One of the best books I have read, 23 Sep 2008
This book was amazing. I loved everything about it, how Anne Rice writes, how the characters develop and Louis is just so nice! For a vampire.
I had seen the movie before I read this book, but the movie is nothing compared to the book. You actually feel as if you are going through Louis life with him as its so detailed. I am now reading the sequel The Vampire Lestat, and would highly recomend that book also, as you will see why Lestat is the way he is in 'Interview'.
But would def read this again and recomend anyone to read this, not just vampire lovers.

Louis! Louis!, 28 Jun 2008
I can't express how much I loved this book! I felt that Louis and Lestat were incredible characters. The emotion in this book is breathtaking and I am just about to start the next one. I will definitely be recommending this book to anyone who hasn't read it. 5 stars!

How I hate this book, 27 May 2008
I started this book in the early 90's and didn't get more than three or four chapters in before I gave up. I found it at the back of a cupboard and decided to give it another go. I still hated it, found it very dry and boring. I was determined though that this time it would not beat me and I would finish it. It took me two weeks but I made myself get to the end, I was so happy when it was over.

I will never read this book again.

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS I'VE EVER READ, 02 Apr 2008
I was always curious about the Vampire Chronicles set of books for years but never actually picked one up and read it. I had seen the films - Interview With The Vampire and Queen Of The Damned, which I had enjoyed.

Well when I saw Interview With The Vampire in a charity shop I had to buy it there and then. On the plus side they where selling it cheap which added to the buy on impulse.


This first novel in The Vampire Chronicles centers around four very different yet almost equally fascinating vampires. The story is that of Louis, a wealthy eighteenth century Louisiana plantation owner who became a vampire in the depths of his despair over his brother's suicide. Lestat, the inscrutable force that hovers above every page of the tale, made Louis a vampire for basically economic reasons; he wanted the wealth that Louis possessed, but he also wanted a companion. Narcissistic and vain, the dapper Lestat does not teach his creation what it means to be a vampire, does not share the secrets he claims to know, does not even help Louis through the soul-shattering change that comes about when the body dies so that it may live eternally. Louis stays with Lestat only because, so far as he knows, there are no other vampires to whom he can turn for help and instruction. His distaste for Lestat grows over the years, however, and in order to keep Louis by his side, Lestat takes a young girl whom Louis had fed upon during a period of emotional turbulence and makes of her a vampire, knowing that Louis could never abandon the child. It is the story of Claudia, doomed to a most tragic life of immortality trapped inside the body of a little girl, that makes this book so powerful in my eyes. Lestat is of course fascinating, Louis is the epitome of tragedy and a fountain of knowledge by way of his questioning, eternally sad nature, but Claudia's story is an unbearably exquisite one. She accepts her vampire nature with some ease, being too young to really ever remember her human childhood, but the growth of Claudia the vampire woman inside the body of Claudia the child is a beautifully painful thing to watch. When she manages to separate Louis and herself from Lestat to go searching for other vampires in Central Europe and eventually Paris, giving dramatic voice to both her love for and hatred of Louis, the door to the dungeons of utter tragedy are thrown asunder. The introduction of the four hundred year old vampire Armand in the second half of the book gives us yet another unique vampire soul to ponder, but Armand at his most vivid pales in comparison to Claudia at her most unprepossessing.
In the end, we are left with Louis and his story, which is full of unanswerable questions. Even the meaning and lesson he tries to express about his miserable existence utterly fail in their influence it has upon the boy chosen to hear his extraordinary story. Literature really provides no better character study of the emotional meaning of vampirism than Louis, however. He became a creature of the night only out of despair, and his development as a new creature on earth proceeded without any instruction whatsoever from the cold Lestat. Thus, he questions everything about his new nature, desperately longing for a mentor. He does not relish the taking of human life, and the thought of creating another creature like himself is anathema to him. He sees vampirism as a curse, eternally wondering if he is indeed a child of Satan doomed to an immortal yet cursed life. The source of his moral suffering is his inability to really give up his human nature, and this causes him a long, long life of torment and pain. Never before had the moral, spiritual, and philosophical nature of the vampire been explored in such depth as that found in this exquisitely beautiful novel, and that is one of the primary reasons why it rivals Stoker in terms of its beauty and resonates with an emotionally hypnotic power that is unmatched in the long tradition of vampire literature.

I know it doesn't sound exciting but it's one hell of a read and because of this book I have become a huge fan and decided to look for and buy the rest. Anne said "it originally started as a short story and I just built upon it and it became a novel which got published" *

These vampires are not the cold hearted killing machines (well Lestat is) that we are used to seeing in films and magazines, these vampires have emotional feeling and Louis is constantly battling with what he has become and his longing for others which are like him upon which he begins a search for them. This book is breath taking and I found it hard to put it down for the night for me to sleep. I would recommend you pick yourself a copy up and see what all the hype is about.

I saw the sequel to it named The Vampire Lestat in a charity shop the week later so I bought that too.

I enjoyed the film but I found in the film with timing restrains they had left a lot out that is in the book so I found the book a lot better then the film - and the screenplay was written by Anne Rice too.

So please pick yourself up a copy and begin to read one of the greatest books ever written and hopefully you will find yourself enjoying it then looking for the rest like I did.

Thank you for reading my review


(* is a quote I took from an interview Anne Rice had about Interview With The Vampire on the special features on the Interview With The Vampire film dvd)

Disappointing, 14 Jan 2008
After reading the rave reviews on this site, I feel compelled to disagree with its superfluous praise.

I concede that this is an important vampire book and that the movie was absolutely brilliant, but in no way is the book superior to the movie. Anne Rice's tone is dull and monotonous to the point of banality. Overall, I found it painfully boring after watching the movie. Even the movie had a better ending than the book.

Serious readers of fiction won't be impressed with this book, and should rather read the classic, Dracula, for those interested in vampires.

One of the best books I have read, 23 Sep 2008
This book was amazing. I loved everything about it, how Anne Rice writes, how the characters develop and Louis is just so nice! For a vampire.
I had seen the movie before I read this book, but the movie is nothing compared to the book. You actually feel as if you are going through Louis life with him as its so detailed. I am now reading the sequel The Vampire Lestat, and would highly recomend that book also, as you will see why Lestat is the way he is in 'Interview'.
But would def read this again and recomend anyone to read this, not just vampire lovers.

Louis! Louis!, 28 Jun 2008
I can't express how much I loved this book! I felt that Louis and Lestat were incredible characters. The emotion in this book is breathtaking and I am just about to start the next one. I will definitely be recommending this book to anyone who hasn't read it. 5 stars!

How I hate this book, 27 May 2008
I started this book in the early 90's and didn't get more than three or four chapters in before I gave up. I found it at the back of a cupboard and decided to give it another go. I still hated it, found it very dry and boring. I was determined though that this time it would not beat me and I would finish it. It took me two weeks but I made myself get to the end, I was so happy when it was over.

I will never read this book again.

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS I'VE EVER READ, 02 Apr 2008
I was always curious about the Vampire Chronicles set of books for years but never actually picked one up and read it. I had seen the films - Interview With The Vampire and Queen Of The Damned, which I had enjoyed.

Well when I saw Interview With The Vampire in a charity shop I had to buy it there and then. On the plus side they where selling it cheap which added to the buy on impulse.


This first novel in The Vampire Chronicles centers around four very different yet almost equally fascinating vampires. The story is that of Louis, a wealthy eighteenth century Louisiana plantation owner who became a vampire in the depths of his despair over his brother's suicide. Lestat, the inscrutable force that hovers above every page of the tale, made Louis a vampire for basically economic reasons; he wanted the wealth that Louis possessed, but he also wanted a companion. Narcissistic and vain, the dapper Lestat does not teach his creation what it means to be a vampire, does not share the secrets he claims to know, does not even help Louis through the soul-shattering change that comes about when the body dies so that it may live eternally. Louis stays with Lestat only because, so far as he knows, there are no other vampires to whom he can turn for help and instruction. His distaste for Lestat grows over the years, however, and in order to keep Louis by his side, Lestat takes a young girl whom Louis had fed upon during a period of emotional turbulence and makes of her a vampire, knowing that Louis could never abandon the child. It is the story of Claudia, doomed to a most tragic life of immortality trapped inside the body of a little girl, that makes this book so powerful in my eyes. Lestat is of course fascinating, Louis is the epitome of tragedy and a fountain of knowledge by way of his questioning, eternally sad nature, but Claudia's story is an unbearably exquisite one. She accepts her vampire nature with some ease, being too young to really ever remember her human childhood, but the growth of Claudia the vampire woman inside the body of Claudia the child is a beautifully painful thing to watch. When she manages to separate Louis and herself from Lestat to go searching for other vampires in Central Europe and eventually Paris, giving dramatic voice to both her love for and hatred of Louis, the door to the dungeons of utter tragedy are thrown asunder. The introduction of the four hundred year old vampire Armand in the second half of the book gives us yet another unique vampire soul to ponder, but Armand at his most vivid pales in comparison to Claudia at her most unprepossessing.
In the end, we are left with Louis and his story, which is full of unanswerable questions. Even the meaning and lesson he tries to express about his miserable existence utterly fail in their influence it has upon the boy chosen to hear his extraordinary story. Literature really provides no better character study of the emotional meaning of vampirism than Louis, however. He became a creature of the night only out of despair, and his development as a new creature on earth proceeded without any instruction whatsoever from the cold Lestat. Thus, he questions everything about his new nature, desperately longing for a mentor. He does not relish the taking of human life, and the thought of creating another creature like himself is anathema to him. He sees vampirism as a curse, eternally wondering if he is indeed a child of Satan doomed to an immortal yet cursed life. The source of his moral suffering is his inability to really give up his human nature, and this causes him a long, long life of torment and pain. Never before had the moral, spiritual, and philosophical nature of the vampire been explored in such depth as that found in this exquisitely beautiful novel, and that is one of the primary reasons why it rivals Stoker in terms of its beauty and resonates with an emotionally hypnotic power that is unmatched in the long tradition of vampire literature.

