The Vampire Chronicles: Interview with a Vampire, Vampire Lestat and the Queen of the Damned

The Vampire Chronicles #1-3

by Anne Rice

In 1976, nearly 80 years after Bram Stoker published Dracula, Anne Rice's bestselling first novel, Interview with the Vampire, breathed new life into the vampire myth. Now, in one chilling volume, here are the first three classic novels of The Vampire Chronicles; Interview with the Vampire, The Vampire Lestat, and Queen of the Damned. All amazing stories in themselves, together this huge volume presents a classic work bound together into one attractively designed edition. 

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Fantasy, Vampires, Classics, Paranormal, Gothic

1279 pages, Leather Bound

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Anne Rice (born Howard Allen Frances O'Brien) was a best-selling American author of gothic, supernatural, historical, erotica, and later religious themed books. Best known for The Vampire Chronicles, her prevailing thematic focus is on love, death, immortality, existentialism, and the human condition. She was married to poet Stan Rice for 41 years until his death in 2002. Her books have sold nearly 100 million copies, making her one of the most widely read authors in modern history.

Anne Rice passed on December 11, 2021 due to complications from a stroke. She was eighty years old at the time of her death.

She uses the pseudonym Anne Rampling for adult-themed fiction (i.e., erotica) and A.N. Roquelaure for fiction featuring sexually explicit sado-masochism.

Reviews

[Samuel García · Rating 5 out of 5]

A classic trilogy. "Interview with the Vampire" is its own beast, while the other two go hand to hand as Lestat's answer to Louis' chronicle. While "Interview with the Vampire" is the better known of all the Vampire Chronicles, and the story is very good, Louis' bleak and whiny vision of the world drags down the reading experience. Lestat, on the other hand, enhances his own story, making it a very fun read. Best of the three would be the last one, "The Queen of the Damned", but you do need to read the other two to really enjoy it, else you will be lost.

[Coraline Riley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly, one of the best vampire novels I've read in a long time. It's about time I read it to be honest.

Anne Rice does a great job at making us feel for even the proverbial "bad guys" in the book. I found myself enjoying the character of Armand the most.

Although, I didn't enjoy the awkward "romantic" scenes between Louis and vampire-child Claudia.

[Bruna · Rating 3 out of 5]

✯ [3/5] ✯

I EXPECTED SO MUCH MORE.

The Interview With The Vampire: 3/5 - I actually enjoyed this one as much as the movie, and that means not as much. I think Claudia is really strange, Louis calls her a sexual being and this bothers me a little bit you know? And Louis is a bad narrator....

The Vampire Lestat: 4/5 - Lestat is my fave, this book was such a LGBT one, really it shows they have male lovers, I respect the author for this.

The Queen of The Damned: 2.5/5 - sorry I didn't get super excited for this book, and I think the author really writes in a way that don't click with me...

[Indigo Olsen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ekfreakingscuse me???? I do not care that you are immortal or that she is immortal SHE IS IN THE BODY OF A FIVE YEAR OLD. 6 feet for covid 3 feet for Jesus 12 feet for my sanity and 20 miles from a school. Absofruitly not dnf

[Dynasty Carfangnia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anne Rice, you are the queen of vampire stories.

[Latin Temptress · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anne Rice is my all time fave writer. The Vampire Chronicles was awesome even if the movies sucked. Read also The Mayfair Witches chronicles and the Taltos chronicles, she truly is an amazing writer.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interview with a Vampire- I really liked this book it was as it was described on the back horrible in places but extremely compelling. I didnt find Louis melancholy to draining. But I do wander if this interview was the last thing he did before he was ready to end his life.

The Vampire Lestat- I think he is quite honestly insane. But I suppose that you can understand the torture of seeing time passing and you remaining the same but i am so glad that we find out that Louis is ok and Gabrielle is still around.

The Queen of the Damned- Not a bad read a bit painsful at times considering it dances around from different peoples perspectives but i liked it.

[Adeelizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

While the first one is definitely the best, they all deserve 5 stars from me. I love Anne Rice's dark, mystical, romantic style. Great great stories.

