Name: Prince Lestat
ISBN: 9781101872987

Varios

Prince Lestat

Anne Rice

"The vampire world is in crisis their kind have been proliferating out of control and, thanks to technologies undreamed of in previous centuries, they can communicate as never before. Roused from their earth-bound slumber, ancient ones are in thrall to the Voice: which commands that they burn fledgling vampires in cities from Paris to Mumbai, Hong Kong to Kyoto and San Francisco. Immolations, huge massacres, have commenced all over the world. Who or what is the Voice? What does it desire, and why? There is only one vampire, only one blood drinker, truly known to the entire world of the Undead. Will the dazzling hero-wanderer, the dangerous rebel-outlaw Lestat heed the call to unite the Children of Darkness as they face this new twilight? Anne Rice's epic, luxuriant, fiercely ambitious new novel brings together all the worlds and beings of the legendary Vampire Chronicles, from present-day New York and Ancient Egypt to fourth-century Carthage and Renaissance Venice; from Louis de Pointe du Lac; Armand the eternally young; Mekare and Maharet; to Pandora and Flavius; David Talbot, vampire and ultimate fixer from the Secret Talamasca; and Marius, the true child of the Mill

M. Sosotris

What a lovely book. It's perhaps not as deep and thoughtful as Interview or Memnoch, but it's solid. Anne Rice has still got it. 

It's been a while since I last read Queen of the Damned, but I never felt lost at any point in this book. It's like no time had passed and every character was just as familiar as they had been years and years ago when I had first gotten into this series.

I like the multiple voices. This book has the same structure as Queen of the Damned, which is nice because not only do we get to see how all these vampires have been getting along in the new millennium, but it's a way to refresh everyone's memory.

The plot is very simple. A mysterious Voice has been speaking to vampires the world over, inciting confusion and violence among vampires young and old, and Lestat, the famous Brat Prince, is thrust into a position where he must uncover what the Voice is.

This novel doesn't have the grand scope of more historical Vampire Chronicles entries like The Vampire Armand or Blood and Gold, but it definitely deals with big huge concepts, especially regarding the nature of vampires. Since the world is now one of scientific discovery, Rice has her vampires begin to move away from superstition and thoughts of religious damnation and begin to figure out what science can reveal about what makes them what they are. It's fascinating to see the blend of the supernatural and the scientific and how it's handled by the characters.

In terms of action, this book is more concerned with characters struggling with ideas. There are moments of dramatic conflict, of course, but the main conflict is between Lestat and the Voice, which is mostly internal, so don't expect a knock down drag out explosive superhero-style climax.  

Mostly, it's just nice to see all these characters again, and see how they've adapted to a world that is now 40 years removed from that moment in the late 70's when Daniel sat down with Louis in San Francisco with a tape recorder to interview a vampire. I especially enjoyed Lestat's complaints about email and smartphones.

Also, if you're coming to this book after a long hiatus, Anne Rice includes an appendix of names and overviews of the 10 other Vampire Chronicles books in the back to refresh your memory. The prologue, also, brings readers up to speed very well, so don't feel like you'll be completely lost if you just jump right into this one.

A tale spanning periods from the ancient to the modern world reunites fans with beloved characters, from Louis de Pointe Lac and the eternally young Armand to David Talbot and Marius, who hear a mysterious voice urging ancients to destroy increasing populations of maverick vampires. 300,000 first printing.

Cindy McKee

It is about 1:45a.m. and I have just finished Prince Lestat. I was thrilled, to say the least, when I found out Queen Anne was letting Lestat back out into the world this year to run amok. But, then, you start thinking, "could it really be as good as before? Can Lestat, our Lestat of old, really stage a comeback after his final bow over ten years ago?" Why did I waste time worrying? Of course he's back, and doing his thing, his way, as always. The moment in the story when, after a long absence on his part, he is walking along with David in deep discussion about events and decides, in Lestat fashion, that he desperately needs a drink, of David, now. Of course, David, is angry at being manhandled and resists. But it's the line, the beautiful, perfectly Lestat delivered line, "oh yes, please, despise me" before taking his drink that made me smile from ear to ear. THAT is Lestat, our beloved Brat Prince, with a sly wink at the audience, telling all of us what we've known from the beginning: " Go ahead and despise me, but you know you really love me, especially when I am being bad." I loved it! Thank you Anne Rice! I am with you, as always, on whatever new journey you are taking us on, especially with such a charming host to lead the way. Long live the Prince!

Emmett

This book has been immensely touching, a meeting again of old friends one was very fond of and thought were long gone. Reading this, one begins to be reminded very much of a reunion party. So many memories, so much joy, when eyes meet and recollections unravel. Anne Rice, too, has come beautifully into her own again. Her plot breathes its own life, has its own purpose, and once in a while one sees glimpses of the old romanticism that brought one into the Blood, figuratively speaking, that was present at the beginning with Louis's Interview - in the loving descriptions of architecture, or the names of vampires one has become so familiar with, that the mere gesture of name-dropping is granted to send the familiar reader half-mad with anticipation. It shakes the heart. One also welcomes the new additions to the Savage Garden. Rhosh, Sevraine, Gregory... with wonderful, rich personal histories. (If VC has taught its readers anything, it is that every individual has their own story that is worth telling; the former is well-established as a promise, the latter is convincing and well-fulfilled.)

Another bright point is that Rice's female characters have become so much more admirable with growth. Here they have their own being apart from their companions through which they have been spoken of. It is a feature that one often finds lacking in the previous books of the Vampire Chronicles, when the females seem less alive and independent, and thus less captivating and enduring than their male counterparts. Here there is something to love in each one of them, and this is delight, to see their names resurrected from the dust, their persons re-fleshed: Gabrielle, Allesandra (the strange mad queen of Armand's Parisian coven) and Bianca (who in Blood and Gold only left the impression of being Marius's lover and only that, vanishing from the pages when she has served her function), are especially finely sculpted here.

Prince Lestat draws to a close with Louis's POV and while I expected that to have some emotional effect on me (Louis has been my favourite since the beginning), I was not prepared for the extent to which it moved me. To see Louis sitting down calmly and reflecting on himself since the beginning of the series was a poignant moment of quietness (in fact, to see him again at all was a blessing). To know he was still that familiar creature of tenderness and pain and reflection, to know that he knows he has survived into a new era meant everything to me. Words cannot describe how happy I am for him.

It is to Rice's credit that her artistry has shown itself once again and this book more than enough makes up for the slip-ups of the previous ones (which I shall not mention). With Prince Lestat she makes a return to the philosophical, aesthetic, humanist brilliance of the first few books that have give the Chronicles their enchanting immortality.

Prince Lestat

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