Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.99 AVERAGE
3.99 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I liked Interview with the Vampire and wanted to continue on, but mannn was this a slow read. The beginning was solid, there were enjoyable moments throughout, and the end was captivating. You would think all that together would mean it was a book that was hard to put down, but it was not. I needed to take breaks from the relentless extestensial crises. The middle of the book was so slow to me that I had to pick up another book to take a break from Lestat.
That's not to say I didn't enjoy the book, but to acknowledge that this book was maybe not a style that I enjoy as much as others do. What others may find deep and insightful, I found meandering and pedantic.
I appreciate it for what it is and am glad I read it, but would not reread this one.
That's not to say I didn't enjoy the book, but to acknowledge that this book was maybe not a style that I enjoy as much as others do. What others may find deep and insightful, I found meandering and pedantic.
I appreciate it for what it is and am glad I read it, but would not reread this one.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I went into this without any expectations whatsoever. I always found Interview with the Vampire to be alright, but I was never interested in the following books. I remember 14-year old me reading IwtV for the first time and checking out the second book on amazon. I think it's fair to say that the German description of The Vampire Lestat fucking sucks. Being set in the 80ies and featuring a vampire rock star surely did not help (it really does sound ridiculous, come on).
Past me let it go.
I ordered The Interview with the Vampire on a whim last month and liked it more than the first time around. But again, I wasn't interested enough to continue with the series. Or so I'd thought. Still, reluctant I ordered the second book and I never could've imagined to like it as much as I did. The main reason for that is: I didn't think anything could redeem Lestat from IwtV.
But in my opinion he did. Kind of. This book isn't like: Hey, I had a shitty childhood and that's why I became a huge cunt so excuse my entire behaviour right now.
No, it shows that Lestat had some pretty nasty things going on but he still tried to please and keep his innocence. It didn't work; and after reading Vampire Lestat I still think he's a walking trash can, even more so. But it's a trash can with depth.
Becoming an anti-hero was a process, which you don't get to read often.
It makes sense that Louis would demonize Lestat, and he's not wrong, but this only shows how important it is to look at two sides instead of only one.
Fact is Louis and Lestat had very different expectations of another from the very beginning and-sure, questionably- somehow made do, because that's what you do. You keep up with what you've known for a long time and it's not terrible but it doesn't make anybody really happy either. And that's how you start to despise someone.
Lestat couldn't give Louis the answers he desperately needed, while Louis and Claudia constantly shut out Lestat- which is his sore spot; a fact he tried to prove wrong.
They were all imprisoned in the whole situation, with Claudia being the only one willing to break out.
This was a huge point I didn't understand at first, but how could one understand with only one perspective to look at; one filled with guilt and self-loathing and shame. A perspective that doesn't give the whole truth and feels inconsistent, because the other half of it is missing. One mustn't forget that IwtV and TVL feature unreliable protagonists, which is natural and makes the whole thing so genius.
But in the end, only Lestat's POV could make Louis more sympathetic to me. And the whole thing is summed up pretty well with Lestat admitting that they could've never loved each other as much then as they could now.
-Of course not, they simply didn't get each other back then.
In my eyes this book is a masterpiece. Seldom have I read a character written so magnificently. When was the last time I felt so much while reading a book? What has been as captivating as this lately? I honestly don't remember.
I shamelessly enjoyed every moment of it and will do so again.
Of course, the book had its flaws. One major point bothering me is when Lestat's telling about his time as an invalid. He told of Armand visiting, but not of Louis, who on the other hand told the reader in IwtV that he did in fact found Lestat at some point and even talked to him. And since Lestat "read" the same thing, he must've known that Louis had been there, too. But it wasn't ever mentioned in TVL.
So I don't know if the author simply forgot to add it or if it's another case of unreliable protagonist.
Present me is happy that 14-year old me didn't read The Vampire Lestat. 14-year old me wouldn't have been able to appreciated it.
Past me let it go.
I ordered The Interview with the Vampire on a whim last month and liked it more than the first time around. But again, I wasn't interested enough to continue with the series. Or so I'd thought. Still, reluctant I ordered the second book and I never could've imagined to like it as much as I did. The main reason for that is: I didn't think anything could redeem Lestat from IwtV.
But in my opinion he did. Kind of. This book isn't like: Hey, I had a shitty childhood and that's why I became a huge cunt so excuse my entire behaviour right now.
No, it shows that Lestat had some pretty nasty things going on but he still tried to please and keep his innocence. It didn't work; and after reading Vampire Lestat I still think he's a walking trash can, even more so. But it's a trash can with depth.
Becoming an anti-hero was a process, which you don't get to read often.
It makes sense that Louis would demonize Lestat, and he's not wrong, but this only shows how important it is to look at two sides instead of only one.
Fact is Louis and Lestat had very different expectations of another from the very beginning and-sure, questionably- somehow made do, because that's what you do. You keep up with what you've known for a long time and it's not terrible but it doesn't make anybody really happy either. And that's how you start to despise someone.
Lestat couldn't give Louis the answers he desperately needed, while Louis and Claudia constantly shut out Lestat- which is his sore spot; a fact he tried to prove wrong.
They were all imprisoned in the whole situation, with Claudia being the only one willing to break out.
This was a huge point I didn't understand at first, but how could one understand with only one perspective to look at; one filled with guilt and self-loathing and shame. A perspective that doesn't give the whole truth and feels inconsistent, because the other half of it is missing. One mustn't forget that IwtV and TVL feature unreliable protagonists, which is natural and makes the whole thing so genius.
But in the end, only Lestat's POV could make Louis more sympathetic to me. And the whole thing is summed up pretty well with Lestat admitting that they could've never loved each other as much then as they could now.
