Wow, bold of you to consider him as a favorite! I’m rarely asked about Magnus. If I might ask, why is he one of your faves? He is like the ultimate Your Fave is Problematic bc of the way he was first introduced in canon, forcing Lestat into vampirism and all that. Lestat pretty much forgives him at this point, having tried going back to mortality and been very unhappy with it, you could say Lestat finally got to make the choice he didn’t have originally well, *sigh* a whole essay could be written about Lestat and choosing to vampire.
Magnus tells his story in Prince Lestat! That he was a great Parisian alchemist. It’s glossed over fairly quickly, there could be more to Magnus. He was in Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis, we’ll probably see more of him.
There was a Magnus RPer, gone inactive now, but you might find good stuff in their archive, might reach out to any active RPers you find there: @theycallmemagnus.
[Note: Mun & muse do not accept the entirety of PL as canon, definitely not Viktor, but Lestat said he’d play along for the sake of this Ask.]
♛Honestly, I try not to feel anything about Viktor.
I barely know him and he has shown little interest in me. I assume he’s read my books but I have no idea. He seems to prefer thinking he burst forth riding a giant gilded petri dish like Venus on her scallop shell. Fine. That’s probably how I’d act in his position.
[Spoiler Alert]
Here’s the thing, anonymous person, how would you feel if someone told you you had a son, and before you could hardly even entertain the idea, they tell you he’s practically an adult, he was raised in a lab full of scientist-vampires, and that what he wants more than anything in the world, more than anything money can buy or any experience, even a relationship with you, is to become a vampire, too? Just another mortal who finds us beautiful, magical, has little idea of the grotesque nightly payment required? Killing is not always fun. Often it’s repulsive. This is a true customer service job, closer to butchery than the refined elegance people love to romanticize it as being.
Before you start with me on that, yes, I’m sure his “parents” told him about that part of it, too, but please *waves his hand* I met him when he was mortal and had all the starry-eyed wonder of someone who idealizes what we are, ignoring whatever they find remotely distasteful.
It’s been years now and I’m still livid about it. Surely there would have been a way to reach me about him sooner? What’s been stolen from me is priceless. His first words, his first steps, all the joy of sharing my son’s childhood. Earning his trust. He acts like I abandoned him all those years! I am a “deadbeat dad” by his creator’s design.
Did they think I would confuse him?
Did they think I would hurt him? Kill him? They’ve done so much damage keeping us apart that there may be no healing of that wound, even with vampiric blood.
I’m livid about all of that, and that’s only the second chapter beyond the fact that his very creation was not my choice, either. I didn’t sign any waivers giving them permission to make a child from my little experiment. What of possible failures they made before him? Potentially: other children who were biologically unstable, never made it to adulthood, suffering in their short lives. It horrifies and disgusts me.
Are you starting to get the picture? Do you have the faintest idea? I’m livid. I’m a father to him in the biological sense of the word only. It even seems that he actively tries to suppress anything of me in him, and isn’t that part of the thrill of having a child? Seeing yourself reflected in them? He reflects nothing back to me, only that we share an uncanny physical resemblance. He should dye his hair if he hates me so very much.
I try not to feel anything about Viktor. It takes me down a road that leads nowhere.
It’s not my fave VC, but not my least fave VC, either. It’s growing on me.
As I answered in a recent Ask re: Merrick, idk, I would always advocate reading the books, as cracky as some of them can be, bc there are always moments that are really great! Single lines worth digging up, some phrasing that hits you #Right in the Feels. Don’t you want to know what happens? You don’t have to agree with it but the ride is always at the very least stimulating… you can always just skim it for plot points if reading it is too much of an investment.
As to whether it’s “just plain awful”? I wouldn’t agree w/ that, bc there are some gems in it that you can’t get anywhere else. At the risk of being redundant, my short answer: I think AR can still capture that old quality we all fell in love with, albeit in slivers. Which is why I can’t disregard any of the books entirely. It’s still hard for me to accept Prince Lestat as canon, I might never, but there are moments and lines of dialogue in it that are SO VERY GOOD. Moments where I’ve had to pause and smile, because it was as if the old Lestat, from IWTV or TVL, actually graced us with his presence, if only for a moment.
