The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice
Lestat. The vampire hero of Anne Rice’s enthralling 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 mesmerizing story–passionate, complex and thrilling.
Boom.
Short and sweet summary for a NOT very short (nor sweet) book.
This was a 22 hour listen, yall. For real, not a light, breezy read in any way, shape or form!
But it shouldn’t be.
That just ain’t Anne Rice’s WAY and I am always HERE FOR IT!
As yall know, I just finished rereading “Interview with a Vampire” and had a good ol’ time with eternally tortured Louie.
I was super duper ready to hear more from Lestat, who everyone loves to hate.
I wanted to know what made him HIM…what his whole deal was…how he became what he became and all the things he had seen and gone thru in his many, many undead years.
All we know up to this point was from Louie’s point of view…the arrogant, needy, self centered “evil” vampire Lestat.
But alas….every story has multiple perspectives and multiple versions of the truth.
What is one’s lived reality is not another’s.
Who knew Lestat was so misundertstood? AND that he was as tortured as poor Louie, just in different ways?
It WAS as interesting as I thought it would be to hear all about him and his past.
Not only did I get to hear more about HIM but I also got to hear about the origins of the Theatres de Vampires, which revealed a unique connection to Lestat AND one with him and Armaund that was NOT revealed in the first book.
Plus there was also lots of information about the origin of the vampire species as a whole from the verrryyyy beginning…which I admit I got a tad lost while listening to ….those parts– as well as some of the other vampire’s backstories– drags quite a bit.
The pace of the story slowed SUBSTANTIALLY at those points and yall, my attention just DRIFTED…as it seems to do🤦♀️
CAN I PLEASE just get thru an expansive book WITHOUT getting lost?!?
Maybe my brain just has TOO much glitter in it sometimes 😆
Anyway, I did enjoy reading this book and hearing Lestat’s story….
EXCEPT
WTFFFFF was the deal with the incestuous nonsense he had going on with his own MOTHER?!?
BARFFFFFFFF, yall 🤢
I *almost* changed my opinion on him until I heard all THAT mess.
My fave thing about Lestat in this book was him as an 80s rock star…THAT was rollicking fun to imagine in my head…but unfortunately that time period was only briefly addressed in the beginning and then at the end of the book.
I wanted more of that time period of his vampire life!
The tail end of the book was HELLA exciting leading up to the next book in the chronicles…super great ending to lead up to the continuation…..ooooo what shall unfold next in the vampire world???
Can not WAIT to find out!