Tag Archives: princelestat

I just have one question about The Vampire Chronicles, I’m in my local library and notice they don’t have all the books, and in the little info bars I noticed different main characters (I initially believed it followed Lestat all the way through), do you have to read them in chronological order? Or would that just confused you?)

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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.

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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. 

When I was asked “Which books do you personally and/or (if you might feel differently) the majority of the fandom regard as canon?” I answered that I had read them in chronological order as they came out, and it makes sense to do it that way since that’s the order in which Anne Rice pursued her interest in developing different characters/storylines/worldbuilding/etc. and establishing her own rules re: vampire origins, powers, and limitations.

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

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^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.”

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annabellioncourt:

vampchronfic:

mylittleinferno:

firelight-fading:

mylittleinferno:

Does anyone else feel that the quality of the Vampire Chronicles books goes downhill the further you read into the series? 

I mean, I love Anne Rice and her novels but sometimes I get the feeling she put out a book because of contractual obligations. Some of the VC books are just.. meh. 

(If you don’t mind my input) I feel like the quality kind of slopes downward, comes up again just a little bit and then goes down even further. I actually enjoyed The Vampire Armand (despite the weird shit that went on), but as for the 2 books that preceded it, I really didn’t care for them at all. I haven’t read on-ward since because I’ve heard things regarding the other half of the series so, I can’t attest to that half.

I don’t mind 🙂

I’ve heard that some of the books are better but after I read TOBT it really killed my enjoyment of the series and I’ve only recently gotten back into it.

You’re not wrong—there are a lot of people who have the same general opinion (YMMV on which book began the downward spiral). #i-want-my-iwtv — you need to weigh in on this one!

I have argued to doctorate holders that IWTV is a true work of literary genius. TVL is my favorite for its unrepentant hedonism and introspection–I think Lestat is more self aware than Louis is, and more aware of how others think than Louis is, and I love his narration (despite the fact that I am literally Louis). 

Queen of the Damned is well on par with TVL in its quality–and its a high quality straddling the line between good popular fiction and high brow literature……Armand, Blood and Gold, Pandora, Vittorio: they’re right below it in literary quality for me. The rest seem to be just good popular fiction, not great, but good. 

I love them all to bits, and will defend Anne and her work, and continue to read whatever she writes, but….you are right, there really is a change in her writing.

*Officially weighing in*

Lots of good points above, I absolutely agree that IWTV is a true work of literary genius. Agreed on everything annabellioncourt wrote. For me, none of the later books remotely approaches the richness and intensity of IWTV, TVL, or QOTD, but yes, I’d say TVA was very good, and shouldn’t be lumped into the lesser VC simply bc of its post-MtD publishing date. 

I would agree w/ firelight-fading that it’s not a sharp downward slide in quality, but more that “the quality kind of slopes downward, comes up again just a little bit and then goes down even further.” Blood Canticle would have ended this series, and for what it’s worth, I would say that Prince Lestat begins to get things back on a better track plot-wise and emotion-wise than it nearly ended on.

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.

However, in general, I would say that the VC began as a work of catharsis for her (we probably all know the Claudia = Michele Rice connection by now); she had real questions that needed answering, she had a powerful hunger to flex her storytelling muscles, steeped in all that older literature, she could still relate to us mere mortals, and she had her poet husband’s emotional and creative support. Don’t underestimate Stan’s contribution 😉

So I’d say that’s why the first few books (1-3 or 1-5 or whatever, depending on your cutoff point) are so strong, and why we mourn the loss of that passionate searching. Because as she got more successful, as she exorcised her demons, she might have lost touch with the emotions and questions she began the journey with. I’m happy she’s happy! I would probably still be a mess, if I had lost a child and a husband, both who still had a lot of life ahead of them ;A; 

But I’m glad she seems to be in a good place, and that she’s still writing, even though she is probably financially secure enough not to need to touch WordPerfect ever again!

Hit the jump for more. 

It’s easy to denounce a pile of books. It’s easy to just slam them down or make a gif of them on fire yes I did that before I finished reading it and it’s kind of a bonding experience to all agree to like or dislike a thing together. I get that. Hey, I actively dislike movie!QOTD. I immediately feel a little kinship w/ others who agree w/ me on that, and I am aware that’s mean to those who feel nostalgia for that movie, so I try to keep it to a minimum publicly. 