-Of course not, they simply didn't get each other back then.
In my eyes this book is a masterpiece. Seldom have I read a character written so magnificently. When was the last time I felt so much while reading a book? What has been as captivating as this lately? I honestly don't remember.
I shamelessly enjoyed every moment of it and will do so again.
Of course, the book had its flaws. One major point bothering me is when Lestat's telling about his time as an invalid. He told of Armand visiting, but not of Louis, who on the other hand told the reader in IwtV that he did in fact found Lestat at some point and even talked to him. And since Lestat "read" the same thing, he must've known that Louis had been there, too. But it wasn't ever mentioned in TVL.
So I don't know if the author simply forgot to add it or if it's another case of unreliable protagonist.
Present me is happy that 14-year old me didn't read The Vampire Lestat. 14-year old me wouldn't have been able to appreciated it.
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
funny
reflective
fast-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
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Lestat is often an insufferable narrator, especially in the present, but the huge section where Marius takes over to tell his life story makes it worthwhile. Also, justice for Nicolas when?
adventurous
emotional
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
so this book took me a little over 2 months to read. I initially checked this out from my local library mid-February, before a long weekend trip to Houston, and brought it with me on the plane with the intention of reading but I never did oops. This book was with me during all of the month of Ramadan and into April as well. This book has gone through A LOT with me, just in general, but also because 2025 has been a hell of a year already.
Anyway suffice to say that The Vampire Lestat has really done a number on me! The slow pace in which I read, coupled with distractions from other books (literally reading other books to take breaks from this), while also rewatching season 2 of the AMC show with my friends has made me absolutely enamored and obsessed with Lestat. I can fully understand why Anne Rice loved her character and guy she created so much. I enjoyed this book way more than Interview With the Vampire (IWTV) in a bunch of different ways. I think it's primarily because the book version of Lestat (and also the TV series, let's be real) is way more interesting to me than Louis, but there's also the added piece of the fact that both Lestat and Louis are unreliable narrators in their own respective ways. It was also interesting to see Lestat's perspective in general, though, with bits of his side of the story in IWTV but also just everything before. Lestat is also the craziest narrator ever, and the fact that I could probably start a count of how many times he's burst out into tears is hilarious to me (I'm like 95% sure there's a count of this already somewhere online). Also, hello?? The vampire lore in this? The origins of vampires?? That really threw me off, but I'm so curious to see everything tie in. Not only that, but god, Armand? The way his character was built up even more in this, I genuinely did enjoy it. And of course we can't forget my favorite character of all time in this novel. Gabrielle my beloved. This book genuinely had more lovable characters to me than IWTV, and I am excited to see more of them as I go to read more of the books in this series.
My only grievance with this book (and series in general tbh) is the fact that Anne Rice's narrations and the way she writes things can go on and on for so long that I genuinely had to take breaks and not read because I was getting burnt out, but overall I think the last two parts of this book (the epilogue to IWTV and then the final part in San Francisco) really tied up everything nicely, and that's where I determined that yeah, this book deserves more than 3 stars from me.
After finishing this book, I joked with a few friends that now I'm finally free from the clutches of Lestat, but honestly, am I ever really free? I already want to pick up where this book left off and dive into The Queen of the Damned, but I'm holding off if only because I really want to read my other books. I finally feel like I have the freedom to do so, but I know that I'll come to Lestat again and again, no matter how much I try to not think about him. I love this mess of a man!
Anyway suffice to say that The Vampire Lestat has really done a number on me! The slow pace in which I read, coupled with distractions from other books (literally reading other books to take breaks from this), while also rewatching season 2 of the AMC show with my friends has made me absolutely enamored and obsessed with Lestat. I can fully understand why Anne Rice loved her character and guy she created so much. I enjoyed this book way more than Interview With the Vampire (IWTV) in a bunch of different ways. I think it's primarily because the book version of Lestat (and also the TV series, let's be real) is way more interesting to me than Louis, but there's also the added piece of the fact that both Lestat and Louis are unreliable narrators in their own respective ways. It was also interesting to see Lestat's perspective in general, though, with bits of his side of the story in IWTV but also just everything before. Lestat is also the craziest narrator ever, and the fact that I could probably start a count of how many times he's burst out into tears is hilarious to me (I'm like 95% sure there's a count of this already somewhere online). Also, hello?? The vampire lore in this? The origins of vampires?? That really threw me off, but I'm so curious to see everything tie in. Not only that, but god, Armand? The way his character was built up even more in this, I genuinely did enjoy it. And of course we can't forget my favorite character of all time in this novel. Gabrielle my beloved. This book genuinely had more lovable characters to me than IWTV, and I am excited to see more of them as I go to read more of the books in this series.
My only grievance with this book (and series in general tbh) is the fact that Anne Rice's narrations and the way she writes things can go on and on for so long that I genuinely had to take breaks and not read because I was getting burnt out, but overall I think the last two parts of this book (the epilogue to IWTV and then the final part in San Francisco) really tied up everything nicely, and that's where I determined that yeah, this book deserves more than 3 stars from me.
After finishing this book, I joked with a few friends that now I'm finally free from the clutches of Lestat, but honestly, am I ever really free? I already want to pick up where this book left off and dive into The Queen of the Damned, but I'm holding off if only because I really want to read my other books. I finally feel like I have the freedom to do so, but I know that I'll come to Lestat again and again, no matter how much I try to not think about him. I love this mess of a man!
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
THE MOST AMAZING BOOK IN THE WORLD OH MY GOD 🧎♂️ wish lestat didnt want to fuck his mom though!
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
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