Summary

• Dive into Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles, a rich literary world, for a varied and captivating journey.
• AMC's Interview with the Vampire show is a good start, but the books reveal more depth in characters and plotlines.
• While the 10th book, Blood Canticle is the weakest of the series, the first book, Interview with the Vampire, is still the best.

The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice is a book series full of literary classics, but not all books in the series were created equal. With AMC recently expanding its Anne Rice Immortal Universe TV franchise, there's never been a better time to dive into the rich literary world of Anne Rice. The legendary fantasy and horror writer authored 37 novels, eight book series, four short stories, and one memoir before sadly ing away on December 11, 2021. Rice may be best known for The Vampire Chronicles, so it's a great place to start when tackling her works.

Interview with the Vampire characters from the AMC+ show that started airing in 2022 may already have familiarized viewers with some of the plotlines from The Vampire Chronicles, but the show is no substitute for the books that pervaded Anne Rice's life from 1976 to 2018. With a 44-year lifespan, The Vampire Chronicles is Anne Rice's magnum opus and life's work. The show is doing a magnificent job of communicating the series so far, but it's also well worth experiencing this incredibly varied book series, which dips and peaks in momentum along with Anne Rice throughout her journey.

13 Blood Canticle

Book Ten, 2003

Anne Rice wrote Blood Canticle in 2003 as the final Vampire Chronicle, but it didn't have quite the same impact as her earlier work. It remained the final book in the series until Rice penned the final three books in the series ten years later. Narrated by Lestat and notable for his liaison with Rowan Mayfair, it did tie up the loose ends of the book series well enough. However, at times it felt almost a little more like a member of the Lives of the Mayfair Witches book saga than a Vampire Chronicle.

Mayfair Witches season 2 will premiere in 2025, with no further details released yet.

The finale of the three crossover books in The Vampire Chronicles, Blood Canticle concluded the arc begun in Merrick and continuing in Blackwood Farm. All three of these novels included characters that crossed over from Lives of the Mayfair Witches. While they didn't directly suffer as a result, they occasionally felt like filler in a series about Lestat, Louis, Claudia, Armand, Marius, and David.

12 Blackwood Farm

Book Nine, 2002

The penultimate book in what Rice originally considered her complete Vampire Chronicles, Blackwood Farm is an undeniably great read but still inferior, overall, to her previous books. Blackwood Farm earned praise as a prominent southern gothic horror novel, and indeed, its lush descriptions of swamps and mansions were heavily evocative of the kind of claustrophobic horror Rice was so good at in the first book in the series. But it lacked the urgency of former Vampire Chronicles.

The Witching Hour, Lasher, and Taltos are all three consecutive books in Lives of the Mayfair Witches.

Although a strong offering, Blackwood Farm moved away from the narrative point of view of Lestat and David and offered Tarquin Blackwood as a first-person narrator, or "Quinn", as he was more commonly known. Quinn was a wonderful character, and between him and Mona Mayfair, the novel provided interesting characters with which to explore Lestat's bisexuality. This focus on Mayfair witches' stories and characters and their connections was fun, but sometimes jarred the momentum of the series as a whole.

11 Merrick

Book Seven, 2000

Arguably the best of the three crossover novels of The Vampire Chronicles, Merrick was notable for its eponymous, mixed-race vampire protagonist, also a witch of the Mayfair clan. Extraordinary for many reasons, Merrick burned bright as a character, so it was difficult to see her leave the series so soon. Merrick may be a good candidate for one of the characters in AMC's The Talamasca, furthering her presence in Anne Rice's literary and cinematic universe overall.

This novel has some key Louis moments.

Some reviewers felt that Merrick was one of the more forgettable of the series, which could be due to the complexity of its intertwining storylines. It could tend towards the convoluted, but it's definitely not one to skip; it's worth the read alone for Merrick's profound relationship with Louis de Pointe du Lac. Louis is one of the most enduring characters of The Vampire Chronicles, perhaps second only to Lestat, and this novel has some key Louis moments.

10 Blood Communion: A Tale of Prince Lestat

Book Thirteen, 2018

Blood Communion: A Tale of Prince Lestat was the last book in The Vampire Chronicles, and by no means one of the worst books in the series. The last three books Anne Rice added to the series divided her fans somewhat, all falling into the "Prince Lestat" arc. Some reviews called them a painful diversion from the tone and themes of her previous books, while others claimed they were classic Anne Rice, and got back to her roots.

Anyone invested in the relationship between Louis and Lestat had really better persevere until this final novel in the series.

In reality, Blood Communion: A Tale of Prince Lestat was a radical departure from some of Rice's earlier work in many ways, but it ended the series in a far more substantial way than Blood Canticle ever could have. It also felt like a worthy successor to the previous "Prince Lestat" books, but those who didn't like the previous two in the mini-arc may not like the final one. Perhaps a key note is that anyone invested in the relationship between Louis and Lestat had really better persevere until this final novel in the series.

