I always advise people to read the books before they judge them, but as I pointed out in that post w/ Michael Gavin’s review, some people do judge before they read. Gavin read it, and that was his opinion. I shared that link and excerpt bc a friend had shared it w/ me, and also, many of the other reviews I’ve seen so far are recaps which may contain spoilers.
BTW, I’ll be making a masterpost of PLROA recaps, please send me an ask/message me if you did/are doing recaps!
[X Louis has an easy checklist for a good evening.]
This is just a fandom blog, and yes, I do share criticism of the books on here. Criticism =/= censorship. I’m sorry that one bad review could prevent you from reading a book. There are other VC blogs (#VC fandom hunters) that you can reach out to, maybe they’ll respond differently.
The thing is, yes, you actually might hate it! BUT, there may be one line in it that you love, and that will have made the book worth reading.
It’s just a book though. It’s not the end of the world.
I haven’t seen it yet! But I really should! It comes highly recc’d and the aesthetic is very VC. Ages ago, @painauchocolatine had told me to watch it, and I really will!
As a side note: you might be interested in this Philippe RPer: @frerenuage. And the Chevalier was RP’d by @chxvaliers, who is now @emphasiscntheboo, but they might know where more Versailles fandom is.
^This looks familiar: not the outfit and hairdo so much as the facial expression and subtitle, w/ a pleased af Lestat front and center “YISS I DRAGGED HIM HERE KICKING AND SCREAMING! I AM AMAZE MYSELF
But there was so much that was good about movie!IWTV!… I know I know, it’s fun to poke fun at it regardless… movie!QOTD was much more cinema sinful. IWTV’s greatest sin was Antonio!Armand but c’mon, ppl who didn’t read the books didn’t know that…
The pronunciation of his name is up for some debate; it isn’t explicitly defined in canon. Les Mis fandom ppl – who also have a Marius in their canon – tend to pronounce it “MAHR-eeus” with more emphasis on the first syllable.
I’m not a scholar on Roman history, either, so someone who is can chime in on this, bc it would probably be that way. I’ve always pronounced his name “Marry-iss” which I’m sure is totally wrong, but sounds right to me 😛
There’s two times in IWTV that Lestat says he just wanted to talk to Louis post-swamping.
1. “There’s something I must tell you… about that night in the swamp.“
^Lestat says this to Louis in Paris, at the Theatre des Vampires, re: smtg Lestat had wanted to tell Louis the night Louis and Claudia put him in the swamp, seemingly dead.
Neither of them ever bring it up again, but my guess would be that it had smtg to do with the feeling Louis had when he put Lestat in the swamp. In the book, he walks into the muck w/ Lestat’s body, going far from shore, and feels a pulling, like he should go down with the body:
“I felt a pull suddenly, as if some force were urging me to go down with him, to descend into the dark water and never come back. It was so distinct and so strong that it made the articulation of voices seem only a murmur by comparison. It spoke without language, saying, `You know what you must do. Come down into the darkness. Let it all go away.‘”
Being maker and fledgling, they technically cannot read eachother’s thoughts, so maybe, in this extremely emotional moment, Lestat was able to pierce that veil to cry out for Louis in the only way he could ;A; Or maybe it was just Louis feeling guilty about, idk, helping kill his own maker!!!
Hit the jump for more, cut for length.
2. “ ‘I wanted to talk to you so much,’ he said. `That night I came home in the Rue Royale I only wanted to talk to you!’… `I went to Paris after you…’ ”
^At the end of IWTV, when Louis finds a very decrepit (but not dying, Louis says “dying” but it’s emotionally dying, not physically) Lestat, Lestat insists he just wanted to talk to Louis the night he dragged his soggy butt out of the swamp and back to the Rue Royale, but it seems to refer to what he said in Paris, smtg about the swamp.
[^What a bittersweet moment in movie!IWTV, that “final” meeting before Louis goes to SF to find some cute guy to tell his life story to.]
