Will I love Interview with the Vampire?

When I first read Interview with the Vampire (I was 12), I was struck by how Anne Rice made darkness beautiful. The mood, the grief, the sensuality—it all felt so rich and strange and alive.

I didn’t just want to read about Louis and Lestat; I wanted to live inside that shadowed world, however painful. The power of her vampires was alluring, even as their sadness confused me. How could being immortal be such a torment?

This book taught me that supernatural fiction could be poetic, philosophical, even transcendent. There’s a reason this novel endures.

It made me want to… show more.

Any modern book about vampires owes a huge debt to Anne Rice, the first author to take the old, spooky Dracula tropes and make them fresh and wry.

Interview with the Vampire is incredibly sophisticated and current, especially for something written in 1976. It even explores themes of queer love, which was unheard of in mainstream literature in the 1970s.

This book, which bounces between time periods, gave me a taste of immortality. I loved that these murderous villains (vampires) could be so relatable. They skew our conception of good and evil and take us deep into morally gray territory.

Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice is a masterfully crafted novel. It's one of the books that first inspired me when I started writing.

She looks deeply into the complexities of the human condition through her immortal characters. Epic in scope and rich in atmosphere, the story is hauntingly beautiful, exploring themes of love, loss, and existential despair through the eyes of its unforgettable characters.

Rice's prose is both lyrical and dark, immersing readers in a world where moral ambiguity reigns and eternal life brings with it both profound beauty and inescapable torment. A must-read for lovers of deep,… show more.

I picked this book up from a second-hand street bookshop. It was the wisteria that did it. Something about those climbing vines made me fall right into the world of Lestat and Louis, and I’ve never fallen out again. Also, I love love, and there’s nothing more intriguing than three unrelated people/beings managing to stay together for sixty-five years.

Of course, there was murder and mayhem, but the love endured, and my secret romantic heart ate that shit up.

I was in my teens during the ‘90s, and as a queer, gender-fluid individual, there was not a lot of good horror fiction with queer characters who were not presented in a demeaning manner, as victims, or made monstrous or stereotypical representations.

I loved Interview with the Vampire and The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice, which showed me that sexuality and gender identity were aspects of people and not something that defined them entirely. I loved the complex characters and incredible historical research in these books.

I was a queer, gender-fluid teenager who found an understanding of myself and my… show more.

Along with ghosts, vampires are solidly in the pantheon of go-to horror staples. What makes this one unique is that the story is told from the perspective of the vampires, humanizing them, so to speak. It treats their hunting and feeding as natural and necessary functions.

I was particularly fascinated with the evolution of Rice’s characters as they deal with the reality and challenges of being immortal and the interpersonal conflicts that they create. It’s particularly compelling when it comes to the character of Claudia, who matures intellectually while forever trapped in a child’s body.

The sultry nature of Louisiana… show more.

No one has ever captured the darkly lush and sensual atmosphere of New Orleans quite like Anne Rice.

I am in awe of this accomplishment, even as I suspect she came to it from a dark place of her own. Born in New Orleans, she moved away for a time, married, and had a daughter. This child died young, a tragedy from which Anne never fully recovered. Returning to the city afterward, she bought a home in the historic Garden District.

There, she wrote this incredible tale with its tortured protagonist, a story imbued with the tragedy of being ever… show more.

This is neither a new book nor a romance, but since I'm writing my vampire and shifter book, I felt compelled to check out a classic that readers love. I am so happy I did because Anne kept me turning the pages like none of the other vampire and shifter books I read. Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler was the only other book that came close.

How does Rice do it? Her characters are full and engaging, and the way she creates her worlds is breathtaking, too. When I'd say, "I really love this character," she has them do something… show more.

Interview with the Vampire is rather dark yet mesmerizing at the same time.

I love stories that take your mind to another world, and this one is at the top of the list. To be perfectly honest, I never really had any interest in learning about the mysterious world of immortal vampires until I read this book. Just remember that this book is intended for mature audiences due to its dark and mature themes.

I recommend this book because it touches upon many exciting subjects, including the desire for immortality and it takes an interesting perspective about humanity through a… show more.

It’s fun and poetic. I don’t think her vampires have the most consistent lore, and I don’t personally take the view that vampires dated any further back than the birth of Christianity, but she’s a better writer than me. By quite a lot, I should think.

Also, Lestat is in it, and Claudia, they’re fun vampires. I’m not sure I agree that vampires are asexual, but then again it was the 80s, and if her vampires weren’t then issues like AIDS might have been a worry.

I do actually like these books, to clarify. I was debating, because I excluded… show more.