Rating: 
Summary: An absolute feast for the senses.
Review: The second book in Rice's vampire series is truly her masterwork. The book follows the mysterious Lestat from his birth into darkness into the life he leads as a creature of night in the most decadent society in history. Many wonderfully thought out characters appear and Rice avoids her earlier tendancies towards angst. The plot moves with alacrity through the years and does not leave you feeling the need to "skip to the good parts" that the previous book did.Rice originally wanted to stop writing the series at this book, but her fans would not allow it. The books after this one are uninteresting trite attemps to appease her fans and have none of the heart and work that this book does. Definitely read this book, but I would recomend you quit at this one. It literally doesn't get any better than this.
Rating: 
Summary: Never will my feet touch bitter earth again...
Review: After falling in love with the demon antagonist of Anne Rice's first vampire tale, Lestat, that is, I could not help but devour each of the following novels in her majestic Vampire Chronicles. I have read "The Vampire Lestat" more times than I can remember; and I re-read my favourite parts often.
It has a glory and an openness about it that takes my breath away; it is tender and yet powerful; killing and sustaining. It is both a lovely story and a perdurable legend; and what more can be said of great literature than that?
I cannot possibly recomend this book enough to anyone who loves the gothic novel or books in general...and especially to anyone who has always wondered why evil isn't always evil and why we must all face our own darkness and light in the end.
Rating:
Summary: Vampires, world history, your cake & eat it too!
Review: Strange this was the first of Anne Rice's novels that I read. It's still my favorite of all, with some of her best characters and historical references. Vampire Chronicles mixes dark sensuality with sweeping illustrations of places normally found in romantic epics. But here the old cliches are re-enlivened with a sinister, post-modern sexual sensibility, one that knows about human darkness and isn't afraid to paint its truly complex beauty with a tolerant eye. The earliest of Rice's that I've read, The Feast of All Saints, takes a pre-Twain era New Orleans and, using the above pulp fiction tool, reveals sexual undercurrents that apply quite realistically to the times, including the subject of mullato male adolescent beauty. After illustrations lush and rich with views as sardonic as the poetic of Twain's, the reader expecting more Twain-esque philosophy in the plot is met instead with an open sexuality, racial understanding and mature feminine voice that raises the complexity and quality of the ultimately noir tale. The Vampires.. aren't quite so rich; they are vampires, after all. But Rice's sensitive, frank sexuality, playful narcicism and sardonic illustrative gifts bring out the greater, more gallant qualities of the genre. And her attention to historical details and accuracy also increase the authenticity of a macabre tale. In the late 1970s, when the series was started, camp & vampires were synonymous. But to the delight of fantasy & horror interests searching for a plausible new epic, Rice brought back some serious vampires. She was clever, introducing her vampire-time-line in Interview with a Vampire. Clever in that book, but in Lestat the history spreads wide open, all the way back to prehistoric villages of amazon women with ESP! And it is this ESP in conjunction with a poltergeist from an Egyptian house that forms the basis of the vampire legacy, and the trunk of a large tree of vampiric events encompassed in these chronicles. Louis is still here of course, his apathetic cynicism delicious and beautiful as a dark Rachmaninoff passage. And the star is Lestat, a strapping young 18th century French woodsman with a yearning for philosophy and the meaning of life. His description: tall, leathers, long blonde hair, lithe and sensitive yet strong enough to kill a pack of wolves, was different from the film "Interview with a Vampire" choice of actor Tom Cruise, a rather more diminutive character. I like to remember Lestat as the tall, blonde, robust Frenchman that Rice originally described. It makes his flamboyant personality less snickering and more elegant than how Cruise's part portrayed him. There are philosophical digressions in this novel that brilliant young minds may find fascinating, perhaps even moving. As far as the moral grounds of such books, I am reminded of this Albert Einstein epigram: "If you want your children to be geniuses, read them fairy tales."
Rating:
Summary: Luved It...
Review: This was my second favorite in the 'Vampire Chronicles', 1st only by 'The Queen of the Damned'. It was well written so much different than the 1st book 'Interview with a Vampire'. Although well written it didn't pack the same punch that 'Lestat' had.
Rating: 
Summary: Vampire Lestat was Mundane
Review: While at first engrossing, I found that the rising action, not to mention climax and resolution of this story to be severely lacking. Characterization was intriguing at first, but lost its luster the farther into the story I progressed. I read this at school during Health class, and it took me almost two months to finish it! Anne Rice needs to learn how to write shorter books for people like me.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent work of art.
Review: Reading Interview with the Vampire, I was intrigued by Lestat, the witty, funny(to me) vampire. I wanted to read more about him, so I waited and waited for it to come in at the library. I read it and couldn't put it down. If you like sleep, dont get this one, if you dont care about your health, get it and stay up till 3:40 am reading this great book.
Rating:
Summary: The Best
Review: Of all the books in the Vampire Chronicles, just in my opinion mind you, "The Vampire Lestat" is the best. This is the pinnacle of the series.
Rating:
Summary: The Brat Prince is Born!
Review: Love this book! This is the heart of the Vampire Chronicles. I love all of the books in the Chronicles, but this is my favorite. Lestat is my favorite Character of all time.
Rating:
Summary: Very good book!
Review: I really enjoyed this book. In honest truth I found Interview with the vampire a little boring and hard to read. All Louis does is complain. But in this one we discover a wonderful character. A very different Lestat. One that is not even a shadow of what was described in the 1st vampire cronicle. I cannot wait to read Queen of the dammed if its half as good as this one I shall enjoy it inmensely!
Rating:
Summary: Better late than never
Review: I came to read this book long after the whole Anne Rice craze and long after the movie "Interview with a Vampire", but I am certainly glad that I did. While a very lengthy compositon that had a tendency to drag on sometimes, Lestat still managed to capture my attention on almost every page. You realise after a while that the author is educating you for a reason. I now see her master plan and embrace it. From the streets of France to Cairo to New Orleans, this book takes you on a journey of discovery. The discovery of what it means to be the great Vampire Lestat. But I am ramble on to much. Just read the book and you won't regret it. Yes, it's rather long but worth every page.
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