I managed to finish this book by the weekend. And what a Chronicle it was. Anne Rice has truly exceeded her writing abilities in this tale of cunning and despair.
Firstly, let me give you a bit of background on Lestat, the 200 year old vampire that this story is all about. Some of it is covered in my previous opinions on the Vampire Chronicles, but for those of you that have not read them yet, here is a quick update on him.
He was the son of a French Marquis in the 1700’s, living in France. He was taken by a vampire called Magnus, who immediately threw himself onto a fire after the deed was done. He was left to learn the vampire ways on his own. He travelled the world looking for others like him, and also to find out what exactly he was. When his mother (Gabrielle) became sick and was dying, he turned her into a vampire also.
He met up with a coven of vampires living under a cemetery, lead by the vampire Armand. He set them up in the Theatre of Vampires, then continued on his journey searching the world. He then came across Marius, a vampire that had been given the Dark Gift during the Roman times. He learnt that Marius was the keeper of Those Who Must Be Kept (Akasha and Enkil), the King and Queen of all vampires. During the French Revolution, he sailed to the New World, to New Orleans. Here he met Louis, who desperately wanted to end his life after the tragic death of his brother. Lestat turned him into a vampire. They then made a vampire out of a young child, Claudia. Claudia and Louis turn on Lestat, thinking that they have destroyed him, and they flee to Paris.
Lestat survives this ordeal, and after a long sleep he awakens in the 1980’s and becomes a rock star. He has also drunk the blood of Akasha, which has made him very strong.
Although Lestat is a rogue and a dangerous vampire, he is actually very funny and likeable. The hero of these books if you like. He likes to take risks, and he does not comply to the rules of the elder vampires. He often finds himself in a mess, and in need of the elders help. He has become a great friend to a mortal being, David Talbot, who is the head of an organisation that deals with the supernatural, the Talamasca. David knows what he is, but the Talamasca’s job is to observe, not to destroy. David is an old man of 74, and Lestat has often offered to make him into a vampire, but David refuses.
Lestat often thinks back to his years when he was mortal, the times he loves the most. He usually only drinks blood from evildoers; thieves, murderers and drug dealers. And yes, he feels love. He is a very loving vampire. No physical sex though for vampires, they show their love for each other by drinking each others blood. And many people have asked me if these books are about ‘queers’. I would have to say no, most definitely not! Yes, they show love to both men and women, but if you read the books, you would understand that sexuality between these creatures does not exist. They see each other as another vampire, not as a male or a female.
Trust me people, I would not be reading books about homosexuals.
This brings me to this book, The Tale of the Body Thief.
It is slightly different from the previous books. It does not jump to the past as much, and it is mainly about Lestat and David Talbot, although Louis and Marius do make their appearance.
It starts in the early 1990’s. Lestat is living in New Orleans again, with Louis living nearby. Lestat encounters a strange mortal that keeps handing him envelopes with pieces of novel extracts.
He finally has a meeting with this mortal to find out what he wants. He tells Lestat that he knows that he would like to be human once again, and tells him that he knows how they can exchange bodies. Lestat loves the idea of being able to feel what it is like to be human again and they make a deal. They will exchange bodies for 2 days only.
Before the exchange, Lestat tells David and Louis. Niether are happy about it, and beg him not to do such a thing. David finds out things about this man. His name was Raglan James, and he was once a member of the Talamasca. He was a man that could have out of body experiences at will, and it turned out that the young 25 year old body that he had met Lestat with, was not in fact his own, but stolen from someone else.
Being the vampire that Lestat is, he does not listen and goes ahead with the body exchange.
He has to learn how to eat again, which is quite funny, and of course what he thinks about his having to empty waste from his body, is also comical. He learns other things too, yes he even has sex with a woman. And after the 2 days are up he goes to meet up with Raglan James to reclaim his body back.
He does not show up.
Lestat is furious. He has caught a cold, and is now moaning that he hates to be human. How could he find Raglan James? All of his powers were gone.
He goes to see Louis, in the hope that he can give the body he is in the Dark Gift, enabling him to hunt for his vampire body.
Louis refuses. Louis is a vampire with very human emotions. He will not turn anyone into a vampire. Even after constant begging, he is refused. Louis tells him that he is very lucky to be able to be come human again, but Lestat hates it!
Who will help him find his vampire body? He turns to old David Talbot, and for the rest of the book, they turn into a pair of detectives, on the hunt for Lestat’s true body.
There are many fantastic twists in the story, and even I was surprised. This would truly make an excellent movie script, as I’m sure one day it will.
This was the fattest book of them all, and I had read it in record time (2 days). I could not put it down.
What’s next? Memnoch the Devil. Don’t worry, I have it already. I told my son not to bother with flowers and chocolates for Mother’s Day, I wanted this book! And here it sits, waiting for me to start reading, which I will, a little later on today.
(607 pages)
I notice that the cover of the book displayed in Mouthshut is not the same as the one I have on my book. I wonder if Mouthshut’s picture is the first edition?