The Vampire Lestat

The Vampire Chronicles, Book 2

By: Anne Rice

Narrated by: Simon Vance

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 exsitence. His is a mesmerizing story—passionate, complex, and thrilling.

Praise for The Vampire Lestat

“Frightening, sensual . . . Anne Rice will live on through the ages of literature. . . . To read her is to become giddy as if spinning through the mind of time, to become lightheaded as if our blood is slowly being drained away.”—San Francisco Chronicle

“Fiercely ambitious, nothing less than a complete unnatural history of vampires.”—The Village Voice

“Brilliant . . . its undead characters are utterly alive.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Luxuriantly created and richly told.”—The Cleveland Plain Dealer

Critic reviews

“Frightening, sensual . . . Anne Rice will live on through the ages of literature. . . . To read her is to become giddy as if spinning through the mind of time, to become lightheaded as if our blood is slowly being drained away.”—San Francisco Chronicle

“Fiercely ambitious, nothing less than a complete unnatural history of vampires.”—The Village Voice

“Brilliant . . . its undead characters are utterly alive.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Luxuriantly created and richly told.”—The Cleveland Plain Dealer

Finally unabridged! Excellently read, great listen

This has always been my favourite novel from the Vampire Chronicles series (even though Interview with the Vampire is more popular) but I've always held off downloading it from Audible because it was only available abridged (aka butchered) but when this edition became available I downloaded this, Interview and Queen of the Damned immediately!

I've read the paperback edition of this book many times but Simon Vance narrates very well and captures the cheeky, elegant character of Lestat very well and brings out some subtleties that I've missed before.

This novel stands alone very well if you haven't read the other Anne Rice books since it only makes a few references to Interview with the Vampire.

I hope Audible will release more unabridged Anne Rice books (The Mayfair Witch novels!).

Lestat-Born Into Darkness

Fantastic narrative by Simon Vance. I could listen to his soothing voice for hours. And I did.

Lestat. I fell in love with him in Rice's second helping of The Vampire Chronicles. I've been wanting to read this series since it's beginnings and this audiobook is outstanding. I was moved by Lestat's sensitive side and laughed out loud when he was testing out his new found strength, running through the forest like a giddy girl, flip-flopping and cartwheeling here and there. The first half of Lestat's story had me enthralled. I began to lose a tiny bit of interest when Armand's story was being told. And, although I've already read/listened to PANDORA (Enjoyed it, btw.) and knew who Marrius was, I got a bit confused somewhere around here. Maybe I fell asleep and missed something. I dunno. I didn't have the patience to wander back through all that child of God/Satanic hullabaloo business. Perhaps I wasn't in the deep, philosophical mood I needed to be in whilst reading this part. Therefore, it gets a one star deduction. Other than that, stellar performance by Vance. Anne Rice was at the top of her game here and I couldn't help thinking many, many times while listening, how does she come up with this stuff?! Best part of the story, besides learning how Lestat was turned? Lestat's relationship with his beautiful mother, Gabrielle. There's a gal that needs her own story!

Should have used different narrator on this one.

Simon Vance is a fine narrator. He did a very good job with Louis in Interview. My problem is these stories are told in the first person and hearing the voice I now associate with Louis, telling Lestat's story, bothered me from beginning to end. The two stars for performance reference the decision to use the same voice for both books and in no way is a critique of Mr Vance's abilities.

Excellent book and performance

Great story and a nice tie-in to the previous book. Excellent voice acting as well.

A lot of slow great conversation and little when it comes to action or a sense of urgence. Fine with me but a small caution for someone who hopes for something more fast-paced.

It was like i was there.

Fabulous story. Excited to listen to the next book in the series. The story is intoxicating.