I know it doesn't sound exciting but it's one hell of a read and because of this book I have become a huge fan and decided to look for and buy the rest. Anne said "it originally started as a short story and I just built upon it and it became a novel which got published" *

These vampires are not the cold hearted killing machines (well Lestat is) that we are used to seeing in films and magazines, these vampires have emotional feeling and Louis is constantly battling with what he has become and his longing for others which are like him upon which he begins a search for them. This book is breath taking and I found it hard to put it down for the night for me to sleep. I would recommend you pick yourself a copy up and see what all the hype is about.

I saw the sequel to it named The Vampire Lestat in a charity shop the week later so I bought that too.

I enjoyed the film but I found in the film with timing restrains they had left a lot out that is in the book so I found the book a lot better then the film - and the screenplay was written by Anne Rice too.

So please pick yourself up a copy and begin to read one of the greatest books ever written and hopefully you will find yourself enjoying it then looking for the rest like I did.

Thank you for reading my review


(* is a quote I took from an interview Anne Rice had about Interview With The Vampire on the special features on the Interview With The Vampire film dvd)

Disappointing, 14 Jan 2008
After reading the rave reviews on this site, I feel compelled to disagree with its superfluous praise.

I concede that this is an important vampire book and that the movie was absolutely brilliant, but in no way is the book superior to the movie. Anne Rice's tone is dull and monotonous to the point of banality. Overall, I found it painfully boring after watching the movie. Even the movie had a better ending than the book.

Serious readers of fiction won't be impressed with this book, and should rather read the classic, Dracula, for those interested in vampires.


Amazing, better than IWTV, 11 Nov 2008
This book was brilliant, in my review for IWTV I said that was the best book I had ever read, but this was better.
The first part of the story is all about Lestat's journey and how he became what he is, very much Louis's story in IWTV but was written so much better than Louis's. I love how Ms Rice writes this character and I found Lestat amazing to read about, i just couldnt put the book down. I have also read Queen of the Damned and that is also a wonderful book, but for me of the 3 books in the vampire chronicles, this one stands out the most. I loved finding out why Lestat was the way he was in IWTV and you really understand why after reading this.
The films that were made are brilliant but are nothing compared to the books, these are def something that will stand out in my book collection and I will read over and over again, as I am sure I will pick up bits I missed the first time around.

Good stuff., 01 May 2008
The first book in the series doesn't give us the back-story of the evil Lestat. The vampire who made the first novel's narrator.

In this one we finally get to hear it. Lestat and his boyfriend run away to Paris, and Lestat is turned by the ancient Vampire, Magnus; leaving Lestat with more power than a newly-made Vamp should have. The story then progresses through the years as Lestat De Lioncourt travels Europe exploring and searches out the mythical Vampire Marius.

The tale is "told" by Lestat, and when we get back to the present day he is a rock-star, trying to cause as much trouble as possible by blaring the truth about Vampires out into the crowd and across the air-waves. All this gets him into big-trouble, and that story is the basis of the next book in the series - The Queen of the Damned, which I have just started.

This one, though, is definitely worth the read


Disappointing, 14 Jan 2008
"The Vampire Lestat" tells to story of Lestat in modern times as a rockstar. A good premise for a book, but unfortunately Anne Rice dwells too much on his past history to the point that you lose interest. Anne Rice's writing style is simply not very good, it lacks eloquent prose and adequate descriptions. Her tone is also very dull and monotonous to the point of banality.

The "Vampire Chronicles" is going nowhere and I won't be continuing with the series, as it is trimmed for mass market readers.


Lestat, but not as you knew him..., 21 Nov 2006
What a turnaround this was. Lestat was a hollow and heartless character in the first book. This book turns all that around and you see why he behaves like he does with Louis and his links to Europe. Even better than the first book!



Another amazing novel, 17 Nov 2006
After reading Interview with Vampire I immediately moved on to read this and agin I was gripped. Since first reading about Lestat I had wanted to know more, and this does not disappoint. The tale is magnificently told and the character of Lestat is described so well that it seems as if he could be real. This novel is enchanting and weaves an almost perfect tale, yet more late nights were had reading this and you will have them too...buy it now!

One of the best books I have read, 23 Sep 2008
This book was amazing. I loved everything about it, how Anne Rice writes, how the characters develop and Louis is just so nice! For a vampire.
I had seen the movie before I read this book, but the movie is nothing compared to the book. You actually feel as if you are going through Louis life with him as its so detailed. I am now reading the sequel The Vampire Lestat, and would highly recomend that book also, as you will see why Lestat is the way he is in 'Interview'.
But would def read this again and recomend anyone to read this, not just vampire lovers.

Louis! Louis!, 28 Jun 2008
I can't express how much I loved this book! I felt that Louis and Lestat were incredible characters. The emotion in this book is breathtaking and I am just about to start the next one. I will definitely be recommending this book to anyone who hasn't read it. 5 stars!

How I hate this book, 27 May 2008
I started this book in the early 90's and didn't get more than three or four chapters in before I gave up. I found it at the back of a cupboard and decided to give it another go. I still hated it, found it very dry and boring. I was determined though that this time it would not beat me and I would finish it. It took me two weeks but I made myself get to the end, I was so happy when it was over.

I will never read this book again.

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS I'VE EVER READ, 02 Apr 2008
I was always curious about the Vampire Chronicles set of books for years but never actually picked one up and read it. I had seen the films - Interview With The Vampire and Queen Of The Damned, which I had enjoyed.

Well when I saw Interview With The Vampire in a charity shop I had to buy it there and then. On the plus side they where selling it cheap which added to the buy on impulse.


This first novel in The Vampire Chronicles centers around four very different yet almost equally fascinating vampires. The story is that of Louis, a wealthy eighteenth century Louisiana plantation owner who became a vampire in the depths of his despair over his brother's suicide. Lestat, the inscrutable force that hovers above every page of the tale, made Louis a vampire for basically economic reasons; he wanted the wealth that Louis possessed, but he also wanted a companion. Narcissistic and vain, the dapper Lestat does not teach his creation what it means to be a vampire, does not share the secrets he claims to know, does not even help Louis through the soul-shattering change that comes about when the body dies so that it may live eternally. Louis stays with Lestat only because, so far as he knows, there are no other vampires to whom he can turn for help and instruction. His distaste for Lestat grows over the years, however, and in order to keep Louis by his side, Lestat takes a young girl whom Louis had fed upon during a period of emotional turbulence and makes of her a vampire, knowing that Louis could never abandon the child. It is the story of Claudia, doomed to a most tragic life of immortality trapped inside the body of a little girl, that makes this book so powerful in my eyes. Lestat is of course fascinating, Louis is the epitome of tragedy and a fountain of knowledge by way of his questioning, eternally sad nature, but Claudia's story is an unbearably exquisite one. She accepts her vampire nature with some ease, being too young to really ever remember her human childhood, but the growth of Claudia the vampire woman inside the body of Claudia the child is a beautifully painful thing to watch. When she manages to separate Louis and herself from Lestat to go searching for other vampires in Central Europe and eventually Paris, giving dramatic voice to both her love for and hatred of Louis, the door to the dungeons of utter tragedy are thrown asunder. The introduction of the four hundred year old vampire Armand in the second half of the book gives us yet another unique vampire soul to ponder, but Armand at his most vivid pales in comparison to Claudia at her most unprepossessing.
In the end, we are left with Louis and his story, which is full of unanswerable questions. Even the meaning and lesson he tries to express about his miserable existence utterly fail in their influence it has upon the boy chosen to hear his extraordinary story. Literature really provides no better character study of the emotional meaning of vampirism than Louis, however. He became a creature of the night only out of despair, and his development as a new creature on earth proceeded without any instruction whatsoever from the cold Lestat. Thus, he questions everything about his new nature, desperately longing for a mentor. He does not relish the taking of human life, and the thought of creating another creature like himself is anathema to him. He sees vampirism as a curse, eternally wondering if he is indeed a child of Satan doomed to an immortal yet cursed life. The source of his moral suffering is his inability to really give up his human nature, and this causes him a long, long life of torment and pain. Never before had the moral, spiritual, and philosophical nature of the vampire been explored in such depth as that found in this exquisitely beautiful novel, and that is one of the primary reasons why it rivals Stoker in terms of its beauty and resonates with an emotionally hypnotic power that is unmatched in the long tradition of vampire literature.