[Nana]

Li 1/3, no caso Interview with the Vampire.
A última vez que eu li esse livro foi na adolescência e realmente lembrava mais do filme do que o livro. Achei que a história é realmente todo o relacionamento do Louis e do Lestat com ar de romance gótico que tudo que vai acontecer é da forma mais dramática possível e também da pior forma possível. E eu simplesmente amei, nossa e essa história é ainda mais melodramática e gay do que eu lembrava. Enfim, agora quero ler Vampiro Lestat, que ódio não planejava reler tudo mas o fogo no kindle unlimited está instaurado. Porque a gente ouviu o lado do Louis mas precisamos conhecer o lado da lenda, do ícone do rock, Lestat!

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lika bra som alltid

[Alejandro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Done with Interview with the Vampire! I'd read it so long ago that I had forgotten a great deal of it, which left me with the same feeling of satisfaction you get when reading a new book. And I really enjoyed it -again. A reminder that vampires are supposed to be these cold, dead, murderous creatures; and not the pretty young playthings from most contemporary vampire stories. Now, on to the Lestat novel!

Update- Done with The Vampire Lestat. Not bad, but I have to say it wasn't quite as satisfying as the previous book was. There are a lot more things going on in this story, but it somehow doesn't feel as cohesive as Interview with the Vampire did. I also felt that the author was somehow deviating a bit from the original concept; that might have helped make the series more popular, but I'm not sure it's made it better. Not a bad book, but not as good as the first one in the series.

[Cori · Rating 4 out of 5]

What intrigued me: Cody bought me this book as a gift a long time ago, and it has been sitting pretty on my shelf for years!

What I liked: I absolutely loved the ending of the Queen of the Damned as Lestat was coming back to himself. I could not stop giggling as I finished the book. The other parts that stuck out to me were the Marius and Jesse's backstories.

Overall the books were highly entertaining and I cannot wait to go back and watch the movies and explain to Clayton why the books are better!

What I didn't like: Some parts of the books relied heavily on flowery language that I found hard to follow and slowed the pace tremendously.

Favorite quote: "You'd better not die. You might actually go to hell." The Vampire Lestat p. 436

[Kenneth Pierce · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fine. . .I admit it. I read all three. And they weren't that bad. Except for Queen of the Damned, which i likened to a snowball rolling down a mountain, gradually gaining in size and speed until it destroys a peaceful village below. Only the snowball is made of vampires. And it sucks. Lestat was the best of the three.

There. I finally said it. Wow, that's a massive weight off my shoulders.

[Jurga · Rating 4 out of 5]

Where to begin?..
It is hard to put a rating on a book that actually contains three volumes in it. They all closely knit together and reading one after anoher the whole history of the vampires enfolds. Epos.
First two was quicker to read, I had to brace myself for the third one, as this one was on slower side, brimming with a lot of new characters and information. Curious, very curious. Still worth reading all of it till the end!

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interview with the Vampire was a twisted and disturbing book and I almost did not read on. Since I bought the trilogy all in the same book, I felt like I had to finish the whole thing otherwise I'd be giving up mid-book. I'm so glad I read on because The Vampire Lestat is a much better story and so far I am enjoying The Queen of the Damned.

[Jenny Hutchins · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just found this book a bit boring and grotesque. It's overly descriptive, slow moving, and the characters are not likeable enough. Just my opinion! It was one of those books I kept thinking I should just quit reading it, but kept reading anyway :)
I read it for Liz, because she wants to read it. I will tell her no, it's written for adults, not YA.

[Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

alright i mean i only read interview with the vampire because it's a famous book. i was bored out of my mind and also it was just really about this dude who was in love with a 5 year old. at least to me idk am i not getting something? let me know in the comments........... answer down below...............

[Lindsay · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've tried twice now to read Ann Rice books, and I just can't do it. Interview with a Vampire is so incredibly boring. After 100 pages without rousing the slightest interest, I canned it.

