I have only read the first book so... you are telling me dramatic gay Louis wrote a tell all about his ex boyfriend. And Lestat was like “Na ah sis, here’s the real tea”. And then all their friends were like “Oh the drama is goooooood” and just copy them. Risking their own lives by doing so? Vampires in this universe are just beauty youtubers.
@ITK FTN I'd love to see some "Real Housewives of X" murder each other by: poison, sunlight, drowning, blood-letting, etc. THAT would actually make me want to watch those series. For now, I'll stick with Anne Rice and "Tru Blood's" Sookey Stackhouse. ♥ ♥ ♥
Out of all the things I expected to learn “Lestat had a mental breakdown because his book was a critical failure and became a youth pastor who beats up drug lords with his mind powers” was certainly not one of them.
I would have loved a book about Gabrielle de Lioncourt, Lestat's mom. I think Anne Rice truly missed the opportunity here, she is a very interesting character! And she could have show us Lestat's childhood (wouldn't it be adorable?) A great video! Thank you for your time and effort making it! Greetings from Spain!
you're not the only one. my co-worker and i joke about what her book would be like all the time. usually its like this I am the Vampire Gabrielle....I am the mother and the child of The Vampire Lestat.....oh shit what is my brat of a son up to this time!
@@nursemain3174 There's a Graphic Novel that follows Claudia's short Vampire life. Appropriately named Interview with a Vampire: Claudia's Story. It's written by Ashely Marie Witter, & I believe it's received Rice's blessing to be considered canon. Check it out. The artwork is gorgeous.
Fun fact: the original draft of Interview With The Vampire ended with Louis and Claudia finding the Theatre of the Vampires and living happily ever after, but her editor encouraged her to explore more and that's how we got the tragic bittersweet ending.
My favorite of the series is Tale of the Body Thief. Mostly because of ONE single reason. Lestat having to take a dump for the first time in over 200 years. That was pure gold.
I feel like that book had more comic relief than any of the others I've read so far. I found myself laughing out loud at some of the scenes in Body Thief. The only other time that I can think of that I thought was funny is Armand cooking animals in the microwave in Queen of the damned. Morbid but rediculous.
I think it was partially memorable because the premise of an extremely powerful, nearly immortal, vampire figuring out how to live as an actual human was really odd. The whole plot is weird really. Lestat attempts suicide in the desert. Gets a tan. For some reason I remember it fairly well after two decades.
It's such a careful needle to thread that I've so rarely seen done anywhere else. I am simultaneously incredibly compassionate for and also furious at Armand most of the time. Which is, I think, how both Louis and Lestat feel about him, so it's probably the appropriate emotion. Armand is compelling and entirely untrustworthy.
If I were to cross him in passing I'd approach him with extreme caution while I'd be more at ease around Marius and Lestat but I'd be nervous around Lestat because of his unpredictable personality he'd either kill me or talk to me xD
For anyone curious who needs a guide, here's the publishing order 1. Interview With The Vampire 2. The Vampire Lestat 3. The Queen of the Damned 4. Tale of the Body Thief 5. Memnoch the Devil ~ 6. Pandora (New Tales of the Vampires) 7. The Vampire Armand ~ 8. Vittorio The Vampire (New Tales of the Vampires) 9. Merrick (crossover with The Witching Hour) 10. Blood and Gold 11. Blackwood Farm (Crossover with the Witching Hour) 12. Blood Canticle ~ Revival a decade later ~ 13. Prince Lestat 14. Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis 15. Blood Communion
Girl, you should totally run a "Vampire Chronicles" book club! Assign chapters per week then discuss at the end of the week what we read, etc.. It would be so much fun!!!
My personal favorite is Interview, because it has by far the strongest feeling of connection with the Author... if you know what she was going through around the time she wrote it... it really feels like her entire soul is inked onto every page and I could see some aspect of her struggles reflected in nearly every character... I've found that the further you go in the series, the more distant Rice gets from her work
Memnoch the Devil was only interesting to me because it felt like it was mostly Anne Rice asking searching to understand her faith and asking questions about why her God would ordain this or allow that. As somebody who has asked similar questions, I felt that was very real.
It's really interesting to get an overview of Anne Rice's vampire books from the perspective of someone who knows them well and has a deep, but not uncritical, affection for them. I read three and a half of the first four books book in the 80s and early 90s. I loved the first three books, but lost interest halfway through the fourth. I think the video helps me understand why. I really wasn't onboard for the books to become specifically about the manic-depressive Lestat show; constantly hurtling between suicidal depression and bacchanalism. We've all fallen for a hot mess drama queen. But, if you haven't fallen for that specific hot mess drama queen, then, at best, you're only going to stick around for the sick rush of schadenfreude.
@@ANT96-x8d Yeah--incredibly sad. To lose two of the people who really formed the person I am in my teenage years--first Stephen Sondheim now Anne Rice.
It's kinda sad that Anne Rice wrote the latest book as an ending, sort of like facing her own mortality and that by itself exhibits more courage on her part than I'll probably ever exhibit in my life.
I checked the timeline of writing since Blood Canticle was when Lestat was “having a manic breakdown”. That came out in 2003 and Stan Rice died in 2002 so I imagine that probably had a lot of influence. Probably just didn’t get mentioned because it’s kind of a downer to the tone but grief will really mess with you
Yeah, definitely had, significant event in her life can always be tracked in those books, like how she wrote Interviews after the death of her daughter
Me: just finished QotD Maven: you CANNOT read the new trilogy without reading ALL the 10 books before. Me:... Me: *adds Prince Lestat to cart* I’m sure she doesn’t mean it
I want a Claudia novel and a Gabrielle novel from their prospective. The Claudia will never happen due to how she was inspired. Both would be fascinating to read through there eyes though.
QotD is my favorite for the Daniel and Armand love affair, and the history of the Vampires origin. Armand is my favorite Vampire too, by far. imo, it is her best most thought out novel in the whole series. The characters were fleshed out whereas in later books they are not at all. There are so many vampires now with zero personality in her books, I just can't get into them.
I love how everyone's top list is so different due to personal preferences. My favorite book in the series is Blood and Gold. I thought It was just so grand and lush. Plus Marius is the most complex character, rivaling Lestat. His war with Eudoxia is one of the most intense moments in the series for me. I absolutely love that book. Even the book ends resulting in the end of Santino were great! Two books that are also in my top five are on your lowest ranking, being Memnoch the Devil and Vittorio The Vampire. Memnoch was fascinating book and being raised in a Christian household, it felt like taboo reading such deconstruction of creation and the relationship of God and Satan. With Vittorio, I thought the atmosphere was so campy and densely gothic. His entire adventure about avenging his family and murdering a vampire coven with the cliché vampire seductress was in the same being as Tale of The Body Thief; taking a know concept but giving it the Anne Rice lush writting. I loved these two books and I avidly defend them in the fandom. I did hope that Vittorio would appear by the end of Blood Communion and join the happily ever after but oh well..
Yea I loved Queen of the Damned and Memnoch the Devil for the reason she was lukewarm about them: cause of the epic mythologies they told. When it told the stories of how vampires were created or when Heaven and Hell came about I was blown away. And when during the book they returned to what the characters were doing in present time I was annoyed. lol
When I started reading the Vampire Chronicles I was 14 and I didn't have access to them in English (because I am from Eastern Europe) and they weren't all translated yet in Romanian. So I read and re-read the first 4 or 5 until they literally fell apart. By the time my reading comprehension in English got good enough to read an Anne Rice book, I was already deeply attached to some character couples in her book (namely Armand & Marius). I was in an art high school studying oil painting and went on to art university; I was pretty much worshipping Marius, and the idea of Master & Apprentice also being in a romantic relationship. I bought my first book in English, Blood & Gold and started reading... and I hated the plot and the book soo much that I didn't even finish it. I just threw it away because I got angry at Marius for leaving Armand and giving a shit explanation for it 😂. It's been more than 10 years since I "read" Blood and Gold and I am still upset. I listen to the Vampire Chronicles audiobooks from time to time but I always stop right before Blood and Gold. I just have a visceral reaction and I get angry at the characters. I have noticed that I have always been very critical with Anne's female Characters and from my point of view, she is not very great at making female characters. I mean I love Gabrielle but I absolutely HATE Akasha and Bianca and Rowan (from the Witching Hour). My number one Vampire Chronicle book is Memnoch and then the Body Thief and then followed by Interview with the Vampire. Lestat is fun, but his story doesn't carry me like that...
@@oanaheller2166 i agree with the Lestat point. I don't care much for him. I enjoy him but he is too much of a brat and his impulsive character gets under my nerves. I enjoy the other characters more.
