Here are the confessions of a vampire. Hypnotic, shocking, and chillingly erotic, this is a novel of mesmerizing beauty and astonishing force–a story of danger and flight, of love and loss, of suspense and resolution, and of the extraordinary power of the senses. It is a novel only Anne Rice could write.

When I began The Vampire Chronicles, I made the conscious decision to start with The Vampire Lestat as opposed to this book. One of my reasons were that I was far too familiar with the movie and since that book promised to give Lestat’s point of view, I was curious to read his story first. I’m actually grateful for making this decision, because I feel as if it has left much of Louis’ story up for interpretation as opposed to being factual or truthful.

Let me first say, I am completely perplexed by Louis’ story. It’s factual that Lestat came from greater wealth than Louis and yet, Louis assumes Lestat’s interest in him is for his family home. In truth, I believe it had to do with the fact he was a beautiful man who happened to resemble Nicholas. I’m also confused as to which story is being truthful to the readers. For example, at the end of Interview With The Vampire, Louis finds Lestat in such a state that he is crazed and starving. Yet, once you read The Vampire Lestat, you discover Lestat had actually been underground in his “death slumber” for several decades, including the time frame Louis speaks of.

If anything Louis comes off as dishonest. For many of his claims about Lestat cannot be verified by anyone and much of what he believes to be true are from speculations Claudia makes. It’s apparent that neither Louis nor Claudia are as strong as Lestat and the other vampires. Neither have the ability to hear human thoughts and both assume Lestat knows nothing about other vampires, and yet, he is from Paris and it’s proven he knew Armand and his coven before traveling to New Orleans.

If anything, I’m finding it to be amusing that I have to weigh the two stories in order to see who is being truthful and who is not. After all, Louis would have never came off as being dishonest, had I not read The Vampire Lestat first. So where do I sit? I believe there is some truth in both stories and that Louis may even believe much of what he states in this book. But, I do feel he took some great liberties and lied about his later encounter with Lestat.

As for the story itself, I really enjoyed it. However, I wish Rice would quit using the word love so frivolously. Every vampire in this series falls in and out of love like it’s going out of style. Despite his proclaimed hatred for Lestat, Louis loved him. Despite his distrust for Armand, Louis love him. I don’t know if this was an attempt to give these creatures of the night a heart, but it really is not working for me. I feel like these vampires sit around etching their current love’s name on notebook paper like a silly teenage girl. It’s truly a shame, because the story is so great and yet, it’s ruined by this childish nonsense.

Rating

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Pick up your copy on Amazon: Interview With The Vampire by Anne Rice