Sure, go on to PL! I hope you have more of an appreciation for the main characters since you know their background. I sympathize with your time constraints.
Prince Lestat CAN be considered a stand alone, AR said herself it can be treated like that. It’s just so stand alone that I consider it very Alternate Universe. You’ll see what I mean.
*sigh* It’s so strange that ppl want to rush to PL, but I guess it’s bc it’s the currently newest VC and the upcoming book is a sequel to it.
As far as triggering elements, there are some in PL. I won’t spoil you directly but I’ll just toss in some questionnable categories of things I remember being in PL (this is not all-inclusive, I may have forgotten a few bc I read it almost 2 years ago and I can’t read it again yet):
An emotionally abusive relationship between a female college student and a male adult authority figure
Other abuse of that female college student that she suffered as a child (not sexual but physical and emotional)
Body horror (sort of?)
Gorey moments (one involving a few amputations, one involving brains, some murder bc VAMPIRES)
Lestat in a non-consensual blood-related attack moment (but he doesn’t get away with it unpunished)
So I don’t know how new you are, and what you’ve seen and/or read, but unlike many other fandoms: We do not all accept all of the books (and the 2 movies) in our series as CANON.
[^Louis doesn’t really approve of the series as a whole.]
All of us are into VC for our own reasons, and there are some ppl who are into it specifically for certain characters, time periods, cosplay ideas, etc. Ppl whose interests are similar tend to find eachother and make closer friendships within the larger fandom. Anything that you do not accept as canon can be considered AU or written off as being told by an unreliable narrator, bc all of our characters are unreliable narrators! They all know someone in the coven will read their account of things and they may *~embellish~* the truth if they want to do so ;] Scenes are often retread from different characters’ POVs. You can choose which version you want to trust. Maybe there are elements of both that you find acceptable.
Even AR doesn’t accept all of the books as canon: she said that
Prince Lestat does not follow the VC/Mayfair hybrid books (Blood Canticle was intended to be the last VC). She wrote PL almost as a stand alone book and lots of ppl seem to be coming into the fandom from that book without reading IWTV which is fine, and more power to them! You don’t need to read the books that lead up to it but you’ll get a deeper appreciation of some of the main characters if you at least read the first 3 books in the series before you read PL.
Hit the jump for more, cut for length.
Re: differing headcanons: We still have disagreements about what Louis’ hair really looks like, bc some ppl were influenced by movie!IWTV, the official graphic novels, and the fanart which interprets it in different ways. We still disagree over whether Lestat was 20 or 21 when he was turned, and AR herself doesn’t always answer these canon questions explicitly herself (maybe bc she left it ambiguous on purpose, or she forgot, or whatever other reasons).
Re: PL: There are parts of PLI can accept, just not the whole thing. There are alot of new characters introduced who I personally did not find as engaging as the old set, and the old set did not always behave in ways that seemed true to their own previously established characterizations throughout the book. Other ppl have different opinions. We have RPers who chose the new characters to RP, so they probably accept these new characters as canon.
I probably won’t accept Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis as anything more than AU either, bc it follows PL.
Reasons why fandom won’t accept PLROA as canon:
The main reason would be that AR herself has told us to disregard the Mayfair crossover books. In terms of her own headcanon, she didn’t want to tie these in with the events that follow in PL. So her own books diverge from her own timeline.
A secondary reason would be the earlier books in the series are generally accepted as the stronger stories with the characters best written.
AR wrote Prince Lestat almost as a stand-alone book and lots of ppl seem to be coming into the fandom from that book without reading IWTV even… which is fine, and more power to them!
But IDK, I always tell ppl that they’ll get a lot more out of the series if you read the Vampire Lestat and Queen of the Damned first, bc her characters and storytelling were so strong and passionate in those books in a way that many ppl feel that Prince Lestat lacked.
Look I don’t like all of the books but I’ve read them all in order, partly bc I didn’t have a choice when I was younger and had to wait for them one-by-one, but also bc that’s the order in which AR explored the stories herself.
They don’t have all the books??! How rude. You might be able to find the others online for free very cheaply, or at second-hand stores like the Salvation Army.
There ARE different main characters in some of the books, and in some, Lestat is almost entirely left out. He is mentioned only once just to point out that he WILL be completely left out in Vittorio, but that book was not really intended as a Vampire Chronicle.
But the order of the VC still tracks along Lestat’s journey, even if it veers off for a book or two (as with the Vampire Armand or Blood and Gold) and then picks back up with him.
Short answer is: without access to the full canon, you can’t just breeze through it like I did, and I don’t know which ones you are missing, but…. I recommend you read them in order as best you can. In later canon, other characters will refer to scenes already played out in earlier canon, contributing their own perspective, which may be confusing and will spoil those scenes for you. It will be up to you to decide which character’s account of things to believe. They’re all wildly unreliable narrators with their own selfish reasons for explaining things the way they do ;D
^Regardless of the “truth,” do I grin like I’m seeing old friends every time I see a lineup of VC on a bookshelf, no matter what their condition? You bet your a$$ I do.