My top 3 is 1 - Interview with the Vampire 2 - The Vampire Lestat 3 - Blood and Gold I cannot avoid putting the first book at the top, since it is such a powerful foundation to everything else in the series. It's that good. (Also, I haven't read the last 3 books yet)
I've watched this the whole way through like 3 times by now just because your enthusiasm for this series is so powerful and contagious. Like I was fairly ambivalent about The Vampire Chronicles before, but after seeing this I've got the urge to track down the rest of the books that I haven't read
This video was so fun! Thank you for the time and dedication it took to put it together! I will check out more of your CZcams content :-) I've read all her books, Vampire Chronicles and otherwise. My VC ranking is as follows: 1. Memnoch the Devil 2. Queen of the Damned 3. Pandora 4. The Vampire Lestat 5. Interview with the Vampire 6. Prince Lestat 7. The Vampire Armand 8. Blood and Gold 9. Merrick 10. Vittorio the Vampire 11. Tale of the Body Thief 12. Blackwood Farm 13. Blood Communion 14. Blood Canticle 15. Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis I love your reviews and thoughts in that what you vehemently disliked about Memnoch and QotD is what I love most about them: the side stories. I was raised hyper-Catholic so Memnoch's existential story of the history of heaven, Hell, Jesus- all that really resonates with me. The story of the twins in QotD is one of my favorite arcs of the entire series. Pandora I loved, to your point, because it was one of the few pieces written through the POV of a female vampire, as well as her perspectives of turn of the millennia Rome and delving into the historical importance of Antioch. A lot of the middle stories have a lot of overlap, particularly the Vampire Armand and Blood and Gold. I adore all the art history, and the return to Italy unlike she's done since Cry to Heaven (unrelated to the VC). In a recent re-read of Blood and Gold, however, I realized that I had wanted more of an overlap of his life with Pandora than was written, and much less (if any at all) of an overlap with Armand as Armand's POV does a more than adequate job describing life with Marius after being rescued in Venice. The bottom third of my list I think are all just okay. I love Anne Rice's writing style and didn't have a hard time in the once or twice I have re-read them. You are obviously much more of a diehard fan of all things Lestat- which, hey, we're all fans or we don't read the entire series, right?- but for me, Tale of the Body Thief never does it for me. I think it's a valid story in that yes, after QotD, Lestat would be having an existential crisis of what to do following the extermination of Akasha. Unfortunately for me, I'm not as bought on to his POV explorations in the modern world to thoroughly love the book as much as others. I will end my thoughts on the VC by stating that I didn't like the further explanation of Amel and the alien contact. I was satisfied with the origins as they were described in QotD and felt that Amel, like all things in life, had a mysterious history that could have been left as such. Sorry if it comes off as brash, but as a long time fan, the explanation of the origins of the vampire essence (?) in Realms of Atlantis was a bit of a boner killer for me. (Lol) Like you, I'm a huge lifelong fan regardless of individual praises or criticisms I may have. I love her work so much, I've made it to her Halloween masquerade ball in New Orleans twice and got to see her in person both times. The second time was right when Prince Lestat was published and I had three days or so to cram the book so I "felt like I read the assignment before going to class" (funny enough most people at the masquerade hadn't finished or read it yet lol). Her writing has been such an inspiration to me in becoming who I am, alt and queer and all. It would be super rad to know your thoughts on Lives of the Mayfair Witches- I know, non-vampire so perhaps someplace else. The Witching Hour stands as one of my top three favorite books of hers, while Lasher and Taltos gave me lukewarm enjoyment. (I guess delving into the Taltos just didn't do it for me). Also, your thoughts on non-series books (Feast of All Saints, Cry to Heaven, Servant of the Bones, The Mummy, if you've read them) would be cool as well. I find there are so many gems of stories in those that many fans overlook. Thanks again! Looking forward to more of your content :-)
Lestat and Queen are tied at the top for me. Don't love the newer books (not read the most recent yet) as much, they read like fan fiction to me and I cringed any time Rice tried to incorporate science into Prince. More like magic since it's so paper thin and clearly just an excuse to give Lestat a son out of nowhere. Personally I find the series and Lestat less interesting following Queen of The Damned. Edit. Blood and Gold was a pleasant surprise though and easily my favourite outside of the original trilogy. Nice to see it get some love.
@@GreatgoatonFire I never read the two mummy books, but they are like reverse vampires (immortals from egypt via elixar which anything that touches it will become indestructable....including plants and fish....it's gruesome, Started reading wolf gift, but lost my copy.
When Anne Rice passed away I decided I’d do the audiobooks so now I’m on Vampire Lestat and I love him so much. He’s so tender and I would say just as human as Louie.
@@darkservantofheaven and not even only the post twilight generation. I was there for most of the original releases of the vampire chronicles but still only now read it for the first time.
As someone who has only seen the movies, the thing I learned from this video that I'm most surprised by is that king of charisma Lestat is also gullible as hell.
Actually, I AM an Armand fan. I loved your ranking, though I am less inclined to agree with your ranking of the newer books only because I'm not really a fan of the direction they took. It's difficult getting beyond the aliens, the status of Amel, and that whole thing with Mekare. Definitely not a fan of that. I liked my ancients just as they were and am slow to accept altered lore and new characters. It was difficult enough for me to accept Thorne (spoiler, I still haven't accepted him). I started reading the series in earnest in 1995 after Memnoch and read every subsequent publication as they were released until Blood Canticle. That book and Merrick almost broke me. I agree with you on Memnoch. I think it could have been interesting if she actually went somewhere with that character, especially considering the information we get in the most recent trilogy. Anyway, another great review! I loved every moment.
Thank you so much for this video! I haven't read these books in years and feel that I may have not read a few. This reminder makes me want to go back and either read or reread some of them.
This is great! It never occurred to me that different facets of the books could appeal to different people. I reread Queen of the Damned because I love the flashback scenes. Come to think of it, I love all the "listen to my 300-page life story" moments. I'd completely forgotten that Merrick used love spells. Whoops. I just remember being happy that Rice incorporated Black magical traditions. Anyhow, wonderful video!
😢 I am one of those fans who ranked Memnoch extremely high on my list and exactly for the reasons that you mentioned. I love Lestat and his relationship with Louie but what drew me to all the books was more of the urban fantasy and listening to the back stories about what happened in years past. Finding out about the creation of vampires, learning about the history of the Mayfair witches, hearing the account of the creation and subsequent existence of a genie, Azriel, and everything to do with Memnoch. Honestly I think it's my interest in archeology that led me to enjoy these parts of Anne Rice's books.
I really want to read the whole series but you've actually gotten me really interested in Blackwood Farm, the Witch trilogy, and Pandora. The whole series sounds very interesting but those 5 and descriptions you gave them stand out the most to me.
Pandora is one i feel people kind of sleep on. It was the 3rd book i read and i enjoyed it ALOT. The connection between Armand and Pandora's book, the character interactions, and i wish more was done with Pandora's story.
after watching this video, i've decided to finally dive into the vampire chronicles!!! i was part of the generation who started reading for fun because of twilight. looking back, that wasn't a great start. due to school, i have stopped leisure reading (studying law does that T.T) but watching the videos on your channel makes me so excited to back to leisure reading. over the year of watching your videos, i was so tempted to read but i was so busy. finally, i'm going to dive into it!!! thank you so much for reminding me about how amazing books are!!! (btw, i've already bought your book as an audiobook and i'm excited to listen to it too!)
Having read and loved them all I can honestly say that I wish we had gotten more novels from Louis' perspective as I always preferred him to Lestat. I love Lestat too but find he's better in small doses. Anne Rice is one of the few authors who is as good at philosophy and historical depictions as she is at action and drama. Here's my list: 01.) Interview With The Vampire (1976) -- Reason: Louis is my favorite literary character bar none. 02.) Pandora (1998) -- Reason: I loved her character almost as much as Louis and the depiction of the fall of the Roman Empire from her perspective was so intriguing. 03.) Blackwood Farm (2002) -- Reason: Quinn and Mona are not dead, Do You Hear Me?! Favorite romance ever tying together my two favorite book series ever. 04.) The Queen of the Damned (1988) -- Reason: Amazing story telling the secret origin of Vampires, not to be missed. 05.) Blood Canticle (2003) -- Reason: Wonderful tie in to one of my other favorite series: Lives of the Mayfair Witches. The Taltos are also really cool. 06.) Merrick (2000)-- Reason: Another great crossover to the Mayfair Witches as well as my beloved Louis getting some much needed action. 07.) The Vampire Armand (1998) -- Reason: More historical awesomeness. Truth be told, I probably like Armand more than Lestat because he reminds me of poor vicious Claudia. 08.) Tale of the Body Thief (1992) -- Reason: Fantastic idea for a story and lots of expanding of the rich supernatural world of the Chronicles. 09.) Memnoch the Devil (1995) -- Reason: A fascinating take on both heaven and hell and Lestat punches the Devil in the face. 10.) Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis (2016) -- Reason: Very science fiction and very fun. Louis is also back and finally gets something to do. 11.) Vittorio the Vampire (1999) -- Reason: A truly beautiful journey back into history. Also, I'm a sucker for a good story about Angels and Vampires. 12.) Blood and Gold (2001) -- Reason: Marius gave us both Armand and Pandora and if that's not enough reason to love him, he also tells one hell of a story. 13.) The Vampire Lestat (1985) -- Reason: Great book, as they all are, but I can only take so much of the Brat Prince before I get tired of him. 14.) Prince Lestat (2014)-- Reason: See above 15.) Blood Communion (2018) -- Reason: Hands off my Pandora, Arjun! She deserved so much better. I couldn't disagree more with your characterization of some of these books, obviously. Mainly I like it that Louis and Lestat didn't remain static and showed very different aspects of their personalities as they are quite old Vampires and so should be many-faceted, not to mention have the capacity to change and grow. I also didn't care if an interesting character like Vittorio never appeared in any of the other works or differed from a lot of the other Coven of the Articulate by being hetero. Nor do I believe in holding a grudge against a book because of what Anne Rice did with her career. In defense of Blackwood Farm, it's kind of funny that in a book about undead creatures and magic what trips you up is that Quinn and Lestat had a conversation that was too long. I always just figured they talk faster than is humanly possible with their preternatural senses or that some or all of it was communicated telepathically. Not clear how Lestat's behavior with Mona in Blood Canticle is any more horrible and toxic and wrong than what he did to Louis and Claudia. The dude is messed up. 😜
Armand's fan here! Completely on board with you on "his" book. My top three would be: Vampire Lestat, Queen of the Damned and a tie between Armand and Pandora. I liked Memnoch as a concept and as a book, but not as part of the Vampire Chronicles. Love your videos as always😁
The first five are great. Introduction, Lestat tells his back story to the interviewer and starts a goth rock band with his vampire abilities that awaken the first vampires, Lestat fights the Adam and Eve of vampires, Lestat has his body stolen by a mage and becomes a mortal, Lestat fights a being that claims to be the devil.
