Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice {Book Review}

I have always said that the queen of true vampire books is Anne Rice.

There are no sparkles in the sun and soppy love stories. There is blood and death, and true Gothic styled themes.

I’ve had a few of her books on the shelf for a while now and decided to start on her Vampire Chronicles series this year. Two movie adaptations were released for two of her books in the series, Interview with a Vampire and Queen of the Damned.

I’ve seen both movies and Queen of the Damned is one of my favourite movies of all time, mostly because of the epic soundtrack, but now that I’ve read the first two books in the series, I’ve found that the movies aren’t all too true to the books.

DISCLAIMER: This review could contain possible spoilers based on my opinions. All opinions and views are my own.

Book Review: Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice #bookreview #annerice #horrorbooks #booktwt #bookaddict #booktwitter
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Challenge prompt: A book set in New Orleans.
Originally published: 1976

Pages: 346
Format: Paperback

Plot:

The book follows Louis, a vampire, as he recounts his life to reporter Daniel Molloy.

He tells his tale of being turned unwillingly into a vampire by a sinister vampire named Lestat, his life in New Orleans. His despair about immortal life, the young child vampire Claudia, who is turned at a very young age and how his human emotions shine through to protect her. Both are plagued by the lack of understanding of their lives as well as carry the desperation with them to find where they belong.

They eventually leave Lestat’s side under grim circumstances, to find where they belong and travel Europe. They find the successful Theatre des Vampires, a theatre of vampires pretending to be human pretending to be vampires.

Here they meet Armand, a vampire that takes Louis under his care but also reveals that just because the two newcomers are amongst their own kind, there are no easy answers to give and that they are in danger because of their acts in New Orleans.

Thoughts:

Interview with a Vampire is a pure Gothic vampire horror novel that keeps you hanging on each word.

The main themes focus on immortality, change, power, loss and sexuality.

The characters are all presented in such a way that while you know they are vampires, they all show a vast amount of human emotions that torture them all in different ways with interpersonal issues, and show that even though the body dies, the heart and the mind still hold human characteristics.

The book isn’t sugar-coated, it shows vampires in their true nature, cold killings of innocent human beings. There’s blood, there’s ruthlessness. It is raw and dark. It shows that some vampires kill to survive while others hunt for the thrill, for the power they hold in their hands.

Louis is an interesting character with complex emotions and is portrays as someone who is deeply troubled by his new life, the ways he is expected to now exist while fighting the moral compass he still possess on the inside mixed with human thoughts and emotions. He is deeply troubled by what he has been made and feels guilt over killing humans in order to keep existing.

His character is very different to that of Lestat, who is cold, indifferent and lives on the power he has over the life and death of humans. He is a narcissist that will stop at nothing to get what he wants.

Claudia is another complex character. She is turned into a vampire by Louis at a young age, but as time goes on her body stays that of a little girl while her mind matures over the years. She fights her own battles with these circumstances and she can’t truly ‘live’ in the world and is seen by other vampires a mistake because she was turned at such a young age. She and Louis have a complicated relationship which borders on living as husband and wife behind closed doors and as father and daughter to the outside world. Her fate is pretty sad and brings on powerful emotions, not only for Louis but for the readers.

The book holds a rich nature of descriptive scenes and emotions. I enjoyed the descriptive imagery, it was written in such a way that you can actually picture yourself in the setting you’re reading about and feel the emotions the characters are feeling.

Armand is also an interesting character. While his back story isn’t really focused on in this book, he plays an important part to paving the fate of the main characters.

Overview:

The book juggles all the themes very well: they are entwined in the plot and presents an interesting dynamic representing vampires, supposedly dead creatures, struggling with complex human emotions and dilemmas.