The Vampire Chronicles
The Vampire Chronicles are a series of novels by Anne Rice that revolve around the character Lestat de Lioncourt, a French nobleman made a vampire in the 17th century.
The chronicles have gained a large fan base since their first publication in the 1970s -- especially the first four books, which feature Lestat prominently. The later books have been criticized for a loss of sparkle and excitement compared to the earlier works.
Books in the series
The Vampire Chronicles
- Interview with the Vampire (1976)
- The Vampire Lestat (1985)
- The Queen of the Damned (1988)
- The Tale of the Body Thief (1992)
- Memnoch the Devil (1995)
New Tales of the Vampires
- Pandora (1998)
- The Vampire Armand (1998)
- Merrick (2000)
- Vittorio, the Vampire (2001)
- Blood and Gold (2001)
- Blackwood Farm (2002)
Vampire properties
Anne Rice's vampires are different in several ways from classic vampires like Dracula. Rice's creatures are not affected by the usual weapons against classic vampires: garlic, crosses or silver, and they cannot be killed with wooden stakes.
They need blood, but not every day. Human blood is preferred as it is more nutritious, but animal blood is also used. They do not age physically, but vampires younger than a thousand years old can usually be killed by exposure to sunlight or fire.
They do not posses magical powers, such as changing into bats or casting spells, but some of the stronger, older ones do have the power to fly. Most of them also have the power to read thoughts of mortals and weaker vampires. They have other physical abilities: they can move very quickly (faster than human eyes can see); great strength; extremely keen senses; and very old vampires or ones who have been made or strengthened by feeding on blood that is close to the root of the vampiric mother may have additional gifts like the ability to move matter with the mind (Mind Gift) and the ability to set things ablaze by the force of will (Fire Gift). They have many artistic qualities, like singing and theatre.
The main characteristic of Rice's vampires is that they are all excessively emotional and sensitive, being easy prey to intense emotional suffering and aesthetic passions. They are usually very beautiful, as older vampires avoid making new ones out of old or ugly mortals.
Synopses
The Vampire Chronicles
The first book in the series, it tells the story of Louis de Pointe du Lac, a French nobleman living in a Louisiana plantation. Louis allows himself to be interviewed by a reporter of the 20th century and tells the tale of his transformation. He was made a vampire by another Frenchman: Lestat de Lioncourt, the real hero of Rice's stories. They lived together for almost a century in New Orleans, bringing up the vampire child Claudia.
The story of Lestat de Lioncourt in "his own words". Lestat writes his autobiography and tries to convince us that, not only is he not just a character in a story, but that he is very different from the Lestat portrayed in Interview With The Vampire. It covers his life from growing up in France and his "making" as a vampire, to his life in New Orleans and eventual rock stardom. The narrative takes several long detours to include the background of Armand, a character from Interview, and introduce several other ancient vampires, such as Marius and Pandora. It also goes into detail on the vampire origins by introducing the Mother and Father: Akasha and Enkil.
This is probably the most complex book of the Vampire Chronicles, introducing several new characters and splitting the narrative between them to form a scary image of the vampiric world. Lestat is once again the main character, having been responsible for the waking of Akasha after a sleep of several centuries. All the vampires are either forced or led to come together at his concert, in an attempt to prevent a world-wide catastrophe caused by Akasha. This book is notable for providing a complete fictional origin and history for vampires.
After the epic scope of Queen of the Damned, Rice returns to the private story of Lestat and his dealings with a mysterious magician who wants to trade bodies. We meet again David Talbot, an elderly mortal belonging to the scholar order of the Talamasca, introduced in Queen. His story intertwines with Lestat's as they become friends and face the Body Thief together.
This book turns to religion as Rice brings the devil, Memnoch, on Lestat's trail. Being very ironic and cynical, Lestat does not believe Memnoch's claims of being the master of Hell. This all changes when the devil takes the vampire for a biblical ride, offering a retelling of the entirety of biblical history from the devil's point of view. This history reinterprets biblical stories to create a complete history of Earth, Heaven, and Hell that fits neatly with the history of vampires given in The Queen of the Damned.
New Tales of the Vampires
Anne Rice takes a break from Lestat's tale in this book, turning to an ancient lover of Marius, called Pandora. This is the story of their relationship as a vampiric couple.
This is the complete story of Armand, made by Marius and a very important character on the beginning of the chronicles, affecting Lestat's and Louis lives. A Russian religious boy is kidnapped and taken to Italy, where he is sold as a slave on a whorehouse of Venice. There he is called Amadeo and later is saved from death by the painter Marius, who makes him a vampire and is later on betrayed by Amadeo (Armand).
In this book Anne Rice brings together the vampires and the Mayfair witches of the Lasher series. We meet again Louis, Lestat and David. They are followed by the beautiful witch Merrick, an offshoot of the Mayfair clan, who knew David when he was a mortal Talamasca man.
Not really related to the vampire chronicles classic characters, this books tells the tale of a young Italian nobleman who is abducted by a vampire coven in the middle of rural Italy.
This book is the life story of Marius, made a vampire by the celts before the fall of the Roman Empire. He had many lovers and produced many paintings during his travels on Europe and the East. Marius was the protector of Enkil and Akasha, until they are awakened by Lestat's rock music in the 20th century.
A young gentleman is haunted by a goblin that only he can see.
Themes and Concepts
Blood
Blood is seen as the ultimate relief. Through blood-taking, the vampires experience the only relief and rapture that they can know.
It may also be seen as a substitute for sex and other mortal pleasures that are not available to vampires.
With the taking of the blood, it is also possible for the vampire to learn about the lives of their victims; a kind of instant life review, the vampire can experience the key parts of the victim's life.