Review: The Vampire Lestat

The Vampire Lestat felt like a bit of an odd read. On the one hand, the overall story is interesting enough, but pacing and extra fluff made it a slog to get through. On the whole, is it worth reading The Vampire Lestat, the second book in the Vampire Chronicles?

Liked

• A more interesting take on Lestat
• Interesting overall story
• Heading in the right direction
• Wonderful imagining of the vampire world

Disliked

• Pacing slows down after the first half
• Only moves the story forward toward the end
• A lot of extra stories that slow things down

If you’ve already read Interview With The Vampire then you know what to expect from The Vampire Lestat. The story follows our fiery Lestat as he rises in the modern world, preparing to do what he does best, disrupt the norm. It’s an interesting premise and thoroughly interesting seeing a different side to the devil we saw in book one.

His hurt when he reads Louis account of their time together, sheds new light on the monster, and adds a whole new level of intrigue. Sadly, we don’t get much of this, with the story taking a trip down memory lane, starting right at the beginning of Lestat’s story.

The first half of the book is mostly dedicated to Lestat’s youth and his becoming a vampire. It’s very well told and the entire arc plays out nicely. There are supporting characters who add a whole new level to Lestat, and we have an antogonist for him to overcome.

The whole thing fits nicely and seems to come to a good enough close, giving an opportunity to jump back to modern day Lestat, but unforuntately the trip down memory outstays its welcome. This is where the issues creep in.

The next 40% of the book, give or take a few interesting pieces, just feels incredibly slow. There’s so little of interest after the first half, that I found myself zoning out. There’s a lot of world building, and setting the scene for future confrontations and story arcs to rear their head, but I would have much preferred a tighter focus in the second half.

I won’t go into any spoilers, but the integral part of the second half memories that needed to be told, could have been done so a lot faster and in a shorter amount of time. It just felt drawn out and more often than not, no longer Lestat’s story.

Thankfully things pick up at the end, jumping back into modern times. This is when the story finally progresses and it all starts coming together nicely.

Unfortunately it’s over too soon, leaving somewhat of a sour taste in my mouth considering how much time was wasted elsewhere. It left me wanting more, but that’s mostly because of how little of the current day Lestat we actually got.

I listened to this on Audible, and the story telling is well done. Apart from the pacing issues, the overall world is wonderfully created, and the narrator does a brilliant job in his delivery of the work.

Conclusion

So, is The Vampire Lestat worth a read? If you’ve already read the first it brings a new appreciation to Lestat, and you’re probably already familiar with the somewhat slow pace these books seem to include after the first half. Overall it’s a good read and I enjoyed it, although I hope the next book in the series focuses a little more on progressing the story.