I’m not sure what my fascination is with Anne Rice.
Before reading Interview with the Vampire, the only other horror novels I’d read were Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. I’ve never even read a page of a Stephen King novel!
Shocked?
Well, I am.
I have an innate desire for horror of this kind: realism and humility. Not the bad monster-type that relies heavily on a ‘science fantasy’ imagination, but Anne Rice’s type that interlinks with society, religion and that the vampires of Rice’s novels live with us.
Chilling concept: that vampires exist?
No, no. That isn’t what I mean. Rice’s vampires have personalities, they differ: they suffer, they ‘live’, they philosophise, they’re kind, they’re greedy: they epitomise, what it is to be human, both good and bad. And never is this more obvious than in The Queen of the Damned. The vampires of Rice’s world personify, and are even morally superior to the human world.
The novel is the third part of the Vampire Chronicles that Rice has written, and follows on from The Vampire Lestat, where Lestat has become a modern day icon, through being a rock star and publishing his autobiography which reveals the secrets of vampires. Of course, the human population doesn’t catch onto the fact that all of it is true and that Lestat’s identity is not fiction.
Akasha, the Egyptian queen and mother of all vampires, has been awakened from her 6,000 year sleep by Lestat’s outspoken behaviour, and has designs on her own infamy: Akasha, wishes to be goddess to the world and to eliminate all vampires and humans who get in her way.
What ensues is an unlikely collaboration between the remaining vampires to stop Akasha; the reunion of Marius, Armand, Louis and Lestat and the First Brood vampires; a dream that haunts the vampire world and its human sympathisers that needs explanation; and an understanding of the fine line between good and evil.
This really is a triumphant novel which brings together all myths and personalities from the previous two novels in the series. Rice, has an uncanny imagination which doesn’t breach the rules of reality. For example, the explanation given of how and why vampires were created is believable even in a fictional novel. This is in essence, how Rice grips the reader in her writing. Although, the subject matter is for most of us, truly unbelievable, it is difficult for the reader to dismiss what is being written purely as fantasy.
It is the relation between what cannot be believed and fact that Rice plays upon within her writing. In Akasha’s plan to be accepted as being a deity she tries to justify her actions to the remaining vampires. “...there will be universal peace if the male population is limited to one per one hundred women. All forms of random violence will very simply come to an end. The reign of peace will be something the world has never known.” Despite the evilness of her plan of destruction, Rice presents Akasha’s motives not simply as random acts of violence but an ‘ideal’ that is almost sweet to swallow. It is this philosophical tone that continues throughout the narrative and causes the consciences of the vampires to be studied, and that of our own human world.
Previously Rice’s style has been ‘autobiographical’ in style told by her vampire authors. The Queen of the Damned however is a collection of witness accounts and first person narratives, which really integrates the thoughts of all those involved within the plot. After all this is the truth of the vampire world!
Rice really shouldn’t be confined to the horror fraternity. What the Vampire Chronicles, and in particular The Queen of the Damned is concerned with is how human nature transcends through the ages and that fiction can disguise the truths of what is wrong with humanity and our world.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Advantages: A must read for Anne Rice fans and those of the vampire chronicles. You won't want to put it down. Disadvantages: Involves other characters, which can either be a good or a bad thing.
Advantages: Wraps up those loose ends from previous books, and still spends much time with Lestat. Disadvantages: Exchanges powerful and charismatic first person storytelling for weaker third person ramblings.
Advantages: A must read for Anne Rice fans and those of the vampire chronicles. You won't want to put it down. Disadvantages: Involves other characters, which can either be a good or a bad thing.
Advantages: Wraps up those loose ends from previous books, and still spends much time with Lestat. Disadvantages: Exchanges powerful and charismatic first person storytelling for weaker third person ramblings.
very helpful by (98%):
helpful by (2%):
