolutionary France, his initiation into vampirism at the hands of Magnus, and his quest for the ultimate origins of his undead species.

While very different from the first novel in the Vampire Chronicles, The Vampire Lestat has proved to be the foundation for a broader range of narratives than is possible from Louis's brooding, passive perspective. The character of Lestat is one of Rice's most complex and popular literary alter egos, and his Faustian strivings have a mythopoeic resonance that links the novel to a grand tradition of spiritual and supernatural fiction. --Patrick O'Kelley

Book Description

Once an aristocrat in the heady days of pre-revolutionary France, now Lestat is a rockstar in the demonic, shimmering 1980s. He rushes through the centuries in search of others like him, seeking answers to the mystery of his terrifying exsitence. His story, the second volume in Anne Rice's best-selling Vampire Chronicles, is mesmerizing, passionate, and thrilling.
"Frightening, sensual."
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

Customer Reviews:

Not Free SF Reader.......2007-09-03

After his earlier conflict, Lestat awakes in the 1980s. The book gives his history, his creation by the magician Magnus, the mother he turned, and his meeting with the vampire Armand.

He breaks up this coven and comes up with the vampire theatre idea.

Lestat eventually meets Marius and his horrible charges, and gets some superpowered Queen blood. The King is not happy, and Marius has to get Lestat away to save him.

This leads him to his hibernation, his eighties awakening, and decision to write a book and become a rockstar.

Lestat - the story.......2007-08-05

This is the second book of the Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice. After Interview with a Vampire, the first book is told from Louis' viewpoint, but in the Vampire Lestat, we find Lestat's story from the beginning and many gaps in the first story are filled. It is a wonderful tale, and opens the door for the third story, Queen of the Damned. It is very difficult to read any other book in the series without reading this second book, because here we find the story of many of the characters we find again throughout the series.

I enjoyed it thouroughly and recommend it, of course, if you like vampire stories.

I loved this book.......2007-08-03

I loved this book. Rice writes in a way that is easy to follow, descriptive enough that you think you are there. There aren't any boring parts to this book. Highly recommened. A very entertaining read.

From his own words!.......2007-08-02

Sequels are known for coming up short in comparison to their predesessors, but The Vampire Lestat does anything but! Anne Rice returns to the world of the dark creatures, this time from the view point of perhaps her most compelling of all Vampire characters... Lestat!

If you enjoyed "Interview with the Vampire" than you will undoubtedly and wholeheartedly love this sequel. It is essentially the autobiographical prose from Lestat himself. It may start out somewhat in the future (in comparison to IWTV) but it backtracks into how exactly Lestat was born to darkness! On top of this, we learn from Lestat's perspective, how he felt being created, how he has ties to the Theater Of The Vampires, and Armand, how and why he created Louie, and we even meet his mortal mother Gabrielle.

As always, Anne Rice does an amazing job with her descriptions and seems to literally paint the scene for you. You will become enthralled instantly with the world of Lestat and all vampires, and see as they see!

Above all us however, this book does the character of Lestat some justice. If you have read or seen the movie "Interview wth the Vampire" than you may have found Lestat to be somewhat of a jerk. This novel gives you insight as to who Lestat really is, and why he acts the way he does. He says in the first book, "I'm going to give you the choice I never had," and it is here, you find out how and why!

A tremendous book that may surpass the first on some level, and again, Rice shows no signs of slowing down!

Rice knows how to write a serious series........2007-07-28

I don't know that I really have anything more meaningful to add to the list of reviews here, yet I will say that Anne Rice is a master of serial novels. I have found that one of the greatest pleasures of reading a series of novels is that you always think that you've heard so much story, that you have so much "pretty much figured out", yet (if written properly) the next volume completely blows you shatters all your assumptions and most of your hard earned knowledge. Anne does just that time and time again in this second installment of the Vampire Chronicles.
I thought that I liked Interview with the Vampire the first time that I read it, I knew that I was in love by the time that I was on the first few chapters of the Vampire Lestat.

Vampire Chronicles: Interview with the Vampire, The Vampire Lestat, The Queen of the Damned (Anne Rice)

Average customer rating:

Vampire Chronicles 1-3
coffin box set
The Best
Interview With The Vampire
Sink your teeth into this...