I know it doesn't sound exciting but it's one hell of a read and because of this book I have become a huge fan and decided to look for and buy the rest. Anne said "it originally started as a short story and I just built upon it and it became a novel which got published" *

These vampires are not the cold hearted killing machines (well Lestat is) that we are used to seeing in films and magazines, these vampires have emotional feeling and Louis is constantly battling with what he has become and his longing for others which are like him upon which he begins a search for them. This book is breath taking and I found it hard to put it down for the night for me to sleep. I would recommend you pick yourself a copy up and see what all the hype is about.

I saw the sequel to it named The Vampire Lestat in a charity shop the week later so I bought that too.

I enjoyed the film but I found in the film with timing restrains they had left a lot out that is in the book so I found the book a lot better then the film - and the screenplay was written by Anne Rice too.

So please pick yourself up a copy and begin to read one of the greatest books ever written and hopefully you will find yourself enjoying it then looking for the rest like I did.

Thank you for reading my review


(* is a quote I took from an interview Anne Rice had about Interview With The Vampire on the special features on the Interview With The Vampire film dvd)

Disappointing, 14 Jan 2008
After reading the rave reviews on this site, I feel compelled to disagree with its superfluous praise.

I concede that this is an important vampire book and that the movie was absolutely brilliant, but in no way is the book superior to the movie. Anne Rice's tone is dull and monotonous to the point of banality. Overall, I found it painfully boring after watching the movie. Even the movie had a better ending than the book.

Serious readers of fiction won't be impressed with this book, and should rather read the classic, Dracula, for those interested in vampires.


Amazing, better than IWTV, 11 Nov 2008
This book was brilliant, in my review for IWTV I said that was the best book I had ever read, but this was better.
The first part of the story is all about Lestat's journey and how he became what he is, very much Louis's story in IWTV but was written so much better than Louis's. I love how Ms Rice writes this character and I found Lestat amazing to read about, i just couldnt put the book down. I have also read Queen of the Damned and that is also a wonderful book, but for me of the 3 books in the vampire chronicles, this one stands out the most. I loved finding out why Lestat was the way he was in IWTV and you really understand why after reading this.
The films that were made are brilliant but are nothing compared to the books, these are def something that will stand out in my book collection and I will read over and over again, as I am sure I will pick up bits I missed the first time around.

Good stuff., 01 May 2008
The first book in the series doesn't give us the back-story of the evil Lestat. The vampire who made the first novel's narrator.

In this one we finally get to hear it. Lestat and his boyfriend run away to Paris, and Lestat is turned by the ancient Vampire, Magnus; leaving Lestat with more power than a newly-made Vamp should have. The story then progresses through the years as Lestat De Lioncourt travels Europe exploring and searches out the mythical Vampire Marius.

The tale is "told" by Lestat, and when we get back to the present day he is a rock-star, trying to cause as much trouble as possible by blaring the truth about Vampires out into the crowd and across the air-waves. All this gets him into big-trouble, and that story is the basis of the next book in the series - The Queen of the Damned, which I have just started.

This one, though, is definitely worth the read


Disappointing, 14 Jan 2008
"The Vampire Lestat" tells to story of Lestat in modern times as a rockstar. A good premise for a book, but unfortunately Anne Rice dwells too much on his past history to the point that you lose interest. Anne Rice's writing style is simply not very good, it lacks eloquent prose and adequate descriptions. Her tone is also very dull and monotonous to the point of banality.

The "Vampire Chronicles" is going nowhere and I won't be continuing with the series, as it is trimmed for mass market readers.


Lestat, but not as you knew him..., 21 Nov 2006
What a turnaround this was. Lestat was a hollow and heartless character in the first book. This book turns all that around and you see why he behaves like he does with Louis and his links to Europe. Even better than the first book!



Another amazing novel, 17 Nov 2006
After reading Interview with Vampire I immediately moved on to read this and agin I was gripped. Since first reading about Lestat I had wanted to know more, and this does not disappoint. The tale is magnificently told and the character of Lestat is described so well that it seems as if he could be real. This novel is enchanting and weaves an almost perfect tale, yet more late nights were had reading this and you will have them too...buy it now!

Academic text, 02 Dec 2008
I used this as part of a module at University. The book is divided into useful chapters which allow the ease of use of this book. The writing is clear and effective and the writers are clever and though-provoking. However, if you are not so widely-read as the authors, you might have trouble following their lines of argument at times.

All in all, a good academic text.

Easier to comprehend than most - odd lapses into pseudyness, 28 Oct 2008
I like this book, it explains Eng Lit without indulging in too many nerdy 'Fry and Laurie' type "well I saw six levels", "oh well I saw eight levels" pseudy intellectual onanism type of 'inpenetetrable gobs***e' that is so often a problem with other self-indulgent textbooks.

The useful thing with this book is the authors provide further reading on each subject a glossary list of examined and novels. My only minus is it's a tad light on poetry coverage and sophocles/greek plays.

If you're a total beginner to eng lit get a more basics primer first and read this alongside as it's halfway between A level and degree level. Read it with a pencil for your margin notes too!

Ten star rating and more, 22 Mar 2007
This book achieves the impossible. It makes the difficult and obtuse polemical and theoretical debates of recent history easy to read. Yes, believe it or not! I cannot find enough congratulations to give for this excellent and learned book. The achievement of the age. Thank you for making clear sense of it all.My newly found bible for Literary Critical research.

A worthy introduction but only goes so far, 08 Mar 2007
This book is a useful tool for students wishing to grasp the basics, and sample a broad range, of critical approaches to literature. However, if you wish to explore a particular approach to a higher level, then this book will not be adequate on its own. For example, the fact that only a few pages are dedicated to the concept of 'gender' goes to show that this really is only an introductory work, and it could be argued that literary theory is not something that can be 'summed up' in the form of brief, introductory chapters.

Having said this, each chapter provides reading lists for additional relevant material, and therefore it is a good way to break into the field. Just be prepared to get in the library and seek out other books if a particular approach interests you. Don't expect to rely entirely on this.

I love this book!, 10 Nov 2006
Whilst trying to write an essay about desire, I became so confused I just wanted a book that would explain the various theories in simple language so that I would understand it. This book did just that. It provides introductions to complex topics and establishes a foundation of knowledge that you can build on with the handily referenced further reading, or reading of your own. Its now become my first port of call when writing essays, so I don't become tangled up in complex criticism and theories.

One of the best books I have read, 23 Sep 2008
This book was amazing. I loved everything about it, how Anne Rice writes, how the characters develop and Louis is just so nice! For a vampire.
I had seen the movie before I read this book, but the movie is nothing compared to the book. You actually feel as if you are going through Louis life with him as its so detailed. I am now reading the sequel The Vampire Lestat, and would highly recomend that book also, as you will see why Lestat is the way he is in 'Interview'.
But would def read this again and recomend anyone to read this, not just vampire lovers.

Louis! Louis!, 28 Jun 2008
I can't express how much I loved this book! I felt that Louis and Lestat were incredible characters. The emotion in this book is breathtaking and I am just about to start the next one. I will definitely be recommending this book to anyone who hasn't read it. 5 stars!

How I hate this book, 27 May 2008
I started this book in the early 90's and didn't get more than three or four chapters in before I gave up. I found it at the back of a cupboard and decided to give it another go. I still hated it, found it very dry and boring. I was determined though that this time it would not beat me and I would finish it. It took me two weeks but I made myself get to the end, I was so happy when it was over.

I will never read this book again.

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS I'VE EVER READ, 02 Apr 2008
I was always curious about the Vampire Chronicles set of books for years but never actually picked one up and read it. I had seen the films - Interview With The Vampire and Queen Of The Damned, which I had enjoyed.

Well when I saw Interview With The Vampire in a charity shop I had to buy it there and then. On the plus side they where selling it cheap which added to the buy on impulse.


This first novel in The Vampire Chronicles centers around four very different yet almost equally fascinating vampires. The story is that of Louis, a wealthy eighteenth century Louisiana plantation owner who became a vampire in the depths of his despair over his brother's suicide. Lestat, the inscrutable force that hovers above every page of the tale, made Louis a vampire for basically economic reasons; he wanted the wealth that Louis possessed, but he also wanted a companion. Narcissistic and vain, the dapper Lestat does not teach his creation what it means to be a vampire, does not share the secrets he claims to know, does not even help Louis through the soul-shattering change that comes about when the body dies so that it may live eternally. Louis stays with Lestat only because, so far as he knows, there are no other vampires to whom he can turn for help and instruction. His distaste for Lestat grows over the years, however, and in order to keep Louis by his side, Lestat takes a young girl whom Louis had fed upon during a period of emotional turbulence and makes of her a vampire, knowing that Louis could never abandon the child. It is the story of Claudia, doomed to a most tragic life of immortality trapped inside the body of a little girl, that makes this book so powerful in my eyes. Lestat is of course fascinating, Louis is the epitome of tragedy and a fountain of knowledge by way of his questioning, eternally sad nature, but Claudia's story is an unbearably exquisite one. She accepts her vampire nature with some ease, being too young to really ever remember her human childhood, but the growth of Claudia the vampire woman inside the body of Claudia the child is a beautifully painful thing to watch. When she manages to separate Louis and herself from Lestat to go searching for other vampires in Central Europe and eventually Paris, giving dramatic voice to both her love for and hatred of Louis, the door to the dungeons of utter tragedy are thrown asunder. The introduction of the four hundred year old vampire Armand in the second half of the book gives us yet another unique vampire soul to ponder, but Armand at his most vivid pales in comparison to Claudia at her most unprepossessing.
In the end, we are left with Louis and his story, which is full of unanswerable questions. Even the meaning and lesson he tries to express about his miserable existence utterly fail in their influence it has upon the boy chosen to hear his extraordinary story. Literature really provides no better character study of the emotional meaning of vampirism than Louis, however. He became a creature of the night only out of despair, and his development as a new creature on earth proceeded without any instruction whatsoever from the cold Lestat. Thus, he questions everything about his new nature, desperately longing for a mentor. He does not relish the taking of human life, and the thought of creating another creature like himself is anathema to him. He sees vampirism as a curse, eternally wondering if he is indeed a child of Satan doomed to an immortal yet cursed life. The source of his moral suffering is his inability to really give up his human nature, and this causes him a long, long life of torment and pain. Never before had the moral, spiritual, and philosophical nature of the vampire been explored in such depth as that found in this exquisitely beautiful novel, and that is one of the primary reasons why it rivals Stoker in terms of its beauty and resonates with an emotionally hypnotic power that is unmatched in the long tradition of vampire literature.

