Oh my god. What an hard book to read.

So much theological dilemma.

I like vampires. I like them kind of evil. I even like when the had moral dilemma, like Louis.

But religious dilemmas I don´t really like. For me this is the start of the series decay (I reserve my right to change my opinion after i read the books that I am missing).

I don´t like Christian mythology. And when that gets mixed with vampires, specially when in the Queen of the Damned they say the vampires appeared in like 3000 before Christ, it get to my nerve.

I liked the begining of the book. The chase of Roger, I liked to see Lestat afraid. I even liked when Roger appeared to Lestat and told him his story, and made him promise to protect Dora.

But then he is taken to "heaven" and "hell" and I hate it.
And when Armand goes to the sun I just wanted to kill Anne Rice for such a stupid ending... ( )

Well, this was an interesting read; again, like that other Vampire Chronicles, I read this more than 20 years ago. And, wow, back then I thought this was the best book I ever read.

Now, not so much. Perhaps I've grown as a reader? Perhaps I expect more as a reader. Perhaps my (limited) experience as a fiction writer, has made plotting and structure easier to understand. Who knows?

The premise is interesting, but it's disjointed. It felt like Anne had a great idea that took up 150 pages, but to make it standard book length she filled it in with fluff and subplots which added nothing to the story.

You could easily cut it down to novella length and have a much more concise and easy to read book. I can't count the number of times that her religious, confusing, ramblings read more to me like, "blah, blah, blah".

The premise is based around Lestat being asked by The Devil to become his lieutenant to teach us poor mortals how to forgive God for bringing us so much pain - basically.

The Devil - Memnoch (not Satan, he hates that name) - takes Lestat on a "journey of discovery" that takes him to Hell, Heaven, and Jesus' death in Jerusalem.

The best part of the novel is when Memnoch explains how the universe/world came to be, through evolution to today, where Heaven and Hell, the Angels, and God and the Devil fit in. But again, this great story felt clunky. It was as if Anne was plotting using bullet points. And then this happened and then that happened and then this happened. Etc.

Overall, not the experience I remembered from my past. Back then this book was in my Top 5; now, perhaps the Top 30... Perhaps.
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I am not a fan of vampire novels - not because of the characters themselves but ... authors tend to portrait them as so blimey sensitive that it is impossible.

They are immortals (or near-immortals), they've seen empires and civilizations rise and fall, they have the urge to kill people or make them vampires by sucking their blood but they are sooo sensitive it is unbelievable.

Whenever I read about immortal men and women I compare the work against Wagner's Kane - much more believable "immortal" character, one that has been there, did that and looks at all the others as mere pawns, time-limited acquaintances. Don't get me wrong he does get in love, has passion but he is simply ..... bored because he can foresee what comes next because he saw it before.

Lestat is similar character, rebel in soul, adventurer and murderer but vampire with doubts regarding the religion .... vampire in spiritual crisis. Interesting premise and interesting story - I enjoyed it.

What I cannot understand is why is Lestat's character so emotional - he kills people for centuries in order to survive but suffers immensely every time he draws blood? Little silly in my opinion but OK. I don't say he has to be a brute, a killer - there are numerous novels about similar characters who end up in spiritual crisis but who have a stand, a look at the world, who did horrible things and know it - you don't have to like them but you can understand them and their views. But Lestat is so emotional, so unstable that when everybody around him remembers his feats and adventures you simply cannot link those events to Lestat character.

Story is OK, plot is interesting (especially like the twist) but Lestat's character and pretty rushed ending kinda ruin it a bit for me.



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not my favorite of the series,? ( )

So great. Reminiscent of Milton. I loved it. ( )