The Vampire Lestat (The Vampire Chronicles, #2)

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The Vampire Lestat (The Vampire Chronicles #2)

by Anne Rice

3.91 · rating details · 52,733 ratings · 1,393 reviews

Lestat. The vampire hero of Anne Rice's enthralling new novel is a creature of the darkest and richest imagination. Once an aristocrat in the heady days of pre-revolutionary France, now a rock star in the demonic, shimmering 1980s, he rushes through the centuries in search of others like him, seeking answers to the mystery of his eternal, terrifying existence. His is a mes...more

Mass Market Paperback, 550 pages

Published May 11th 1998 by Ballantine Books (first published September 12th 1985)

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May 24, 2007

Kelly rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: people are perversely drawn to anti-heroes, those starting the Chronicles

Shelves: fiction, goth-goth-baby

I'm going to just put this out there: Lestat is among the most fascinating minds I've ever been inside in literature. He just is. I understand that this is an erotic horror novel but that doesn't diminish the truth of that statement. This book holds up to the test of time. I re-read it last year, and found out that I had not had a silly teenage fancy about it.

I did not like Interview with a Vampire (mostly because I think Louis is whiny bitch), and I was going to quit reading the ser...more

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Dec 09, 2008

Cecilia rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: vampire lovers

Shelves: anne-rice, vampires

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Lestat... ¿qué se puede decir de un personaje tan seguro de si mismo, capaz de crueldades impensables, y a la vez, dueño de una personalidad terca, posesiva, egoista?
La historia de Lestat debería ser triste: un hombre joven, obligado a ser vampiro por un creador macabro y suicida. Pero no, su personalidad hace que acepte su nuevo estado como una forma más de sobrevivir en una París que nos resulta ajena, pero no extraña.
Es un vampiro que no se esconde, y que no acepta su destino de ...moreLestat... ¿qué se puede decir de un personaje tan seguro de si mismo, capaz de crueldades impensables, y a la vez, dueño de una personalidad terca, posesiva, egoista?
La historia de Lestat debería ser triste: un hombre joven, obligado a ser vampiro por un creador macabro y suicida. Pero no, su personalidad hace que acepte su nuevo estado como una forma más de sobrevivir en una París que nos resulta ajena, pero no extraña.
Es un vampiro que no se esconde, y que no acepta su destino de "condenado" ni siquiera cuando Armand y los suyos se lo hacen ver (particularmente, me encantó la vampira vieja y algo loca que estaba con el grupo).
Un dato curioso es que el cimetière des inocents sí existió en París, lamentablemente, fue uno de los tantos que se removieron en pos del crecimiento de la ciudad, pero algunos de sus nichos se encuentran bajo el suelo de París, en las cloacas. Lo sé por que quedé tan fascinada con Armand y los suyos que decidí rastrear el cementerio y encontré un libro al respecto. Más tarde, vi un documental, creo que del Discovery Channel o del History Channel, ya no recuerdo.
La vida itinerante y solitaria (por momentos) de Lestat no deja de sorprender, desde las noches compartidas con su madre, hasta la búsqueda incansable de Marius, el maestro de Armand, hasta su encuentro con Akasha y Enkil y su precipitada partida hacia "el nuevo mundo".
Sin dudas, la historia es una de las más completas fuera de las crónicas individuales que anne rice publicó luego de "Memnoch, el demonio", y también una de las más interesantes y menos forzadas, ya que la narración fluye con naturalidad.
Para este momento, anne rice me tenía completamente "en sus manos", fua a partir de este punto que comencé a leer sus libros sin parar, tanto así, que sólo leí sus libros durante los siguientes meses.
Las tres primeras crónicas vampíricas siempre estaban a la mano en mi habitación. Lamentablemente, allí quedaron, en mi habitación en Buenos Aires por que al mudarme a México, tuve que ser algo selectiva con los libros que pude traer.(less)

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Jul 12, 2010

Eddie Black rated it

· review of another edition

This is one of those books that defined me. I don't mean that I turned goth or vampire or whatever. No... it started me thinking.

