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3.99 AVERAGE
3.99 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
My favorite read in recent years. A major step up from the first book of the series in basically every regard. Like it’s genuinely impressive how much better TVL is than IWTV. Lestat is a deeply complex character whose gone through so much but it doesn’t make the book seem rushed or overpacked. If he wasn’t so weird with his mom it would be a five star, easy. Also, I need Armand to die
Tbh if Marius de Underage Boy Lover didn’t insert his own exposition in, I would’ve given it 5 stars. I just can’t stand that old man.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
i would rate this higher if the book didnt start the way it did and didn’t lapse into the same poor writing as at the start, and didn’t unnecessarily drag. also some aspects of this certainly did not age well lol. but some really did, like the 80s rock vibes were really fun!
overall, this was really interesting and a great expansion and set up to what’s coming with the series. lestat is still a shithead but i like him a bit more, and am DEFINITELY way intrigued about akasha and armand. looking forward to diving more into this universe!
overall, this was really interesting and a great expansion and set up to what’s coming with the series. lestat is still a shithead but i like him a bit more, and am DEFINITELY way intrigued about akasha and armand. looking forward to diving more into this universe!
might have been one of my favorite books i've ever read, minus 1 star for finding his mother so sexy and also all the racism
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
lestat is probably my favourite character in any media ever so reading this was a delight for me. i read the first half a year ago then got in a reading slump and finally finished it today. so much happens in this book, the characters, different eras, countries.. its pretty insane. every page that had loustat together was magic. i loved reading lestats pov and literally can't wait for the new season which just started filming. very interested in how they're gonna translate this crazy book into a few episodes but my hopes are very high!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Torture, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
(DISCLAIMER: This is not a five star novel — but sometimes you have to follow your heart. Especially since reading this I want to put Armand in a Petri dish and track his digestive activity during germination.)
This book is Very Excellent but also Too Long and Sometimes Bad. At the heart of the ridiculous, the sublime, or whatever Mahon said.
IWTV is a book wherein it seems almost secondary that the characters are vampires. The Vampire Lestat, on the other hand, is devoted to examining vampirism and its wide range of effects on everyone that it touches. There’s a kind of graph I believe exists here: y-axis, those who love/hate human life and x-axis, those who love/hate vampiric existence, and every character is in tumult because of their position on this plane. Something about vampirism as a prison as much as an escape, about enduring more than living. Marius is the most well-adjusted vampire here, easily. He has an understanding of what he is and how he came to be, and a key role in the maintenance of vampires worldwide, as well as the capacity to live a nice life for himself before going into the ground every once in a while and starting anew in the next century. Lestat is so broken and lonely, and never quite manages to leave his childhood or Magnus behind, still stinging from every loss and abandonment, but he’s able to persevere, he’s not a god nor a supplicant to higher powers. Armand is crazy, nothing but abuse followed by employment in his miserable existence, but he’s made of stronger stuff than the rest of them, he never goes for an extended nap, isn’t that wild?!? Nickitosses himself on the pyre. Gabrielle uses the Dark Gift to escape everything she has ever known.
I have infinitely more to say, especially about Lesmand and that Dorian Gray quote about representing all the sins you will never have the courage to commit, but I’ll leave it there.
How very dear to me, this novel became. Even if the extended flashback sequences killed the pace (difficult to even remember what era you’re in, when Lestat (1980s) is flashing back to Lestat (~1790s) who’s being told by Marius about events from 2000 years earlier, that then descends into times unfathomably far away.)
Final note, because it can’t all be positive: Rockstat scenes were so ridiculous, makes me wonder if Anne Rice has ever been outside before. The lyrics “The man with the fangs wears the cloak” and “I am the vampire Lestat” make me glad she went into fiction rather than songwriting.
This book is Very Excellent but also Too Long and Sometimes Bad. At the heart of the ridiculous, the sublime, or whatever Mahon said.
IWTV is a book wherein it seems almost secondary that the characters are vampires. The Vampire Lestat, on the other hand, is devoted to examining vampirism and its wide range of effects on everyone that it touches. There’s a kind of graph I believe exists here: y-axis, those who love/hate human life and x-axis, those who love/hate vampiric existence, and every character is in tumult because of their position on this plane. Something about vampirism as a prison as much as an escape, about enduring more than living. Marius is the most well-adjusted vampire here, easily. He has an understanding of what he is and how he came to be, and a key role in the maintenance of vampires worldwide, as well as the capacity to live a nice life for himself before going into the ground every once in a while and starting anew in the next century. Lestat is so broken and lonely, and never quite manages to leave his childhood or Magnus behind, still stinging from every loss and abandonment, but he’s able to persevere, he’s not a god nor a supplicant to higher powers. Armand is crazy, nothing but abuse followed by employment in his miserable existence, but he’s made of stronger stuff than the rest of them, he never goes for an extended nap, isn’t that wild?!? Nicki
I have infinitely more to say, especially about Lesmand and that Dorian Gray quote about representing all the sins you will never have the courage to commit, but I’ll leave it there.
How very dear to me, this novel became. Even if the extended flashback sequences killed the pace (difficult to even remember what era you’re in, when Lestat (1980s) is flashing back to Lestat (~1790s) who’s being told by Marius about events from 2000 years earlier, that then descends into times unfathomably far away.)
Final note, because it can’t all be positive: Rockstat scenes were so ridiculous, makes me wonder if Anne Rice has ever been outside before. The lyrics “The man with the fangs wears the cloak” and “I am the vampire Lestat” make me glad she went into fiction rather than songwriting.