Vampire Chronicles: Interview with the Vampire, The Vampire Lestat, The Queen of the Damned (Anne Rice)
Anne Rice
Manufacturer: Random House Audio
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette

Horror | Books on Cassette | Audiobooks | Formats | Books

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ASIN: 0679410503
Release Date: 1992-11-17

Amazon.com Audiobook Review

The ornate, casket-like packaging and neogothic graphic design of this immortal trilogy is eerily enticing on its own. But just lift the lid, slide the first tape from its ghostly sleeve, and you'll soon embrace the hypnotic realm of the undead.

Book 1, Interview with the Vampire, opens with the seductive purr of F. Murray Abraham (Amadeus) stating, "I was a 25-year-old man when I became a vampire, and the year was 1791." And so our ultimate antihero, Louis, begins the elaborate retelling of his long, tortured life as a vampire. Winding through the ages, from New Orleans to Paris, we follow Louis and his undying mentor, Lestat, as they feed on humans, whet their carnal appetites, and uncover an underworld of vampire brethren.

Book 2, The Vampire Lestat, brings us up to date, with Lestat waking from his earthen slumber to join the ranks of rock superstardom before sitting down to share the tale of his own haunting initiation into the vampire world. Michael York (Cabaret) puts his wonderfully fluid, cosmopolitan voice to good use, adding a dash of sly humor to this fast-paced, satisfying blend of sex and blood and rock and roll.

Book 3, The Queen of the Damned, takes us back, all the way back to ancient Egypt, exposing the origins of the vampire way. Narrating in eerily serene and gracious tones, Kate Nelligan (The Prince of Tides) leads us gently down this bloody path of immortal desires. David Purdham gives the voice of Lestat a wistful quality, tinged with an evil relish that exposes the master vampire's sanguine tastes.

Anne Rice has continued her Vampire Chronicles beyond these three novels, but that shouldn't make this collection any less tempting to either the undead initiate or certified vampire junkie. --George Laney

Book Description

Packaged in deluxe Coffin Package, this is a must for any Anne Rice fan - or the ideal start to introduce someone to the world of Anne Rice.

Coffin Package includes:
Interview with the Vampire (2 cassettes/3 hours, read by F. Murray Abraham)
The Vampire Lestat (2 cassettes/3 hours, read by Michael York)
The Queen of the Damned (2 cassettes/3 hours, read by Kate Nelligan)

Customer Reviews:

Vampire Chronicles 1-3.......2006-03-10

I would have preferred to have been able to buy these audio books on cd; however, they were unavailable. Since I had read them all so long ago, it was time to delve back into them. Buying audio books to bring on vacation, was the perfect idea! (I didn't have to worry about getting any suntan lotion on the pages!)

coffin box set.......2006-01-04

This coffin box Set Is a great addition to a collection of vampire Memorabilia . Open the lid (flap) to see who is inside. you can pick who is in the coffin, One is the child vampire and the other a dark haired male vampire.

The Best.......2000-09-25

Anne Rice is the best modern writer on vampires. I have read them all and she rocks. The coolest scenarios and she reads like an intelligent airport paperback book writer. Her writing goes down easy like a comic book. I have written a book on vampires too if you are interested. It's called Seamus and Emer. It's available on Amazon so take a look. Good Luck! Bye Bye!

Interview With The Vampire.......2000-09-10

I knew about Anne Rice, but I had never read any of her books before. I read Interview With The Vampire, and I couldn't put it down! It's one of the best books I've ever read. Now I'm reading the whole set. It was great!

Sink your teeth into this..........2000-07-07

... a fine set of Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice. What a refreshing point of view and burning light to see vampires in. Rice gives us vampires with feelings - why shouldn't a vampire feel joy, pain and regret? Yes, bottom line is they are merciless killers, but this is the all-too often typecast image of vampires that Hollywood likes to betray. These immortals don't just sweep in with a dramatic flare of their capes (most of the time they don't even wear one), kill then leave - we experience their agony, hunger, happiness and turmoil before and after each kill. Anne Rice gives us so much more - imagine YOUR fears, regrets and hopes from your lifetime spread over an eternity. Would you really want immortality? What is right and what is wrong? Good and evil? The devil and God? Leave your humdrum life behind for a while and bury yourself (literally) in a world of fascinating, real characters in sumtuous, historic or sordid surroundings. Enjoy, but remember to put the lid back across when you're finished...

Memnoch the Devil: The Vampire Chronicles

Average customer rating:

The Best
One of the worst books that I have ever read...
Original, yet boring?
Not Free SF Reader
Wonderfully Gothic

Memnoch the Devil: The Vampire Chronicles
Anne Rice
Manufacturer: Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0679441018
Release Date: 1995-07-03

Amazon.com

The fifth volume of Rice's Vampire Chronicles is one of her most controversial books. The tale begins in New York, where Lestat, the coolest of Rice's vampire heroes, is stalking a big-time cocaine dealer and religious-art smuggler--this guy should get it in the neck. Lestat is also growing fascinated with the dealer's lovely daughter, a TV evangelist who's not a fraud.

Lestat is also being stalked himself, by some shadowy guy who turns out to be Memnoch, the devil, who spirits him away. From here on, the book might have been called Interview with the Devil (by a Vampire). It's a rousing story interrupted by a long debate with the devil. Memnoch isn't the devil as ordinarily conceived: he got the boot from God because he objected to God's heartless indifference to human misery. Memnoch takes Lestat to heaven, hell, and throughout history.

Some readers are appalled by the scene in which Lestat sinks his fangs into the throat of Christ on the cross, but the scene is not a mere shock tactic: Jesus is giving Lestat a bloody taste in order to win him over to God's side, and Rice is dead serious about the battle for his soul. Rice is really doing what she did as a devout young Catholic girl asked to imagine in detail what Christ's suffering felt like--it's just that her imagination ran away with her.

If you like straight-ahead fanged adventure, you'll likely enjoy the first third; if you like Job-like arguments with God, you'll prefer the Memnoch chapters. --Tim Appelo

Book Description

In Anne Rice's extraordinary novel, the Vampire Lestat--outsides, canny monster, hero-wanderer--is at last offered the chance to be redeemed.

He is brought into direct confrontation with both God and the Devil, and into the land of Death.

We are in New York.  The city is blanketed in snow.  Through the whiteness Lestat is searching for Dora, the beautiful and charismatic daughter of a drug lord, the woman who arouses Lestat's tenderness as no mortal ever has.

While torn between his vampire passions and his overwhelming love for Dora, Lestat is  confronted by the most dangerous of adversaries he has yet known.

He is snatched from the world itself by the mysterious Memnoch, who claims to be the Devil. He is invited to be a witness at the Creation.  He is taken like the ancient prophets into the heavenly realm and is ushered into Purgatory.

He must decide if he can believe in the Devil or in God.  And finally, he must decide which, if either, he will serve.

In the first four Vampire Chronicles, Anne Rice summoned up for us worlds that are fantastic and distant, making them as resonant, real, and immediate as our own.  In this, her most daring and darkest novel, she takes us, with Lestat, into the mythical world that is most important to us--into the realms of our own theology.

Customer Reviews:

The Best.......2007-10-06

Anne Rice managed to make us fall in love with the Devil despite ourselves. There isn't a more charming and charismatic Devil since Milton's Paradise Lost. The cover of the original hardcover version has Memnoch, God's beloved, in his magnificent angelic "accurate form". See the image I submitted.

One of the worst books that I have ever read..........2007-10-01

I am about a hundred pages from finishing this book and the only reason I am still reading it is because I keep thinking that it will only get better. I am not a huge Anne Rice fan. I read Interview with the Vampire over a decade ago at the behest of a friend and was not impressed. When I heard it was going to be made into a movie, I read it again and was still not impressed. The movie was better. Anne Rice has a huge fan base so I thought I must be missing something and attempted to read Ramses the Damned. Not impressed. After one hundrd pages into the Witching Hour, I gave up. No more. Recently, a friend of mine at work told me about the story of Memnoch the Devil and I decided to give it a shot because it sounded so interesting. This book sucks. Interesting concept but very badly executed. Boring. Why does this writer have so many devout fans? This will be the last Anne Rice book I ever read.