I know it doesn't sound exciting but it's one hell of a read and because of this book I have become a huge fan and decided to look for and buy the rest. Anne said "it originally started as a short story and I just built upon it and it became a novel which got published" *

These vampires are not the cold hearted killing machines (well Lestat is) that we are used to seeing in films and magazines, these vampires have emotional feeling and Louis is constantly battling with what he has become and his longing for others which are like him upon which he begins a search for them. This book is breath taking and I found it hard to put it down for the night for me to sleep. I would recommend you pick yourself a copy up and see what all the hype is about.

I saw the sequel to it named The Vampire Lestat in a charity shop the week later so I bought that too.

I enjoyed the film but I found in the film with timing restrains they had left a lot out that is in the book so I found the book a lot better then the film - and the screenplay was written by Anne Rice too.

So please pick yourself up a copy and begin to read one of the greatest books ever written and hopefully you will find yourself enjoying it then looking for the rest like I did.

Thank you for reading my review


(* is a quote I took from an interview Anne Rice had about Interview With The Vampire on the special features on the Interview With The Vampire film dvd)

Disappointing, 14 Jan 2008
After reading the rave reviews on this site, I feel compelled to disagree with its superfluous praise.

I concede that this is an important vampire book and that the movie was absolutely brilliant, but in no way is the book superior to the movie. Anne Rice's tone is dull and monotonous to the point of banality. Overall, I found it painfully boring after watching the movie. Even the movie had a better ending than the book.

Serious readers of fiction won't be impressed with this book, and should rather read the classic, Dracula, for those interested in vampires.


Amazing, better than IWTV, 11 Nov 2008
This book was brilliant, in my review for IWTV I said that was the best book I had ever read, but this was better.
The first part of the story is all about Lestat's journey and how he became what he is, very much Louis's story in IWTV but was written so much better than Louis's. I love how Ms Rice writes this character and I found Lestat amazing to read about, i just couldnt put the book down. I have also read Queen of the Damned and that is also a wonderful book, but for me of the 3 books in the vampire chronicles, this one stands out the most. I loved finding out why Lestat was the way he was in IWTV and you really understand why after reading this.
The films that were made are brilliant but are nothing compared to the books, these are def something that will stand out in my book collection and I will read over and over again, as I am sure I will pick up bits I missed the first time around.

Good stuff., 01 May 2008
The first book in the series doesn't give us the back-story of the evil Lestat. The vampire who made the first novel's narrator.

In this one we finally get to hear it. Lestat and his boyfriend run away to Paris, and Lestat is turned by the ancient Vampire, Magnus; leaving Lestat with more power than a newly-made Vamp should have. The story then progresses through the years as Lestat De Lioncourt travels Europe exploring and searches out the mythical Vampire Marius.

The tale is "told" by Lestat, and when we get back to the present day he is a rock-star, trying to cause as much trouble as possible by blaring the truth about Vampires out into the crowd and across the air-waves. All this gets him into big-trouble, and that story is the basis of the next book in the series - The Queen of the Damned, which I have just started.

This one, though, is definitely worth the read


Disappointing, 14 Jan 2008
"The Vampire Lestat" tells to story of Lestat in modern times as a rockstar. A good premise for a book, but unfortunately Anne Rice dwells too much on his past history to the point that you lose interest. Anne Rice's writing style is simply not very good, it lacks eloquent prose and adequate descriptions. Her tone is also very dull and monotonous to the point of banality.

The "Vampire Chronicles" is going nowhere and I won't be continuing with the series, as it is trimmed for mass market readers.


Lestat, but not as you knew him..., 21 Nov 2006
What a turnaround this was. Lestat was a hollow and heartless character in the first book. This book turns all that around and you see why he behaves like he does with Louis and his links to Europe. Even better than the first book!



Another amazing novel, 17 Nov 2006
After reading Interview with Vampire I immediately moved on to read this and agin I was gripped. Since first reading about Lestat I had wanted to know more, and this does not disappoint. The tale is magnificently told and the character of Lestat is described so well that it seems as if he could be real. This novel is enchanting and weaves an almost perfect tale, yet more late nights were had reading this and you will have them too...buy it now!

Academic text, 02 Dec 2008
I used this as part of a module at University. The book is divided into useful chapters which allow the ease of use of this book. The writing is clear and effective and the writers are clever and though-provoking. However, if you are not so widely-read as the authors, you might have trouble following their lines of argument at times.

All in all, a good academic text.

Easier to comprehend than most - odd lapses into pseudyness, 28 Oct 2008
I like this book, it explains Eng Lit without indulging in too many nerdy 'Fry and Laurie' type "well I saw six levels", "oh well I saw eight levels" pseudy intellectual onanism type of 'inpenetetrable gobs***e' that is so often a problem with other self-indulgent textbooks.

The useful thing with this book is the authors provide further reading on each subject a glossary list of examined and novels. My only minus is it's a tad light on poetry coverage and sophocles/greek plays.

If you're a total beginner to eng lit get a more basics primer first and read this alongside as it's halfway between A level and degree level. Read it with a pencil for your margin notes too!

Ten star rating and more, 22 Mar 2007
This book achieves the impossible. It makes the difficult and obtuse polemical and theoretical debates of recent history easy to read. Yes, believe it or not! I cannot find enough congratulations to give for this excellent and learned book. The achievement of the age. Thank you for making clear sense of it all.My newly found bible for Literary Critical research.

A worthy introduction but only goes so far, 08 Mar 2007
This book is a useful tool for students wishing to grasp the basics, and sample a broad range, of critical approaches to literature. However, if you wish to explore a particular approach to a higher level, then this book will not be adequate on its own. For example, the fact that only a few pages are dedicated to the concept of 'gender' goes to show that this really is only an introductory work, and it could be argued that literary theory is not something that can be 'summed up' in the form of brief, introductory chapters.

Having said this, each chapter provides reading lists for additional relevant material, and therefore it is a good way to break into the field. Just be prepared to get in the library and seek out other books if a particular approach interests you. Don't expect to rely entirely on this.

I love this book!, 10 Nov 2006
Whilst trying to write an essay about desire, I became so confused I just wanted a book that would explain the various theories in simple language so that I would understand it. This book did just that. It provides introductions to complex topics and establishes a foundation of knowledge that you can build on with the handily referenced further reading, or reading of your own. Its now become my first port of call when writing essays, so I don't become tangled up in complex criticism and theories.

Not very exciting , 09 Nov 2008
After reading the first four books of the vampire chronicles, Memnoch the devil is a pretty big disappointment. The first few chapters are promising and quite a good read but now i'm forcing myself to read it to the end, whereas, usually i can't put her novels down. It is way too theological, and seems to lose the vampire plot completely, i don't really see where it ties in.
It is well written, of course, and still has the emotion and atmosphere of an Anne Rice novel but is a bit tedious and hard to follow at times.
I would say read it if you plan on reading The Vampire Armand, if not i wouldn't bother (i'm 19, atheist and have not yet finished the book)

I love Anne Rice's writing i just think she ran away with the idea a bit or maybe its not my thing. I will still be reading The Vampire Armand

Nicely crafted, deluded and disturbing world view. , 17 Oct 2008
Anne Rice is always readable, despite, and partly because of the melodrama, the inexclipacably intense emotion. You feel she could write nonsensical tosh and it would still sell.
And what do you know, she has!
She was clearly getting into Catholicism in the last volume of the Vampire Chronicles (Tale of the Body Thief, best so far in my view), now in Memnoch she spouts theology like an old fashioned bible basher, albeit a slightly unorthodox one. Her flawed God and idealistic Devil are interesting creations.
I suspect her description of Creation in this book is pretty close to what she actually believes. Its also pretty close to orthodox Catholicism, which I personally find distasteful and disturbing. God created us in His image, we are the epitome and the purpose of creation, we have dominion over the earth, all that anthropocentric rot.
I think us humans are a mere evolutionary blip, soon to disappear, the most destructive and rapacious species ever, responsible for the third Mass Extinction Event.
Perhaps someone should write about a vampire who doesn't like humans.
Anne clearly loves us a lot. This is a very interesting and disturbing book, gave me a clearer insight into the deluded mindset of creationists.


