Book Review: Prince Lestat by Anne Rice

Prince Lestat, the latest book in Anne Rice’s epic The Vampire Chronicles series is one hell of a big read – especially in hardback format. But then, it’s telling one hell of a big story. Told from many, many points of view (so don’t rush reading it, or you risk getting lost or confused), Prince Lestat deals with a crisis in the vampire world. Young vampires are being slaughtered all over the world – nests being burned by ancient vampires. But why? It soon transpires that there is a bigger force at play, much bigger than the vampires that must come together and solve this problem before their race is completely wiped out.

I can’t say too much without giving the plot away, but this is a seriously ambitious book. It tells multiple stories from many different perspectives and time periods, then brings it all together in an epic climax. There were times when I did wonder where the narrative was going, what the relevance was to some of the chapters, but I shouldn’t have worried. Rice is a master (or should that be mistress?) storyteller, and she manages to lead the reader on a huge, huge journey, with many characters, twists and turns, yet still leave them having a light bulb moment at the end, where it all comes together. Really, I should have re-read the entire series of books again before coming to this one, but in a way, it didn’t matter. There were enough recaps of relevant parts that I didn’t feel I was missing too much. But it did make me want to refresh my memory, spend more time with characters that are only touched on in this book.

Another compelling addition to the series, I look forward to what comes next.

Available from:
Amazon UK
Amazon US
The Book Depository