Original, yet boring?.......2007-09-15

I loved the first three books, particularly The Vampire Lestat and Queen of the Damned. This book was extremely boring and I am a person very interested in religion. I think that Rice has an original and interesting perspective on hell and the devil which she divulges in this book but it is so drawn out and rediculously boring. I have almost never found myself skipping pages in a book (last time may have been Grapes of Wrath in 10th grade) but I did that here. Also Lestat turns in to some kind of emotional superpansy in this book and can not make any decisions on his own.

Not Free SF Reader.......2007-09-03

Yep, this is bad. After Lestat kills a gangster, he ends up meeting a ghost.

That is not all though, as he meets a Devil, and we get a long, tedious explanation and pontification on the whole relgion Heaven and Hell thing, and all may just be David Talbot had mentioned to Lestat before.

Travelling to hell, Lestat gets hurt, and goes crazy, and Maharet has to help him.

If you are a fan of the first three books, and that is the sort of thing you want, and don't want to read religious discussion through the mouthpiece of vampire characters, please avoid this book.

Wonderfully Gothic.......2007-08-24

"Memnoch the Devil" is my favorite Chronicle to this day. I just finished all of the Vampire Chronicles, and Memnoch holds true to its placement. I don't believe in God or the Devil, but this is an exciting journey which Lestat guides us through. This book didn't make me believe in God or even question the existence. It was just a fun book. And I think it has the best ending I have ever read or seen in any movie.
Rice maintains her wonderful descriptions of life through a vampire's everlasting eyes and deep philosophical sentences that keep you awake at night, pondering how she can think of such bravura sentences. In her words "Maybe that's what hell is. You go mad, and all your demon's come and get you just as fast as you can think them up."

The Vampire Chronicles Collection, Volume 1

Average customer rating:

Fabulous!
Chronicles of the vampires
Good to read
anne rice has a great creative mind
Has its Moments...

The Vampire Chronicles Collection, Volume 1
Anne Rice
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0345456343
Release Date: 2002-10-01

Book Description

The hypnotic, deeply seductive novels of Anne Rice have captivated millions of fans around the world. It all began a quarter of a century ago with Interview with the Vampire. Now, in one chilling volume, here are the first three classic novels of The Vampire Chronicles.

INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE
Witness the confessions of a vampire. A novel of mesmerizing beauty and astonishing force, it is a story of danger and flight, love and loss, suspense and resolution, and the extraordinary power of the senses.

“A magnificent, compulsively readable thriller . . . Anne Rice begins where Bram Stoker and the Hollywood versions leave off and penetrates directly to the true fascination of the myth–the education of the vampire.”
–Chicago Tribune

THE VAMPIRE LESTAT
Once an aristocrat from pre-revolutionary France, now a rock star in the decadent 1980s, Lestat rushes through the centuries seeking to fathom the mystery of his existence. His is a mesmerizing story–passionate and thrilling.

“Frightening, sensual . . . A psychological, mythological sojourn . . . Anne Rice will live on through the ages of literature. . . . To read her is to become giddy as if spinning through the mind of time.”
–San Francisco Chronicle

QUEEN OF THE DAMNED
Akasha, the queen of the damned, has risen from a six-thousand-year sleep to let loose the powers of the night. She has a marvelously devious plan to “save” mankind–in this vivid novel of the erotic, electrifying world of the undead.

“With The Queen of the Damned, Anne Rice has created universes within universes, traveling back in time as far as ancient, pre-pyramidic Egypt and journeying from the frozen mountain peaks of Nepal to the crowded, sweating streets of southern Florida.”
–Los Angeles Times

Customer Reviews:

Fabulous!.......2007-06-06

Anne's collection is by far and wide the best I have ever read concerning vampires. Far from your run of the mill dime story vampire stories, these books will sweep you off your feet. Blending our love for vampires with a spiritual side that is to be highly commended, I have never been so impressed with a set of novels before. Dont stop with these either! Her next book, Memnoch the Devil is a triumph as well.

