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37 of 37 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Anne Rice revamped the vampire-horror genre with the publication of "Interview with the Vampire," a supernational drama from the vampire's own mouth. It became an unexpected hit, and spawned a series of sequels that came to be known as the Vampire Chronicles. The first four books of the series are compiled here, although the fourth is not up to the excellent standards of the first three.
"Interview With the Vampire" is the story of Louis, a grieving young widower and plantation owner, whose life is turned upside down when he meets the charming vampire Lestat. Lestat offers him a way out: become a vampire. Louis accepts, but once it's done, he finds that vampirism is more than he bargained for -- especially for his conscience.
"The Vampire Lestat" takes a totally different tack, showing us the world through the enigmatic, charming Lestat's eyes. After years of dormancy, Lestat wakes up in time for the early MTV years of the 1980s, becoming a rock star in the tradition of Ozzy and Black Sabbath. And like Louis, Lestat relates his long life's story -- how he became a vampire, his wanderings over the earth, and his investigations into the origins of vampirism itself...
"Queen of the Damned" builds on that research. Lestat's metal music has caused quite a bit of mayhem -- but not this much before: Akasha, Egyptian queen and mother of all vampires, has reawoken from her comalike sleep. The lesser vampires are having strange dreams, some are being murdered by the ruthless queen. Apparently she wants to kill all men. What is more, Akasha has taken a shine to the roguish Lestat himself...
"The Tale of the Body Thief" opens with lonely anti-hero Lestat deciding that he wants to be mortal again. At least temporarily. So he engages in some corpus-swapping with a con man (Danger! Danger, Will Lestat!), and rediscovers the joys (romance with a nun) and miseries (excretion) of being a human being again. The problem is, said con man is not eager to return Lestat's attractive and immortal body once he has it...
Vampiric autobiography is a given in Anne Rice's bibliography -- she has plenty of bloodsuckers telling us about their lives. But Lestat and Louis's were not just the first ones, but perhaps the most compelling and rich, especially since the two had such radically different viewpoints -- including of one another. Is Lestat a heartless fiend, or a roguish good-craving bad boy? I'd lean towards the latter, to be honest.
Rice does stumble in "Tales of the Body Thief," which seems like too flimsy a plot for Lestat and Co., has an unnecessary nun romance, and which has some very gross moments. However, it does give a stunning look at how a vampire would see the everyday life of a human -- all the problems, discomforts, annoyances and loneliness that we all ignore because we're used to it. It's a more personal story than the epic "Queen of the Damned," which deals with all of vampirekind all through history. (In one book!)
Despite the more controversial recent novels, Anne Rice's first Vampire Chronicles are often reckoned to be modern horror classics. Rich, intriguing and far deeper than you'd think vampire fiction would be.
"Interview With the Vampire" is the story of Louis, a grieving young widower and plantation owner, whose life is turned upside down when he meets the charming vampire Lestat. Lestat offers him a way out: become a vampire. Louis accepts, but once it's done, he finds that vampirism is more than he bargained for -- especially for his conscience.
"The Vampire Lestat" takes a totally different tack, showing us the world through the enigmatic, charming Lestat's eyes. After years of dormancy, Lestat wakes up in time for the early MTV years of the 1980s, becoming a rock star in the tradition of Ozzy and Black Sabbath. And like Louis, Lestat relates his long life's story -- how he became a vampire, his wanderings over the earth, and his investigations into the origins of vampirism itself...
"Queen of the Damned" builds on that research. Lestat's metal music has caused quite a bit of mayhem -- but not this much before: Akasha, Egyptian queen and mother of all vampires, has reawoken from her comalike sleep. The lesser vampires are having strange dreams, some are being murdered by the ruthless queen. Apparently she wants to kill all men. What is more, Akasha has taken a shine to the roguish Lestat himself...
"The Tale of the Body Thief" opens with lonely anti-hero Lestat deciding that he wants to be mortal again. At least temporarily. So he engages in some corpus-swapping with a con man (Danger! Danger, Will Lestat!), and rediscovers the joys (romance with a nun) and miseries (excretion) of being a human being again. The problem is, said con man is not eager to return Lestat's attractive and immortal body once he has it...