Based on the fact that Lestat wrote an entire book in response to IWTV, he most likely wanted to tell Louis EVERY SINGLE THING that was in that book. It’s Lestat’s backstory, everything else he couldn’t tell Louis during the 65ish years they were together in NOLA, and most importantly, WHY he couldn’t tell him any of those things.
That’s a valid opinion. But I don’t like the word “should” when it deals with fandom, even about negativity. The resistance to this book is completely understandable.
[^Louis read PLROA and this was his response to Lestat]
People judge things before they read them, people judge other people before they meet them, people judge anything that can be judged w/o experiencing them. So much judgment out there. I’m certainly not going to demand fair treatment for a book.
Just bc an author is excited about their work does not mean we can’t still judge it on its merits as a novel, and we all have our own ideas about what makes a great novel/story. Dr. Frankenstein was very excited about his creation, other people decided it was a monster.
People’s resistance to this book, specifically, is not coming out of nowhere. Those of us who have read the prior books, or have the slightest knowledge of the characters and stories, and every fan in between, there was something that drew us into VC, and from what I’m seeing, it’s nearly impossible to believe that this book is remotely part of what preceded it unless you had only read PL and/or seen movie!QOTD, in which case, I guess it must be all smooth sailing for ya.
“…The latest of the series, a follow up to 2014’s Prince Lestat, is making waves (pun intended) over the Atlantis story element (and all that goes along with that). Tying the story to characters in her third book, Queen of the Damned, Rice completely upends the myths and lore woven into the Chronicles (almost to the point of jumping the shark IMHO). The characters we love, like Lestat, Louis, Armand and others are still who they are, yet the surprises tucked into Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis feel like they cheapen the fabric of the series’ mythos.”
Upending the canon myths and lore, jumping the shark, cheapening the fabric of the series’ mythos? That all sounds like something that fans would put up some resistance about. Can you blame them if they feel betrayed? If they feel like their beloved characters have been thrown into a blender w/ aliens and the lost city of Atlantis? I can’t blame them.
I don’t blame them for reacting w/ the exaggerated Tumblrand Hyperbole™ either, bc some of that is probably real emotion. Some of it is for effect, the exaggeration tends to get more notes than rational analysis. But I think it’s both.
I can empathize with the negativity. I wish I could blindly support AR in every choice she makes, but I can’t do that, either. I try not to criticize her myself bc she has given us an incredible gift already in the earlier books. I hope we can trust her to faithfully adapt them to TV/film as how they were originally written, and not try to wedge in this more recent provocative material.
Yes indeedy there will be a legit post! Altho I have been feeding u little bits from it already 😉 For now have this:
^Can u guess which one is me? I AM IN THE RED VELVET SHE DID NOT EVEN COMMENT and also the lighting on her is better than on me but whatever whatever it’s all fine.
I’ve never heard of this Devin Oliver (sounds like Ricean name, doesn’t it?) before this very Ask, he is apparently the frontman in the band I See Stars, so already, big plus, a singer! (I haven’t heard their stuff but anyway I assume he can sing… I am pretty generous about singers).
TL;DR I would screen test him! Hurl him in AR’s direction!
The other thing I’d like about smne like Devin who is already a frontman w/ a band, is that it would be amazeballs to have REAL Lestat concerts, either pre-TV series release, or during (or both, both is good). ACTUAL TOUR DATES & MERCH CAN YOU EVEN??
I can’t watch any vids rn but I’m sure he has tons out there, I just went through some of his Insta… and… yes plz. These are all pics from there, w/ some commentary added… >;}
^Obligatory fashion shots, bc he looks gr9 in a suit and he does model-face well, too.
^Obligatory selfies bc you know Lestat takes tons of selfies. Very nice bedhead, bro what product(s) do u use??
^Has the exact build of my headcanon for Lestat, buff but not too muscular, also, man-bun ❤
^shot w/ a little side pec action and biceps hnngggg….
I-want-my-IWTV 