… Also I admit I very much dig Lestat’s new accessory ;D
It also has some worthwhile development re: the spirit that basically created vampires in the first place.
who uses Jordan Sörbom as a FC), @antoineandthepiano, and @roselioncourt, all of whom RP new characters from PL (technically Antoine was in IWTV but he has a larger presence in PL so I count him as new) and care way more about them than I am capable of currently.
I didn’t find many of the new characters very engaging, I would bet we’ll get more depth on them in later books, and/or they were created for what I like to call “canon-fodder” so that AR has a bunch of chars to kill in the next book(s), since she can’t kill the core group we all love so much! She tried to kill a few of them and had to bring them back ;]
Spoilers and probably unpopular opinions re: Viktor under the cut. And really I prefer not to make unpopular opinions but sometimes I gotta.
I find Viktor to be a kind of watered-down Twilight knockoff. He seemed to be an answer for all the POTP who had pestered AR for years to give Lestat a biological son… and the romance between him and Rose came off as pretty forced to me, again, a YA couple like in Twilight for fanservice. Not that YA can’t be well done, just that I didn’t really buy AR’s stab at it. Other ppl may have and they are welcome to ship their hearts out!
I tried to be very thorough regarding names and makers. The unknown branch bothers me the most, and if anyone knows where those Vampires started from, please let me know. Also I’m not 100% sure on all of Rhosh’s fledglings, though from a few sources I think that’s all his named ones.
If you would like to correct anything or add anyone canon, PLEASE send me a message, even on anon. The more eyes I can have on this the better.
Of course this is updated through Prince Lestat, so spoilers for character names and makers.
Colors refer to gender, though I’m unsure of Petronia, who is technically a hermaphrodite, and Eleni and Eugenie. Again, please message me for any changes/clarifications!
You can click the images to make them a little clearer/bigger.
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.
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.”
Well. What a journey. I have finally finished Prince Lestat and I am pleasantly surprised. Fully intending to hate every moment of it, I have to say, it was a heck of a lot better than I was expecting. Lestat was his true self on so many occasions which made me incredibly happy. Granted, there were many times when he was not and that did irritate me but the moments where he was himself were a real delight. There were parts that definitely could have been better, but I was quietly surprised by how emotional I became at times.
Very well-put! I totally agree, and that’s why I can’t simply toss the whole book out for its ooc moments/plot/etc.. There were some gems in there for sure, and I like following the fanworks, RP, discussion, etc., it continues to generate.
[Read More is spoilery]
The loss of Maharet and Khayman hit me hard and in fact I almost stopped reading altogether at that point. (thanks to antoineandthepiano for encouraging me to continue!) I will freely admit that I cried at that unexpected loss and though I am not exactly sure yet how I am going to treat this. I am interested in roleplaying the events of Prince Lestat and after, so I am going to have to decide on this. If anyone would like to come and speak with me about it, that would be wonderful!
And I have to speak on the final chapter; Louis’ chapter. I loved this part and, despite the frustration I often experience with Anne’s writing, I really thought this was a master stroke. It was the perfect way to end this book and it left me so pleased, knowing that he was finally happy in himself. So, with that done, I am now very keen to roleplay anything and everything from these books and rather excited for the coming release of the next one in the series. I can only hope that it is as good as this one has been.
Sure, I may not like all of it, but honestly I love all of Anne rices work and could not , with conviction, tell someone not to read it.
So all of you peeps who are afraid to read it or put off because of the fandoms feelings in the book, just ignore all that and work to craft an opinion of your own on the book by bravely reading it yourself.
~T~h~i~s~/
TL;DR WARNING.
Before I launch into this, the title itself felt like a joke: "Oh gdi Lestat you are so obsessed with your stupid nickname, you hamburger-brained moron" but really he did not coin that phrase, and in fact he resisted it for most of the book. So let’s not blame Lestat for that bit. In fact, it is meant to follow Queen of the Damned in a very big plot point kinda way, and so the title makes perfect sense once you know that plot point.
I finally finished it after picking it up, setting it down, and repeating that procedure a number of times. There were sections that made me lose total interest for weeks. Then I’d grumble and trudge through. I knew some spoilers (bc I had asked for them!), just plot points, but I wanted to experience it as it deserved to be experienced. Even the parts that made me invent a wholly new WTF facial expression. But I laughed more than cried of second-hand embarrassment at those scenes.