Chronicles of the vampires.......2005-10-23

Anne Rice revamped the vampire-horror genre with the publication of "Interview with the Vampire," a supernational drama from the vampire's own mouth. It became an unexpected hit, and spawned a series of sequels that came to be known as the Vampire Chronicles. The first three books of the series are compiled here, and arguably remain her best.

"Interview With the Vampire" is the story of Louis, a grieving young widower and plantation owner, whose life is turned upside down when he meets the charming vampire Lestat. Lestat offers him a way out: become a vampire. Louis accepts, but once it's done, he finds that vampirism is more than he bargained for -- especially for his conscience.

"The Vampire Lestat" takes a totally different tack, showing us the world through the enigmatic, charming Lestat's eyes. After years of dormancy, Lestat wakes up in time for the early MTV years of the 1980s, becoming a rock star in the tradition of Ozzy and Black Sabbath. And like Louis, Lestat relates his long life's story -- how he became a vampire, his wanderings over the earth, and his investigations into the origins of vampirism itself...

"Queen of the Damned" builds on that research. Lestat's metal music has caused quite a bit of mayhem -- but not this much before: Akasha, Egyptian queen and mother of all vampires, has reawoken from her comalike sleep. The lesser vampires are having strange dreams, some are being murdered by the ruthless queen. Apparently she wants to kill virtually all men. What is more, Akasha has taken a shine to the roguish Lestat himself...

Vampiric autobiography is a given in Anne Rice's bibliography -- she has plenty of bloodsuckers telling us about their lives. But Lestat and Louis's were not just the first ones, but perhaps the most compelling and rich, especially since the two had such radically different viewpoints -- including of one another. Is Lestat a heartless fiend, or a roguish good-craving bad boy? I'd lean towards the latter, to be honest.

The first two books are quite personal -- one is Louis recounting his own miserable life and un-life. Then we get Lestat, a radically different viewpoint, a guy who enjoys his un-life even more than his mortal existance. Finally, there's an epic view of all vampires, throughout history, from the ancient Egyptian queen to the modern biker vamps.

Despite the more controversial recent novels, Anne Rice's first Vampire Chronicles are often reckoned to be modern horror classics. Rich, intriguing and far deeper than you'd think vampire fiction would be.

Good to read.......2005-07-31

I got this book with only knowing about the moive Interview with the Vampire. When I started to read the book I couln't put it down. All 3 of the books are the same way. I like The Vampire Lestat the best. In The Vampire Lestat she goes more in to the history of vampire. Then with ending that will make you want to read The Queen of the Damned right away. The Vampire Chronicles is one of the best series out there. If you havn't read it you are missing out.

anne rice has a great creative mind.......2005-06-19

to be honest i have read all of annes published works dealing with both the vampires and the mayfair witches and i believe these three books (interview, lestat, and queen of the damned)were what made me keep my interest in them for as long as i have. it is her way of story telling which ensnares the imagination in us all. to be completely honest if you are going to read these three be prepared to be spending more money in a few months to buy the rest of the set.

sort of in response to a review posted prior. without getting into much detail it is expanded more on in her other books but the gist of it is that while akasha was undoubtedly the oldest and first of all vampires they centuries of her slumber made her weaker than mekhare (i believe that is the correct spelling and if not i dont have time to fix it). it is explained out that the longer a vampire stays awake and feeding the faster and greater their powers grow to be. in any event it is a work of fiction one doesnt need to over analyze it to enjoy the book for what it is.

Has its Moments..........2005-03-02

This is a great buy.. after all it is three books in one. But getting to the point, it was "Interview w/the Vampire that kept my interest with Anne Rice. Louis's view of things were just oh-so-human but all-together not. His resentment for what he is drives him to question his maker. He is so naive & weak it almost makes you want to feel sorry for the guy (even though he's immortal). His dependence on Claudia & then to Armand does makes him almost human. Armand in particular makes the plotline a little cheesy--I mean, why does a vampire like Louis feel aroused by Armand's knowledge?? does that really amount to love? Or maybe its just spells they can get to make ppl like them (which I finde to be a weak argument)

"The Vampire Lestat" was also a good read. It does get boring after a while & Lestat gives off this egocentric vibe which doesn't seem to belong in certain places (Armand I could understand was a jerk). As the plot progresses I found marius's intro & character interesting because of his devotion to the mother & father.

