As with the first book in the series, the novel begins with a frame narrative. After over a half century underground, Lestat awakens in the 1980s to the cacophony of electronic sounds and images that characterizes the MTV generation. Particularly, he is captivated by a fledgling rock band named Satan's Night Out. Determined both to achieve international fame and end the centuries of self-imposed vampire silence, Lestat takes command of the band (now renamed "The Vampire Lestat") and pens his own autobiography. The remainder of the novel purports to be that autobiography: the vampire traces his mortal youth as the son of a marquis in pre-Revolutionary France, his initiation into vampirism at the hands of Magnus, and his quest for the ultimate origins of his undead species.

While very different from the first novel in the Vampire Chronicles, The Vampire Lestat has proved to be the foundation for a broader range of narratives than is possible from Louis's brooding, passive perspective. The character of Lestat is one of Rice's most complex and popular literary alter egos, and his Faustian strivings have a mythopoeic resonance that links the novel to a grand tradition of spiritual and supernatural fiction. --Patrick O'Kelley

Product Description
Once an aristocrat in the heady days of pre-revolutionary France, now Lestat is a rockstar in the demonic, shimmering 1980s. He rushes through the centuries in search of others like him, seeking answers to the mystery of his terrifying exsitence. His story, the second volume in Anne Rice's best-selling Vampire Chronicles, is mesmerizing, passionate, and thrilling.
"Frightening, sensual."
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

Unlike most Rice fans, I read this book first, and it has always been my favorite of all the Vampire Chronicls, much more so than "Interview with a Vampire."

I cannot count how many times I have reread this book, and with each reading, I find a new richness, a new insight, a new awe-inspiring peak into the mind of a woman whose genius may be madness, but with whom I will gladly cross the line. (Case in point: This is the only book ever for which I stood in line for hours to have the author inscribe her name.)

I won't belabor the plot here; it is simply too baroque to try to put into simple words. Suffice to say that, in the first person, we meet Lestat, the teenaged son of an impoverished 18th-century nobleman, whose life is at best cold and harsh, at worst, a constant battle with cruelty of every sort for one's mere survival. One particularly dark and fiercely cold night, Lestat, a beautiful young man despite all his hardships, is out with his beloved dogs, hunting wolves. Into the strange fog he rides...and when he first hears the deep, surreal, and otherworldly voice calling him..."Wolf killer, wolf killer," we are there with him. And we are by his side as he becomes, in a strangely but riveting erotic passage, one of the undead. A vampire unto eternity.

All of Anne Rice's intensity, her eroticism, her love of history, her incredible sense of detail, and her dark view of the world is present in this book, much more so than "Interview with a Vampire."

It is my suggestion that, if you want to sample Anne Rice, and have never read any of her works, this may be the book you want to read. And if you know Rice's works but not this particular novel, I urge you not to deny yourself another minute. This is truly one of the must-reads of one's life.


will Lestat ever become human?   December 17, 1999
 18 out of 22 found this review helpful

Lestat, this charming and fascinating character, had a difficult, troubled development. In "Interview with the vampire", the story is very well constructed, the language is exceptionally beautiful, but the characters are not very well focused. Louis describes himself as a victim, but, as a matter of fact, he is selfish, calculator and hypocrite. On the other hand, Lestat appears to be the "villain", but Louis should be grateful to him for saving so many times his life. And what is the return? Death, of course.
But Lestat cannot really die: he is too steadily alive in the author's mind (and heart). In the second book, however, Anne Rice had to change a lot of details. At the beginning, Lestat was the son of a countryman: now he becomes a French nobleman, very disappointed for Louis' misunderstandings. The young Lestat is very devoted to his mother, the Marquise Gabrielle de lioncourt, so much that he changes her into a vampire when he sses her in the throes of death. So we learn something unexpected: vampires are able to love. Killing is only a cruel necessity, and in any case Lestat imposes himself to kill only evildoers.
Will Lestat ever become human? Probably not, spite of "The tale of the Body Thief".But a human counterpart of Lestat exists, at least in Italy. His name is Ephraim Levi, a Jewish, blond-haired piano player, and he is the hero of the novel "Storie segrete" by Eleonora Cavallini, published in 1998 by Edizioni del Girasole, Ravenna. He is loved by men and women indiscriminately. He appears to have no scruples, but shows a very deep respect towards his father's religion.
On the other hand, Anne Rice's vampires are rigorously Christian (let us remember that the author is of Irish origin, just like Bram Stoker). But I suppose that vampires can be nothing but Christian, excepting Chagall, the famous Jewish vampire of Roman Polanski's "Those brave vampire killers".