I would recomend it... Also if you turn out to be like me and don't care about Lestat as the main character I would also recomend stoping there. Almost everything in one way or another revolves around him from that point on. On the other hand if you really like him you have a host of books to read afterwards :)
You will not be sorry. I've read them all, except the final 2 which are on top of my "To Read" list, & they definitely bring the reader into a compelling new world. Be careful though, these books may lead you into a wonderful obsession that could last a lifetime!
Congratulations on making a successful return to scripted videos, Maven! Thanks for continuing to do your best for us in the time of the "new normal". I'm drinking a toast to you
Your channel makes me want to finish reading the whole series. It was Merrick that made give up reading them Interview and Blood and Gold are my top 2. I love emo Louis with a burning 13 year-old goth kid passion that has never faded.
I haven't read the books, but every time you talk about them I want to! Definitely going to check out my local library and see if I can get my hands on them (in order don't worry). I'm also really interested in learning more about the fandom history and Anne Rice's history with her books and the fandom (I know about the fanfiction stuff but that's it). So if anyone wants to fill me in, I'd greatly appreciate it (I'm poking around the internet too, so no worries)!!
could you go more in depth as to why the two before the last three are no longer canon? like how are they just removed from the canon like what did Anne say specifically about this, I find this very strange. If we're meant to just forget about them why aren't they out of print? I HAVE SOOO MANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THISS
No! I was laughing throughout reading it. It was a crack up when he ranted about Memnoc But to be honest, it wasn't completely out of character with his lovable Narcistic Unlike the rest of the book. It was werid af
*Semi-spoiler alert in regards to Blood Canticle!* Can somebody tell me if they think Mona and Quinn are dead or not? I still can't believe Anne Rice would murder off that couple, so soon after they fell in love and were "turned". I don't think she ever comes out and says anything definitive about their fate, only hints.
The graphic novel told from Claudia's point of view is my favorite. Her character fascinated me as a tween/young adult so it was nice to "spend more time" with her. Plus the art is lovely.
as someone who loves Anne and Vampire Chronicles I still have to admit seeing Blood Canticle and Blackwood Farm crossed out with big red cross is so satisfying tbh 🤣 Glad Anne herself confirmed they are ret-coned because I never want to read them again and pretend they don't exist indeed. Vampire Lestat will always be the best book in the series in my opinion, one I can always reread for the lest of my life. and I also have a really soft spot for Armand's and Marius's books they are fantastic.
Blood and Gold and The vampire Armand are in my top five of the series (though i haven't read the three new ones) because their relationship is just so interesting to me (also I like sewer gremlins and history) plus my bi self also can't complain about that aspect
I am a Marius girl through and through. He is my prince to be honest and I was squealing like a baby when I found out about Blood and Gold. Vampire Lestat is my favorite book because it is where we first meet Marius, but Blood and Gold is a close second.
I really like your self irony and wit and general style!, and also am fan of the novels, they have accompanied me through life since I read Interview in the early 90s; just recently I belatedly read Blood Communion which I surprisingly found better than the two aforegoing ones. Am looking fw to perusing your fun videos!
This is such a late comment, but I just wanted to say I read them all (even the Mayfair witches ones) and that I started cry laughing once you started ranking the worst ones. I love Prince Lestat for the same reasons you mentioned. People are complaining about Anne Rice just wanting to cash in on her VC fame, but I was there celebrating how she retconned Blood Canticle 😂😂 It was all just a fever dream...
Thank you! I have had the Prince Lestat book sitting on my shelf from 2014 unopened, because of the terrible disappointment after reading Merrick and Mamnoch! So I will finally read it!!!! Thank you! My favourite is also The Vampire Lestat, then: The Vampire Armand, Blood and Gold, The Tale of the Body Thief, Interview With the Vampire, Queen of the Damned, Pandora, Mamnoch the Devil, Merrick, and I couldn't finish the Blackwood Farm, now I realise, it's because I hadn't even touched the witch books and had no idea what was happening 85% of the time. The Vampire Lestat was my first ever vampire book, and although I didn't know English so well, it was AMAZING! Changed my life and got me sucked into all of this. Please make more of these videos!!! I want to know moooreeee! Without having to read the books I don't personally like.
I've read all her vampire books except Vittorio. I just re-read the first 3, and I thought they'd seem dated since she started writing them in the mid 70s, but all three still seem timeless and were great fun to revisit. I'm from New Orleans, and in the late 80s, Anne Rice began having yearly Halloween costume balls, called "Le Temps du Vampire". The first few years I think she threw the parties at her house in the Garden District, but eventually they had to move to a larger venue.
Gosh I miss your videos! I've only read the classic Interview with the Vampire. I knew the other existed but I never knew they were all conected! Im really gonna dive into all the others! (specially Vampire Lestat!)
i left off the series after queen of the damned, hearing about aliens, ghosts, atlantis, etc made me just go "nah, i'm fine". but this video tempts me into the finishing the series, just to see the drama
I found your review highly entertaining! I usually skip them but I loved every minute of yours. Thank you :) I read Interview when I was a teen, and this year at 29 I picked up The Vampire Lestat for the first time. It quickly became one of my ALL TIME FAV BOOKS! I followed with Queen of the Damned and devoured it. I came here because Body Thief destroyed me :( and I needed to see if reading any further would compound the damage. I love Lestat, and I cant bear to see him more traumatised than he was during his whole human body ordeal, and then uncharacteristically turn on David like that. It was an assault on his character to me. So here is my ranking: 1. The Vampire Lestat 10/10 2. Queen of the Damned 9/10 3. Interview with the Vampire 9/10 4. Blood and Gold 8/10 5. Tales of the Body Thief 4/10 I plan to read Pandora, the Vampire Armand and Blood & Gold (because Marius is my fav apart from Lestat). But I will skip the rest, because I dont think I can take the aliens. Please god, no aliens! *rips hair out* Edited to include ranking for blood and gold
Only a true collector, has the paperbacks and hardcovers. Paperbacks can be read through, so much more easily. Hardcovers are usually double spaced, more pages. They are only a collectible thing. I save paperbacks for reading. I'm jealous of the three initial vampire chronicle book you have. That thing looks awesome!
I love all the times you said "Don't worry, he gets better" 😂I just started Prince Lestat. I also have the graphic novel about Claudia. I haven't read it yet, but I've seen the art and It's beautiful💖 Awesome video💖 (sorry for my english 😅)
I have been obsessed with all things Anne Rice since the first instant I was forbidden from watching the Tom Cruise/Brad Pitt movie as a kid. I have read every, single, one of her books; and I agree we are a rare breed. I honestly try to dodge the: "What's your favorite?" question as much as possible, because it shifts and changes throughout various stages of my life. The Vampire Armand stands out as an almost guilty pleasure, because as a gay man I enjoyed it thoroughly in my teens for...yeah. You know why. It's always funny to me how the younger kids who proclaim to love genre fiction take a kind of weird pride in NOT reading or loving Anne Rice. And it always baffles me, because like Shakespeare; EVERYTHING is in these books. Every emotion, every kind of story and every trope you can imagine.
I just discovered your channel yesterday cause you came up on my recommend. So I decided to give this video a shot cause hot damn do I love me some Lestat and omg you did NOT disappoint!!! I love your explanations of why you ranked each book and it's so nice to hear genuine things from fans. Absolutely great job and I look forward to watching more!