As for Queen of the Damned, I really think this was a waste of time. I thought this would amount to a grand ending especially with the powers Akasha bestowed. I don't want to ruin this book to would-be readers but.. I just have to ask--why was there very little to explain what the evil spirit was--and maybe Rice intended it to be this way because the unseen can't really be explained but still.. why was the most powerful of all vampires, to die so quickly in the hands of a character who pops out of knowhere without so much as a thought? This one just lacks the proper character development aside from Lestat's.

Queen of the Damned (Vampire Chronicles, Book III)

Average customer rating:

Not Free SF Reader
Classic Rice, but misses the mark a bit
Queen of the Damned
Nice book, but a bit confusing and boring in the beginning
Tedious and Dull, With the Occasional Moments of Brilliance

Queen of the Damned (Vampire Chronicles, Book III)
Anne Rice
Manufacturer: Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0394558235
Release Date: 1988-09-12

Amazon.com

Did you ever wonder where all those mischievous vampires roaming the globe in Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles came from? In this, the third book in the series, we find out. That raucous rock-star vampire Lestat interrupts the 6,000-year slumber of the mama of all bloodsuckers, Akasha, Queen of the Damned.

Akasha was once the queen of the Nile (she has a bit in common with the Egyptian goddess Isis), and it's unwise to rile her now that she's had 60 centuries of practice being undead. She is so peeved about male violence that she might just have to kill most of them. And she has her eye on handsome Lestat with other ideas as well.

If you felt that the previous books in the series weren't gory and erotic enough, this one should quench your thirst (though it may cause you to omit organ meats from your diet). It also boasts God's plenty of absorbing lore that enriches the tale that went before, including the back-story of the boy in Interview with the Vampire and the ancient fellowship of the Talamasca, which snoops on paranormal phenomena. Mostly, the book spins the complex yarn of Akasha's eerie, brooding brood and her nemeses, the terrifying sisters Maharet and Mekare. In one sense, Queen of the Damned is the ultimate multigenerational saga. --Tim Appelo

Book Description

In 1976, a uniquely seductive world of vampires was unveiled in the now-classic Interview with the Vampire . . . in 1985, a wild and voluptous voice spoke to us, telling the story of The Vampire Lestat.  In The Queen of the Damned, Anne Rice continues her extraordinary "Vampire Chronicles" in a feat of mesmeric storytelling, a chillingly hypnotic entertainment in which the oldest and most powerful forces of the night are unleashed on an unsuspecting world.

Three brilliantly colored narrative threads intertwine as the story unfolds:

- The rock star known as Vampire Lestat, worshipped by millions of spellbound fans, prepares for a concert in San Francisco.  Among the audience--pilgrims in a blind swoon of adoration--are hundreds of vampires, creatures who see Lestat as a "greedy fiend risking the secret prosperity of all his kind just to be loved and seen by mortals," fiends themselves who hate Lestat's power and who are determined to destroy him . . .

- The sleep of certain men and women--vampires and mortals scattered around the world--is haunted by a vivid, mysterious dream: of twins with fiery red hair and piercing green eyes who suffer an unspeakable tragedy.  It is a dream that slowly, tauntingly reveals its meaning to the dreamers as they make their way toward each other--some to be destroyed on the journey, some to face an even more terrifying fate at journey's end . . .

- Akasha--Queen of the Damned, mother of all vampires, rises after a 6,000 year sleep and puts into motion a heinous plan to "save" mankind from itself and make "all myths of the world real" by elevating herself and her chosen son/lover to the level of the gods: "I am the fulfillment and I shall from this moment be the cause" . . .