Why do people dislike the later VC books? Because they’re wild? (They are!), They are historically inaccurate? (Probably!) The characters seem “off” or present unreliable narration as to past events told by other characters…? (They are and they do!) 

^All of which are varying degrees of criminal acts that call for Fictional Character Protective Services™ but I advocate for the proverbial devil because that’s one of my things that I do so here we go:   

Wild stories:

  • Well, AR attempted to appease her POTP fanbase in some regard, merging the Mayfair Witch series into VC, and she acknowledged that it hasn’t “worn well.”
  • She’s trying to appease the POTP who have begged her to give Lestat a biological child (check that off the list), and get married with a ~ceremony~ (allegedly happening in the next installment, Blood Paradise) bc how can he be at all remotely happy w/out making an honest man out of Louis FFS like c’mon.
  • She’s always tried to push the envelope and TOBT was WILD for its time in this series, how incredible that she’s managed to make that seem so tame in comparison to later canon!
  • Not to mention the Dora scene in MtD. 

They are historically inaccurate:

  • Probably! But I’m not a history buff, so for me, to say the characters are wearing something that wasn’t invented until, idk, 50 yrs later, doesn’t bother me. 
  • I can understand why it might irritate the hell out of someone else, though. 

The characters seem “off” or present unreliable narration as to past events told by other characters… 

  • But that happens in real life, too! X might have one version of a story and Y, who also experienced it, might have a much different version. I enjoy seeing the perspectives, and consider for myself who’s version I believe. 
  • Louis and Lestat argue over whether Lestat was about to eat a baby at the end of IWTV “in a scene which we both know did not take place!”

In the last analysis, AR can still blow me away with a scene, or just a line of dialogue, even in the far less popular books in the series. She can still make me put the book down and stare off into space for a breather. 

BUT, as I mentioned above,

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 deigned to be present, if only for a moment.

Didn’t Amel at some point tell the vampires that at one point they might need him? I also think at some point much like how we met Memnoch we should get a chance for Amel to speak.

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You are in luck if you want Amel talking, bc he DOES.

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When we first learn his name in QOTD, he’s already talking to Maharet and Mekare about how they might need his help:

“Except that several nights later, an evil spirit came to us, one which we called Amel. Enormous, powerful, and full of rancor, this thing danced about the clearing before our cave trying to get Mekare and me to take notice of him, and telling us that we might soon need his help…” 

“This Amel, in particular, was maddened by our ‘neglect’ of him, as he called it. And he declared over and over again that he was ‘Amel, the powerful,’ and ‘Amel, the invincible,’ and we should show him some respect. For we might have great need of him in the future. We might need him more than we could imagine, for trouble was coming our way.” – Maharet, Queen of the Damned

We actually hear quite alot from him in that book! He is a major catalyst in the origin of the vampire species. 

Tiny Prince Lestat spoiler ahead

And then we hear alot from him in Prince Lestat, too, in which he is AGAIN a catalyst in the next chapter for the

vampire

species.

Hey! I saw your post about Nicki. A lot of fans seem to think that Amel was not truly Amel at all, but Nicolas who was a ghost disguising himself as Amel.. I don’t understand how that works, but apparently Anne Rice mentioned something about this on her facebook ages ago when a fan brought it up. It’ll be hard to find though since she posts so much. I personally think it’s an interesting theory, but I don’t believe it.I do think there is a chance for Nicki to come back as a ghost or something.

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Woah that is quite a theory!!

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I looked on her page and didn’t find such a discussion, but anyone is welcome to investigate better than I did and REPORT BACK.

But I think the confusion might have come from the fact that Amel mentioned something about Nicolas and Lestat’s calling their feeling of connection "Our Conversation,“ and that Amel basically wanted to have that same thing w/ Lestat.

It is possible that Nicolas is still undead and kicking around. We have no real definitive proof that he’s dead dead. We have other characters returning as ghosts and let’s be real here, among them is one we REALLY DIDN’T WANT/NEED BACK omfg, and Lestat handled it like a real trooper when it might have driven anyone else in his position completely bonkers

Frankly, I don’t think Nicolas would have wanted to be that enmeshed w/ Lestat after their very unfriendly breakup. Would anyone want to climb into their ex’s body and stay there for all eternity? *shudders*

Possible TVL spoiler ahead.

Nicolas can’t really be Amel bc Amel was around during the Egyptian era in order to start the whole vampire origin story. Nicolas wouldn’t be born for another few thousand years.

