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Summary
The Vampire Chroniclesby Anne Rice is a book series full of literary classics , butnot all books in the series were created equal . WithAMC recently flourish its Anne Rice Immortal Universe TV enfranchisement , there ’s never been a good sentence to plunge into the ample literary world of Anne Rice . The legendary fantasy and horror writer authored 37 novels , eight leger series , four unretentive stories , and one memoir before sadly passing away on December 11 , 2021 . Rice may be well know forThe Vampire Chronicles , so it ’s a great place to start when tackling her works .
question with the Vampirecharactersfrom the AMC+ show that start up airing in 2022 may already have familiarized viewers with some of the plotlines fromThe Vampire Chronicles , but the show is no substitute for the books that imbue Anne Rice ’s living from 1976 to 2018 . With a 44 - year lifetime , The Vampire Chroniclesis Anne Rice ’s magnum musical composition and life ’s study . The show is doing a magnificent job of communicating the seriesso far , but it ’s also well deserving experiencing this incredibly wide-ranging book series , which dips and peaks in impulse along with Anne Rice throughout her journeying .
AMC ’s Interview with the Vampire is ideal for fans of vampire traditional knowledge and these 10 serial will be excellent for go on the genre binge .
13Blood Canticle
Book Ten, 2003
Anne Rice wroteBlood Canticlein 2003 as the finalVampire Chronicle , but it did n’t have quite the same encroachment as her early work . It remained the last book in the serial publication until Rice penned the final three books in the series ten years afterward . Narrated by Lestat and notable for his liaison with Rowan Mayfair , it did bond up the loose end of the book serial publication well enough . However , at times it feel almost a petty more like a member of theLives of the Mayfair Witchesbook saga than aVampire Chronicle .
Mayfair Witchesseason 2 will premiere in 2025 , with no further inside information released yet .
The coda of the three crossover books inThe Vampire Chronicles , Blood Canticleconcluded the arc start out inMerrickand continuing inBlackwood Farm . All three of these novel included characters that crossed over fromLives of the Mayfair Witches . While they did n’t straight off hurt as a result , they now and then felt like fillerin a serial about Lestat , Louis , Claudia , Armand , Marius , and David .
12Blackwood Farm
Book Nine, 2002
The penultimate book in what Rice originally considered her completeVampire Chronicles , Blackwood Farmis an undeniably great read but still subscript , overall , to her late books . Blackwood Farmearned congratulations as a large southerly medieval revulsion novel , and indeed , its lush descriptions of swamp and mansions were heavily evocative of the sort of claustrophobic horror Rice was so good at in the first book in the series . But it lacked the urgency of formerVampire Chronicles .
The Witching Hour , Lasher , andTaltosare all three consecutive books inLives of the Mayfair Witches .
Although a strong offer , Blackwood Farmmoved forth from the story decimal point of view of Lestat and David and bid Tarquin Blackwood as a first - person teller , or " Quinn " , as he was more commonly known . Quinn was a marvellous character , and between him and Mona Mayfair , the novel offer interesting character with which to explore Lestat ’s bisexuality . This focus onMayfair witch ' stories and charactersand their connector was fun , but sometimes jarred the momentum of the series as a whole .
11Merrick
Book Seven, 2000
Arguably the best of the three crossover novel ofThe Vampire Chronicles , Merrick was notable for its eponymous , mixed - slipstream vampire admirer , also a enchantress of the Mayfair kindred . Extraordinary for many reasons , Merrick burned vivid as a lineament , so it was hard to see her leave the serial so soon . Merrick may be a good campaigner for one of thecharacters in AMC ’s upcomingThe Talamasca , furthering her bearing in Anne Rice ’s literary and cinematic population overall .
This novel has some key Louis moments .
Some reviewers felt that Merrick was one of the more forgettable of the series , which could be due to the complexity of its intertwining storylines . It could incline towards the convoluted , butit ’s definitely not one to skip;it ’s worth the read alone for Merrick ’s profound kinship with Louis de Pointe du Lac . Louis is one of the most imperishable characters ofThe Vampire Chronicles , perhaps second only to Lestat , and this novel has some key Louis instant .
Custom image by Yailin Chacon
question with the Vampire season 2 has end , with some key detail throughout ready one forthcoming Immortal Universe show even more exciting .
10Blood Communion: A Tale of Prince Lestat
Book Thirteen, 2018
Blood manduction : A Tale of Prince Lestatwas the last book inThe Vampire Chronicles , and by no means one of the defective books in the serial . The last three books Anne Rice supply to the series divide her fans somewhat , all fall down into the " Prince Lestat " arc . Some reviews call off them a painful diversion from the tincture and paper of her previous script , while others claimed they were classic Anne Rice , and get back to her roots .
Anyone invested in the relationship between Louis and Lestat had really substantially persevere until this last novel in the serial .
In reality , Blood sacramental manduction : A Tale of Prince Lestatwas a radical departure from some of Rice ’s earlier work in many ways , butit ended the serial in a far more satisfying way thanBlood Canticleever could have . It also felt like a worthy replacement to the previous " Prince Lestat " books , but those who did n’t care the previous two in the miniskirt - arc may not like the final one . Perhaps a central note is that anyone invested in the relationship between Louis and Lestat had really better persevere until this concluding novel in the series .