I was born and raised in the South. I didn't read anything else other than fantasy novels (like Dragonlance). I joined the Marines in 89 and while watching a movie about a teenage vampire it was mentioned that Dracula is 'good literature'. I went to the base library to check out Dracula and beside it on the shelf was this book. I took this one instead...moreThis is one of those books that defined me. I don't mean that I turned goth or vampire or whatever. No... it started me thinking.

I was born and raised in the South. I didn't read anything else other than fantasy novels (like Dragonlance). I joined the Marines in 89 and while watching a movie about a teenage vampire it was mentioned that Dracula is 'good literature'. I went to the base library to check out Dracula and beside it on the shelf was this book. I took this one instead.

The book was great. I loved it. The book engendered a question within me that never found any sunlight growing up a protestant in the Deep South. That queston, can something evil love? The values of the Southern protestant is one of black and white and there is no mixing, no grey, no overlap. By witnessing the drama of Lestat's journey, this manifestation of the Shadow declaring it's evil and it's good... I questioned this myself.

It is a slippery slope to question everything. With no reading, history, or even exposure to any philosophy (Arkansas public school after all) I now asked questions about ethics, the nature of God, what is beauty, morality, and more. I had become a philosopher (though not a good one).

Now, 17 years later I've been around the world many times, am nearing the completion of two degrees (psychology and philosophy) and am a much different, much broader, much more deepened soul. The questions I've asked, the roads I've taken, the experiences I've had, are all a result of my search for my own truth. A lot of that was set afire because of reading this book.

I know that many bemoan Anne's move from the supernatural and to Christian writings. It's her life and I respect that. Yet I am reminded of something Jung said, we do not become enlighted by imagining beings of light, but by making the darkness visible (I'm paraphrasing). Lestat might not be a being of light (that's another topic) but his darkness is illuminating.

This is one of my favorite books ever.(less)

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Jan 22, 2012

Peter rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: gothica

This was the Audible audio book, unabridged, read by Simon Vance. Who gives a really good performance, I love his vampire voice!

Lestat de Lion court rises from his long hibernation in 1980 and decides to become a rockstar. He puts out an album and to accompany this he writes his autobiography - revealing the story of his youth as well as the history of the race of vampires, which started 4000 years ago in Ancient Egypt.

Some gleaned facts: Anne Rice loves the words: preter...moreThis was the Audible audio book, unabridged, read by Simon Vance. Who gives a really good performance, I love his vampire voice!

Lestat de Lion court rises from his long hibernation in 1980 and decides to become a rockstar. He puts out an album and to accompany this he writes his autobiography - revealing the story of his youth as well as the history of the race of vampires, which started 4000 years ago in Ancient Egypt.

Some gleaned facts: Anne Rice loves the words: preternatural and savage garden. This is the band Savage Garden's favourite book (I imagine).

Although it has a lot of similar themes, I did not enjoy this book nearly as much as "Interview with a Vampire" for a number of reasons. I think because the plot is much more meandering and fragmented. It takes in four narrators - Lestat, Armand, Marius and some other guy in Ancient Egypt - and a lot of different geographic and cultural settings which I don't think Anne Rice captures quite as well as she does New Orleans or Paris.

Some Spoilers...

Rice has softened and rounded Lestat to make him more likeable compared to the evil, mysterious enigma of Interview. As a narrator he is a totally believable character (this is Rice's main strength) though I do not think his obsessions are as interesting as Louis'. He is a bit too confident and self assured. Gabrielle too was similar to Claudia but again not quite as interesting, her concern that she will never change is represented by the fact she can never cut her hair, a brilliant weird sequence, but not nearly as strong as the stories spun around Claudia - the little girl who never grows old. Nicky, the other main character, was an entirely tedious and forgettable cypher.