Did you read Prince Lestat and if so, is there anything about Nicholas? I do not read the books in English so time will pass till I come to the last one.

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Yes, I did read it! No real spoilers under the cut, bc the short answer, about Nicolas, is No :- 

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Characters refer to Nicolas a few times but he’s not around. There is the theory out there that he faked his death and may yet reappear in the next book, though!

Lestat still has the letters Eleni wrote to him about the Theatre, and he writes about them: “the letters that told me of its prosperity with the Paris audiences, of Armand’s governance, and of the death of my Nicolas, my second fledgling, my only mortal friend, and my greatest failure.” 

;A;

I’ve seen some post about Rose Lioncourt, isn’t she like Lestat’s adopted daughter or something?

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Yes, she is “like Lestat’s adopted daughter or something.” That’s probably the best description of her!

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^She looks smtg like this: Flora and the Zephyrs [detail] by John William Waterhouse. [X]

My headcanon for kid!Rose:

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^This smile, this is what Uncle Lestan would do just about anything for! Perform whole soliloquys while doing handstands, pretend the floor is lava, make silly noises, funny faces, anything. ❤ (This has nothing to do w/ her being Tom Cruise’s daughter; really! Physically, she’s my kid!Rose headcanon)

Spoilers ahead.

I don’t remember her childhood story too well, tagging @roselioncourt for that, but I think it was a rough childhood before she was rescued? I pictured her as unhealthfully slender during that time. Lestat rescued her and brought her to live with her new parental figures (two ladies, her “Aunts,” not sure whether they were also romantically involved w/ each other), and he checked in on her every so often, paid for everything, bc he is a philanthropist and loves kids.

Rose knew him as “Uncle Lestan” until her crappy professor boyfriend informed her of the VC, and exploded at her w/ an unnecessary amount of rage bc he thought she was making it up that she considered Lestat to not only be TOTES REAL but basically her loving benefactor! HOW DARE SHE SUUGEST SUCH A THING. Why couldn’t she just be a sexual object for her possessive boyfriend, and only speak to agree with or flatter him?? HOW DARE SHE be a person with her own life and backstory?? Pffft. <– sarcasm.

ANYWAY she and Lestat’s biological son end up growing close for shared connection to Lestat, and bc our series needed a het YA Twilight couple apparently. Eventually she becomes Lestat’s “real” daughter when her Dark Gift reception is poor and he has to step in and perform it properly bc of course he had to do it himself, “if you want smtg done right, gotta do it yourself.”

Who is Armand hanging around with these days? I he happy?What is he up to? I haven’t read Prince Lestat yet, and I’m curious.

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It’s not in Armand’s nature to be simply happy. He has known joy and a sense of belonging at various points in his life; he’s even been in love. Currently he feels a sense of peace in being needed by those he spends time with.

Whether you ship Daniel/Marius or Daniel/Armand, I think Armand spends time with both Daniel and Marius; and feels loved to some extent by the whole coven. Armand likes to pull different members for trips to the galleries or shopping, but his favorite thing is lazing about the house playing chess with Louis or having a lively debate with David on art history, architecture being a favorite topic.  

Occasionally he hunts with Lestat, where they can both feel a little more relaxed, away from the scrutiny of others (who actually encourage the friction w/o meaning to do so, just bc they’re afraid it will happen and keep making furtive glances at Lestat and Armand to the point where they do sometimes crack under the pressure and pick a fight over nothing).

If you wanted Armand’s current vampire happenings re: Prince Lestat, which I struggle to accept as canon YES EVEN NOW over a year later i know get out ma faaace here ya go:

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[Art by @garama, text by @merciful-death]

Light spoiling after the jump.

According to Prince Lestat, Armand was living in a gorgeous old building (which, of course, he spruced up to his exacting luxurious specifications) on the upper east side of NY w/ Louis, Sybelle and Benji. Eventually Antoine (the unnamed musician vampire from IWTV, Lestat’s alleged 5th fledgling who had gone unmentioned up until PL) arrived at their door and was welcomed by all.

Throughout the story of Prince Lestat, Armand does little other than be supportive of Lestat, in a way that almost seems obsequious. Not much really happens for Armand, he rides out the whole drama pretty unscathed.

So currently he is pretty content with things and enjoying the company of Sybelle and Benji, and whoever else wants to chill with him.