1. The Vampire Lestat- the wolves, dancing in the flames, Gabrielle, meeting those who must be kept, Marius ritual, enkil trying to crush lestat and the queen screaming, the concert, akasha coming to lestat. Who called him wolfkiller/wolfslayer that night?? 2. Queen of the Damned- Jesse at her aunt's house, the queen in the sky, Pandora eating the heart, Marius' message, the dreams, akasha killing men, akashas death 3. Realms of Atlantis- the arm scene, amel, the cloning, feeding on the replimonds, chopping off the arm, the sacred core. 4. Prince Lestat- the voice, lestats son, scared core, killing Marahet, Marahet and the volcano, the burnings 5. Merrick- voodoo, the Mayfair witches, the mask, Louis death, spell on David, lestat waking. Disappointed in the ending. 6. Memnoch- the statue, scared of the coming devil, the rip in the fabric of reality, the eyeball, lestat turning away and rejecting the story, eating out blood. Too heavy. What does the eyeball meannnn. 7. Blackwood Farm- Quinn's ghost, the island, the idea that it might be a Taltos, goblin growing stronger, Merrick burning. Disappointed ending. 8. Blood Communion- too short, giving the immortal bodies to the crowd to devour. 9. Interview- don't remember much, Claudia being a horror, the other kind of vampire, lestat. 10. Blood Canticle- disliked Mona, glad we got an end to the witch story but hated it. Wish I left it where Taltos ended and just wondered what happened. 11. Body Thief- lestat felt sick the whole time and made me feel sick with him. I liked the cruises, astral projection, turning David at the end was horrible and amazing. 12. The Vampire Armand- the egg, Marius' painting looking like portals. I didn't like not knowing how old Armand was and how sexual it was. Overall disliked Armand. 13. Blood and Gold- I liked throne, dislike Marius, didn't read Pandora, boring. I like Daniels hobby, throne giving his eyes to Marahet, turning her hair into chains.
I love this series. I read Interview when I was maybe...15? back in 1999. I've read it twice again since and can really find something to love in all that I've read....well...except Vittorio. He was entirely forgettable. The original trilogy are three of my favorite books of all time. I read the Mayfair Chronicles in 2001 when I was 17 before picking up Merrick and liked them too. I think I was in the right headspace to embrace the weirdness. lol. Didn't pick up The New Tales until after I read Blood Canticle but they didn't pull me in as much. I loved Prince Lestat when it came out but really dragged my feet moving on to the Realms of Atlantis which I'm in the middle of now. The title alone had me scratching my head but it's got me intrigued so far once I picked it up. Blood Communion is the only one I have not read yet but can't wait. Ranking so far: (maybe I'll come back and revise once I finish the last 2) 1 Interview with the Vampire 2 Queen of the Damned 3 The Vampire Lestat 4 Prince Lestat 5 Blood and Gold 6 The Vampire Armand 7 Tale of the Body Thief 8 Memnoch The Devil 9 Blackwood Farm 10 Blood Canticle 11 Merrick 12 Pandora 13 Vittorio The Vampire
I recently started a reread of the series and watching you gush about these books just made me all the more excited to delve back into them. Much like you, this series was such a huge part of my life and definitely attributed to my queer awakening! I was really excited when Prince Lestat came out but never finished it since the first half felt just really hard to get through... I’m actually excited to try it again once I finish my grand reread after watching this 🙂 I was also really happy to see Blood and Gold so high on this list! The art historian in me is definitely biased, but it really is such an interesting story from a historical standpoint, and Marius is SUCH a flawed and fascinating character. I definitely would have liked more Pandora, though, because she is an absolute delight and always deserves more screen time. Also, I am that shameless Armand fan, guilty as charged. I will love my murderous sewer goblin to the end of my days 🖤
About halfway through. As someone who knows minimal about TVC and Vampires in general (other than keeping my facial hair in sweet vampire-esque chops, and having played VTM...) you keep my attention. I highly enjoy looking into the window of this content. Thank you for being thorough enough for all to enjoy. I enjoy all the reviews, I finally felt the need to comment. :-)
Quite on point, marvelous Maven. First time I read Interview it was from dusk till dawn; classy tie, shirt, blazer & pressed pants. An old friend had read the book, kept on talking about it, so I followed.
I loved your video, but I just don't agree with Memnoch's position. I really liked the book and I found an important point for Lestat's maturation. I liked Merrick, but the ending really had to be improve writing. Regarding the blood community, I loved, cried and wanted more (the book is very short, I wanted more from Louis and Lestat, and more from Lestat and Armand.) The only book I didn't like was Cantico Blood (I totally agree with all your criticize, and it's a pity, because I loved Blackwood Farm. I wanted Quinn Blackwood alive and present in the new trilogy. Mona, she was very annoying and spoiled. )
@0:14 When I literally had to pause this far in because I had to stop laughing, I knew I was in for a good time. Btw, been following you ever since you helped The Dom with Interview/Queen.
Queen of the damned stuck with me better than them all, and I really loved body thief, and of course, lestat. Also, I never got why Anne Rice had to denounce vampire fiction, when she returned to the catholic church. I'm a Louisiana catholic, my mother having been born and raised in the 9th ward; I have never felt a conflict of faith in enjoying vampire fiction. That bit never made much sense to me, and I always viewed her stance on that as an overly dramatic over-the-top gesture. Just silliness.
Yeah, my favorite one has got to be Interview with the Vampire. I've just always preferred Louis to Lestat. Mainly because, like Lestat, I fell in love with his tragic heart. The tragedy surrounding his life (and unlife), and his regrets that he feels at being made a vampire is what makes him a beautiful and complex character. Lestat is also cool, but he ranks just underneath Louis for me. Merrick robbed him pretty good in terms of his character arc. I actually would have preferred they kept him dead in Merrick if they were going to shift his character so dramatically upon being restored.
I have read ALLLLLL of them! Including The Lives of the Mayfair Witches. Starting with Memnoch, I read them as they were published. It took this video to make me realize this and how many hours I have spent on these books! Ok well actually, I haven't read Blood Communion yet because Realms of Atlantis did not sit well. But after watching this, I decided it's time and it's on the way. Thank you! In defense of Merrick, I loved the voodoo and ritual magic aspects. Rice had not done that before in such depth and it was fascinating to read. Plus any time they dig Claudia up, you know you're in for some DRAMA! Blackwood Farm is an excellent stand alone story. Very creepy! It's a shame what happened with Quinn. Canticle was terrible!! Ranking my least favorites would be so much easier than my top ones, it's so hard to choose. Great video!
I was just on the hunt for some good vampire fiction. I decided to go back and re-read the Chronicles for the first time in years. Unfortunately I just can't get in to them. I really had to work to get through Interview and tapped out at Lestat. I used to think Lestat was one of my favorite books. I would have said so just two weeks ago. Unfortunately the writing really doesn't hold up to my expectations as they have grown over the years. This was really distressing to me. I feel like there is no large vampire fiction universe of vampire novels out there for me to read. 😕
I have only read the first book so... you are telling me dramatic gay Louis wrote a tell all about his ex boyfriend. And Lestat was like “Na ah sis, here’s the real tea”.
And then all their friends were like “Oh the drama is goooooood” and just copy them. Risking their own lives by doing so?
Vampires in this universe are just beauty youtubers.
Anne Rice created beauty gurus
Oh my God I love this
Yeah, basically.
Dead
@ITK FTN I'd love to see some "Real Housewives of X" murder each other by: poison, sunlight, drowning, blood-letting, etc.
THAT would actually make me want to watch those series.
For now, I'll stick with Anne Rice and "Tru Blood's" Sookey Stackhouse. ♥ ♥ ♥
Out of all the things I expected to learn “Lestat had a mental breakdown because his book was a critical failure and became a youth pastor who beats up drug lords with his mind powers” was certainly not one of them.
I will be burning this book.
holy shit, this comment got the ugliest laugh out of me
I've got to admit it was the aliens and the atlanteans that did it for me. Theres books must have got really weird
Tbf Lestat having a mental breakdown because his book was a critical failure is 1000 percent something he would do lol
classic Lestat
I would have loved a book about Gabrielle de Lioncourt, Lestat's mom.
I think Anne Rice truly missed the opportunity here, she is a very interesting character! And she could have show us Lestat's childhood (wouldn't it be adorable?)
A great video! Thank you for your time and effort making it!
Greetings from Spain!
100% agree, Gabrielle was always the character I wished we'd gotten more detail on
Claudia for me, I wanted more about her. I love her so much
oh i so agree! i was obsessed with gabrielle when i was a teenager, i would have loved to know about her adventures 😭💕💕
you're not the only one. my co-worker and i joke about what her book would be like all the time.
usually its like this
I am the Vampire Gabrielle....I am the mother and the child of The Vampire Lestat.....oh shit what is my brat of a son up to this time!
@@nursemain3174 There's a Graphic Novel that follows Claudia's short Vampire life. Appropriately named Interview with a Vampire: Claudia's Story. It's written by Ashely Marie Witter, & I believe it's received Rice's blessing to be considered canon. Check it out. The artwork is gorgeous.
Watching this in 2024 knowing that Anne Rice passed in 2021 is so sad 😭
Fun fact: the original draft of Interview With The Vampire ended with Louis and Claudia finding the Theatre of the Vampires and living happily ever after, but her editor encouraged her to explore more and that's how we got the tragic bittersweet ending.
My favorite of the series is Tale of the Body Thief. Mostly because of ONE single reason. Lestat having to take a dump for the first time in over 200 years. That was pure gold.
I feel like that book had more comic relief than any of the others I've read so far. I found myself laughing out loud at some of the scenes in Body Thief. The only other time that I can think of that I thought was funny is Armand cooking animals in the microwave in Queen of the damned. Morbid but rediculous.
it was a really good book, could even be good if it was not a vampire book
🤣
That was the single funniest scene in any piece of literature. bar none.
I think it was partially memorable because the premise of an extremely powerful, nearly immortal, vampire figuring out how to live as an actual human was really odd. The whole plot is weird really. Lestat attempts suicide in the desert. Gets a tan. For some reason I remember it fairly well after two decades.
