Tagged: mature content
The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice
(Cover picture courtesy of this site I cannot translate.)
Lestat. The vampire hero of Anne Rice’s enthralling novel is a creature of the darkest and richest imagination. Once an aristocrat in the heady days of pre-revolutionary France, now a rock star in the demonic, shimmering 1980s, he rushes through the centuries in search of others like him, seeking answers to the mystery of his eternal, terrifying existence. His is a mesmerizing story—passionate, complex, and thrilling.
If you don’t like slow plots or are in any way sensitive to gore or explicit sex scenes, this book is not for you. But if you can appreciate a slow but compelling narrative filled with fascinating characters, you will appreciate The Vampire Lestat.
The Vampire Lestat is the second book in the Vampire Chronicles, but you don’t have to read Interview with the Vampire to understand it. Anne Rice lets her book stand on its own, but it is interesting to see first Louis’, then Lestat’s different perspectives. Whereas Louis found his vampirism to be a curse, Lestat chose to embrace it, delighting in his newfound power.
I think a big part of why the Vampire Chronicles are so popular is the fact that Anne Rice has created truly memorable characters. If I’m honest with myself, Lestat remains in my mind along with other great characters like Thu, Harry Potter, Katsa and Hamnet. What keeps people coming back for more is her characters, not her slow moving plot or her sensual descriptions, as some reviewers claim. Lestat is not always sympathetic, but he is appealing enough to command your attention.
I can honestly say that once you start reading The Vampire Lestat, you won’t be able to put it down. When I first read it, I stayed up until four in the morning to finish it—although that was partly because the alternative was going to sleep on a concrete floor with nothing but a thin sleeping bag. Still, it is a great book and you’ll have to forgive me for being cliché and describing it as “hypnotic”, because there is no other word for it.
I give this book 4/5 stars.
Scroll of Saqqara by Pauline Gedge
(Cover picture courtesy of Pauline Gedge’s website.)
Prince Khaemwaset is a powerful man. The son of Ramses II and a revered physician, he is respected for his wisdom throughout Egypt. But Khaemwaset harbours a strong and secret desire—to find the mysterious Scroll of Thoth and receive the power to raise the dead.
When Khaemwaset hears of the discovery of a hidden tomb on the plain of Saqqara, he is quick to break its seal and take its secrets—secrets that he soon learns he should never have disturbed.
Richly detailed with the exotic realities of Ancient Egypt, Scroll of Saqqara is a compelling tale of power, lust, and obsession.
Scroll of Saqqara is one of the few novels that has truly managed to surprise me. I thought it was going to be another slow-paced novel that chronicles the life of a famous ancient Egyptian, but I was very, very wrong. Scroll of Saqqara is a relatively fast-paced novel that chronicles the life of a virtually unknown (and fairly unimportant) son of Ramses the Great.
It starts out with Khaemwaset inspecting a tomb that he has ordered opened. The strange thing is that he himself has been digging in the sacred hills of Saqqara—a resting place for the dead that was already ancient in his time—looking for the Scroll of Thoth. It is Khaemwaset’s obsession with finding this legendary scroll that will bring a curse on him and his family.
Scroll of Saqqara is an historical fiction novel, but it could also be categorized as a horror novel because of the tense undercurrent running throughout it (especially in the last 200 pages). Pauline Gedge brings all of her characters to life, especially Ramses, who makes a brief, but memorable appearance. Each character is very well developed and readers will understand them, if not completely sympathize with them. Because of its sexual content, I would recommend Scroll of Saqqara for older teens and adults.
I give this book 4.5/5 stars.
Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice
(Cover picture courtesy of Pepper Ink.)
Here are the confessions of a vampire. Hypnotic, shocking, and chillingly erotic, this is a novel of mesmerizing beauty and astonishing force—a story of danger and flight, of love and loss, of suspense and resolution, and of extraordinary power of the senses. It is a novel only Anne Rice could write.
Interview with the Vampire is no doubt a classic novel, but it is not for everyone. If you do not like descriptions of graphic sex or admittedly disturbing violence, this is not a book you should attempt to read, regardless of its classic status. I do not like graphic descriptions of sex, so I skipped over these parts, but the violence was unavoidable as this is a true vampire novel. This is definitely a book for older teens to adults.
Aside from some mature content, Interview with the Vampire is a wonderful, slightly disturbing novel. It starts off rather slow, but as Louis’ tale goes on, this book will become glued to your hands. The sensual descriptions, the exotic characters and the authentic historical details are what really make this novel so great. The plot slowly twists and turns until we learn how being a vampire has changed the once mild, innocent Louis de Pointe du Lac. If you’re used to the wishy-washy vampires of today, prepare for a fresh and frightening experience.
I give this book 3.5/5 stars.