In terms of the story I loved the opening and the end and a lot of the sequences in Paris, but a lot of the stuff in Ancient Egypt - the history of the vampires etc – I found rather boring. I hated the development that now all the vampires can read minds, it just meant the prose drifted off into even more internal stuff than before. I hated that there was no big deaths - like in Interview. Nicky is the only character who dies and this isn't even 'onscreen' Lestat is informed of it in a letter, this is such a throwaway of good drama I can only assume that it was a lie and done so he can show up again sometime. Also, Lestat and Gabrielle miss the French Revolution because they are basically on holiday in Egypt, talk about throwing away more great dramatic opportunity. Anyway, if Queen of the Damned is set in the modern day I probably will end up reading it as, from the ending of this one, that seemed an interesting premise.

(less)

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Jan 25, 2010

Christine (AR) rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: horror, sff, urban_fantasy, vampires

Dear Anne Rice:

NOT WORTHY.

Signed, All Fictional Vampires Who Are Not Lestat

This was a re-read for me, but in all honesty, I don't think I was ready for this book the first time I read it. Or at least, I didn't appreciate it for the sheer masterpiece of storytelling that it is, and it's not just the mood and the world and the mythology and the fast-moving plot -- more than anything, it's the characters.

Lestat, of course, Rice's 'brat prince', arrog...more

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May 23, 2008

Bart rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: Readers in general

Recommended to Bart by: Todd

A happy surprise indeed. Perhaps it was a result of low expectations or a prior experience with the movie "Interview with the Vampire" that had me so unprepared to enjoy this novel.

The Vampire Lestat is a great read. It may not have all the literary quality of, say, Cormac McCarthy's equally gruesome accounts, but it is more enjoyable on its first reading.

What makes authors great, of course, is how their works hold up on revisits. Knowing the plotting and the...more

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Apr 20, 2009

Helen rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

I started off a bit slow with this one, because of 'vampire literature saturation' and in small part due to that Amazon 'review' Anne Rice did on her books/characters (what an ego!). Still, despite that astonishing view into Anne Rice's mind (assuming that was actually the author) I ended up really, REALLY enjoying this one. I loved Marius' history of himself and Those Who Must Be Kept, as well as the aftermath of Lestat's voluntary exposure to the world. I was being somewhat tongue-in-cheek whe...more

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Apr 09, 2010

Mochacocafan added it

Let me clear one thing up: I haven't read Queen of the Damned yet, but this book definitely increased my love for Lestat.

In Interview With the Vampire, Lestat read to me as the aristocratic, realistic, practical vampire with a lust for blood and opinions grounded in blunt reality. I liked him as a villain, and I love him as a hero. Louis felt to me like a melodramatic teenager with a flair for angsty sololiquies. I don't hate him, but I don't have a passion for his character.

...more

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Sep 25, 2011

Ruhsora Akbarova rated it

· review of another edition

After reading the first book, I hated Lestat. He was conceited, materialistic, clingy, and he controlled Louis immortal life. When I first started reading this book, though, I saw another side of Lestat. How he grew up, his family life. I started to feel sorry for him, he wasn't allowed to pursue his dreams, he had a good friend, and he cared after his mother. He ran away from it all, and I cheered for him all the way. When he was turned into a vampire, I teared up, because he was snatched from ...more

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Sep 11, 2011

Bronte rated it

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I attempted to read this book in 8th grade but the full depth of the story couldn't have been appreciated back then. I'm in college now and it took me a couple months to finish it. I have to say, I understand now why Anne Rice is considered the queen of the vampires. Everything from the writing style itself to the characters, the plot line, and the possible meanings behind all of it drives me wild to think about. One would think it would be impossible to relate to a vampire but Lestat de Lioncou...more

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Sep 01, 2011

Pamela rated it

· review of another edition

'The Vampire Lestat', well, "It is my personal favourite, from the series".
I suppose this becomes the part where I explain why.
I think more so that Lestat is my favourite Vampiric Character so the book seems to resonate more with my personal preference. The way he battles his demons is simply based around the wonderful ability of his creator, Anne Rice.
His mind is a captivating maze of explanations, hardships, dreams, faiths and his character is breathtaking.
...more

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Jun 05, 2011

Monika rated it

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Shelves: unforgettable, fantasy

I was somewhere between middle and high school, and craved for something dark. I've never read "The Interview", but seen the movie, so when I found a shelf in bookstore with Rice on it, I immediately reached for Lestat as the second in the series.
And it comepletely blowed my mind back then. I remember marvelling on how real and alive the characters felt to me. I couldn't believe that all that was a product of imagination of one person. I loved the richness of Lestat's character,...more

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May 26, 2011

Heather rated it

· review of another edition

I have to admit that when I started reading this book I got to a line about halfway down the first page or so... that read, "Right now I am what America calls a Rock Superstar."