These narrative threads wind sinuously across a vast, richly detailed tapestry of the violent, sensual world of vampirism, taking us back 6,000 years to its beginnings.  As the stories of the "first brood" of blood drinkers are revealed, we are swept across the ages, from Egypt to South America to the Himalayas to all the shrouded corners of the globe where vampires have left their mark. Vampires are created--mortals succumbing to the sensation of "being enptied, of being devoured, of being nothing." Vampires are destroyed.  Dark rituals are performed--the rituals of ancient creatures prowling the modern world.  And, finally, we are brought to a moment in the twentieth century when, in an astonishing climax, the fate of the living dead--and perhaps of the living, all the living--will be decided.

Customer Reviews:

Not Free SF Reader.......2007-09-03

This book presents the back story for the whole vampire race, with the story of the demon that gave them their abilities, and the introduction of the few ancient vampires other than the royal pair, and the amazing abilities they gain as they get older and older.

A new human character is introduced, Jesse, of the bloodline of one of these ancients, and also David Talbot, a researcher with a society devoted to investigating the supernatural. Jesse is turned when she is injured severely at the concert.

Lestat's rock concert antics have drawn the Queen out, and there will be conflict. This Queen is not just a she who must be obeyed type, but a she who must be obeyed or there will piles of thousands of bloody corpses everywhere at my bare hands type.

The Queen takes Lestat on a tour of the world, showing her plans. No-one else agrees with them, and conflict ensues, with the oldest vampire other than the Queen eventually taking her out, and taking her place.

Classic Rice, but misses the mark a bit.......2007-08-10

The third installment of the Vampire Chronicles starts off just about where the last left us. Lestat is preparing for his big moment, the first concert of his band The Vampire Lestat. It is at this concert that all Vampire hell is going to break loose as Lestat has awakened the oldest of them all...the Queen of the Damned.

Anne Rice again provides us readers with lavish descriptions and immense action. The one problem I have with this novel is the amount of characters she has all wrapped up in this one text. It starts off from the point of Lestat, but soon you find yourself in the world from the point of view of at least seven other characters. This is one time where Rice seems to have taken on a bit more than she can handle. Because of the fact that there are indeed so many characters, one can get lost and find themselves not even caring what really happens to them. The only saving grace is that they do all link up somehow in the end.

The only other complaint I have is the fact that, after all the years (6000 to be exact) that the Queen was dormant, the plan she comes up with is pretty weak. In a sense, its almost downright unbelievable (something most of Rice's characters are not).

Overall this is a good novel and is well worth reading; especially if you're already into The Vampire Chronicles. It may seem rushed at times, as well as there being to much information for you to try and take in, but stay with it because it all comes together in the end.

Queen of the Damned.......2007-08-01

Queen of the Damned is only a "must read" if you've taken the time to read the first two vampire novels in the anthology (Interview with the Vampire and The Vampire Lestat), and is only entertaining if you enjoy the characters as I do.

Anne Rice uses far-fetched notions (as usual); she seems to take the easy way out. Instead of coming up with somthing more inventive and exceptional, her characters are your typical, average, garden variety vampire who can not walk around in sunlight. Save for the fact that her characters each develop special powers (telekenisis, tremendous strength, flying, etc., etc), we're left with Bram Stokers idea of Dracula. Naturally this fact was instated in the very first novel, but nonetheless, it makes QOTD trivial.

Anne Rice uses words over and over and over again--the use of the word "preternatural" shows up so often I'd be willing to bet the average of appearances would be 5 times on every page.

Anne Rice also spends too much time utilizing description and letting her audience know what the character is thinking. Description and insight is of course essential to any good novel, but not when it's used beyond the necessary limitations. For example, one might find themselves reading a paragraph that runs on like this: So-and-So found themself staring at the great beyond while rising into the sky. Each tiny star but a pin-prick of light overseeing all of the world. "How long have these stars looked over us all?", So-and-So thought. It was too much to imagine what these stars have witnessed over the passing centuries and decades. The wind whipped around so-and-so's face and shifted his/her thoughts now to the great landscape--the mountain ranges and their dark, jagged black peaks which exploded up and beyond, disolving and melding into the night sky and serving as an ominous warning to So-and So...

I find myself rolling my eyes so many times over the course of a page.

I enjoy Anne's characters, but she has always annoyed me. It's hard to want to keep picking up her books because you have a tough time falling into the story. At least I do. Her writing reminds me all too often that this is a creation from the mind of Anne Rice and so what's the point of reading the story if it's all crap and made-up?