“But he’s OUR sewer gremlin” I’m dead 😂
Armand actually is my favorite vampire. Being a horrible, murderous monster is part of his charm!
It's such a careful needle to thread that I've so rarely seen done anywhere else. I am simultaneously incredibly compassionate for and also furious at Armand most of the time. Which is, I think, how both Louis and Lestat feel about him, so it's probably the appropriate emotion. Armand is compelling and entirely untrustworthy.
If I were to cross him in passing I'd approach him with extreme caution while I'd be more at ease around Marius and Lestat but I'd be nervous around Lestat because of his unpredictable personality he'd either kill me or talk to me xD
For anyone curious who needs a guide, here's the publishing order
1. Interview With The Vampire
2. The Vampire Lestat
3. The Queen of the Damned
4. Tale of the Body Thief
5. Memnoch the Devil
~ 6. Pandora (New Tales of the Vampires)
7. The Vampire Armand
~ 8. Vittorio The Vampire (New Tales of the Vampires)
9. Merrick (crossover with The Witching Hour)
10. Blood and Gold
11. Blackwood Farm (Crossover with the Witching Hour)
12. Blood Canticle
~ Revival a decade later ~
13. Prince Lestat
14. Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis
15. Blood Communion
Thanks for doing this I was so confused on the order so far I have only read 3 books in the series my favorite is queen of the damned
Girl, you should totally run a "Vampire Chronicles" book club! Assign chapters per week then discuss at the end of the week what we read, etc.. It would be so much fun!!!
i support this
Me too
I would join up. It would be great fun to be able to discuss some of my favorite books with other fanatics as well as to hear how new readers feel.
Yes!!!
My personal favorite is Interview, because it has by far the strongest feeling of connection with the Author... if you know what she was going through around the time she wrote it... it really feels like her entire soul is inked onto every page and I could see some aspect of her struggles reflected in nearly every character... I've found that the further you go in the series, the more distant Rice gets from her work
Memnoch the Devil was only interesting to me because it felt like it was mostly Anne Rice asking searching to understand her faith and asking questions about why her God would ordain this or allow that. As somebody who has asked similar questions, I felt that was very real.
RIP Anne Rice
She passed away today
It's really interesting to get an overview of Anne Rice's vampire books from the perspective of someone who knows them well and has a deep, but not uncritical, affection for them. I read three and a half of the first four books book in the 80s and early 90s. I loved the first three books, but lost interest halfway through the fourth. I think the video helps me understand why. I really wasn't onboard for the books to become specifically about the manic-depressive Lestat show; constantly hurtling between suicidal depression and bacchanalism. We've all fallen for a hot mess drama queen. But, if you haven't fallen for that specific hot mess drama queen, then, at best, you're only going to stick around for the sick rush of schadenfreude.
It was the fifth book that caused me to give up... That damn devil.
@@EricMontreal22 Anne Rice passed away recently
@@ANT96-x8d Yeah--incredibly sad. To lose two of the people who really formed the person I am in my teenage years--first Stephen Sondheim now Anne Rice.
"The one with aliens!" Crystal Skull PTSD triggered!!
It's kinda sad that Anne Rice wrote the latest book as an ending, sort of like facing her own mortality and that by itself exhibits more courage on her part than I'll probably ever exhibit in my life.
I checked the timeline of writing since Blood Canticle was when Lestat was “having a manic breakdown”. That came out in 2003 and Stan Rice died in 2002 so I imagine that probably had a lot of influence. Probably just didn’t get mentioned because it’s kind of a downer to the tone but grief will really mess with you
Yeah, definitely had, significant event in her life can always be tracked in those books, like how she wrote Interviews after the death of her daughter
My friends: read those books, they are the best
Me, for 20 years: Meh...
Maven: READ THEM!
Me, immediately: YES, M'LADY!
Pretty much my trajectory. I bought that exact Vampire Chronicles collection book from Barnes and Noble that she has in the video
"He dies. Spoilers! He gets better!"
Me: just finished QotD
Maven: you CANNOT read the new trilogy without reading ALL the 10 books before.
Me:...
Me: *adds Prince Lestat to cart* I’m sure she doesn’t mean it
No one
Absolutely No One:
Maven of the Eventide: YOU NEED TO READ THE BOOKS IN ORDER OF RELEASE!!!
I want a Claudia novel and a Gabrielle novel from their prospective. The Claudia will never happen due to how she was inspired. Both would be fascinating to read through there eyes though.
There's a graphic novel, Claudia's Story.
Wait.... the claudia book is a graphic novel?
Hears Maeve praising "Blood and Gold" and admitting her bias for Lestat.
Me, a Marius stan: "All is fine in the world."
Where are my Armand stans at? The Vampire King of the scorpios
This year I came to the realisation that I'm 90% percent Armand
And I'm fine with it
YESSSSSSSS. YESSSSSSSS. I haven't even started the video but yessssssss
I like your energy
Same.
Euzinha hauahua
Welcome back ⚔️🏰🦇🏰⚔️
@@ishotmyboss I love "I Shot My Boss"!!!
I could just listen to you talk about your feelings on Lestat for hours
QotD is my favorite for the Daniel and Armand love affair, and the history of the Vampires origin. Armand is my favorite Vampire too, by far. imo, it is her best most thought out novel in the whole series. The characters were fleshed out whereas in later books they are not at all. There are so many vampires now with zero personality in her books, I just can't get into them.
Apologies, Maven. My number one is The Queen of the Damned. I love the menagerie of the Immortals and the fateful collision of everything.
You’ve inspired me. I have a goal for 2021: read every single Vampire Chronicle book, even the ones I could skip.
I love how everyone's top list is so different due to personal preferences. My favorite book in the series is Blood and Gold. I thought It was just so grand and lush. Plus Marius is the most complex character, rivaling Lestat. His war with Eudoxia is one of the most intense moments in the series for me. I absolutely love that book. Even the book ends resulting in the end of Santino were great!
Two books that are also in my top five are on your lowest ranking, being Memnoch the Devil and Vittorio The Vampire. Memnoch was fascinating book and being raised in a Christian household, it felt like taboo reading such deconstruction of creation and the relationship of God and Satan. With Vittorio, I thought the atmosphere was so campy and densely gothic. His entire adventure about avenging his family and murdering a vampire coven with the cliché vampire seductress was in the same being as Tale of The Body Thief; taking a know concept but giving it the Anne Rice lush writting. I loved these two books and I avidly defend them in the fandom.
I did hope that Vittorio would appear by the end of Blood Communion and join the happily ever after but oh well..
Yea I loved Queen of the Damned and Memnoch the Devil for the reason she was lukewarm about them: cause of the epic mythologies they told. When it told the stories of how vampires were created or when Heaven and Hell came about I was blown away. And when during the book they returned to what the characters were doing in present time I was annoyed. lol
When I started reading the Vampire Chronicles I was 14 and I didn't have access to them in English (because I am from Eastern Europe) and they weren't all translated yet in Romanian. So I read and re-read the first 4 or 5 until they literally fell apart. By the time my reading comprehension in English got good enough to read an Anne Rice book, I was already deeply attached to some character couples in her book (namely Armand & Marius). I was in an art high school studying oil painting and went on to art university; I was pretty much worshipping Marius, and the idea of Master & Apprentice also being in a romantic relationship.
I bought my first book in English, Blood & Gold and started reading... and I hated the plot and the book soo much that I didn't even finish it. I just threw it away because I got angry at Marius for leaving Armand and giving a shit explanation for it 😂. It's been more than 10 years since I "read" Blood and Gold and I am still upset. I listen to the Vampire Chronicles audiobooks from time to time but I always stop right before Blood and Gold. I just have a visceral reaction and I get angry at the characters. I have noticed that I have always been very critical with Anne's female Characters and from my point of view, she is not very great at making female characters. I mean I love Gabrielle but I absolutely HATE Akasha and Bianca and Rowan (from the Witching Hour).
My number one Vampire Chronicle book is Memnoch and then the Body Thief and then followed by Interview with the Vampire. Lestat is fun, but his story doesn't carry me like that...
@@oanaheller2166 i agree with the Lestat point. I don't care much for him. I enjoy him but he is too much of a brat and his impulsive character gets under my nerves. I enjoy the other characters more.
@@sebastianrivera6976 I hate that he is ALWAYS crying 😅
@@oanaheller2166 Tales and Memnoch are my favorites as well. Tales for its powerful simplicity and Memnoch for its epicness.
My top 3 is
1 - Interview with the Vampire
2 - The Vampire Lestat
3 - Blood and Gold
I cannot avoid putting the first book at the top, since it is such a powerful foundation to everything else in the series. It's that good.
(Also, I haven't read the last 3 books yet)
YESS INJECT THIS INTO MY VEINS
Blood Canticle sounds so stupid and so amazing and I can't wait to read it.
It is a weird ride
Anne Rice
October 4, 1941 - December 11, 2021
I admit this is the video I've wanted you to do since I first started watching this channel.
