The Vampire Lestat is the second book in Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles and is the second out of five novels to feature and tell the life of the vampire Lestat.
The reason for the expansion of Lestat’s life through five novels is because after writing Interview With The Vampire (the first book to feature Lestat) Anne Rice knew that Lestat was beginning to take shape as a character and as time went by it became clear that Lestat’s life story would be too long for just one book. Other books that tell of Lestat’s life apart from Interview With The Vampire and The Vampire Lestat are Queen of the Damned, The Tale of the Body Thief and Lestat’s encounter with God and the Devil in Memnoch the Devil.
The Vampire Lestat begins with Lestat explaining how after sleeping for many years is awoken by the movement and the music of the 20th century and how due to his love for the music he becomes a rock music superstar. From here Lestat tells of his life as a 17th century French nobleman before he was made a vampire by a vampire named Magnus. I suggest you read the book yourself as I do not wish to give away every detail told by Lestat.
The best thing about this book is that after reading it you begin to realise that Lestat is not the slightly insane, blood thirsty killer that he is portrayed as in Interview With The Vampire but in fact he is an innocent victim who did not have a choice in becoming a vampire.
I would recommend this book for anyone who has read any of the Vampire Chronicles and in particular Interview and for anyone who enjoys a book that has a character who is willing to open up about his life and invites you to share it with him.