Review – ‘The Queen of the Damned’ by Anne Rice

Blurb 

In a feat of virtuoso storytelling, Anne Rice unleashes Akasha, the queen of the damned, who has risen from a six-thousand-year sleep to let loose the powers of the night. Akasha has a marvelously devious plan to “save” mankind and destroy the vampire Lestat—in this extraordinarily sensual novel of the complex, erotic, electrifying world of the undead.

Review 

Book 3 of The Vampire Chronicles. I enjoyed this story more than the second one (The Vampire Lestat - TVL) and I like it just as much as I did the first book (Interview with the Vampire - IWTV). It picks right up where the second book left off. We learn about what happened before and after the concert to various vampires who has or will play a big part in Lestat’s life. The Legend of the Twins is very interesting, and we get snippets of it in the ‘dream’ from several points of views until the final explanation close to the end. Of all the characters, I would’ve liked to learn more about Khayman; Marius’s and Pandora’s romantic relationship as vampires (because, so far in the series, vampires are seen as nonsexual creatures so how did Marius and Pandora fall in love?); and I wanted Armand to feel regret for how he manipulated and terrified Daniel Malloy for over a decade but Armand never did.

As with the other books, the description is over-the-top and so vivid I skimmed the pages until I found quotation marks. I don’t understand why the author prefers to describe a couch or the shape of Lestat’s mouth for several paragraphs but she says very little about what’s actually important.

Though I’m interested in the characters and would like to know what will happen to them in the future, I will not read anymore books in this series. I just don’t like the style of writing, the format in which the chapters are laid out and the confusing timeline for each book. For example, in TVL, the concert starts in the spring but, in The Queen of the Damned, it starts on Halloween. Unless I misread something, this is a big timeline error.

I watched the movie, Queen of the Damned, after I read this book and now I no longer like the movie. They’re totally different from one another. The book is better and more detailed while the movie cuts major characters like Louis and Armand, and the movie gives Lestat a girlfriend. So wrong!

3 Stars

Disclaimer – I received this book as a gift from my grandmother-in-law. I am not paid or compensated in any way, shape or form for this honest review. I will not change or alter this review for any reason unless at my discretion.