Vampiric autobiography is a given in Anne Rice's bibliography -- she has plenty of bloodsuckers telling us about their lives. But Lestat and Louis's were not just the first ones, but perhaps the most compelling and rich, especially since the two had such radically different viewpoints -- including of one another. Is Lestat a heartless fiend, or a roguish good-craving bad boy? I'd lean towards the latter, to be honest.
Rice does stumble in "Tales of the Body Thief," which seems like too flimsy a plot for Lestat and Co., has an unnecessary nun romance, and which has some very gross moments. However, it does give a stunning look at how a vampire would see the everyday life of a human -- all the problems, discomforts, annoyances and loneliness that we all ignore because we're used to it. It's a more personal story than the epic "Queen of the Damned," which deals with all of vampirekind all through history. (In one book!)
Despite the more controversial recent novels, Anne Rice's first Vampire Chronicles are often reckoned to be modern horror classics. Rich, intriguing and far deeper than you'd think vampire fiction would be.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
All of you whining little kids up there have it all wrong. This story, these sets of stories, aren't about power, or the ways to get it.
Nor are they about these beautiful Hurculean men (the vampires) trying to kill the world and show off their strengths.
Anne Rice created these characters to portray the world's, this world's, sense of physical, mental, and emotional anguish that we humans must go through.
The author allows the reader an escape hole to crawl through, within these books, to separate themselves from their own emotional pains, and reflect on their
own faults, and hardships. Thus, the reader can grasp at a new sense of what is beautiful, and help to diminish their own hardships, through
experiencing the pains and losses that these lovely vampires must experience.
Nor are they about these beautiful Hurculean men (the vampires) trying to kill the world and show off their strengths.
Anne Rice created these characters to portray the world's, this world's, sense of physical, mental, and emotional anguish that we humans must go through.
The author allows the reader an escape hole to crawl through, within these books, to separate themselves from their own emotional pains, and reflect on their
own faults, and hardships. Thus, the reader can grasp at a new sense of what is beautiful, and help to diminish their own hardships, through
experiencing the pains and losses that these lovely vampires must experience.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
To follow on from "abannis359@aol.com " comment...there is also now a further book in the series..."Pandora" which further details the exploits of all the well known characters of the earlier books...Annes next instalment is eagerly awaited...
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
not what i expected
Firstly i would like to point out that the books themselves are very good - which is why i ordered this set after reading the books a few years ago. Read more
Published 15 months ago by J. A. Boler
Anne Rice's Chronicles
I have read all of the Vampire Chronicles about half a dozen or more times each and with the exception of "Vittorio", I found each as compelling as the next (although "Body Theif"... Read more
Published on 18 Mar 2004
a great writer with great vision
These books take you into a world that is so like and unlike hours. I must have read them three or four times. Read more
Published on 9 Mar 2004 by "technomouse"
Deeply engrossing vampire novels
I first read the queen of the damned book, and then bought the box set. The stories of Lestat, Louis, Marius and all the others are completely enthralling. Read more
Published on 20 Jan 2004 by "lindahutton"
Forget Dracula.... this is how vampires really are!
I love Anne Rice's words in these books. The whole collection of the vampire chronicles is a fantastic journey.... it will have you believing every single word. Read more
Published on 20 May 2003 by Miss B M McCullough
Scary, scary stuff...
I don't know how Ms. Rice does it, but her Vampire Chronicles scared the snot out of me. Seriously. But I couldn't stop reading, I was enthralled till the very end. Read more
Published on 25 Feb 2002 by filmfan83@aol.com
A new fan of Rice
After I saw the movie Interview With a Vampire I had to read the book. I have been a fan of Gothic lituature since I was about seven. Read more
Published on 5 Jan 2002
MMMMNN YEAH!
Though the first chronicle Interview with the Vampire is by far the most glorified it has a long way to come before reaching the quality of her other books. Read more
Published on 20 July 2001
Variance in Quality
I have long admired the works of Anne Rice, but find her work to vary tremendously in quality and readability. Read more
Published on 23 Mar 2001 by Lisa-Jane Stych
I am in love with The Vampire Lestat!
I have read many novels from many genres over the years and until now never found a 'favourite author'. Anne Rice has become that very person. Read more
Published on 31 Aug 2000
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