The brat Prince. (The Vampire Lestat - Anne Rice)

Member Name: Bryn Pearson

Product:	The Vampire Lestat - Anne Rice
Date:	20/09/01 (102 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: good story line, new ideas, Lestat.

Disadvantages: you need tor ead 'Interview' first.

"The Vampire Lestat" is Anne Rice's unlikely sequal to "Interview with a Vampire" - a very different book, which I found reinvented the first novel.

"Interview" persented Lestat as quite a monstrous and frightening figure, a keeper of secrets, and tormentor of humanist Louis. In this sequal, we get a great deal more insight into the self styled "brat Prince." This insight will change how you relate to the first book - it alters your perspective of Louis and of the tragic events that unfolded in that first tale.

"Lestat" is written in first person, a ersponse to Louis published whingings, as Lestat sees the need to tell his own story. Having woken up in the 1980s, the aristocratic vampire decideds that the only thing to do is join a rock band and pretend to be a human pretending to be a vampire. This he writes his memoires, and a fascinating tale they are too.

Lestat was born into a failing noble family, who owned a large house, but could barely afford to put food on the table. During his mortal youth, he made several attempts to escape from all of this, but it is only as a young man when he runs off with Nicholas, his friend, that he manages to escape. Once in Paris, he works in a theatre, delighting in the adoration of the audience. It is during this time that he is transformed into a vampire, and he meets Armand. The origins of the vampire theatre are revealled (but I won't tell you.) The book follows Lestat's jouneys as he quests for older vampires, and for some understanding as to where it all began. There are some excellent new characters - Marius, a mysterious figure and our first introduction to Akasha and Enkil - the King and Queen of the damned who feature heavily in the third book. We also get to meet Gabrielle, Lestat's mother, with whom he has a ..... Freudian relationship.

"Lestat" skims over the events in "Interview" and follows th
e brat Prince into 1980s America, the launch of his singing efforts and his desire to reinvent himself. It sets the scene for the third book. (which I will review soon.)

Lestat is an interesting character. Most of the time he's perfectly happy with being a vampire, he delights in his monstrosity, in playing human, and in expereincing. He does outrageuous things just to see if he can get away with it or not. Occasionally, he mopes about and has attacks of self pitty, (just to prove he can whine as well as Louis.) largely he's a cheerful soul, but he has as great a longing for questions as Louis, and an insatiable need for love and adoration which invevitably brings him no end of grief.

Compared with "Interview", "Lestat" is a real romp - although by most standards it's quite a dark book, and some of the episodes are heart rending. Lestat also finds that, like Louis, he destroys what he loves most. I must admit that I had almsot got to the end of this book on my first reading before it ccured to me that Lestat might be bisexual. This becomes a lot more obvious in later books, when Rice becomes more confident writing it. In "Lestat" it is handled quite subtly, but it is important to realise the strength of feeling Lestat has for Nicki (who I now think must have been his lover) in order to understand what Lestat goes through.

This is one of my favourites from the vampire chronicals - it's a good story with a lot of energy and the same seductive powers of "Interview" without quite so much of the angst. It could be read out of context, but would make a lot more sense if you read "Interview with a vampire" first.

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