I must say that when I first bought this book I was slightly disappointed that the story was told through Lestat rather than Louis (the previous main character in the Vampire Chronicles). However as I delved into this book, I realized that making Lestat the main character of the series isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

            The Vampire Lestat is the autobiography of well, the vampire Lestat. Since the events in Interview with the Vampire Lestat has become a world famous rock star and has called out all other vampires to reveal themselves. This may sound a little on the cheesy side, but I assure you, Anne Rice handled it wonderfully. You really see that Lestat is the rebel child of the vampires and does these things just to see what happens.

            However there is more to this story than just Lestat’s rock star career; we also see what he was like before his transformation, and it even fills in a few gaps left over from Interview with the Vampire. Ultimately we learn that Lestat’s rebellion has stirred more than just the anger of his fellow vampires, and what ensues is chaos like the world has never known and invariably the next novel in the series.

            I really did enjoy The Vampire Lestat and to this day I have to say that it is my favorite of the Vampire Chronicles. It isn’t necessary that you have read Interview with the Vampire to enjoy this story, but like I said, if you have, it helps tie things in a little better.

            Unfortunately this book suffers from what the first book suffered from, the homoeroticism. I don’t know where Anne Rice got the idea that men really love each other, but it certainly wasn’t from any actual male. If she could just get past this flaw, some of her later books wouldn’t have been so bad.

            I recommend this to fans of the first book, fans of vampires and anyone who is interested in the supernatural.