[Lewis · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Had an itch to reread after watching the new series during midnight feedings. DNF after interview with the vampire, not holding my attention and forgot I didn’t like the style it’s written in. Hard to concentrate at 3am 😂

[Kirsty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Didn't expect interview with a Vampire to be an actual interview. Lol. I don't know what made me think it wasn't but it was. Lol.
Enjoyable.

[Daniela Lopez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book, it has everything; love, hate, action and above all vampires.

[Aisling · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really great, the third book gets a little weird but still good.

[Victoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

This omnibus edition, though a bit weighty, is a convenient way to carry the first three books in Rice’s Vampire Chronicles series. It is ideal for reading them back-to-back, but it does still contain three separate and complete books:

Interview with a Vampire: This is another one of the few books that I was familiar with the movie long before reading the book. In fact, the book has been on my to-read pile because of the movie for quite a long time. And actually, I enjoyed the novel even more than I expected partly due to my great love for the movie. In fact, that was part of what actually led me to finally reading this copy - I felt like watching the movie and picked up the book instead. I am very glad that I did. Of course, now I want to watch the movie even more, because my memories of the movie seem to line up uncannily well with this version. All in all, this was beautifully written and surprisingly well constructed throughout, keeping the formula of the interview with all the words (almost) in proper dialogue formatting. I definitely can see why Rice is so popular, and why this series is such a giant success. I am looking forward to reading the rest of it.

The Vampire Lestat: I actually enjoyed this sequel quite a bit - mostly because I grew to like the characters of the first book so much and while they were not all featured here, the material was all new. As much as I didn't care for Lestat in the film version of the first book, he was surprisingly charming here in the sequel. This book had a more immediate feel than Interview with the Vampire and that added to its strength and entertaining qualities. Rather annoying chapter openers are included here featuring Rice’s husband's poetry which did not always seem to be appropriately related. Rice’s overly detailed and drawn out writing style is beginning to grate a bit on my nerves and it has become downright frustrating the way she skips over parts that I would like to hear more about while focusing on scenes to such a level of detail that in the end seem rather inconsequential. Still, I did enjoy it quite a bit - more than I thought I would, actually. But, I admit to being a bit less eager to read the third volume in the series.

Queen of the Damned: I enjoyed this one much more than The Vampire Lestat. Perhaps because there was a great deal more action, or perhaps because there were more familiar characters from Interview with a Vampire.The different voices and perspectives throughout were very interesting and I must admit that I enjoyed the others’ sections more than the one devoted to Lestat, who I fear is the center of this series. It would be, however, impossible not reading these last two books back-to-back, as they flow together rather seamlessly. And while I am curious as to what happens next (and I do have the next book) I think I need to take a bit of a break from being bogged down in Rice’s tedious writing style, as the sections that move slowly absolutely drag on and I don't really have the stamina for that after these three... Someday I will continue, but not until the memory of these books fades and my arm recovers from hefting around this omnibus.

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

2021 re-read as a buddy read with the Book Lovers Club on Discord.


Just copying my original reviews on the individual books here:

I've actually never read this before! Crazy, right? The movie has been stuck in my mind since I was a little girl, so it was WAY overdue that I read it. I liked it! In some parts it gave more inside and background story compared to the movie, and in some parts not. I have no idea what the next books are about, so I'll get started on that!

A very interesting read! You get to see the other side of the story. The first book was obviously just Louis' point of view, and now you get Lestat's - as well as other vampires'. There was a part where I felt it dragged on for a bit, but for the most part it was very entertaining. I loved the ties to mythology. I'm very excited to start the next one!

** spoiler alert ** I loved this one! It kept me excited and emotional basically throughout the entire book.
After the success of the last two books being published in this universe, now Lestat has his own band, and tells everyone that he's a vampire.
In the beginning of the book we meet several characters that plan to go to Lestat's concert, and there is a lot of suspense and action. All the different POVs might slow it down a little bit, but it didn't really bother me. But I can see it might bother some!
I think the best part of the entire thing was learning the history of the mysterious ancients. I really thought Akasha and Enkil were positive ''things''! I was wrong. Akasha angers me a lot towards the end, I'm happy she's dead. Lestat's POV later in the book isn't very exciting though.
I'm going to give the movie a shot, just because I'm curious about how they made it. I KNOW I'm going to complain, but oh well.
Review of the movie on my blog: http://carolinesometimes.blogspot.no/...