Rice's weakest novel., 22 Jun 2008
I loved every other book in the series, so I was really looking forward to reading this, and it came as a bit of a disappointment. I find Rice's theological ramblings to be the weakest points in her books, so I should have realised beforehand that an entire novel dedicated to them was never going to be my cup of tea. Some scenes just seemed to read like clumsy Christian propaganda. Here's a tip, instead of reading this book, just invite some Jehovah's Witnesses in. At least their literature is free.

Wow!!!, 24 Mar 2007
I really do love this book. Anne Rice has done it again, with a brilliant book. Basically, Lestat is given a privileged tour of Heaven, Hell and past times by the Devil himself. The descrition is lavish, it takes you to a land you could never imagine by yourself. The outlook on life's purpose, death and even God is individual and certainly made me think about what will happen after I die. Read this book you will not be able to put it down!!!!

From the back cover..., 04 Mar 2007

The Vampire Lestat -- monster, outsider, hero-wanderer -- is snatched from this world to face his most extraordinary adversary ever in Anne Rice's darkest and most daring novel to date. His guide -- Memnoch, the Devil, who takes him on a tour of Creation and leads him into the mythical worlds we must all one day confront -- the very realms of Heaven and Hell.

***********************************************

GUARDIAN: "Lavish description, rapid narrative, gorgeous costume, and larger-than-life heroes, all against the biggest concept of them all: immortality."

ROLLING STONE: "Rice's most passionate and inventive work since INTERVIEW WITH THE VANIPIRE. Memnoch has a half-maddened, fever-pitch intensity and tells a tale as old as Scripture's legends and as modern as today's religious strife."

WASHINGTON POST: "A modern PARADISE LOST. An ambitious close to the series, as well as a classy exit for a classic horror character."

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS: "Startling, fiendish, compelling."

In The Vampire Armand, Anne Rice returns to her indomitable Vampire Chronicles and recaptures the gothic horror and delight she first explored in her classic tale Interview with the Vampire . The story begins in the aftermath of Memnoch the Devil. Vampires from all over the globe have gathered around Lestat, who lies prostrate on the floor of a cathedral. Dead? In a coma? As Armand reflects on Lestat's condition, he is drawn by David Talbot to tell the story of his own life. The narrative abruptly rushes back to 15th-century Constantinople, and the Armand of the present recounts the fragmented memories of his childhood abduction from Kiev. Eventually, he is sold to a Venetian artist (and vampire), Marius. Rice revels in descriptions of the sensual relationship between the young and still-mortal Armand and his vampiric mentor. But when Armand is finally transformed, the tone of the book dramatically shifts. Raw and sexually explicit scenes are displaced by Armand's introspective quest for a union of his Russian Orthodox childhood, his hedonistic life with Marius, and his newly acquired immortality. These final chapters remind one of the archetypal significance of Rice's vampires; at their best, Armand, Lestat, and Marius offer keen insights into the most human of concerns.

The Vampire Armand is richly intertextual; readers will relish the retelling of critical events from Lestat and Louis's narratives. Nevertheless, the novel is very much Armand's own tragic tale. Rice deftly integrates the necessary back-story for new readers to enter her epic series, and the introduction of a few new voices adds a fresh perspective--and the promise of provocative future installments. --Patrick O'Kelley

One of the best books I have read, 23 Sep 2008
This book was amazing. I loved everything about it, how Anne Rice writes, how the characters develop and Louis is just so nice! For a vampire.
I had seen the movie before I read this book, but the movie is nothing compared to the book. You actually feel as if you are going through Louis life with him as its so detailed. I am now reading the sequel The Vampire Lestat, and would highly recomend that book also, as you will see why Lestat is the way he is in 'Interview'.
But would def read this again and recomend anyone to read this, not just vampire lovers.

Louis! Louis!, 28 Jun 2008
I can't express how much I loved this book! I felt that Louis and Lestat were incredible characters. The emotion in this book is breathtaking and I am just about to start the next one. I will definitely be recommending this book to anyone who hasn't read it. 5 stars!

How I hate this book, 27 May 2008
I started this book in the early 90's and didn't get more than three or four chapters in before I gave up. I found it at the back of a cupboard and decided to give it another go. I still hated it, found it very dry and boring. I was determined though that this time it would not beat me and I would finish it. It took me two weeks but I made myself get to the end, I was so happy when it was over.

I will never read this book again.

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS I'VE EVER READ, 02 Apr 2008
I was always curious about the Vampire Chronicles set of books for years but never actually picked one up and read it. I had seen the films - Interview With The Vampire and Queen Of The Damned, which I had enjoyed.

Well when I saw Interview With The Vampire in a charity shop I had to buy it there and then. On the plus side they where selling it cheap which added to the buy on impulse.


This first novel in The Vampire Chronicles centers around four very different yet almost equally fascinating vampires. The story is that of Louis, a wealthy eighteenth century Louisiana plantation owner who became a vampire in the depths of his despair over his brother's suicide. Lestat, the inscrutable force that hovers above every page of the tale, made Louis a vampire for basically economic reasons; he wanted the wealth that Louis possessed, but he also wanted a companion. Narcissistic and vain, the dapper Lestat does not teach his creation what it means to be a vampire, does not share the secrets he claims to know, does not even help Louis through the soul-shattering change that comes about when the body dies so that it may live eternally. Louis stays with Lestat only because, so far as he knows, there are no other vampires to whom he can turn for help and instruction. His distaste for Lestat grows over the years, however, and in order to keep Louis by his side, Lestat takes a young girl whom Louis had fed upon during a period of emotional turbulence and makes of her a vampire, knowing that Louis could never abandon the child. It is the story of Claudia, doomed to a most tragic life of immortality trapped inside the body of a little girl, that makes this book so powerful in my eyes. Lestat is of course fascinating, Louis is the epitome of tragedy and a fountain of knowledge by way of his questioning, eternally sad nature, but Claudia's story is an unbearably exquisite one. She accepts her vampire nature with some ease, being too young to really ever remember her human childhood, but the growth of Claudia the vampire woman inside the body of Claudia the child is a beautifully painful thing to watch. When she manages to separate Louis and herself from Lestat to go searching for other vampires in Central Europe and eventually Paris, giving dramatic voice to both her love for and hatred of Louis, the door to the dungeons of utter tragedy are thrown asunder. The introduction of the four hundred year old vampire Armand in the second half of the book gives us yet another unique vampire soul to ponder, but Armand at his most vivid pales in comparison to Claudia at her most unprepossessing.
In the end, we are left with Louis and his story, which is full of unanswerable questions. Even the meaning and lesson he tries to express about his miserable existence utterly fail in their influence it has upon the boy chosen to hear his extraordinary story. Literature really provides no better character study of the emotional meaning of vampirism than Louis, however. He became a creature of the night only out of despair, and his development as a new creature on earth proceeded without any instruction whatsoever from the cold Lestat. Thus, he questions everything about his new nature, desperately longing for a mentor. He does not relish the taking of human life, and the thought of creating another creature like himself is anathema to him. He sees vampirism as a curse, eternally wondering if he is indeed a child of Satan doomed to an immortal yet cursed life. The source of his moral suffering is his inability to really give up his human nature, and this causes him a long, long life of torment and pain. Never before had the moral, spiritual, and philosophical nature of the vampire been explored in such depth as that found in this exquisitely beautiful novel, and that is one of the primary reasons why it rivals Stoker in terms of its beauty and resonates with an emotionally hypnotic power that is unmatched in the long tradition of vampire literature.

I know it doesn't sound exciting but it's one hell of a read and because of this book I have become a huge fan and decided to look for and buy the rest. Anne said "it originally started as a short story and I just built upon it and it became a novel which got published" *

These vampires are not the cold hearted killing machines (well Lestat is) that we are used to seeing in films and magazines, these vampires have emotional feeling and Louis is constantly battling with what he has become and his longing for others which are like him upon which he begins a search for them. This book is breath taking and I found it hard to put it down for the night for me to sleep. I would recommend you pick yourself a copy up and see what all the hype is about.

I saw the sequel to it named The Vampire Lestat in a charity shop the week later so I bought that too.

I enjoyed the film but I found in the film with timing restrains they had left a lot out that is in the book so I found the book a lot better then the film - and the screenplay was written by Anne Rice too.

So please pick yourself up a copy and begin to read one of the greatest books ever written and hopefully you will find yourself enjoying it then looking for the rest like I did.

Thank you for reading my review


(* is a quote I took from an interview Anne Rice had about Interview With The Vampire on the special features on the Interview With The Vampire film dvd)

Disappointing, 14 Jan 2008
After reading the rave reviews on this site, I feel compelled to disagree with its superfluous praise.

I concede that this is an important vampire book and that the movie was absolutely brilliant, but in no way is the book superior to the movie. Anne Rice's tone is dull and monotonous to the point of banality. Overall, I found it painfully boring after watching the movie. Even the movie had a better ending than the book.

Serious readers of fiction won't be impressed with this book, and should rather read the classic, Dracula, for those interested in vampires.


