cloudsinvenice:

Me and i-want-my-iwtv were just talking about how Rose’s story is like a limp retread of Jesse’s. I never hated her the way a lot of people did when the book came out, but it is incredibly striking on re-read, and I keep wondering if that was a conscious decision; was AR thinking, “Well, we need something structurally similar to Jesse’s origin story in there…” 

As to Lestat taking on the Sacred Core, though, it wasn’t a supported decision – it was a fait accompli with which Lestat presented the others. The suggestions beforehand boiled down to “leave Amel with Mekare” or “make a new weak fledgling as a vessel to force Amel into”, but they’d intended to discuss it, and then of course Mekare came to Lestat and wanted to give him Amel anyway, and Lestat went with the moment, as he does… I don’t entirely blame the rest of them for rolling with it; the alternative would be to kill Lestat and transfer Amel to another host, and I don’t think any of them really wants to do either. 

What I’m most curious about now are the implications of Lestat’s life not really being his own – he’s already tetchy when one of the others points out that he can’t just disappear and go into radio silence anymore… he says that this responsibility for everyone else’s existence is what he needs to keep him going, but it’ll be interesting to see how that works in practice!

^ALL OF THIS. Strenuously agree. Also a problematic and intense David/Lestat scene that is not to be missed. Can’t throw the whole thing out.

And I can’t put any of that under any cuts bc of formatting, sorry for spoilers. 

Rose’s whole story felt very Mary Sue.  That’s not to say that Rose is a Mary Sue, and I’d bet money we get to see her again in Blood Paradise, but her backstory felt very much like something you’d read on a fanfic on Fanfiction.net in 2002.

Yes, it majorly did, (her shitty ex is named GARDNER like a gardener, and her name is ROSE like a pwetty flower, omg does it get any Mary Sueier?) I’m hoping fanfic and nodominion can make Rose more likable. NO PRESSURE of course. 

merciful-death:

ooc; I’m assuming this is an OOC question.

I wrote a review for Prince Lestat right after reading it, and I think my opinions may have actually changed a bit since then.

Do I think it’s the worst VC?  No.  Not at all.  Far from it.  That said, I generally describe things better in bullet point lists.

Things I liked:

• We got to see Lestat as Lestat.  He was so much more in character in this book than he’s been in a long while, in my personal opinion.
• Louis’ epilogue was my absolute favorite part of the book.  I actually adored it.
• Gabrielle was very on-point and her bits with Lestat were amazing.
• I think learning about what Bianca was up to was really cool, whether people accept it into their headcanons or not.
• Marius was actually enjoyable for me to read in Prince Lestat.  Being completely honest, I have not enjoyed his character much since his appearance in The Vampire Lestat, so that was pleasant.
• We got an explanation for that “unnamed musician” that Lestat made a vampire in Interview with the Vampire.  Pretty neat, although again, some people have very big headcanons on this that they’ve developed in the years that VC was “ended,” so I completely get why a lot of people won’t entirely accept Antoine.
• Speaking of Antoine, I loved the subtle shade from Louis towards Antoine.  I don’t even know if it was intentional that Armand listed everyone at Trinity Gate as loving Antoine with the exception of Louis or if it was just a slip up from Anne, but it cracked me up.  Damn straight, Louis doesn’t like Antoine.
• Louis and Lestat had a canon kiss scene and were all lovey-dovey and professed their love for each other, so idk, there is absolutely nothing to hate about that.
• Jesse and David were generally entertaining.

Things I did not like:

• All.of.the.new.characters.  It’s hard to sift through them all.  I have no problem with new characters being introduced, but it felt like we had SO MUCH thrown at us at once in PL.
• A million retellings of a story we already know.  The book felt very slow to get going.  I didn’t feel like the plot was really moving until I was over halfway through it.
• There was some retcon that bothered me.  Well, a lot of retcon that bothered me.
• Rose’s whole story felt very Mary Sue.  That’s not to say that Rose is a Mary Sue, and I’d bet money we get to see her again in Blood Paradise, but her backstory felt very much like something you’d read on a fanfic on Fanfiction.net in 2002.
• Viktor’s whole existence makes no sense based on prior canon, but that goes back to my whole “all the retcon” point.
• It made no sense to me why anyone would think that putting the entire lifeline of the vampire race into a guy who has made so many stupid decisions.  Like, why was this a supported decision by the vast majority of vampires.  Why.
• Armand seemed non-existent in this book.  I have to read all of his parts as extreme sarcasm to be able to handle it.
• Speaking of which, there were a lot of reactions I felt characters should have had where they instead just sat there and said nothing.  Like, Armand reuniting with Daniel.  Or even more so, Armand reuniting with Bianca, who he had not seen in centuries.
• Some characters still felt OOC.
• DANIEL MALLOY.

In general, the book had some strong points and low points.  Yes, I did like some of Prince Lestat, but in general, if I were to read it again, I’d probably start half way through the book because the first half was really, really boring to me.

These are all just my personal opinions.  I encourage everyone to read Prince Lestat and make your own decisions about the book.  Some people will love it!  Some people will absolutely hate it.  I feel very neutral at this point.

As to Lestat taking on the Sacred Core, though, it wasn’t a supported decision – it was a fait accompli with which Lestat presented the others.

I feel like they were all sort of gearing up to volunteer him for the position, partly out of selfishness (who would want that irritating backseat driver in their body for eternity?) and partly out of this general feeling among them that as hamburger-brained as Lestat can be, his intentions are usually good, clearly more so than others Marius! looking at you, so he seemed to be a good choice for Next Top Queen King of the Damned. Heavy is the head that wears the crown, hence, “Prince.”