[Denis (deez_bookish_adventures) · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took me a long time to get around to reading the first three books of the Vampire Chronicles, but I am glad I finally did. I found this 3 volume edition to be an amazing entry into the Anne Rice Vampire world.

I was familiar with the movie "Interview with the Vampire" so I was not entirely clueless to this world, but as always there was much more depth in the first novel in the chronicles than the movie had, and I was delighted with this. There was much more about Paris and the Vampires at the Theater that the movie touched on, and that alone made the story much better in my opinion. I never really cared much for the movie adaptation, but now I have a better appreciation for it and can see the changes they made and understand the reasons.

The next novel "The Vampire Lestat" quite literally blew me away. What else could I say other than it was outstanding. The amount of back story on Lestat convinced me that I need to read this entire series no matter how I may feel moving forward (there are always duds in a large series).

The third novel "Queen of the Damned" was another volume that I enjoyed immensely largely due to all of the back story and new characters introduced. It really framed this enormous world, and all of its main characters (or at least that is my feeling at this point - book 4 may change that). Lestat really is the damnedest creature and I am hooked.

In conclusion - This is a fantastic Vampire series and I really look forward to the rest of the Vampire Chronicals.

5 Stars

On a side note - I also watched the movie Queen of the Damned many years ago. All I can say about that is holy cow. How they could combine two amazing books and have that rather terrible movie come out as the result is baffling to me. Wow...

[Joe Vasquez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Author: Anne Rice
Genre: Science fiction
Rating: 4 stars

In the beginning we meet the Vampire named Lestat. He tells us about his life when he was a young boy, but does not spend too much time on that subject. He goes on and talks about his adventure with his pet dogs into the woods to hunt a few wolves that keep attacking the village. His mother and father order him to go and slay the creatures, so they send him off wit a mare and a nice, powerful gun. He finds out that there are nine wolves, and he manages to kill all of them with the help of his mastiffs. He also suffers a great loss, he loses his dogs and mare. He sets out to go back home, and when he gets there he decides to take a little vacation. Lestat stays locked in his room and relaxes with his new dogs that his mother bought him.

I gave it five stars because it is a very interesting book, and there is never a dull moment. once you pick up the book you cannot put it down. I also take a lot of interest in Sci-fi stories. They never bore me.

[Aly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let it be known I did not read all 1200 pages! I only read Interview with the Vampire and the beginning of The Vampire Lestat.

Honestly, I really liked it! I've never read the book before, but I've seen the movie numerous times. I personally love the film, as do many others tbh. I had a feeling the book would be different. I'm honestly surprised the movie was close to the book, but there were obviously some differences. I do really enjoy the book, and I'm actually glad that I finally got around to it. I hope to read the other 2 books soon, but I do recommend reading the first one! It's iconic!

[Manuel]

Book 1 - INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE - 5 ⭐
Anne Rice through this book touches on several profound and complex topics, exploring the philosophical implications of search for meaning, life and dead, loneliness, companionship at all costs. Louis represented Anne in the aftermath of losing his child.

Book 2 - THE VAMPIRE LESTAT - 3.75 ⭐
A total shift in tone! This sequel swaps the atmosphere of the first book for high-stakes action and complex new characters. It’s a bit of a slow burn—the first half can feel tedious—but stick with it. The second half expands the lore in ways that make the journey worth it.

[Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this book for Christmas and I only recently got into it. I have read Interview with a Vampire and enjoyed it very much. I'm about a 1/4 of the way through The Vampire Lestat and am enjoying that very much. It's good to get some foundation on Ann Rice's Vampire Chronicles since I have read several of her other books before these 3. It's taking me so long to finish it because it is a bulky volume and not easy to lug around when traveling.