Hit the jump for moar on this.
Some ppl who HAVE access refuse to read Prince Lestat, or a bunch of the other books, and won’t even give them a chance, so your lack of access might also reflect the fact that the books are not all equally popular. Your library might have purposely not included what it considers the less-popular installments.
Most of the fandom, in my experience, have had different gateway drugs to the series. I love collecting stories of how people first got into it (#I love these kind of stories tag). They first saw movie!IWTV or movie!QOTD and then read the corresponding book, or a friend gave them a random one from the series, or someone donated the whole series to them, etc. From there, some people read in order, some people skipped around.
THAT SAID, if you want to make VC fanworks (including fic, meta discussion, fanart, etc.) or do VC RP, it seems to help if you’ve read at least IWTV, TVL, and TVA (TVA might spoil previous events in canon but it’s really THE authority on Armand)(and read some fanfic!).
I think those VC contain the crux of the fan fave characters (Lestat, Louis, ((Nicki)), Gabrielle, Armand, Daniel, Marius) and scenes that have had alot of impact in developing the main characters. Your fanworks/RP will be richer if you know the background of the characters, because you’ll be able to refer to the events, or quotes, or take them as a jumping-off point in your work.
However, in the later books, you get new info, new characters, and new perspectives on previous events (example: Claudia’s diary entry in QOTD is heartwrenching).
@annabellioncourt had added this good commentary on that post and I agree with her 110% (except that I don’t love Vittorio but still):
I personally recommend that people read the first three books (IWTV, TVL, QOTD) and if they really enjoy it to try reading the rest of them.
But my caveat for that is that if they don’t care for Body Thief or Memnoch then still give Pandora and Vittorio a chance, then Armand, and if they enjoyed Armand and Pandora, to try Blood and Gold.
Its complicated, but so is the series, for such a seemingly straightforward concept of “vampires decide to write tell-all memoirs of their behind the scenes lives.”
Awww thank u for the compliments! I’m such a successful drug dealer, addicted a fresh victim to our beloved drug of choice, lovable dysfunctional vampires ♥u♥
shut up Claudia you know you love it you helped him WRITE that monologue…
Yes, I read all the books. Should you read all the books?
Well, if, for example, you’re not so interested in Armand as a character, I would recommend skipping TVA, bc it’s largely his story. BUT, you may miss good moments with other characters that you do like. Same goes for the other books past TVA.
Short answer is: give it all a chance, skim if you must, and decide for yourself, it’s meant to be fun, it’s not a religion, there are no chants to memorize, you will not be quizzed next Monday ;]
Dear anon, this is an impossible question to answer a simple “Books 1-4″ or “Books 1-3, and then 5″ or such and so forth…
… as some ppl refuse to read Prince Lestat, or a bunch of the other books, won’t even give them a chance not that they all deserve a wholehearted chance necessarily…
Very good description. It really does depend on who you ask, I personally admit them all before Prince Lestat to be cannon, that last one went just a bit too far.
i I personally recommend that people read the first three books (IWTV, TVL, QOTD) and if they really enjoy it to try reading the rest of them.
But my caveat for that is that if they don’t care for Body Thief or Memnoch then still give Pandora and Vittorio a chance, then Armand, and if they enjoyed Armand and Pandora, to try Blood and Gold.
Its complicated, but so is the series, for such a seemingly straightforward concept of “vampires decide to write tell-all memoirs of their behind the scenes lives.”
(ﾉ´ヮ´)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ *~TVL~* is my favorite bc of reasons:
it’s undiluted Lestat,
from his POV,
his backstory,
his midstory,
his modus operandi…
it answers alot of the questions and corrects the record somewhat from IWTV (both have unreliable narrators but STILL)
…while bringing in a wholly new vampire origin mythology!!
and sets us up for more stories.
Listing the rest from most to least fave under the cut.
I’ll try not to spoil but consider yourself WARNED. ＼(^ω^＼)
You know this fluctuates ok? Sometimes I’m in the mood for crackiness, but the top 5 are generally constants.
SPOILER ALERT MAYBE
TVL – bc of reasons
IWTV – bc it was the gateway drug to all this, and bc of Louis’ voice being so strong, very classical gothic novel. There was alot of existential crisis here, and mixed right in were some of the best insults and humor I’d ever read up until that time. (Louis: “There’s nothing left for you to tell me about life. I haveno need of you and no use for you. It’s you who need me, and if you
touch but one of the Freniere slaves, I’ll get rid of you. It will be a
battle between us, and I needn’t point out to you I have more wit to
fare better in my little finger than you in your entire frame. Do as I
say.‘” OH SNAP.
ToBT – Truly a “Lestat Don’t Do the Thing” “I Did the Thing” “GDI Lestat” book, in which he gets the chance to be mortal again, and this sums up his opinion of that experience: “I’ve watched two-year-old humans with interest for centuries. They’re miserable. They rush about, fall down, and scream almost constantly. They hate being human! They know already that it’s some sort of dirty trick.” I feel ya.