I laughed hysterically, shut the book, and didn't pick it back up for many months.

I thought this was just something ridiculous they came up with in the movie interpretation of the book.

Later I braved the rest of the book and was pleased to find out that the rest of the book...moreI have to admit that when I started reading this book I got to a line about halfway down the first page or so... that read, "Right now I am what America calls a Rock Superstar."

I laughed hysterically, shut the book, and didn't pick it back up for many months.

I thought this was just something ridiculous they came up with in the movie interpretation of the book.

Later I braved the rest of the book and was pleased to find out that the rest of the book wasn't about THAT. It was a big part of the end of the book and the lead-in into Queen of the Damned, but it didn't make up the majority of the book.

The meat and potatoes of this book revolved around Lestat's life as a vampire and what happened from just before he was turned until he came to be Lestat! Rock Superstar!!

It was well written and I found that... despite how Lestat was made out to be in Interview with the Vampire, he was quite a passionate and truly FEELING character. The events of his unlife were quite sad to an extent and I felt much sympathy towards him. But again, he was quite passionate about life and I found that to be quite compelling.

Lestat never TRULY goes into the events of Interview with the Vampire in such a way as to retell the events in his point of view... which is both good and bad for me. One because we already know the events and that could be boring -- but to see it from LESTATS point of view would have been interesting.

So just before coming back to Rock Superstardom, we revisit that part of Lestat's life very briefly but not in the way we visited it from Louis's perspective.

There was also the tale of Armand -- short as it was. I loved the character of Armand portrayed in The Vampire Lestat. It was interesting to read of his beginnings.

Even more interesting than Armand, however, was Marius who created Armand. His story was told as well, many years later in Lestat's life, and it was a great story, too... how he came to be a several thousand year-old vampire... how he came to be the keeper of Those Who Must Be Kept... and his own personal morality.

It was fascinating to see behind the minds of these characters. Anne Rice was truly talented to be able to write in the various voices of these characters and maintain their individuality at the same time.

Do I recommend this book? Oh yes. (less)

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May 10, 2011

Joshua rated it

· review of another edition

I returned to this book years after I read it. I was a child then, and it let me in. I was both repulsed by and intrigued by the setting and characterization: after all, I was a young man who still listened to nu-metal and was expecting more fighting, more vampiric battles, and the like.

But coming back to it with a more mature perspective, I can't help but appreciate it for all new reasons. Lestat no longer seems as heroic to me, but actually more human; his struggles are really what w...moreI returned to this book years after I read it. I was a child then, and it let me in. I was both repulsed by and intrigued by the setting and characterization: after all, I was a young man who still listened to nu-metal and was expecting more fighting, more vampiric battles, and the like.

But coming back to it with a more mature perspective, I can't help but appreciate it for all new reasons. Lestat no longer seems as heroic to me, but actually more human; his struggles are really what we all struggle for, a grasping for some meaning in a life that no one is entirely sure has one. The fact that he becomes immortal and rich only play into the fetishistic way we want to suffer. But even that - the pull between worldly comfort and otherworldly pain and pleasure, is really represented. The way he feels about the important vampires in his life, to his desire to show the world who and what he is -

It's an important book.

I hesitated for a moment about giving it four or five stars; more honestly, I'd have given it four and a half. Interview with the Vampire is a better "novel" by all accounts; it follows a tighter plot, a more poignant message, and the writing, though deliberately anachronistic, is almost eerily poetic. The Vampire Lestat is as much a sequel as it is a solid book, which is both its strength and downfall. Readers of IwtV will delight in reading Lestat's musings on the period they had read about from his point of view, but the real crux of the novel is its new content, telling a slightly less "absurdist" point of view as its predecessor, with a more proactive and animated hero. If Louis is the character that we all can secretly relate to in the depths of our minds late at night, Lestat is how we envision we ought to "embrace" the world.