One of the best literary sequels of all time   December 14, 2000
 18 out of 21 found this review helpful

Published 9 years after "Interview with the Vampire", this sequel tells us the story of Lestat, the villain of the first book. Opening in 1985, we read that Lestat is now a "rock and roll" star. (Note to Anne Rice: people have not said "rock and roll" for quite some time...) This seems a strange change for the brooding vampire of the first book, and it's not entirely successful to me as a reader. It may have worked better in 1985, but by now, it seems a bit unnecessary and kind of silly. Thankfully, this plot is only a framing device for the life story of Lestat de Lioncourt (and that's why I insist on giving this book 5 stars.) "Lestat" is quite a different novel from the first in the series, but we are dealing with an entirely different vampire here than the depressed and vulnerable Louis (who remains my favorite vampire). Lestat's story goes throughout the centuries, and he meets other vampire's who tell their tales. This book is a fantastic pageant that goes back to Ancient Egyptian times, to classical Rome, to pagan Europe, to the times of the French Revolution, to an old, decaying Parisian cemetery and even up to the present time. "The Vampire Lestat" is a much denser novel than the first (which has now become a sort of prelude or teaser to the entire Vampire Chronicles) but it's just as enjoyable. This book seems to be the hands down favorite of most readers of the Vampire Chronicles, but this is not an incentive to read these books out of order. "Interview with the Vampire" contains some very important passages and character development that are important to your understand of the second (especially in one of the final sections of "Lestat"). Amazingly, Rice maintains the continuity between the two novels, and doesn't make any of the "revisionist history" in the second seem false or forced. (Of note is the explanation as to why Lestat's father but not mother was in the first book... that revelation is a shocking one.) Another fun aspect is Lestat's reaction to reading Stoker's "Dracula". And fear not, some of our favorite characters from the first book do appear again... in unexpected ways. One of my favorite characters to be introduced into this book was Akasha, who is the Queen of the Damned of the third novel.

With The Vampire Lestat, Rice again does a wonderful job with her prose; it's a beautifully written, exciting and captivating book. I had no idea where the book was going from one moment to the next, and it never disappointed. Rice even successfully depicts twentieth century America as a fascinating place to be. I never thought a drugstore would seem so interesting. Read this book, but don't read it too fast... savor it, it's worth the time.


Don't believe any review over three stars   December 5, 1999
 15 out of 24 found this review helpful

If, like me, after finishing 'Interview with the Vampire' you are looking forward to reading more about the indiscriminate killing monster known as Lestat then forget it. In an abrupt change of style, Anne Rice portrays him as a big softy, who loves his mummy and cries alot. So, any memories you have from the the last book, for example of when he killed the child slave or danced with Claudias' rotting carcass of a mother, you can forget them right now. From page one he's set up as a goody-goody vampire who only chooses nasty people as victims. And as if this is not enough, the Author goes further in her hatchet job of destroying the imagery of the previous book, with her portrayal of Armand. Forget Antonio Banderas, or anything you read before, he's a child, and he's got an angel face. Can you believe this? Its almost like the book was written by someone else who had forgotten to read the first book, and the difference in writing style between the two books certainly shows. No, Vampire Lestat is a big disappointment. It steals classic characters from a previous book, then makes you lose all respect for them with page upon page of silly nonsense.


enchanting and intriguing   August 28, 2000
 14 out of 14 found this review helpful

I read this book in English. I am Italiam, and it was not that simple for me. But _The Vampire Lestat_ is something you cannot restist. _Interview_ is a beautiful book, indeeed, but I think it's a substantial mistake. Why does Louis obstinately hate Lestat? Why does he not understand that Lestat loves him? Why does he prefer the treacherous Armand? Lestat's end in _Interview_ is terrible, unbeareble. You cannot let a creature die of depression. Even if he were much and much worse than he is descripted. So, thanks to _The Vampire Lestat_! Miss Rice understood what depression really is. Maybe she knows this terrible disease. She gives a chance to her bad boy, to her villain, to her horrible, enchanting and intriguing character. And besides, she writes so well!