I've watched this the whole way through like 3 times by now just because your enthusiasm for this series is so powerful and contagious. Like I was fairly ambivalent about The Vampire Chronicles before, but after seeing this I've got the urge to track down the rest of the books that I haven't read
This video was so fun! Thank you for the time and dedication it took to put it together! I will check out more of your CZcams content :-)
I've read all her books, Vampire Chronicles and otherwise. My VC ranking is as follows:
1. Memnoch the Devil
2. Queen of the Damned
3. Pandora
4. The Vampire Lestat
5. Interview with the Vampire
6. Prince Lestat
7. The Vampire Armand
8. Blood and Gold
9. Merrick
10. Vittorio the Vampire
11. Tale of the Body Thief
12. Blackwood Farm
13. Blood Communion
14. Blood Canticle
15. Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis
I love your reviews and thoughts in that what you vehemently disliked about Memnoch and QotD is what I love most about them: the side stories. I was raised hyper-Catholic so Memnoch's existential story of the history of heaven, Hell, Jesus- all that really resonates with me. The story of the twins in QotD is one of my favorite arcs of the entire series. Pandora I loved, to your point, because it was one of the few pieces written through the POV of a female vampire, as well as her perspectives of turn of the millennia Rome and delving into the historical importance of Antioch.
A lot of the middle stories have a lot of overlap, particularly the Vampire Armand and Blood and Gold. I adore all the art history, and the return to Italy unlike she's done since Cry to Heaven (unrelated to the VC). In a recent re-read of Blood and Gold, however, I realized that I had wanted more of an overlap of his life with Pandora than was written, and much less (if any at all) of an overlap with Armand as Armand's POV does a more than adequate job describing life with Marius after being rescued in Venice.
The bottom third of my list I think are all just okay. I love Anne Rice's writing style and didn't have a hard time in the once or twice I have re-read them. You are obviously much more of a diehard fan of all things Lestat- which, hey, we're all fans or we don't read the entire series, right?- but for me, Tale of the Body Thief never does it for me. I think it's a valid story in that yes, after QotD, Lestat would be having an existential crisis of what to do following the extermination of Akasha. Unfortunately for me, I'm not as bought on to his POV explorations in the modern world to thoroughly love the book as much as others. I will end my thoughts on the VC by stating that I didn't like the further explanation of Amel and the alien contact. I was satisfied with the origins as they were described in QotD and felt that Amel, like all things in life, had a mysterious history that could have been left as such. Sorry if it comes off as brash, but as a long time fan, the explanation of the origins of the vampire essence (?) in Realms of Atlantis was a bit of a boner killer for me. (Lol)
Like you, I'm a huge lifelong fan regardless of individual praises or criticisms I may have. I love her work so much, I've made it to her Halloween masquerade ball in New Orleans twice and got to see her in person both times. The second time was right when Prince Lestat was published and I had three days or so to cram the book so I "felt like I read the assignment before going to class" (funny enough most people at the masquerade hadn't finished or read it yet lol). Her writing has been such an inspiration to me in becoming who I am, alt and queer and all.
It would be super rad to know your thoughts on Lives of the Mayfair Witches- I know, non-vampire so perhaps someplace else. The Witching Hour stands as one of my top three favorite books of hers, while Lasher and Taltos gave me lukewarm enjoyment. (I guess delving into the Taltos just didn't do it for me). Also, your thoughts on non-series books (Feast of All Saints, Cry to Heaven, Servant of the Bones, The Mummy, if you've read them) would be cool as well. I find there are so many gems of stories in those that many fans overlook.
Thanks again! Looking forward to more of your content :-)
Lestat and Queen are tied at the top for me.
Don't love the newer books (not read the most recent yet) as much, they read like fan fiction to me and I cringed any time Rice tried to incorporate science into Prince.
More like magic since it's so paper thin and clearly just an excuse to give Lestat a son out of nowhere.
Personally I find the series and Lestat less interesting following Queen of The Damned.
Edit.
Blood and Gold was a pleasant surprise though and easily my favourite outside of the original trilogy.
Nice to see it get some love.
Agree 100%!
Ummm, I think Atlantian ghost that was genjacked by aliens is the weirdest vampire origin I've heard... today.
Let's be glad the Mummy series isn't connected...or her werewolf books
@@darkservantofheaven Are those wild too?
@@GreatgoatonFire I never read the two mummy books, but they are like reverse vampires (immortals from egypt via elixar which anything that touches it will become indestructable....including plants and fish....it's gruesome,
Started reading wolf gift, but lost my copy.
@@darkservantofheaven okay
The Mummy, Ramses, is actually referenced in TVL, so he's definitely in the shared universe.
RIP Anne Rice
When Anne Rice passed away I decided I’d do the audiobooks so now I’m on Vampire Lestat and I love him so much. He’s so tender and I would say just as human as Louie.
Haven’t read the books, watched the show then move……. What!?!?
54:58 “Ebooks were the future and print is going to die.”
Me: Well, if you’re newspapers and comics.
A person who loves Vampire's being obsessed with The Vampire Chronicles? I am shocked I tell you! Shocked!
You'd be surprised. So many young modern vamp fans don't know it
@@darkservantofheaven and not even only the post twilight generation. I was there for most of the original releases of the vampire chronicles but still only now read it for the first time.
As someone who has only seen the movies, the thing I learned from this video that I'm most surprised by is that king of charisma Lestat is also gullible as hell.
Interview with the vampire is my favorite because of the level of mystery it and I like the depressing tone
Actually, I AM an Armand fan. I loved your ranking, though I am less inclined to agree with your ranking of the newer books only because I'm not really a fan of the direction they took. It's difficult getting beyond the aliens, the status of Amel, and that whole thing with Mekare. Definitely not a fan of that. I liked my ancients just as they were and am slow to accept altered lore and new characters. It was difficult enough for me to accept Thorne (spoiler, I still haven't accepted him). I started reading the series in earnest in 1995 after Memnoch and read every subsequent publication as they were released until Blood Canticle. That book and Merrick almost broke me. I agree with you on Memnoch. I think it could have been interesting if she actually went somewhere with that character, especially considering the information we get in the most recent trilogy. Anyway, another great review! I loved every moment.
Your opinion of Armand is so on point xD In the last thrilogy he really turned into a tiny ball of hate and murder. I love him so much.
Thank you so much for this video! I haven't read these books in years and feel that I may have not read a few. This reminder makes me want to go back and either read or reread some of them.
This is great! It never occurred to me that different facets of the books could appeal to different people. I reread Queen of the Damned because I love the flashback scenes. Come to think of it, I love all the "listen to my 300-page life story" moments. I'd completely forgotten that Merrick used love spells. Whoops. I just remember being happy that Rice incorporated Black magical traditions. Anyhow, wonderful video!
It's a Tie between Interview with a Vampire and Queen of The Damned for me.
😢 I am one of those fans who ranked Memnoch extremely high on my list and exactly for the reasons that you mentioned. I love Lestat and his relationship with Louie but what drew me to all the books was more of the urban fantasy and listening to the back stories about what happened in years past. Finding out about the creation of vampires, learning about the history of the Mayfair witches, hearing the account of the creation and subsequent existence of a genie, Azriel, and everything to do with Memnoch. Honestly I think it's my interest in archeology that led me to enjoy these parts of Anne Rice's books.
I really want to read the whole series but you've actually gotten me really interested in Blackwood Farm, the Witch trilogy, and Pandora. The whole series sounds very interesting but those 5 and descriptions you gave them stand out the most to me.
Pandora is one i feel people kind of sleep on. It was the 3rd book i read and i enjoyed it ALOT. The connection between Armand and Pandora's book, the character interactions, and i wish more was done with Pandora's story.
after watching this video, i've decided to finally dive into the vampire chronicles!!! i was part of the generation who started reading for fun because of twilight. looking back, that wasn't a great start. due to school, i have stopped leisure reading (studying law does that T.T) but watching the videos on your channel makes me so excited to back to leisure reading. over the year of watching your videos, i was so tempted to read but i was so busy. finally, i'm going to dive into it!!! thank you so much for reminding me about how amazing books are!!! (btw, i've already bought your book as an audiobook and i'm excited to listen to it too!)
Having read and loved them all I can honestly say that I wish we had gotten more novels from Louis' perspective as I always preferred him to Lestat. I love Lestat too but find he's better in small doses. Anne Rice is one of the few authors who is as good at philosophy and historical depictions as she is at action and drama. Here's my list:
01.) Interview With The Vampire (1976) -- Reason: Louis is my favorite literary character bar none.
02.) Pandora (1998) -- Reason: I loved her character almost as much as Louis and the depiction of the fall of the Roman Empire from her perspective was so intriguing.
03.) Blackwood Farm (2002) -- Reason: Quinn and Mona are not dead, Do You Hear Me?! Favorite romance ever tying together my two favorite book series ever.
04.) The Queen of the Damned (1988) -- Reason: Amazing story telling the secret origin of Vampires, not to be missed.
05.) Blood Canticle (2003) -- Reason: Wonderful tie in to one of my other favorite series: Lives of the Mayfair Witches. The Taltos are also really cool.
06.) Merrick (2000)-- Reason: Another great crossover to the Mayfair Witches as well as my beloved Louis getting some much needed action.
07.) The Vampire Armand (1998) -- Reason: More historical awesomeness. Truth be told, I probably like Armand more than Lestat because he reminds me of poor vicious Claudia.
08.) Tale of the Body Thief (1992) -- Reason: Fantastic idea for a story and lots of expanding of the rich supernatural world of the Chronicles.