There's a few minor annoyances. The pacing is more solid than her later fare but still a little off at times. There's a couple of times that the character "retcons" the original content (what happened to "the musician" from Interview? what happened to the final scene from Interview? does growing older make a vampire more susceptible to sunlight or less?) and a few bizarre moments (the reason, Lestat claims, he didn't call for Marius' help throughout the vast majority of the his lifespan is "pride", which is a hand wave, to be sure).

But fans will like this, not despite the mess, but even because of it.

It's definitely not for everyone, but going into the book with an open mind and a lot of empathy, and you can find yourself aligned with the hero rather easily. Higher quality read than most paperback fiction. (less)

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Apr 07, 2011

Alex rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: horror

What I like most about Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles so far is her committment to retooling Vampire mythologies for the twentieth century without turning them into crass marketable potboilers (or indeed frustrating anti-feminist Mills & Boon romances for teenagers. Given her own referencing within the book I imagine that Rice would see her novels as spawning from the great Vampire classics Polidori, Varney, Carmilla and Dracula but for the first time the Vampire isn't the sexual threat in the ...moreWhat I like most about Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles so far is her committment to retooling Vampire mythologies for the twentieth century without turning them into crass marketable potboilers (or indeed frustrating anti-feminist Mills & Boon romances for teenagers. Given her own referencing within the book I imagine that Rice would see her novels as spawning from the great Vampire classics Polidori, Varney, Carmilla and Dracula but for the first time the Vampire isn't the sexual threat in the shadows, that which is unknowable and thinkable (yet desired) so called deviant sexualities are embraced and explored. I can't think of any pre Rice Vampire tale told completely from the viewpoint of the Vampire, though there are probably a bunch of short stories that prove me wrong.

I was hoping for a page turning potboiler when I picked this up, I confess, and it wasn't until I progressed towards the end that I realised that Rice's vision was really quite interesting, multilayered and very clever. This sequel to Interview With the Vampire works particularly well as a contrast to it with the character portrayed as "evil" (in some respects) in that novel going to great lengths to justify his behaviour and to assert the truth of his own tale above that of Louis'. In some respects as the older more experienced Vampire he is successful. Clearly age and antiquity is important to Lestat since as his tale unfolds the novel becomes a series of tales within a tale; Lestat tells stories about the Vampire's history as told by Armand and Marius and ultimately the tale of how he falls for the Queen of Darkness, the mother of Vampires herself. Of course, we've only got Lestat's word that any of this is true - he's in respects a reliable narrator - and so what we end up is an account of vampire mythology that compares and contrasts with Louis'

The neat trick is how the tales take in different concepts of art and artistry (although this could have been expanded upon)and the way that Lestat's story is booke nded by a modern tale of Lestat retooling himself as a Rock legend (where before the man he loved was a performing violinist, consumed by his passion(. Our identites are bound up in the way we view culture and art and it's Lestat's obsession this art that ultimately consumes him too and leads him to essentially drive the Vampires into a war with humans, whilst also mocking the fact that mortals are so obsessed with image and Vampire identity that they can't even tell the difference between the artistic image and the vampire.

Rice is not a "great" author. Her writing can be clunky and laboured and there are many times when the novel drags. Incidents could be more poignant, revelations bigger, moments of characterisation better defined. Yet her work is by no means trash either and these books reward the time that you might spend with them. Her liberal atheistic outlook is also another draw which makes them all the more satisfying to me.(less)

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Feb 04, 2011

Dana Simpson rated it

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I have been reading vampire books for a very long time (since 1980). Lestat is by far the best vamp book anyone could read. He is the gothic god, if there ever was one. All Lestat ever wanted was a friend. His best friend, Nickie, was lost to him from being born into his dark gift. For all eternity, he plagues himself with yearing for a rich friendship. Louis is his most loyal friendship, but one with a grudge. Little Claudia, well she had no remorse for her attempted murder of her dark father,...more

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Jan 14, 2011

Austin James rated it

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Shelves: horror

I just finished Anne Rice's second book in The Vampire Chronicles. "The Vampire Lestat" is part prequel and part sequel to the first book in the series "Interview with The Vampire." It tells the story of Lestat. It tells how he was created, and where he is now. Readers will learn more about characters from the first book as well.

