Prince Lestat by Anne RiceMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
So, I picked this book up because I wanted to read something about Lestat again. It's been a while since I read the first 4 of the Vampire Chronicles, and I thought I'd give it a go.
This isn't high prose or very literary. It's a mixed up book that attempts to make it's own vocabulary and thereby loses all its credibility (no one in their right mind would mention 'Cloud Gift' in the middle of a sentence, doesn't matter how long they've been dead). There are so many characters that anyone who hasn't read every single one of the Chronicles is going to get confused. Not knowing the history of all these characters makes you wonder why you can't just follow the characters who are better known (like Lestat, Louis, Armand, Marius - to a point - Maharet, Mekare, Jesse, David and Daniel). Honestly, those are the characters who were directly linked to Lestat in some way and it would make the book more... interesting. If that's possible.
I do like that there's a fair bit of diversity in the cast, which you often don't find. So there are characters from India, Egypt and elsewhere.
The book's greatest problem is its own sanctimonious plaudits for its predecessors; almost as if the author is trying to convince herself of her writing brilliance more than the reader thinking and feeling it. It's laughable.
This book was okay as a silly, overlong (950+ pages) read about daft vampires. I was curious to know where Anne Rice had gone with this new tale. Not far apparently.
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