09.) Memnoch the Devil (1995) -- Reason: A fascinating take on both heaven and hell and Lestat punches the Devil in the face.
10.) Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis (2016) -- Reason: Very science fiction and very fun. Louis is also back and finally gets something to do.
11.) Vittorio the Vampire (1999) -- Reason: A truly beautiful journey back into history. Also, I'm a sucker for a good story about Angels and Vampires.
12.) Blood and Gold (2001) -- Reason: Marius gave us both Armand and Pandora and if that's not enough reason to love him, he also tells one hell of a story.
13.) The Vampire Lestat (1985) -- Reason: Great book, as they all are, but I can only take so much of the Brat Prince before I get tired of him.
14.) Prince Lestat (2014)-- Reason: See above
15.) Blood Communion (2018) -- Reason: Hands off my Pandora, Arjun! She deserved so much better.
I couldn't disagree more with your characterization of some of these books, obviously. Mainly I like it that Louis and Lestat didn't remain static and showed very different aspects of their personalities as they are quite old Vampires and so should be many-faceted, not to mention have the capacity to change and grow.
I also didn't care if an interesting character like Vittorio never appeared in any of the other works or differed from a lot of the other Coven of the Articulate by being hetero. Nor do I believe in holding a grudge against a book because of what Anne Rice did with her career.
In defense of Blackwood Farm, it's kind of funny that in a book about undead creatures and magic what trips you up is that Quinn and Lestat had a conversation that was too long. I always just figured they talk faster than is humanly possible with their preternatural senses or that some or all of it was communicated telepathically.
Not clear how Lestat's behavior with Mona in Blood Canticle is any more horrible and toxic and wrong than what he did to Louis and Claudia. The dude is messed up. 😜
Armand's fan here! Completely on board with you on "his" book. My top three would be: Vampire Lestat, Queen of the Damned and a tie between Armand and Pandora. I liked Memnoch as a concept and as a book, but not as part of the Vampire Chronicles. Love your videos as always😁
This makes me wanna read the 1st 3 at least.
You should they are so good, and all so different in tone
The first five are great. Introduction, Lestat tells his back story to the interviewer and starts a goth rock band with his vampire abilities that awaken the first vampires, Lestat fights the Adam and Eve of vampires, Lestat has his body stolen by a mage and becomes a mortal, Lestat fights a being that claims to be the devil.
Go ahead. They are good, and you won’t have to deal with the weird one
I would recomend it... Also if you turn out to be like me and don't care about Lestat as the main character I would also recomend stoping there.
Almost everything in one way or another revolves around him from that point on.
On the other hand if you really like him you have a host of books to read afterwards :)
You will not be sorry. I've read them all, except the final 2 which are on top of my "To Read" list, & they definitely bring the reader into a compelling new world. Be careful though, these books may lead you into a wonderful obsession that could last a lifetime!
Congratulations on making a successful return to scripted videos, Maven! Thanks for continuing to do your best for us in the time of the "new normal". I'm drinking a toast to you
Wow I can't believe she hated Memnoch so much, I think it's one of the best thing Anne has ever written.
I could not slug through it and I tried like 4-5 times over 15 years. not for everyone, I hated it
Your channel makes me want to finish reading the whole series. It was Merrick that made give up reading them
Interview and Blood and Gold are my top 2. I love emo Louis with a burning 13 year-old goth kid passion that has never faded.
Greetings Maven of the Eventide, I enquire as to your choice of the best songs and or pieces of music that screams Vampire to you?
thats actually a really good question imo. video idea? just sayin
I haven't read the books, but every time you talk about them I want to! Definitely going to check out my local library and see if I can get my hands on them (in order don't worry).
I'm also really interested in learning more about the fandom history and Anne Rice's history with her books and the fandom (I know about the fanfiction stuff but that's it). So if anyone wants to fill me in, I'd greatly appreciate it (I'm poking around the internet too, so no worries)!!
Oh man I can't believe the evil spirit/demon that went into Akasha got reconned into THAT!!
could you go more in depth as to why the two before the last three are no longer canon? like how are they just removed from the canon like what did Anne say specifically about this, I find this very strange. If we're meant to just forget about them why aren't they out of print? I HAVE SOOO MANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THISS
It’s not a good book by any sense but am I the only person who found Blood Canticle genuinely hilarious?
No! I was laughing throughout reading it.
It was a crack up when he ranted about Memnoc
But to be honest, it wasn't completely out of character with his lovable Narcistic
Unlike the rest of the book.
It was werid af
*Semi-spoiler alert in regards to Blood Canticle!*
Can somebody tell me if they think Mona and Quinn are dead or not? I still can't believe Anne Rice would murder off that couple, so soon after they fell in love and were "turned". I don't think she ever comes out and says anything definitive about their fate, only hints.
Hilarious, definitely. Good, no.
@@deco2gogo it's an off screen kill
I remember I kind of liked it, but it felt weird
Now I think if it was just a very mentally unhealthy period for Lestat
The graphic novel told from Claudia's point of view is my favorite. Her character fascinated me as a tween/young adult so it was nice to "spend more time" with her. Plus the art is lovely.
Came back to watch the video again after the sad news today, RIP Anne Rice, may flights of angels, or devils, sing you to your rest!
as someone who loves Anne and Vampire Chronicles I still have to admit seeing Blood Canticle and Blackwood Farm crossed out with big red cross is so satisfying tbh 🤣 Glad Anne herself confirmed they are ret-coned because I never want to read them again and pretend they don't exist indeed. Vampire Lestat will always be the best book in the series in my opinion, one I can always reread for the lest of my life. and I also have a really soft spot for Armand's and Marius's books they are fantastic.
Blood and Gold and The vampire Armand are in my top five of the series (though i haven't read the three new ones) because their relationship is just so interesting to me (also I like sewer gremlins and history) plus my bi self also can't complain about that aspect
I am a Marius girl through and through. He is my prince to be honest and I was squealing like a baby when I found out about Blood and Gold. Vampire Lestat is my favorite book because it is where we first meet Marius, but Blood and Gold is a close second.
I really like your self irony and wit and general style!, and also am fan of the novels, they have accompanied me through life since I read Interview in the early 90s; just recently I belatedly read Blood Communion which I surprisingly found better than the two aforegoing ones. Am looking fw to perusing your fun videos!
The “spoilers…he/she/they got better” that you’ve thrown in to this video never fail to get a chuckle out of me.
"my old age.."
Lady you look Fiiine!
Had to come and give this video another view, due to learning about Anne Rice's passing today.
This is such a late comment, but I just wanted to say I read them all (even the Mayfair witches ones) and that I started cry laughing once you started ranking the worst ones. I love Prince Lestat for the same reasons you mentioned. People are complaining about Anne Rice just wanting to cash in on her VC fame, but I was there celebrating how she retconned Blood Canticle 😂😂 It was all just a fever dream...
Thank you! I have had the Prince Lestat book sitting on my shelf from 2014 unopened, because of the terrible disappointment after reading Merrick and Mamnoch! So I will finally read it!!!! Thank you! My favourite is also The Vampire Lestat, then: The Vampire Armand, Blood and Gold, The Tale of the Body Thief, Interview With the Vampire, Queen of the Damned, Pandora, Mamnoch the Devil, Merrick, and I couldn't finish the Blackwood Farm, now I realise, it's because I hadn't even touched the witch books and had no idea what was happening 85% of the time. The Vampire Lestat was my first ever vampire book, and although I didn't know English so well, it was AMAZING! Changed my life and got me sucked into all of this. Please make more of these videos!!! I want to know moooreeee! Without having to read the books I don't personally like.
I've read all her vampire books except Vittorio. I just re-read the first 3, and I thought they'd seem dated since she started writing them in the mid 70s, but all three still seem timeless and were great fun to revisit. I'm from New Orleans, and in the late 80s, Anne Rice began having yearly Halloween costume balls, called "Le Temps du Vampire". The first few years I think she threw the parties at her house in the Garden District, but eventually they had to move to a larger venue.
Gosh I miss your videos!
I've only read the classic Interview with the Vampire.
I knew the other existed but I never knew they were all conected!
Im really gonna dive into all the others! (specially Vampire Lestat!)
Just finished The Vampire Armand. I've purchased the Witching Hour trilogy just to connect it all. Loved your video!👍👍🤘🤘
i left off the series after queen of the damned, hearing about aliens, ghosts, atlantis, etc made me just go "nah, i'm fine". but this video tempts me into the finishing the series, just to see the drama
I found your review highly entertaining! I usually skip them but I loved every minute of yours. Thank you :)
I read Interview when I was a teen, and this year at 29 I picked up The Vampire Lestat for the first time. It quickly became one of my ALL TIME FAV BOOKS! I followed with Queen of the Damned and devoured it.
I came here because Body Thief destroyed me :( and I needed to see if reading any further would compound the damage. I love Lestat, and I cant bear to see him more traumatised than he was during his whole human body ordeal, and then uncharacteristically turn on David like that. It was an assault on his character to me.