I read books like they are going out of fashion, so maybe that's why I can't help myself but to notice Anne's one-dimensional ego, as if she didn't need to put more effort into her books. Sometimes I get the feeling she was writing while high on something, the way she "lovingly" takes the time to poetically explian every single thing that is going on.

Either way, the book ranks well enough to be read but only because of the characters themselves. The storylines are so completely ridiculous in all Anne's novels, but especially so in QOTD, that's it's almost painful to keep reading.

Nice book, but a bit confusing and boring in the beginning.......2007-06-24

This is a lovely book, but the first time I read it I first read the prologue, then couldn't get through the first few chapter, so skipped half the book and happily read the rest. Then got back to the first half and now, having read the rest, finally nderstood it. Loved the way Rice's way of telling changed with the changing of POV. Also loved all the uneccesary side stories like Armand & Daniël and Baby Jenks. Did dislike Akasha somewhat, but loved the part in the end where she gets her head ripped off. A rather hard to follow and messy, but nevertheless wonderful novel.

Tedious and Dull, With the Occasional Moments of Brilliance.......2007-06-15

The first novel in Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, "Interview with the Vampire" was a brilliant novel. Her sequel to that was "The Vampire Lestat" a highly acclaimed novel, yes, but a novel I found to be very meandering and dull. This novel, "The Queen of the Damned" is the third book and is told by Lestat but he is reduced to a supporting character in the novel. At the end of the previous novel, Lestat and his band (called The Vampire Lestat) were getting ready to perform their first concert in San Francisco. In this novel, Lestat takes the story back a week before that event to show us the vampires rising up in fury over this news. There aren't many rules in the vampire world, but one of them is "don't tell humans about us," a rule that Lestat's protégée Louis had already broken by writing "Interview with the Vampire." In a bar called Dracula's Daughter, someone has written a message that Lestat must be destroyed. If you've read the previous novel, you're familiar with Those Who Must Be Kept...The King and Queen of the Damned, Akasha and Enkil who are the first vampires and now stand still as statues, protected by Marius. If Akasha and Enkil are ever destroyed, it would mean the end for the entire vampire race. If they ever woke up, it would mean trouble for both the vampire and human race...And wake up they do. Akasha is awakened and sets out to make Lestat her lover so she can succeed in ridding the world of death and war by killing all men. Is that a spoiler? Perhaps, but don't worry about it too much. Everyone who has read this novel has admitted how stupid her plan is and the fact that a big chunk of the novel details her plan being put into action is disappointing. Most of the novel, however, details "the twins." Mysterious red-headed girls that have been appearing in people's/vampire's dreams. The story is interesting, but not interesting enough to go on for the length of time that Rice drags it out. Anne Rice is a good writer, in the sense that she comes up with interesting stories and creates wonderful characters. Her execution style of her stories is NOT that good and her books tend to grow dull, mostly because of her incredible attention to detail. She can literally write three pages about a character looking at a tree. Her decision to include a poem written by her (now late) husband Stan Rice at the beginning of every chapter seems motivated only by the fact that it's her husband's poems and not that they have anything to do with the passages themselves. I've read the first 70 pages of the next novel "The Tale of the Body Thief" and I'm finding that one succeeding much more on the entertainment level, but "The Queen of the Damned" does have its moments. My favorite part of the novel was the last 15 or so pages, with Lestat and Louis revisiting their New Orleans home and than meeting David Talbot, head of the Talamasca (a group which specializes in researching the supernatural). Since Lestat, Louis, Marius, Armand, Gabrielle, and Claudia are the characters that I think many readers will agree are the most interesting it's disappointing to read a book whose main characters are essentially Jesse, Maharet, and Khayman (I won't bother to explain who these characters are). For a book that runs 490 pages, about 200 of these pages are really and those last 15 pages are great...The rest of the novel is tedious and dull...If only Rice would've had a better editor. The movie version, which was a hastily thrown together adaptation of "The Vampire Lestat" and this novel bares little-to-no similarities to this book at all.

GRADE: C+

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