Like her first book, Rice uses first person narration to tell her tale. By doing so (and retelling parts of the first story from a diff...more

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Jan 14, 2011

Madalina rated it

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Shelves: vampires, philosophical

Compared to contemporary vampire prose this book only highlights the differences between our cultures today and 25 years ago. It would be a stretch to say that we resemble the vampires we pen today like Anne Rice and her times might resemble hers, but, as we know, there has always been a tight bond between our cultural mass personalities and our mythology/religion. I don't think I can really apreciate this book until I can pinpoint it.
Frankly, Lestat seems a too open about his emotions an...more

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Nov 30, 2010

Melissa rated it

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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Was excited about this one after I LOOOVED "Inteview..." however I was not impressed after the first half of the book. She essentially gives 3 backstories here. Lestat, of course, and then Armand, and then Marius. Lestat seemed so extreme and crazy in the first novel... but here he seemed just like Louis. The writing was beautiful in the first book, but here it just seemed very chaotic, and almost like she was trying too hard to replicate the first book. Lestat was supposed to be ...moreWas excited about this one after I LOOOVED "Inteview..." however I was not impressed after the first half of the book. She essentially gives 3 backstories here. Lestat, of course, and then Armand, and then Marius. Lestat seemed so extreme and crazy in the first novel... but here he seemed just like Louis. The writing was beautiful in the first book, but here it just seemed very chaotic, and almost like she was trying too hard to replicate the first book. Lestat was supposed to be chaotic, not the writing. I did enjoy his history, but I almost hated him in the first book and rather expected him to stay more a villain than a "hero." Not that I'm calling him a hero, but hopefully you know what I mean. I know this review is going to make some people angry, but honest is honest. The rock star thing didn't make sense to me either, though I know somehow he has to become "current."

Armand was also not what I expected. Very often I'm delighted by that, but the role reversal here was also odd for me. Armand was very seductive and "a good guy" in the first book, here the exact opposite. I was also confused by his description. The movie version of the first book may have contributed to that, but I definitely didn't picture Armand as a young red-head. There was some confusion in the graveyard scene as to who was the "leader," who was Armand, and who everyone else was of the Children of Darkness. Obviously it became clear eventually, but nevertheless, it was confusing.

Once we got to Marius, though, the book changed for me. I was VERY interested by this story, the writing seemed to flow better, and the storyline about the beginning of vampirism finally fit in. Things were still a little contradictory, however, once we got to the "explanation" of the first book. Lestat idolizes Marius, yet breaks every single rule. Fans of the first novel will agree that this sounds very much like Lestat, but in this novel he's very different for most of it.

I don't know, I'd love to hear what everyone else thinks but I'm just not loving this book like I did the first one.(less)

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Nov 28, 2010

Tanabrus rated it

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Shelves: horror

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Secondo libro de Le cronache dei vampiri.
Questa trilogia mi fa pensare a una matrioska.

Mi spiego.
Il primo libro della trilogia, il celebre Intervista col vampiro, vede il vampiro Louis narrare la propria storia. E quindi narrare le vicende del vampiro Lestat per come le conosce, per come le ha sperimentate.
Questo libro allarga la visuale: spronato dall’esempio di Louis (che ha generato un libro chiamato proprio Intervista col vampiro), Lestat trova la forza di tornare a ...more