9 Blood and Gold

Book Eight, 2001

Marius was an intriguing character, whether he was carrying out repulsive acts or kind ones, and he led this novel through a rich tapestry of historical intrigue, as its main protagonist. This tale, steeped in history, covered a lot of Armand's origin story, as well as that of Marius. Deeply flawed, as many Anne Rice vampires are, Marius was the main driver of this story, so it's easy to see why it was polarizing.

Marius' treatment of Armand was problematic, but ultimately, it could be viewed in the wider context of the huge and complex web of interpersonal relationships in Anne Rice books. Many vampires had toxic traits, yet Anne Rice presented these through the lens of the supernatural, making the application of human values a challenge that may not be worthwhile. Regardless, this is an enjoyable read, with an outstanding cameo from everyone's favorite journalist, Daniel Molloy.

8 Prince Lestat

Book Eleven, 2014

Depending on who you ask, Prince Lestat represented a return to form for Anne Rice or the beginning of the end of The Vampire Chronicles. What it was for certain, was an excellent adventure that, for the first time, started to take the question of the origin of vampires much more seriously. This thread began a long time previously, in 1988's The Queen of the Damned, but Anne Rice returned to it here after going through substantial personal and spiritual change.

Anne Rice's change of heart in a few religious matters came through in this novel, which saw the reunion of characters that had been separated by conflict, indifference, fear, or simply distance. The action and adventure elements of this novel remained strong, while it addressed the stories of most of the main protagonists throughout The Vampire Chronicles. This novel somehow seemed to reflect a newfound faith in humanity, on Rice's part.

7 Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis

Book Twelve, 2016

Debatably the most enjoyable of the "Prince Lestat" books in The Vampire Chronicles, Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis is easily one of the better books in the whole series. Any readers fascinated by vampire lore would do well to get this far in the collection. Anyone who enjoyed the first three books in The Vampire Chronicles may also be pleasantly surprised by the direction taken in this one, after the rather heavy nature of the previous few outings in the series.

Anne Rice published a memoir about her life and return to the Catholic faith - Called Out of Darkness: A Spiritual Confession.

Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis continued the thread that Anne Rice started in Prince Lestat, exploring how Lestat started to unite vampires from different places, with different loyalties. This was a big departure from previous Anne Rice novels in the sense that it presented a hopeful view of vampires being able to get along, whereas many previous novels had dismissed this. Although this could be seen as abrupt, Anne Rice sowed the seeds of many of these storylines long before.

6 The Tale of the Body Thief

Book Four, 1992

The Tale of the Body Thief is a controversial book and may be the most controversial of all The Vampire Chronicles, dealing with difficult subjects like rape and sexuality. Wherever readers land on The Tale of the Body Thief, it remains an interesting addition to the book collection in many ways. It dove into thriller territory with Lestat's pursuit of the body thief, which was a refreshing diversion from the philosophizing that went on in a lot of the books.

The explicit sexual content in this novel could be seen as a highlight of the series, just as easily as it could be seen as a challenging entry to the group of erotic set pieces seen throughout the books. On a related note, Raglan James and David Talbot were two important characters that this novel focused on. David, in particular, became more important as the series went on.

5 Memnoch the Devil

Book Five, 1995

Memnoch the Devil was very much a love-hate part of The Vampire Chronicles on its publication, but may have aged better than some of its later counterparts. This novel may have gone the deepest into the religion-tinged philosophy that Anne Rice was so fond of, and this was the literary equivalent of Marmite as far as critics and readers were concerned.

It is exactly Anne Rice's uncompromising approach to this novel that made it memorable and unique, and earned it a place in the pantheon of horror and fantasy classics. This may be one of literature's best vampire novels, and there are very few other books out there like it. A religious reference to the Veil of Veronica is just one example of this work's commitment to finding spiritual and anthropological meaning.

4 The Vampire Armand

Book Six, 1998

The Vampire Armand was narrated in first-person by its titular vampire, Armand, and he proved in this novel why he was one of the centerpieces Anne Rice chose for the entire series. Armand is unquestionably one of the most fascinating characters in the horror genre, and also in LGBTQI+ literature. He appeared to shift with the times, and perhaps with Anne Rice's changing values over the years, and is noteworthy for the sex worker representation his character provides.

His icy exterior belied a turbulent and contradictory soul whose youthful beauty was a permanent expression of his arrested emotional development.

This novel is a beautiful character study, showing how, even throughout generations and numerous traumas, Armand remained constant as a symbol of survival. One of the most powerful characters in The Vampire Chronicles, others underestimated Armand at their peril. His icy exterior belied a turbulent and contradictory soul, whose youthful beauty was a permanent expression of his arrested emotional development.