Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles

[Nikkolas]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D--Sr-rLohM[/ame]

So after watching and reading Interview with the Vampire maybe a year or two ago, I've finally decided to read the rest of the VC.

Or at least, most of it. Fact is, the vampire who interests me most is Marius. So after I finish Queen of the Damned, I'm gonna skip to his book, Blood and Gold.

The way I hear it, most people say the series took a drastic turn for the worst after QotD. B&G is the first book after QotD where most seem to say it's quite good. Which is a relief for me.

Still, after I finish it, I'll go back and read the rest of the Chronicles. Tale of the Body Thief and then the Devil book and so-on.

What really bugs me about QotD so far is how different Lestat is. The problem is, he's telling us all this and he's an egomaniac. I'm more inclined to trust Louis' view of him in IwtV.

Then again, while I am most intrigued by Marius, of the vampires I know a lot about, Louis is my favorite. His determination to cling to every last bit of humanity in him is endearing. (Marius seems to think so too ironically)
He's also a truly tragic character who i feel for. It's why I cried when Claudia died... Not so much for her but how it killed Louis inside.

Anyway, anyone here read the books or seen the movie? Your thoughts?

 

[Vampdust]

I've got all of the books, but only read through Tale of the Body Thief, which incidentally, is my favorite in the series.

My problem with Anne Rice is that she bogs the reader down with so much detail. It's great because shes creating her own world and is bringing it to life, but after reading three pages about one small detail, my attention starts to wander.

I LOVED IWtV movie, thought it was perfect in every sense! QotD on the other hand...

 

[Kemy]

I have all the books, but I've only read the original trilogy, in fact I'm half way through re-reading Queen of the Damned now.

 

[Taake]

Honestly I love the first vampire Chronicles - Interview..., The vampire Lestat, QotD. Then there's Pandora and Vittorio the vampire which are rather interesting as well. Blackwood farm is pretty good too.

But Memnoch the devil, Merrick, The vampire Armand, Blood canticle... for me they were a steep fall in quality. The stories feel rather contrived and though they might have worked it becomes all too obvious in those books that Anne Rice loves her characters perhaps too much. She has this almost nauseating adoration and worship kind of writing and describing them that just gets too much and completely overshadows her own talent as well as the stories. Mostly the plots feel like an excuse just to re-visit her own characters when there's really no reason to do it.

So I'd recommend the Vampire Chronicles and the New tale of the vampires... after that, for me the rest is worth skipping.

 

[Nikkolas]

Didn't like Blood and Gold then?

 

[Taake]

Didn't like Blood and Gold then?

Oh now that you mention it, if my recall is correct, I actually think that was the last one that I truly enjoyed. Cause Marius is a really interesting character

 

[ashsummers]

Blood and Gold is amazing, an incredibly layered and entertaining read.

 

[nightshade]

Can someone tell me the order of the books as I've read some, but I don't think that I read them in the right order

 

[Skanky Vamp]

Interview, Lestat, Queen of the Damned, Body Thief (i thought was my fav) Memnoch the Suck, Vampire Yawn, Merrick, Blood and Convoluted, and then finally
Blackwood Farm and Blood Canticle where the vamps meet the Mayfair Witches, which actually were not bad books truth be told. Much better than the last few.. Not as good as the first four. But I think Body Thief was the end-all-be-all. (even though I couldnt believe Lestat would be that stupid)