Customer Reviews

Vampire Lestat

5 star:		(214)
4 star:		(44)
3 star:		(21)
2 star:		(14)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

My girlfriend wanted me to read this, and i wanted to like it. Let me give the uninitiated a brief glimpse of the book; it goes something like this:-

Start: Exciting, swift, entertaining........starts to go on a bit.......long periods of yawning and feeling guilty for skim reading page after page.......gets better again :End

There it is, no more no less. Not a great masterpiece of literature as some believe (If you'd ever read one you'd probably know). Average, long winded. I could try and tell you why, but the book has left me so exhausted that i am not going to waste any more effort on it.

Anne Rice tells the story of Lestat de Lioncourt, an eighteenth-century French aristocrat who becomes a vampire. We follow Lestat's early years on the dark side as he struggles and inevitably fails to stay connected with his family, friends and former life. Most of the book traces Lestat's quest to understand his dark nature and come to terms with it. This involves meeting and hearing the stories of several older vampires. And finally deciding how he will exist in the world of humans.

The book offers a sophisticated view of vampires and their history. It is more similar to historical fiction than to most vampire tales. In the spirit of carefully researched nonfiction, it presents history as a series of oral biographies delivered by its main characters. As their stories contradict each other, the reader sees the layers of history pealed back and learns more than most of the characters themselves are aware of. Lestat retells the story of Louis, the protagonist of Rice's previous book in the series, Interview with the Vampire, and corrects his errors, sometimes self-servingly. Having readjusted our perspective as readers, we do it twice more as Lestat tells what he learned from the older vampires Armand and Marius. These interlocking and contradictory tales are well-written and well-worth reading.

Lestat's tale can be read independently of the first Vampire Chronicles book, but is necessary to understanding the events of The Queen of the Damned, The Tale of the Body Thief and subsequent books in the series. This book is easily the best of the series and a reasonable place to begin reading it. The author's skilled use of the unreliable narrator technique to present history makes the book worthwhile to anyone who appreciates good writing.

Now THIS is a vampire book! No fluff, no teen romance or corny skin sparkles. (i make fun but i do like Twilight. lol)
I read this book many years ago and LOVED it and now have read it again and my opinion has not changed. I fell in love with all of the complex characters, the plot and this world that Anne Rice pulls you into. Wow that woman can write. Lestat is by far one of the BEST characters I have ever had the pleasure of reading. One thing I love about Rice's writing is how her writing is so romantic and sexy without actually always being about romance or sex. If you haven't read this series, and are into the whole vampire thing, READ THESE. The first one is Interview With the Vampire and will also not dissapoint.

This one read like a lead up to another book. With exception to the 150 pages of Gabrielle's creation and the 100 pages or so Of marius's story , the book dragged on and on about the past. Take out 300 pages and this would be a good book. This is the second book I've read of the Vampire Chronicles and to me it's No where near the first and I hope the rest are better.

While at first engrossing, I found that the rising action, not to mention climax and resolution of this story to be severely lacking. Characterization was intriguing at first, but lost its luster the farther into the story I progressed. I read this at school during Health class, and it took me almost two months to finish it! Anne Rice needs to learn how to write shorter books for people like me.

I read this immediately after the first Vampire book and it was a complete repeat. Nothing new. In depth, boring explainations of humans becoming vampires and the rules of vampire culture. Just like the first book. I guess Anne stuck by this formula for the next 3 or more books about these now familiar vampire characters, but I'll never know because I will read no further...

I loved Interview With the Vampire and I really liked Lestats character a lot so I was surprised by how Anne Rice potrays him in this book.He goes from being a complex evil character to a whiney, childesh idiot! Am I the only one that winces when he is called the "brat prince?" She made him cute, cuddley and mischievius in a little boy sort of way, a major difference from the Lestat in Interview. That lestat was more mysterious, although he loved being a vampire and accepted it(unlike Louis) you get the feeling that there is more going on in his mind than Louis can see. His character in The Vampire Lestat on the other hand is silly and can really got on your nerves.There is nothing at all disturbing or dark about him, you know he will never really do anything totally evil, hes too sweet and adorable too. Its not really that this book is so bad(compared to Menoch its a masterpiece)its just that if she wanted to write a book about a charming,charismatic vampire why did she use Lestat?

This book had brief moments of greatness but all in all the book was dull. Anne Rice trudges on endlessly it seemed at times, trying hard to make an exciting novel, but in the end fails miserably. The best part of the book was when it ended. This book has extinguished any desires I had to read the rest of the vampire chronicles.

While this second book in Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles has a promising start, it soon falls apart and becomes a monotonous mess.

Stop reading the Vampire Chronicles after you have read Interview with the Vampire.

I can't believe all the positive reviews! A good book is supposed to make you forget that you are physically reading - this only happens once in this book, and it takes place in the first few pages. I kept wishing that certain characters would die so that the plot could move along. Yeeesh- you die hard Rice fans will accept anything.