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Nov 06, 2010

Kelly rated it

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It is my suggestion that, if you want to sample Anne Rice, and have never read any of her other works, this may be the book you want to read instead of her most famous novel, "Interview with a Vampire." let me explain.
"The Vampire Lestat" is quite a different novel from the first in the series, because we are dealing with an entirely different vampire than the depressed and vulnerable Louis from Rice's first book. Don't get me wrong, Lestat was the antagonist in Intervi...moreIt is my suggestion that, if you want to sample Anne Rice, and have never read any of her other works, this may be the book you want to read instead of her most famous novel, "Interview with a Vampire." let me explain.
"The Vampire Lestat" is quite a different novel from the first in the series, because we are dealing with an entirely different vampire than the depressed and vulnerable Louis from Rice's first book. Don't get me wrong, Lestat was the antagonist in Interview but towards the end of the novel you start to think maybe that's not the case. That single thought pushed me to read his story to find out why Lestat was the way he was.

I LOVED learning about where Lestat came from and also finding out about ALL of the ancient vampires, all the way back to the very FIRST vampire. In Lestat's story, the reader goes throughout the centuries, as he meets other vampire's who tell their tales. This book feels like a world tour that goes back to Ancient Egyptian times, to classical Rome, to pagan Europe, to the times of the French Revolution, to an old, decaying (slightly creepy I might add) Parisian cemetery and back up to the present time. It was FUN to follow Lestats journey to find the truth..the same truth that Louis was always searching for, but never found.

The entire story is fascinating and spans centuries as Lestat grows from a fledgling vampire into the emotional, lonely, angry, and finally carefree vampire he is upon setting foot on a San Francisco stage to perform his first rock concert in front of 15,000 screaming fans. (Yes, Lestat is a Rock star in the 1980's in this book! My first thought to that was, "Whatever!" But then it made sense.)

Lestat now gets a chance to tell his OWN story, and it makes us (the reader) realize that he has suffered even more than Louis and shows that he is not a villain; he is the tragic hero of sorts. He is actually far more aware than Louis, something else that Louis doesn't see either. He is a gentle, innocent, thoughtful young man who has suffered so much in his life, and then he is forced into becoming one of the living dead, who now must kill to survive. It is explained to us why Lestat is the way he is and why he does the things he does which is truly interesting.

When you read "Interview with a Vampire" you don't know then that Lestat is misunderstood by Louis, and therefore misunderstood by the reader, whom is seeing the story through Louis' eyes. The glimpses of Lestat we have in Interview with the Vampire, of his relationship with his father, of the way he acts, of his charm that Louis finds both attractive and repulsive, of his love of bright artificial light and his desire to live luxuriously, of his friendship with a young musician, of his doting upon Claudia and showering her with gifts, of his fear to lose Louis, of him emotionally distraught and pleading with Louis to come back to him in Paris (which I didn't understand at the time), and finally of the frail, broken, and pitiful shadow of a man he has become by the end of Louis's story, where Louis finds him again in New Orleans. All of these things are hints at the depth and complexity of the character of Lestat.

In The Vampire Lestat, you will finally see the entire picture, and see the masterpiece of a character that Lestat is. The depth and the multi-dimensionality, and the humanity of Lestat. If you liked Louis before, you will still like him. But you will like Lestat even more because you will see how completely misunderstood he is and learn the story of the pain and sorrow he kept hidden in his heart, hidden underneath that charming facade that Louis encountered on his plantation in 1791. You will start to understand HOW Lestat could act the way he did towards Louis and Claudia which was the answer to the questions I was seeking in this book so I closed the covers of this book satisfied.
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Jun 09, 2010

Michelle rated it

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All I can say is... wow. This is an incredible book. Incredible!

If you read my review for the first book in the series, Interview with a Vampire, you know that I loved but didn't think it was the best in the series.

This one might be.

Cast aside any preconceptions you might have about Lestat after seeing the movie INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE. Both the book and the movie show us Lestat through Louis' eyes. The Vampire Lestat shows us Lestat through his own eyes, a...more

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Feb 19, 2010

Kate rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: paranormal

I enjoyed this one a lot more that The Interview with the Vampire. Lestat's life story was intriguing and compelling. Though the "Rock Star" idea was a little weird for me I was glad to find that the story was based in his past rather than the rock star present. It was interesting to see what Lestat hid from Louis and why. I like his philosophy to "life". Armand is a prat, though I though Lestat was an ass after the first book so I'm sure Armand has redeeming qualities a...more

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Jan 25, 2010

Paula rated it

· review of another edition

Actually done as an audioCD, but couldn't find that edition, so am listing as a regular book.