Amazing, better than IWTV, 11 Nov 2008
This book was brilliant, in my review for IWTV I said that was the best book I had ever read, but this was better.
The first part of the story is all about Lestat's journey and how he became what he is, very much Louis's story in IWTV but was written so much better than Louis's. I love how Ms Rice writes this character and I found Lestat amazing to read about, i just couldnt put the book down. I have also read Queen of the Damned and that is also a wonderful book, but for me of the 3 books in the vampire chronicles, this one stands out the most. I loved finding out why Lestat was the way he was in IWTV and you really understand why after reading this.
The films that were made are brilliant but are nothing compared to the books, these are def something that will stand out in my book collection and I will read over and over again, as I am sure I will pick up bits I missed the first time around.

Good stuff., 01 May 2008
The first book in the series doesn't give us the back-story of the evil Lestat. The vampire who made the first novel's narrator.

In this one we finally get to hear it. Lestat and his boyfriend run away to Paris, and Lestat is turned by the ancient Vampire, Magnus; leaving Lestat with more power than a newly-made Vamp should have. The story then progresses through the years as Lestat De Lioncourt travels Europe exploring and searches out the mythical Vampire Marius.

The tale is "told" by Lestat, and when we get back to the present day he is a rock-star, trying to cause as much trouble as possible by blaring the truth about Vampires out into the crowd and across the air-waves. All this gets him into big-trouble, and that story is the basis of the next book in the series - The Queen of the Damned, which I have just started.

This one, though, is definitely worth the read


Disappointing, 14 Jan 2008
"The Vampire Lestat" tells to story of Lestat in modern times as a rockstar. A good premise for a book, but unfortunately Anne Rice dwells too much on his past history to the point that you lose interest. Anne Rice's writing style is simply not very good, it lacks eloquent prose and adequate descriptions. Her tone is also very dull and monotonous to the point of banality.

The "Vampire Chronicles" is going nowhere and I won't be continuing with the series, as it is trimmed for mass market readers.


Lestat, but not as you knew him..., 21 Nov 2006
What a turnaround this was. Lestat was a hollow and heartless character in the first book. This book turns all that around and you see why he behaves like he does with Louis and his links to Europe. Even better than the first book!



Another amazing novel, 17 Nov 2006
After reading Interview with Vampire I immediately moved on to read this and agin I was gripped. Since first reading about Lestat I had wanted to know more, and this does not disappoint. The tale is magnificently told and the character of Lestat is described so well that it seems as if he could be real. This novel is enchanting and weaves an almost perfect tale, yet more late nights were had reading this and you will have them too...buy it now!

Academic text, 02 Dec 2008
I used this as part of a module at University. The book is divided into useful chapters which allow the ease of use of this book. The writing is clear and effective and the writers are clever and though-provoking. However, if you are not so widely-read as the authors, you might have trouble following their lines of argument at times.

All in all, a good academic text.

Easier to comprehend than most - odd lapses into pseudyness, 28 Oct 2008
I like this book, it explains Eng Lit without indulging in too many nerdy 'Fry and Laurie' type "well I saw six levels", "oh well I saw eight levels" pseudy intellectual onanism type of 'inpenetetrable gobs***e' that is so often a problem with other self-indulgent textbooks.

The useful thing with this book is the authors provide further reading on each subject a glossary list of examined and novels. My only minus is it's a tad light on poetry coverage and sophocles/greek plays.

If you're a total beginner to eng lit get a more basics primer first and read this alongside as it's halfway between A level and degree level. Read it with a pencil for your margin notes too!

Ten star rating and more, 22 Mar 2007
This book achieves the impossible. It makes the difficult and obtuse polemical and theoretical debates of recent history easy to read. Yes, believe it or not! I cannot find enough congratulations to give for this excellent and learned book. The achievement of the age. Thank you for making clear sense of it all.My newly found bible for Literary Critical research.

A worthy introduction but only goes so far, 08 Mar 2007
This book is a useful tool for students wishing to grasp the basics, and sample a broad range, of critical approaches to literature. However, if you wish to explore a particular approach to a higher level, then this book will not be adequate on its own. For example, the fact that only a few pages are dedicated to the concept of 'gender' goes to show that this really is only an introductory work, and it could be argued that literary theory is not something that can be 'summed up' in the form of brief, introductory chapters.

Having said this, each chapter provides reading lists for additional relevant material, and therefore it is a good way to break into the field. Just be prepared to get in the library and seek out other books if a particular approach interests you. Don't expect to rely entirely on this.

I love this book!, 10 Nov 2006
Whilst trying to write an essay about desire, I became so confused I just wanted a book that would explain the various theories in simple language so that I would understand it. This book did just that. It provides introductions to complex topics and establishes a foundation of knowledge that you can build on with the handily referenced further reading, or reading of your own. Its now become my first port of call when writing essays, so I don't become tangled up in complex criticism and theories.

Not very exciting , 09 Nov 2008
After reading the first four books of the vampire chronicles, Memnoch the devil is a pretty big disappointment. The first few chapters are promising and quite a good read but now i'm forcing myself to read it to the end, whereas, usually i can't put her novels down. It is way too theological, and seems to lose the vampire plot completely, i don't really see where it ties in.
It is well written, of course, and still has the emotion and atmosphere of an Anne Rice novel but is a bit tedious and hard to follow at times.
I would say read it if you plan on reading The Vampire Armand, if not i wouldn't bother (i'm 19, atheist and have not yet finished the book)

I love Anne Rice's writing i just think she ran away with the idea a bit or maybe its not my thing. I will still be reading The Vampire Armand

Nicely crafted, deluded and disturbing world view. , 17 Oct 2008
Anne Rice is always readable, despite, and partly because of the melodrama, the inexclipacably intense emotion. You feel she could write nonsensical tosh and it would still sell.
And what do you know, she has!
She was clearly getting into Catholicism in the last volume of the Vampire Chronicles (Tale of the Body Thief, best so far in my view), now in Memnoch she spouts theology like an old fashioned bible basher, albeit a slightly unorthodox one. Her flawed God and idealistic Devil are interesting creations.
I suspect her description of Creation in this book is pretty close to what she actually believes. Its also pretty close to orthodox Catholicism, which I personally find distasteful and disturbing. God created us in His image, we are the epitome and the purpose of creation, we have dominion over the earth, all that anthropocentric rot.
I think us humans are a mere evolutionary blip, soon to disappear, the most destructive and rapacious species ever, responsible for the third Mass Extinction Event.
Perhaps someone should write about a vampire who doesn't like humans.
Anne clearly loves us a lot. This is a very interesting and disturbing book, gave me a clearer insight into the deluded mindset of creationists.


Rice's weakest novel., 22 Jun 2008
I loved every other book in the series, so I was really looking forward to reading this, and it came as a bit of a disappointment. I find Rice's theological ramblings to be the weakest points in her books, so I should have realised beforehand that an entire novel dedicated to them was never going to be my cup of tea. Some scenes just seemed to read like clumsy Christian propaganda. Here's a tip, instead of reading this book, just invite some Jehovah's Witnesses in. At least their literature is free.

Wow!!!, 24 Mar 2007
I really do love this book. Anne Rice has done it again, with a brilliant book. Basically, Lestat is given a privileged tour of Heaven, Hell and past times by the Devil himself. The descrition is lavish, it takes you to a land you could never imagine by yourself. The outlook on life's purpose, death and even God is individual and certainly made me think about what will happen after I die. Read this book you will not be able to put it down!!!!

From the back cover..., 04 Mar 2007

The Vampire Lestat -- monster, outsider, hero-wanderer -- is snatched from this world to face his most extraordinary adversary ever in Anne Rice's darkest and most daring novel to date. His guide -- Memnoch, the Devil, who takes him on a tour of Creation and leads him into the mythical worlds we must all one day confront -- the very realms of Heaven and Hell.

***********************************************

GUARDIAN: "Lavish description, rapid narrative, gorgeous costume, and larger-than-life heroes, all against the biggest concept of them all: immortality."

ROLLING STONE: "Rice's most passionate and inventive work since INTERVIEW WITH THE VANIPIRE. Memnoch has a half-maddened, fever-pitch intensity and tells a tale as old as Scripture's legends and as modern as today's religious strife."

WASHINGTON POST: "A modern PARADISE LOST. An ambitious close to the series, as well as a classy exit for a classic horror character."

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS: "Startling, fiendish, compelling."



Another in depth look at another Vampire, 07 Oct 2007
Ann Rice has done it again. This book covers the life of the Vampire Armand. Armands story touchs on all of the other books Vampires we have been introduced to in the previous 5 books. And intergrates them well. The book starts off strong and ends weak. You will not want to put this book down for the first two-thirds. I espically love the parts when we follows Armands life as a Vampire in Venice. And we follow him to Rome where we learn how he becomes the master of the Paris Coven. After this there is long jumps in history. Of course, it leaves us needing more books....for the story is obviously not over...

Has to be read by all fans, 03 Apr 2007
Anne Rice has written another beautiful story. Yes it may be a bit long for some, but surely Armand, one of the most intriguing and alluring vampires deserves it. I fell in love with Armand when i first heard of him in Interview with a Vampire but I always wanted to know more, my prayers were answered by this book. It explains why Armand is the way he is. It is a tragic story, everything he loves seems to always be taken away from him. Many people have commented on the [...] scenes of the book, but if anything they are not that frequent or lengthy in my opinion, and though they may make some feel uncomfortable I think they are both beautifully writtne and important to the story, without them Armand's relationship with Marius would not have been depicted truthfullly. And to those who are offended I'd like to remind them that it isn't real life after all. This definetly has to be read by fans of Anne Rice and I reccommend it to others as well.