MtD – Yes okay I love Memnoch the Devil bc of alot of reasons, but mostly for the ideas it presents about why God created man and the world and what the deal was with sending Jesus down to mingle among people, and of course Lestat is asked to be the Prince of Hell, bc why not? It’s got alot going for it, the settings are amazing, the amount of Lestat being overwhelmed by his sensory input is like a rollercoaster ride, it’s some intense stuff.
QotD – there are alot more characters in here and it’s fun to jump around among the different POVs as the story progresses. The Queen herself has a wildly innovative concept for bringing Peace on Earth and it has a major flaw in that it does not include Bette Midler singing “From a Distance.”
Merrick – Louis returns as a more central character in several books, and it’s not for the faint of heart. It rekindles the L/L intimacy in a whole new way.
TVA – I am not a huge lover of Armand but in this book I feel like I got to know him better, it’s sumptuous, I would like a graphic novel plzkthanx, and it has an edginess as he is telling his story to someone who hasn’t yet earned his full trust and respect.
BaG – Marius’ story, follows Armand’s in my list bc I like Armand just 12% more than Marius. Partially bc of what Marius does in the later canon ugh. He lost alot of points for me. I can explain his reasons but I don’t have to LIKE THE OUTCOME all the same.
PL – Not sure if canon but… there are a few scenes in here that could stand alone and are worth reading the book for, plus I definitely approve of the last few major plot points. I think those were handled very well and would reread them. Yes I can start at 25% from the end of a book and reread from there WHY NOT?
BW – Quinn has grown more tolerable to me over time, and his story is very rural NOLA IIRC, with alot of spiritual stuff happening.
Pandora – I never really “got” her when I tried to read this when I was 15, probably bc her ship with Marius was so impossible for both of them, and her sadness was too much but I should give this book another try alllllll these number of years later.
BC – one of the crackiest for sure. I can’t remember most of it but it was intended to be the last VC, so it has a bunch of things happening as if it were the last opportunity to have them happen. Also the crossover… um… yeah, no.
Yayyy! So happy to find out I’m (hopefully) infecting someone with this addiction.
Watch IWTV now, before reading TVL. Let Lestat just be the antagonist that Louis portrays him as, for now.
For more of my ramblings, click click:
Madeleine: It’s a strange feeling to be sad for Madeleine, and I am too, bc Louis feels almost nothing for her, even after sharing such an intimate experience with her :,( She has so little time. She probably wouldn’t have survived very long tho, she was mad. She started out a bit mad, and I blame Louis for making her poorly… he’d only seen this done twice, and didn’t take notes, lol… and he was reluctant to do it, didn’t seem to get any pleasure out of it, and that’s supposed to be one of the most exciting/pleasurable acts a vampire can do.
My own theory, formed in part from ideas from cloudsinvenice, is that Claudia tried to make Madeleine into a vampire on her own, numerous times, and that these blood exchanges might have driven Madeleine mad physically and psychologically. Only after suffering from enough of these repeated failures did Claudia have to lower herself by asking/begging Louis to do it.
You’ll see Lestat differently after reading TVL, he’ll be more layered, and then you can watch IWTV again, and notice subtle things Cruise does to call up TVL. After all, Cruise had read IWTV and TVL to prepare for the role. He must have read all the way through ToBT eventually, too, because there was a time when he was connected with the film rights to that book, and was considering reprising the role for it.
Now I’m rambling but whatever…
Allergic to Tom Cruise, hmmm… Well I’m not a Cruiser (hardcore Tom Cruise fans sometimes refer to themselves this way), but there’s always a place in my heart for him purely attached to his performance as Lestat, so that might help get you through your allergic reaction as well. His characters usually have an element of obnoxious good humor about them, at least in the 80’s and 90’s he was particularly excellent at the Asshole-who-learns-how-to-be-a-Decent-Human-Being-and-we-all-Love-Him-At-The-End-Because-Of-This-Transformation. One might think this is who he must be in Real Life since he chooses such similar roles. We don’t know.
If you’re allergic to him bc of who he is a human being, and I know he’s had alot of bad press, had alot of issues with his religious beliefs, and personal life… I think it’s unfair to judge him on those things. He’s a successful actor, obviously, his face alone still sells movie tickets and DVDs, and he’s a professional, often doing most of his own stunts.
I hadn’t cared for Tom Cruise (or Brad Pitt, either) before IWTV, I don’t think I even knew who they were. I liked Jim Carrey, Harrison Ford and David Dochovny at that time… I was pretty out of the loop on celebrity crushes, I think I was 12 when I saw IWTV (on VHS! omg), and I loved both TC and BP in it… It’s become nostalgic for me.
When I see their respective movies now, I still try to watch for little Lestat-esque moments in whatever TC is playing, little Louis-esque moments in BP 🙂 I’m not the only one who grafted some rockstar Lestat onto TC’s Stacee Jaxx from Rock of Ages, since Lestat does become a rockstar in Queen of the Damned.
I-want-my-IWTV 