Complete Vampire Chronicles (Interview with the Vampire, The Vampire Lestat, The Queen of the Damned, The Tale of the body Thief)

I first read the vampire cronicles from our public library. This was the first time i became aware of anne rice as a writer.
It was the beginning of a lasting and wonderful friendship and I would recommend anyone to read her books.
When i read the vampire chronicles i became transported into an exotic era of our past into which the lives of her characters are born and reborned. I am sorry Ms Rice that i cannot describe in detail what i feel when i read your books but i hope this does some justice.

This is a box set of the first four books of Anne Rice's popular Vampire Chronicles series. Her works are immensely popular and have spawned 1 1/2 movies (calling Queen Of The Damned even half a movie is being extremely generous!) and many many sequels. I picked up this box set after being told by numerous people that the first four were worth reading and I was really pleaseatly surprised. (I've heard that the series really goes downhill fast after the The Tail Of The Body Thief)

The vampires in this universe are elegant beings of the night who are very articulate and this traslates to immense description. This may bother some but once you get used to Rice's style, it could best be described as a dreamy flow of the subconscious and it works well for the series. The books take you all over the USA and much of Europe as well and Rice does a great job of creating these vampires that have very human qualities.

The series mainly centers around the title character Lestat. Lestat is a fascianting study of the flawed uber-vampire who does what he wants and refuses to conform to the vampire "rules". He knows he is not perfect but realizes the only way to live through immortality is to enjoy oneself whenever one can. The supporting cast has their fair share of interesting characters and the personalities of the vampires are really the heart of the series.

A couple of things Rice does makes her vampire world so fascinating. The vampires act as their own little microsociety with rules and taboos that are well thought out and extremely interesting. For example the longer a vampire makes before creating another vampire determines how powerfull that new vampire will be. There are complications to living forever that you never would of thought of. The vampires have no sexual urges but instead the act of bloodletting serves as their mental and physical urge for copulation. Vampires don't marry each other but instead have extremely strong emotional bonds with each other and thier own fledglings (when you create another vampire they become your fledgiling) They stay together for an indefinite period until an unknown force breaks their emotional connection. This makes for some fascinating relationships that almost seem like "couples" but without the physical relationship. These bonds are often between same gender vampires and sometimes include three or four vampires. All these interesting parameters make for an web of relationships that frequently change.

The biggest con of the series is that sometimes the prose drags on forever and certain parts could be shorter. They were all good, but actually I thought the fourth book was the best and it was also the shortest.

Bottom Line: An entertaining series that will be most enjoyed by experienced readers and fans of romantic self indulgent nuerotic blood suckers.

favorite in the series is interview but i enjoyed all the others,especially tale because of what the waitress calls lestat

If you have never read a book by Anne Rice then you have no idea what you are missing! The Vampire Chronicles will make you an instant fan of this author. I have read these books so many times that I know the characters and stories backwards and forward--amazing writing! These books will always be a part of my library. Treat yourself--you won't regret it!

Vampire and Lestat are excellent books. Startling, exciting, and dramatic tales.

Queen and the Body are much inferior to the first two - though if you have not yet read Vampire/Lestat then I am sure nothing I write will prevent you from reading at least Queen...