I finally closed that book with the feeling that I opened it with: cautious optimism, and glad for having given it the chance. It’s revived our fandom for sure. I might even reread it soon. Is any of it really canon? Maybe. Not sure. I think some good RP and fanfic will revise some of it, fill in the missing parts, and glue it all together.
Oh, you want more? Well I’ll give you more…
Let me just say that there are several canon/fanon-worthy scenes in this book, that are not to be missed. There’s a lot of good character work with several of the characters (not ALL of them, but hey, it’s something).
There’s an intensity to the last 25% that’s worth the anguish of the parts that lost my interest. You have to slog through to get to that, though. It makes it more worthwhile, a creeping sort of anxiety in the story until that last 25% sweet spot.
There’s also a lot of good exploration of the PTSD in Lestat himself. There are times when it really feels like the Lestat from TVL or even IWTV! His brutality is still there. His gentleness is different now, worn sort of thin by too many people abusing it (*cough cough* Mona! Though she was in the right in several instances back in Blackwood Farm), but still there.
There’s a great, short, powerplay with David. There’s some great mother & son bonding (lol) with Gabrielle. Louis has a sort of change of heart. Armand is so chill you might think he’s being sarcastic. New characters are brought in (this includes old ones that we thought were long gone and are now brought back and dusted off), and lined up, they’ll surely be more developed and have roles in the next installment.
The entire vampire tribe has turned a new corner at the end.
I cannot say it is impossible as for I have never tried to do such a thing – and I find it hard to believe one would as I cannot see a purpose on doing so. However, I personally find highly unlikely for such an attempt to be successful.
♛ Hope you don’t mind my adding to this, Marius. Our physiology has always intrigued me, too much to be tactful and pass up a chance to discuss it *winks*
Technically Louis and I both made our daughter together. In that sense, one can be made by more than one sire. It just usually happens that it’s a single one of us claiming a single mortal to bring over for love, or on orders of a higher ranking member, or as an heir (in my case)…
It’s not an exact science, it can go horridly wrong even if performed correctly. My darling Nicolas seemed, at first, to have been committed to a fate worse than death. I would not recommend the further complication of two (or more) makers.
However… in my latest novel…
ooc; So I finally finished Prince Lestat!!! Took me awhile. ANYWAY.
I won’t spoil anything here, but let’s just say that the idea of 2 makers at the same time is addressed. Sort of. It’s not directly answered but it’s addressed.
I think it could be done. Why not? Lestat has admitted that Marius’ multiple transfer procedure is a better one than Lestat’s usual method of blood taken from the mortal and transferred back only once. The fledgling is a vessel for blood that must be emptied and replenished a few times.
so magnus stole the blood from an unnamed vampire three hundred years or so before he made lestat right? right. SOOOOOO SOO SOS OSOSOS HE KNEW VAMPIRES WERE A REAL THING SO ODOSOOSOSOS?? ?? WHAT IF! !!?!!? WHAT IF HE WAS A MEMBER OF THE TALAMASCA!!!!!>!»!>!>
LIKE
WGHAT IF!!V ! !
I like how this stemmed off wantingvto watch The Princess Bride
But oui it makes sense since he was an alchemist and somehow knew enough about vampires then to keep one captive and take their blood to transform them )
I HAD THIS VERY THOUGHT, TOO. Was Magnus in any other book than TVL, which explains more about him? I don’t remember.
I would imagine Lestat loves the Princess Bride so much that he’s memorized the lines and will parrot them theatrically during the movie. And he makes Louis speak all of Buttercup’s lines, which Louis will do, as deadpan as possible.
^ Just want to point out that this headcanon was posted around Nov. 3, 2013. And then in Prince Lestat… spoiler under cut:
WE FIND OUT THAT THE TALAMASCA IS BASICALLY RUN BY VAMPIRES.
”(…) “No, for your blood,” I said, pushing him backwards against the slender but frm trunk of a tree.
“You damnable brat,” he seethed.
“Oh, yes, despise me, please,” I said as I closed in. I pushed his face to one side, kissing his throat frst, and then sinking my fangs very slowly, my tongue ready for those frst radiant drops.”
I-want-my-IWTV 