Some ppl definitely ARE excited for the new book! There was alot of excitement and cautious optimism for Prince Lestat. 

I feel like I have a good perspective on this bc I have been in this fandom for 20+ years even tho book!IWTV came out before I was born, too. I’d have to ask a more veteran fandom person what it was like when they got the sequel(s) to IWTV! I got into the fandom right before the movie came out in ‘94, when we only had the first 4 books, so I looked forward to every new book with some level of excitement and that’s hard to shake even now *u*

New titles and storylines have often sounded more than a bit iffy and there has often been resistance to each new VC book. Alot of ppl didn’t think they would like TOBT or MtD, and some read those and still refuse to accept either as canon.

[X] Ppl have their own ideas of the characters in their minds. As AR continues delve into their perspectives on previous events and give them new stories in each new book, some ppl choose to “get off the bus” along the way, bc they don’t necessarily trust her vision and they don’t want to see their fave character(s) in characterization they feel is off, or forced into plots that make no sense, etc. And we can’t blame AR for this but the trainwreck that was movie!QOTD, so much was off that it was offensive, and yet, surprisingly, some ppl find that movie nostalgic! ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Some ppl actually trust the fanfic writers and/or fanartists more than the author at this point, bc many of our awesome fanfic writers and fanartists learned the voices and attitudes of the characters and try to keep them in the style that drew us to them in the first place ❤