Beautifully written , 06 Feb 2007
This is the first Anne Rice novel I read, and now I'm hooked. You get completely sucked into to the fantasy without it seeming like science fiction. I found I also became mezmorised by the setting in old-fashioned Venice. The only weakness I could find was that, like all Anne Rice novels, it took me ages to read. It all starts to feel so real, I actually cried at one point, and only one other book has made me do that. A MUST read.

nesecary, but by no means the best., 17 Dec 2006
Being a fan of Anne Rice since borrowing a copy of interview with the vampire, i was delighted with the idea of fillng in the gaps of the first three books in the series. however links to the following books in the series left me confused as i have not yet read them.
in my oppinon Armand is the most intriguing vampire in the series, (with Lestat obviously being the most exiting). But too much time was spent on his origin and the following accounts of his life as a human with the legendary Marius, and not enough time spent accounting for his life as the leader of the children of darkness and the theatre of the vampires. Also the sexual scenes and general undercurent throughout the book seemed unnesecary as did the waffling on about God. Although the re-appearance of Lestat was enjoyable if not confusing, I was disapointed with this chapter in Rices amazing series. It has however persuaded me into ordering two of the earlier books in the series (The tale of the body thef, Memnoch the devil), and the follow up (The vampire Marius: Blood and gold) only to discover more of "the full story".
in summary I did enjoy the account of the Auburn haired child faced demon. And it did give me a deeper understanding of my undoubtedly favourite charecter of the series. it is however nesecary to read the first five books in the series before hand.
Definitely a nesecary addition to any fans collection, but nostalgic fans hoping to re-live and further understand the great portrayal of Armand in the first three books will be slightly dissapointed as it is very much Armands tale, with very little mention of Lois, Lestat, or even his fledgling Daniel (the boy from interview with the vampire) first discovered in Queen of the Damned.
A confusing start, and tends to drag slightly in quite a few places, with a good ending but pales in comparison to the first three books which all had me mesmorized from start to finish.
interesting but by no means Rices finest work.
An enjoyable read.

amazing , 01 Oct 2006
This book was brilliant from beginning to end and has everthing I have come to expect from Anne Rice. Her discriptions of venice where incredible, I could actually see the winding streets of Venice and the famouse canals that run through the city. I could picture the Plazzo with its beautifully decorated rooms of red and gold.
In this book I also found out so much about the relationship between Marius and Armand the romantic scenes between them where really powerful. From this book I found out the Armand saw Marius more as a lover than a master.
This book was fantastic it had romance, action and drama and I would recommond it to anyone.

One of the best books I have read, 23 Sep 2008
This book was amazing. I loved everything about it, how Anne Rice writes, how the characters develop and Louis is just so nice! For a vampire.
I had seen the movie before I read this book, but the movie is nothing compared to the book. You actually feel as if you are going through Louis life with him as its so detailed. I am now reading the sequel The Vampire Lestat, and would highly recomend that book also, as you will see why Lestat is the way he is in 'Interview'.
But would def read this again and recomend anyone to read this, not just vampire lovers.

Louis! Louis!, 28 Jun 2008
I can't express how much I loved this book! I felt that Louis and Lestat were incredible characters. The emotion in this book is breathtaking and I am just about to start the next one. I will definitely be recommending this book to anyone who hasn't read it. 5 stars!

How I hate this book, 27 May 2008
I started this book in the early 90's and didn't get more than three or four chapters in before I gave up. I found it at the back of a cupboard and decided to give it another go. I still hated it, found it very dry and boring. I was determined though that this time it would not beat me and I would finish it. It took me two weeks but I made myself get to the end, I was so happy when it was over.

I will never read this book again.

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS I'VE EVER READ, 02 Apr 2008
I was always curious about the Vampire Chronicles set of books for years but never actually picked one up and read it. I had seen the films - Interview With The Vampire and Queen Of The Damned, which I had enjoyed.

Well when I saw Interview With The Vampire in a charity shop I had to buy it there and then. On the plus side they where selling it cheap which added to the buy on impulse.


This first novel in The Vampire Chronicles centers around four very different yet almost equally fascinating vampires. The story is that of Louis, a wealthy eighteenth century Louisiana plantation owner who became a vampire in the depths of his despair over his brother's suicide. Lestat, the inscrutable force that hovers above every page of the tale, made Louis a vampire for basically economic reasons; he wanted the wealth that Louis possessed, but he also wanted a companion. Narcissistic and vain, the dapper Lestat does not teach his creation what it means to be a vampire, does not share the secrets he claims to know, does not even help Louis through the soul-shattering change that comes about when the body dies so that it may live eternally. Louis stays with Lestat only because, so far as he knows, there are no other vampires to whom he can turn for help and instruction. His distaste for Lestat grows over the years, however, and in order to keep Louis by his side, Lestat takes a young girl whom Louis had fed upon during a period of emotional turbulence and makes of her a vampire, knowing that Louis could never abandon the child. It is the story of Claudia, doomed to a most tragic life of immortality trapped inside the body of a little girl, that makes this book so powerful in my eyes. Lestat is of course fascinating, Louis is the epitome of tragedy and a fountain of knowledge by way of his questioning, eternally sad nature, but Claudia's story is an unbearably exquisite one. She accepts her vampire nature with some ease, being too young to really ever remember her human childhood, but the growth of Claudia the vampire woman inside the body of Claudia the child is a beautifully painful thing to watch. When she manages to separate Louis and herself from Lestat to go searching for other vampires in Central Europe and eventually Paris, giving dramatic voice to both her love for and hatred of Louis, the door to the dungeons of utter tragedy are thrown asunder. The introduction of the four hundred year old vampire Armand in the second half of the book gives us yet another unique vampire soul to ponder, but Armand at his most vivid pales in comparison to Claudia at her most unprepossessing.
In the end, we are left with Louis and his story, which is full of unanswerable questions. Even the meaning and lesson he tries to express about his miserable existence utterly fail in their influence it has upon the boy chosen to hear his extraordinary story. Literature really provides no better character study of the emotional meaning of vampirism than Louis, however. He became a creature of the night only out of despair, and his development as a new creature on earth proceeded without any instruction whatsoever from the cold Lestat. Thus, he questions everything about his new nature, desperately longing for a mentor. He does not relish the taking of human life, and the thought of creating another creature like himself is anathema to him. He sees vampirism as a curse, eternally wondering if he is indeed a child of Satan doomed to an immortal yet cursed life. The source of his moral suffering is his inability to really give up his human nature, and this causes him a long, long life of torment and pain. Never before had the moral, spiritual, and philosophical nature of the vampire been explored in such depth as that found in this exquisitely beautiful novel, and that is one of the primary reasons why it rivals Stoker in terms of its beauty and resonates with an emotionally hypnotic power that is unmatched in the long tradition of vampire literature.

I know it doesn't sound exciting but it's one hell of a read and because of this book I have become a huge fan and decided to look for and buy the rest. Anne said "it originally started as a short story and I just built upon it and it became a novel which got published" *

These vampires are not the cold hearted killing machines (well Lestat is) that we are used to seeing in films and magazines, these vampires have emotional feeling and Louis is constantly battling with what he has become and his longing for others which are like him upon which he begins a search for them. This book is breath taking and I found it hard to put it down for the night for me to sleep. I would recommend you pick yourself a copy up and see what all the hype is about.

I saw the sequel to it named The Vampire Lestat in a charity shop the week later so I bought that too.

I enjoyed the film but I found in the film with timing restrains they had left a lot out that is in the book so I found the book a lot better then the film - and the screenplay was written by Anne Rice too.

So please pick yourself up a copy and begin to read one of the greatest books ever written and hopefully you will find yourself enjoying it then looking for the rest like I did.

Thank you for reading my review


(* is a quote I took from an interview Anne Rice had about Interview With The Vampire on the special features on the Interview With The Vampire film dvd)

Disappointing, 14 Jan 2008
After reading the rave reviews on this site, I feel compelled to disagree with its superfluous praise.

I concede that this is an important vampire book and that the movie was absolutely brilliant, but in no way is the book superior to the movie. Anne Rice's tone is dull and monotonous to the point of banality. Overall, I found it painfully boring after watching the movie. Even the movie had a better ending than the book.

Serious readers of fiction won't be impressed with this book, and should rather read the classic, Dracula, for those interested in vampires.


Amazing, better than IWTV, 11 Nov 2008
This book was brilliant, in my review for IWTV I said that was the best book I had ever read, but this was better.
The first part of the story is all about Lestat's journey and how he became what he is, very much Louis's story in IWTV but was written so much better than Louis's. I love how Ms Rice writes this character and I found Lestat amazing to read about, i just couldnt put the book down. I have also read Queen of the Damned and that is also a wonderful book, but for me of the 3 books in the vampire chronicles, this one stands out the most. I loved finding out why Lestat was the way he was in IWTV and you really understand why after reading this.
The films that were made are brilliant but are nothing compared to the books, these are def something that will stand out in my book collection and I will read over and over again, as I am sure I will pick up bits I missed the first time around.