9Blood and Gold
Book Eight, 2001
Marius was an challenging character , whether he was carrying out detestable routine or genial ones , and he led this novel through a rich tapestry of historical machination , as its primary protagonist . This tale , immerse in history , covered a raft of Armand ’s blood story , as well as that of Marius . Deeply flawed , as many Anne Rice vampires are , Marius was the main driver of this tale , so it ’s easy to see why it was polarizing .
Marius ' discourse of Armand was problematic , but finally , it could be viewed in the broad context of the huge and complex web of interpersonal relationships in Anne Rice books . Many vampires had toxic trait , yet Anne Rice lay out these through the lense of the supernatural , making the software of human values a challenge that may not be worthwhile . irrespective , this is an pleasurable read , with an outstanding cameo from everyone ’s favorite journalist , Daniel Molloy .
8Prince Lestat
Book Eleven, 2014
depend on who you ask , Prince Lestatrepresented a return to shape for Anne Riceor the kickoff of the end ofThe Vampire Chronicles . What it was for certain , was an excellent adventure that , for the first clip , set out to take the question of the origination of lamia much more seriously . This thread began a long metre previously , in 1988’sThe Queen of the Damned , but Anne Rice riposte to it here after go through substantial personal and spiritual change .
Anne Rice ’s alteration of heart in a few religious matters came through in this novel , which watch the reunion of characters that had been separated by conflict , indifference , veneration , or just distance . The military action and risky venture component of this novel persist substantial , while it address the stories of most of the main protagonists throughoutThe Vampire Chronicles . This novel somehow seemed to reflect a newfound religion in human race , on Rice ’s part .
7Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis
Book Twelve, 2016
Debatably the most gratifying of the " Prince Lestat " books inThe Vampire Chronicles , Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantisis well one of the better books in the whole serial . Any readers capture by vampire lore would do well to get this far in the aggregation . Anyone who enjoyed the first three books inThe Vampire Chroniclesmay also be pleasantly surprise by the direction taken in this one , after the rather gravid nature of the old few pleasure trip in the series .
Anne Rice bring out a memoir about her lifespan and return to the Catholic faith -Called Out of Darkness : A Spiritual Confession .
Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantiscontinued the thread that Anne Rice start inPrince Lestat , exploring how Lestat started to unite lamia from dissimilar places , with unlike loyalties . This was a big going away from previousAnne Rice novelsin the sensation that it presented a hopeful view of vampires being able to get along , whereas many premature novels had give notice this . Although this could be discover as disconnected , Anne Rice sowed the seeds of many of these storylines long before .
I entrust Lestat de Lioncourt worker Sam Reid to throw off newfangled light on Anne Rice ’s supernatural anti - hero in Interview with the Vampire time of year 3 .
6The Tale of the Body Thief
Book Four, 1992
The Tale of the Body Thiefis a controversial bookand may be the most controversial of allThe Vampire Chronicles , administer with difficult matter like rape and sexuality . Wherever reader land onThe Tale of the Body Thief , it stay an interesting addition to the Holy Scripture collection in many ways . It dive into thriller territory with Lestat ’s pursuit of the body thief , which was a novel diversion from the philosophizing that went on in a mountain of the books .
The explicit sexual content in this novel could be seen as a high spot of the series , just as easily as it could be seen as a thought-provoking entry to the chemical group of titillating fixed pieces realise throughout the book . On a related annotation , Raglan James and David Talbot were two crucial reference that this novel focused on . David , in particular , became more authoritative as the series went on .
5Memnoch the Devil
Book Five, 1995
Memnoch the Devil was very much a dearest - hate part ofThe Vampire Chronicleson its publication , but may have senesce better than some of its later opposite number . This novel may have gone the deep into the religion - ting philosophy that Anne Rice was so fond of , and this was the literary eq of Marmite as far as critics and readers were interest .
It is exactly Anne Rice ’s uncompromising approach to this novel that made it memorableand unique , and earned it a place in the pantheon of revulsion and fancy classics . This may be one of lit ’s best lamia novels , and there are very few other volume out there like it . A religious reference book to the Veil of Veronica is just one example of this work ’s commitment to finding phantasmal and anthropological meaning .
4The Vampire Armand
Book Six, 1998
The Vampire Armandwas narrated in first - individual by its titular vampire , Armand , and he proved in this novel why he was one of the centrepiece Anne Rice choose for the entire series . Armand is unimpeachably one of the most bewitching characters in the repugnance music genre , and also in LGBTQI+ lit . He appeared to shift with the times , and perhaps with Anne Rice ’s changing value over the years , and is noteworthy for the sex worker representation his persona provides .
His glacial outside belie a turbulent and contradictory soul whose young beauty was a lasting expression of his hold back emotional maturation .
This novel is a beautiful character survey , showing how , even throughout generations and numerous harm , Armand remained constant as a symbol of endurance . One of the most potent case inThe Vampire Chronicles , others underestimated Armand at their riskiness . His icy exterior belied a disruptive and contradictory person , whose young beauty was a lasting face of his arrested emotional development .
