Queen of the Damned - Anne Rice

Queen of the Damned was the third book written by Anne Rice in her popular vampire series 'the Vampire Chronicles'. It's been made into a film just like 'Interview with the Vampire' has but I must confess I haven't actually seen it. So please appreciate I can't comment on whether or not there's any likeness between the book and the film as I usually do in case you've seen it but not read the book. This book tells the story of how Anne Rice's vampires really began. I have to say here that you need to have read either 'The Vampire Lestat' or 'Interview with the Vampire' before you read this book else I really don't think it'll mean anything much to you. ...

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? ...

In Anne Rice's third vampire novel, the questions first posed in "Interview" are finally tackled. How did vampires come to be? Is there any point or meaning to their existence? This is not one of the stronger books because it does depend heavily on the others for context, and in many ways it is a aprt two for "The Vampire Lestat." Lestat's rock band have been releasing songs about Akasha and Enkil, the oldest vampires, about vampirehood and suggesting to the mortal populus that they shoudl rise up. For reasons that might be connected with this, vampires everywhere deide Lestat is something of a threat to them, and Akasha rises from ...