So here is my ranking:
1. The Vampire Lestat 10/10
2. Queen of the Damned 9/10
3. Interview with the Vampire 9/10
4. Blood and Gold 8/10
5. Tales of the Body Thief 4/10
I plan to read Pandora, the Vampire Armand and Blood & Gold (because Marius is my fav apart from Lestat). But I will skip the rest, because I dont think I can take the aliens. Please god, no aliens! *rips hair out*
Edited to include ranking for blood and gold
Only a true collector, has the paperbacks and hardcovers. Paperbacks can be read through, so much more easily. Hardcovers are usually double spaced, more pages. They are only a collectible thing. I save paperbacks for reading. I'm jealous of the three initial vampire chronicle book you have. That thing looks awesome!
RIP Anne Rice. Anne Rice forever!
I love all the times you said "Don't worry, he gets better" 😂I just started Prince Lestat. I also have the graphic novel about Claudia. I haven't read it yet, but I've seen the art and It's beautiful💖
Awesome video💖 (sorry for my english 😅)
I have been obsessed with all things Anne Rice since the first instant I was forbidden from watching the Tom Cruise/Brad Pitt movie as a kid. I have read every, single, one of her books; and I agree we are a rare breed. I honestly try to dodge the: "What's your favorite?" question as much as possible, because it shifts and changes throughout various stages of my life. The Vampire Armand stands out as an almost guilty pleasure, because as a gay man I enjoyed it thoroughly in my teens for...yeah. You know why. It's always funny to me how the younger kids who proclaim to love genre fiction take a kind of weird pride in NOT reading or loving Anne Rice. And it always baffles me, because like Shakespeare; EVERYTHING is in these books. Every emotion, every kind of story and every trope you can imagine.
I just discovered your channel yesterday cause you came up on my recommend. So I decided to give this video a shot cause hot damn do I love me some Lestat and omg you did NOT disappoint!!! I love your explanations of why you ranked each book and it's so nice to hear genuine things from fans. Absolutely great job and I look forward to watching more!
1. The Vampire Lestat- the wolves, dancing in the flames, Gabrielle, meeting those who must be kept, Marius ritual, enkil trying to crush lestat and the queen screaming, the concert, akasha coming to lestat. Who called him wolfkiller/wolfslayer that night??
2. Queen of the Damned- Jesse at her aunt's house, the queen in the sky, Pandora eating the heart, Marius' message, the dreams, akasha killing men, akashas death
3. Realms of Atlantis- the arm scene, amel, the cloning, feeding on the replimonds, chopping off the arm, the sacred core.
4. Prince Lestat- the voice, lestats son, scared core, killing Marahet, Marahet and the volcano, the burnings
5. Merrick- voodoo, the Mayfair witches, the mask, Louis death, spell on David, lestat waking. Disappointed in the ending.
6. Memnoch- the statue, scared of the coming devil, the rip in the fabric of reality, the eyeball, lestat turning away and rejecting the story, eating out blood. Too heavy. What does the eyeball meannnn.
7. Blackwood Farm- Quinn's ghost, the island, the idea that it might be a Taltos, goblin growing stronger, Merrick burning. Disappointed ending.
8. Blood Communion- too short, giving the immortal bodies to the crowd to devour.
9. Interview- don't remember much, Claudia being a horror, the other kind of vampire, lestat.
10. Blood Canticle- disliked Mona, glad we got an end to the witch story but hated it. Wish I left it where Taltos ended and just wondered what happened.
11. Body Thief- lestat felt sick the whole time and made me feel sick with him. I liked the cruises, astral projection, turning David at the end was horrible and amazing.
12. The Vampire Armand- the egg, Marius' painting looking like portals. I didn't like not knowing how old Armand was and how sexual it was. Overall disliked Armand.
13. Blood and Gold- I liked throne, dislike Marius, didn't read Pandora, boring. I like Daniels hobby, throne giving his eyes to Marahet, turning her hair into chains.
I love this series. I read Interview when I was maybe...15? back in 1999. I've read it twice again since and can really find something to love in all that I've read....well...except Vittorio. He was entirely forgettable. The original trilogy are three of my favorite books of all time. I read the Mayfair Chronicles in 2001 when I was 17 before picking up Merrick and liked them too. I think I was in the right headspace to embrace the weirdness. lol. Didn't pick up The New Tales until after I read Blood Canticle but they didn't pull me in as much. I loved Prince Lestat when it came out but really dragged my feet moving on to the Realms of Atlantis which I'm in the middle of now. The title alone had me scratching my head but it's got me intrigued so far once I picked it up. Blood Communion is the only one I have not read yet but can't wait.
Ranking so far: (maybe I'll come back and revise once I finish the last 2)
1 Interview with the Vampire
2 Queen of the Damned
3 The Vampire Lestat
4 Prince Lestat
5 Blood and Gold
6 The Vampire Armand
7 Tale of the Body Thief
8 Memnoch The Devil
9 Blackwood Farm
10 Blood Canticle
11 Merrick
12 Pandora
13 Vittorio The Vampire
I recently started a reread of the series and watching you gush about these books just made me all the more excited to delve back into them. Much like you, this series was such a huge part of my life and definitely attributed to my queer awakening! I was really excited when Prince Lestat came out but never finished it since the first half felt just really hard to get through... I’m actually excited to try it again once I finish my grand reread after watching this 🙂
I was also really happy to see Blood and Gold so high on this list! The art historian in me is definitely biased, but it really is such an interesting story from a historical standpoint, and Marius is SUCH a flawed and fascinating character. I definitely would have liked more Pandora, though, because she is an absolute delight and always deserves more screen time.
Also, I am that shameless Armand fan, guilty as charged. I will love my murderous sewer goblin to the end of my days 🖤
Queen of the Damned is my favorite of the series.
About halfway through. As someone who knows minimal about TVC and Vampires in general (other than keeping my facial hair in sweet vampire-esque chops, and having played VTM...) you keep my attention. I highly enjoy looking into the window of this content. Thank you for being thorough enough for all to enjoy. I enjoy all the reviews, I finally felt the need to comment. :-)
I feel much less guilty about skipping Memnoch now.
I wish I was you.
Quite on point, marvelous Maven. First time I read Interview it was from dusk till dawn; classy tie, shirt, blazer & pressed pants. An old friend had read the book, kept on talking about it, so I followed.
I loved your video, but I just don't agree with Memnoch's position. I really liked the book and I found an important point for Lestat's maturation. I liked Merrick, but the ending really had to be improve writing. Regarding the blood community, I loved, cried and wanted more (the book is very short, I wanted more from Louis and Lestat, and more from Lestat and Armand.) The only book I didn't like was Cantico Blood (I totally agree with all your criticize, and it's a pity, because I loved Blackwood Farm. I wanted Quinn Blackwood alive and present in the new trilogy. Mona, she was very annoying and spoiled. )
🎶" ....ya thought he was a goner, but
Lestat came back, every decade..."🎶
I could watch you talk about vampires all night.
Personally I hated Tale of the Body Thief and Memnoch the Devil.
I loved the Vampire Armand, in fact I am very much an Armand fan.
@0:14 When I literally had to pause this far in because I had to stop laughing, I knew I was in for a good time. Btw, been following you ever since you helped The Dom with Interview/Queen.
Devoting this year to reading Anne Rice after a long hiatus into the epic fantasy genre. RIP to the Queen of Darkness. 💜
Queen of the damned stuck with me better than them all, and I really loved body thief, and of course, lestat.
Also, I never got why Anne Rice had to denounce vampire fiction, when she returned to the catholic church. I'm a Louisiana catholic, my mother having been born and raised in the 9th ward; I have never felt a conflict of faith in enjoying vampire fiction. That bit never made much sense to me, and I always viewed her stance on that as an overly dramatic over-the-top gesture. Just silliness.
“Do you have a moment to talk about our lord and savior Lestat?”
Me : LETS GO 🦇
Yeah, my favorite one has got to be Interview with the Vampire. I've just always preferred Louis to Lestat. Mainly because, like Lestat, I fell in love with his tragic heart. The tragedy surrounding his life (and unlife), and his regrets that he feels at being made a vampire is what makes him a beautiful and complex character. Lestat is also cool, but he ranks just underneath Louis for me. Merrick robbed him pretty good in terms of his character arc. I actually would have preferred they kept him dead in Merrick if they were going to shift his character so dramatically upon being restored.
I have read ALLLLLL of them! Including The Lives of the Mayfair Witches. Starting with Memnoch, I read them as they were published. It took this video to make me realize this and how many hours I have spent on these books! Ok well actually, I haven't read Blood Communion yet because Realms of Atlantis did not sit well. But after watching this, I decided it's time and it's on the way. Thank you!
In defense of Merrick, I loved the voodoo and ritual magic aspects. Rice had not done that before in such depth and it was fascinating to read. Plus any time they dig Claudia up, you know you're in for some DRAMA! Blackwood Farm is an excellent stand alone story. Very creepy! It's a shame what happened with Quinn. Canticle was terrible!! Ranking my least favorites would be so much easier than my top ones, it's so hard to choose. Great video!
I was just on the hunt for some good vampire fiction. I decided to go back and re-read the Chronicles for the first time in years. Unfortunately I just can't get in to them. I really had to work to get through Interview and tapped out at Lestat. I used to think Lestat was one of my favorite books. I would have said so just two weeks ago.
Unfortunately the writing really doesn't hold up to my expectations as they have grown over the years. This was really distressing to me. I feel like there is no large vampire fiction universe of vampire novels out there for me to read. 😕