Good stuff., 01 May 2008
The first book in the series doesn't give us the back-story of the evil Lestat. The vampire who made the first novel's narrator.

In this one we finally get to hear it. Lestat and his boyfriend run away to Paris, and Lestat is turned by the ancient Vampire, Magnus; leaving Lestat with more power than a newly-made Vamp should have. The story then progresses through the years as Lestat De Lioncourt travels Europe exploring and searches out the mythical Vampire Marius.

The tale is "told" by Lestat, and when we get back to the present day he is a rock-star, trying to cause as much trouble as possible by blaring the truth about Vampires out into the crowd and across the air-waves. All this gets him into big-trouble, and that story is the basis of the next book in the series - The Queen of the Damned, which I have just started.

This one, though, is definitely worth the read


Disappointing, 14 Jan 2008
"The Vampire Lestat" tells to story of Lestat in modern times as a rockstar. A good premise for a book, but unfortunately Anne Rice dwells too much on his past history to the point that you lose interest. Anne Rice's writing style is simply not very good, it lacks eloquent prose and adequate descriptions. Her tone is also very dull and monotonous to the point of banality.

The "Vampire Chronicles" is going nowhere and I won't be continuing with the series, as it is trimmed for mass market readers.


Lestat, but not as you knew him..., 21 Nov 2006
What a turnaround this was. Lestat was a hollow and heartless character in the first book. This book turns all that around and you see why he behaves like he does with Louis and his links to Europe. Even better than the first book!



Another amazing novel, 17 Nov 2006
After reading Interview with Vampire I immediately moved on to read this and agin I was gripped. Since first reading about Lestat I had wanted to know more, and this does not disappoint. The tale is magnificently told and the character of Lestat is described so well that it seems as if he could be real. This novel is enchanting and weaves an almost perfect tale, yet more late nights were had reading this and you will have them too...buy it now!

Academic text, 02 Dec 2008
I used this as part of a module at University. The book is divided into useful chapters which allow the ease of use of this book. The writing is clear and effective and the writers are clever and though-provoking. However, if you are not so widely-read as the authors, you might have trouble following their lines of argument at times.

All in all, a good academic text.

Easier to comprehend than most - odd lapses into pseudyness, 28 Oct 2008
I like this book, it explains Eng Lit without indulging in too many nerdy 'Fry and Laurie' type "well I saw six levels", "oh well I saw eight levels" pseudy intellectual onanism type of 'inpenetetrable gobs***e' that is so often a problem with other self-indulgent textbooks.

The useful thing with this book is the authors provide further reading on each subject a glossary list of examined and novels. My only minus is it's a tad light on poetry coverage and sophocles/greek plays.

If you're a total beginner to eng lit get a more basics primer first and read this alongside as it's halfway between A level and degree level. Read it with a pencil for your margin notes too!

Ten star rating and more, 22 Mar 2007
This book achieves the impossible. It makes the difficult and obtuse polemical and theoretical debates of recent history easy to read. Yes, believe it or not! I cannot find enough congratulations to give for this excellent and learned book. The achievement of the age. Thank you for making clear sense of it all.My newly found bible for Literary Critical research.

A worthy introduction but only goes so far, 08 Mar 2007
This book is a useful tool for students wishing to grasp the basics, and sample a broad range, of critical approaches to literature. However, if you wish to explore a particular approach to a higher level, then this book will not be adequate on its own. For example, the fact that only a few pages are dedicated to the concept of 'gender' goes to show that this really is only an introductory work, and it could be argued that literary theory is not something that can be 'summed up' in the form of brief, introductory chapters.

Having said this, each chapter provides reading lists for additional relevant material, and therefore it is a good way to break into the field. Just be prepared to get in the library and seek out other books if a particular approach interests you. Don't expect to rely entirely on this.

I love this book!, 10 Nov 2006
Whilst trying to write an essay about desire, I became so confused I just wanted a book that would explain the various theories in simple language so that I would understand it. This book did just that. It provides introductions to complex topics and establishes a foundation of knowledge that you can build on with the handily referenced further reading, or reading of your own. Its now become my first port of call when writing essays, so I don't become tangled up in complex criticism and theories.

Not very exciting , 09 Nov 2008
After reading the first four books of the vampire chronicles, Memnoch the devil is a pretty big disappointment. The first few chapters are promising and quite a good read but now i'm forcing myself to read it to the end, whereas, usually i can't put her novels down. It is way too theological, and seems to lose the vampire plot completely, i don't really see where it ties in.
It is well written, of course, and still has the emotion and atmosphere of an Anne Rice novel but is a bit tedious and hard to follow at times.
I would say read it if you plan on reading The Vampire Armand, if not i wouldn't bother (i'm 19, atheist and have not yet finished the book)

I love Anne Rice's writing i just think she ran away with the idea a bit or maybe its not my thing. I will still be reading The Vampire Armand

Nicely crafted, deluded and disturbing world view. , 17 Oct 2008
Anne Rice is always readable, despite, and partly because of the melodrama, the inexclipacably intense emotion. You feel she could write nonsensical tosh and it would still sell.
And what do you know, she has!
She was clearly getting into Catholicism in the last volume of the Vampire Chronicles (Tale of the Body Thief, best so far in my view), now in Memnoch she spouts theology like an old fashioned bible basher, albeit a slightly unorthodox one. Her flawed God and idealistic Devil are interesting creations.
I suspect her description of Creation in this book is pretty close to what she actually believes. Its also pretty close to orthodox Catholicism, which I personally find distasteful and disturbing. God created us in His image, we are the epitome and the purpose of creation, we have dominion over the earth, all that anthropocentric rot.
I think us humans are a mere evolutionary blip, soon to disappear, the most destructive and rapacious species ever, responsible for the third Mass Extinction Event.
Perhaps someone should write about a vampire who doesn't like humans.
Anne clearly loves us a lot. This is a very interesting and disturbing book, gave me a clearer insight into the deluded mindset of creationists.


Rice's weakest novel., 22 Jun 2008
I loved every other book in the series, so I was really looking forward to reading this, and it came as a bit of a disappointment. I find Rice's theological ramblings to be the weakest points in her books, so I should have realised beforehand that an entire novel dedicated to them was never going to be my cup of tea. Some scenes just seemed to read like clumsy Christian propaganda. Here's a tip, instead of reading this book, just invite some Jehovah's Witnesses in. At least their literature is free.

Wow!!!, 24 Mar 2007
I really do love this book. Anne Rice has done it again, with a brilliant book. Basically, Lestat is given a privileged tour of Heaven, Hell and past times by the Devil himself. The descrition is lavish, it takes you to a land you could never imagine by yourself. The outlook on life's purpose, death and even God is individual and certainly made me think about what will happen after I die. Read this book you will not be able to put it down!!!!

From the back cover..., 04 Mar 2007

The Vampire Lestat -- monster, outsider, hero-wanderer -- is snatched from this world to face his most extraordinary adversary ever in Anne Rice's darkest and most daring novel to date. His guide -- Memnoch, the Devil, who takes him on a tour of Creation and leads him into the mythical worlds we must all one day confront -- the very realms of Heaven and Hell.

***********************************************

GUARDIAN: "Lavish description, rapid narrative, gorgeous costume, and larger-than-life heroes, all against the biggest concept of them all: immortality."

ROLLING STONE: "Rice's most passionate and inventive work since INTERVIEW WITH THE VANIPIRE. Memnoch has a half-maddened, fever-pitch intensity and tells a tale as old as Scripture's legends and as modern as today's religious strife."

WASHINGTON POST: "A modern PARADISE LOST. An ambitious close to the series, as well as a classy exit for a classic horror character."

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS: "Startling, fiendish, compelling."



Another in depth look at another Vampire, 07 Oct 2007
Ann Rice has done it again. This book covers the life of the Vampire Armand. Armands story touchs on all of the other books Vampires we have been introduced to in the previous 5 books. And intergrates them well. The book starts off strong and ends weak. You will not want to put this book down for the first two-thirds. I espically love the parts when we follows Armands life as a Vampire in Venice. And we follow him to Rome where we learn how he becomes the master of the Paris Coven. After this there is long jumps in history. Of course, it leaves us needing more books....for the story is obviously not over...

Has to be read by all fans, 03 Apr 2007
Anne Rice has written another beautiful story. Yes it may be a bit long for some, but surely Armand, one of the most intriguing and alluring vampires deserves it. I fell in love with Armand when i first heard of him in Interview with a Vampire but I always wanted to know more, my prayers were answered by this book. It explains why Armand is the way he is. It is a tragic story, everything he loves seems to always be taken away from him. Many people have commented on the [...] scenes of the book, but if anything they are not that frequent or lengthy in my opinion, and though they may make some feel uncomfortable I think they are both beautifully writtne and important to the story, without them Armand's relationship with Marius would not have been depicted truthfullly. And to those who are offended I'd like to remind them that it isn't real life after all. This definetly has to be read by fans of Anne Rice and I reccommend it to others as well.

Beautifully written , 06 Feb 2007
This is the first Anne Rice novel I read, and now I'm hooked. You get completely sucked into to the fantasy without it seeming like science fiction. I found I also became mezmorised by the setting in old-fashioned Venice. The only weakness I could find was that, like all Anne Rice novels, it took me ag