It seems so cliche today to write a book about vampires but Anne Rice is clearly one of the original masters of the genre. Written in a way that felt that the true master, Mr. Bram Stoker, the book quickly drew me in, despite a questionable narrator (long, dramatic pauses are not necessary after EVERY sentence, my dear sir).

The series started with "Interview with the Vampire"...more

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Nov 26, 2009

Chipper rated it

· review of another edition

After thoroughly enjoying Rice's Interview With the Vampire, I fully expected to be let down by her second installment in The Vampire Chronicles: The Vampire Lestat. I was not. The Vampire Lestat is a fascinating character and novel. Like its predecessor, this novel is not a pop-culture vampire tale crafted for teenagers. Rather, it explores the problems, complications and inner-strife that immortality gives rise to and the larger questions an immortal might ask and seek to discover in himself, ...more

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Sep 22, 2009

Jon-michael rated it

· review of another edition

This is one of those books that defined me. I do mean that I turned goth or vampire or whatever. No... it started me thinking.

I was born and raised in the South. I didn't read anything else other than fantasy novels (like Dragonlance). I joined the Marines in 89 and while watching a movie about a teenage vampire it was mentioned that Dracula is 'good literature'. I went to the base library to check out Dracula and beside it on the shelf was this book. I took this one instead.

...more

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May 22, 2009

April rated it

· review of another edition

I first read the Vampire Chronicles when I was in high school. I immediately fell in love with the characters. Rice is so vivid in her description and detail. You almost feel you are there with the characters. I have since read the Vampire Lestat multiple times and it is by far my favorite in the series.

This book begins with Lestat waking up in present times. He falls in love with rock music and forms a band. Sounds cheesy, but that isn’t the direction the book takes. This is the bio...more

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Apr 09, 2009

Ayla rated it

· review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Let's start by saying that I didn't like the first book in the series at all. I never got round to finish it because it annoyed my brain out after only 100 pages.
But I like vampires. And when a friend recommended the second book, in addition to my addiction to the Lestat musical songs, I grumpily obliged.

What a surprise! After only 2 pages I was in love with the character Lestat. The choice of words is simply amazing and the story moves to a quick page which doesn't leave you ...more

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May 18, 2011

Shannon rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: 4-star-reads, the-vampire-chronicles

'The Vampire Lestat', well, "It is my personal favourite, from the series".
I suppose this becomes the part where I explain why.

I think more so that Lestat is my favourite Vampiric Character so the book seems to resonate more with my personal preference. The way he battles his demons is simply based around the wonderful ability of his creator, Anne Rice.
His mind is a captivating maze of explanations, hardships, dreams, faiths and his character is breathtaking.
...more

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Mar 14, 2009

Lindsay Wing rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: best-books-ever

Obviously, as a tormented, emo teenager, I was way obsessed with this book, and I remembered that a lot of that was based in the fact that I was an angsty 14-year-old. Now, years later, I decided to re-read it for kicks and I have to say that it's still fantastic, and that assertion is in no way based in any stupid self-indulgent fascination with suffering. It's just a beautifully written book. It starts off slow, but the second half is striking and magnificently written. Rice uses some of the m...more

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About Anne Rice

Anne Rice is a best-selling American author of gothic, supernatural, historical, erotica, and later religious themed books. Best known for her Vampire Chronicles, her prevailing thematical focus is on love, death, immortality, existentialism, and the human condition. She was married to poet Stan Rice for 41 years until his death in 2002. Her books have sold nearly 100 million copies, making her on...more

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Books by Anne Rice

Interview with the Vampire (Vampire Chronicles, #1)

The Witching Hour (Lives of the Mayfair Witches, #1)

The Tale of the Body Thief (The Vampire Chronicles, #4)

Memnoch the Devil (The Vampire Chronicles, #5)

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