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Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol
Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment
This book has everything you could want from a vampire story: queerness, moral ambiguity, rock music, drama, satanic covens, creepy rituals, internal battles between goodness and evil, complicated relationships with God, complicated relationships with eachother- I ATE IT ALL UP !!!
Before starting this book, I had conflicted feelings about Lestat's character. After finishing this book, he's one of my favourite fictional characters of all time!
Something about his insatiable desire to have a connection to mortals and goodness despite his nature being the very opposite of all of that just hit too close to home for me. Something I adore in vampire stories is the exploration of being something 'other,' and being different in some inherent and unchangeable way and suffering because of it. Lestat gives a voice to anyone who feels 'other.' "You sense my loneliness...my bitterness at being shut out of life. My bitterness that I am evil, that I don't deserve to be loved and yet I need love hungrily. My horror that I can never reveal myself to mortals." CRYING
And it's this idea of "otherness" and difference that makes this book appeal to me as a queer as well!! It's a feeling I'm sure most LGBTQ+ folks have experienced at some point.
The discussion of good versus evil was also so very facinating!! Especially when it's explored primarily through the eyes of Lestat, who wants so desperately to be good despite his evil nature. This book asked facinating questions. What purpose does a man-made concept of goodness serve to those who are no longer human? What does evilness mean when it's an inherent part of your nature? Can you still be good when youre considered a monster? Funky innit!!
Through the theme of good vs evil, this book manages to stay relevant despite being written in the 80s. We follow the characters of this book across centuries, and so we explore the standards and ideas of goodness through these times, because good and evil are ever-changing concepts! "It's a totally new age. It requires a new evil. And I am that new evil...I am the Vampire for these times."
UGH ITS SO FUN!!
Like every good sequel, this book successfully expands the world this series is set in, and it does so magnificently!! Vampires are my favourite creatures ever, so I absolutely adore seeing them portrayed in creative ways. Rice takes the legend of the Vampire in a totally new direction, one that I'm so excited to see further explored!
I didn't expect to become obsessed with this world and these characters but oh well🙂↕️
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Incest, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment
Honestly I adore Lestat de Lioncourt he is my wife, my babygirl and the character i project the very worst aspects my BPD onto. While he comes off as much more sympathetic in this than in Interview, I think this novel does a good job of pointing out that like with Louis, anything that comes from Lestats word cannot be taken as 100% accurate.
That being said I really enjoyed the insight to his moral existentialism and religious views which he lacks in Interview.
Armand can get fucked. Don't get me wrong I think his story is really sad but how many centuries has that man had to seek therapy instead of bulling fledglings and he's still unable to act right?
Also
At least I'm chosing to believe that.
Sigmund Freud would've had a field day with you Monsieur De Lioncourt and as someone who's studied psychology I promise you I mean that as an insult.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Religious bigotry
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Stalking, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Excrement, Alcohol
Minor: Racial slurs, Slavery
I actually love the tonal whiplash/fake-out/whiplash bookending of the book's plot. Lestat is just a really fun & engaging narrator to follow compared to Louis, and I didn't start the book with a super favorable bias towards him. Also find a lot of the new characters/exploration of old characters to be really well done. Gabrielle is just. Sooo interesting to me I'm obsessed with her
I thought Marius' chapter would drag but it quickly turns into some of the coolest scenes in the book for me
Some criticisms: I really love them, but I can see someone who isn't as invested in these characters being frustrated with slower scenes where the plot kind of stops so characters can have ethical/theological/philosophical/etc. discussions. I wouldn't argue if people found it a bit self-indulgent or pretentious. Personally I found some of the orientalism/colonialist narratives to be frustrating and a bit ridiculous. "There has never been a place for evil in the Western world." I disagree!! Maybe I'm dumb and that line is supposed to be ironic but idk, that whole conversation felt very strange to me considering, like, everything.
With that said, this is easily my favorite stop on Ms. Rice's wild ride so far.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Self harm, Slavery, Trafficking
Minor: Excrement, Vomit
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Racism
Minor: Sexism, Slavery, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry
This book was a wild ride compared to Interview with the Vampire (which was more contemplative and broody)! The Vampire Lestat has it all—romance, adventure, tragedy, and mystery! It starts off quite ridiculous, but every chapter after the first is tragedy after tragedy. However, one of Lestat’s most defining features is that HE WILL ENDURE. Will he learn from his mistakes? Not really! He’ll try, though! That’s something! He’s very self-aware which can be funny at times. Also he cries a lot, he literally mentions each time he does—fair enough, he goes through a lot!
Overall, it’s a great story! You get to understand his character better and get less angry at him for his crimes. I won’t make excuses for his behavior, but now I understand why he is the way he is. He has become simpler to me. The writing is very lyrical—as expected from Anne Rice—but more approachable than Interview with the Vampire. My only problem is with how long Marius’ back story is—I may be biased because I really hate him for his crimes against Armand—I think it could have been shorter and focused on Those Who Must Be Kept. Although, I get it, it’s all exposition for Queen of the Damned.
It’s a great book and I think it’s worth the read, especially if you really enjoy the show and Sam Reid’s Lestat! Unfortunately, Lestat de Lioncourt has not climbed up my favorite character ranking because Armand—for all his devious actions and the tragedies of his life and afterlife—is still my NO. 1!!!!
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Oh rockstar Lestat so happy to meet you.
It just gets better every book.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Death, Mental illness, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail