The Queen of the Damned: The Vampire Chronicles, Book 3

For a mass product it was a bit small but still a great read and awesome for the price

A book I enjoyed a lot, despite some descriptions too long and detailed to hold the reader tightly. (But even those may be a pleasure to mostly female readers, if the sex stereotypes about reading are valid: careful descriptions οf countenances insisting on declared emotions and on the demonstration of tenderness between lovers -and all of a special interest, if we keep in mind that the persons involved are vampires!)Apart from that, the book is a rich and well-woven work, managing not only to present an independent whole species and genealogy, in other words a special, well defined fictional w o r l d (which to my opinion is one of the main -and difficult-to-obtain -features of good literature), but also to give a resourceful explanation for its birth and development, as long as to connect it with the most significant issues of human religion, history, and controversy of ideas through centuries. It has also a very strong feministic look which I would expect at least to be referred to in the book's presentations-it's not a spoiler.The most significant idea of the book though, which is in the core of the main action -the desire of the Queen to rule the humanity as a goddess in her own way and with her own ideas and prejudices- is the very strong, philosophically supported mainly by Hannah Arendt, idea that the evil is s i m p l e and stupid! This is what the whole primary story of the book is moving to, and is shown not only in the arrogant, stubborn, ridiculously narrow-minded character of the Queen (an amazing anticlimax to her unique supernatural powers), but also in the triumph of Lestat over human masses as a rock idol! The part of the book which to my choice is the most valuable extract (about page 300 I think) is the scene in which the twins encounter the Queen for the very first time, and one of them (in her narrating that encounter some millenniums after) gives a deep, explicit and psychologically reasonable interpretation of the Queen's character, revealing her inner l i e, which comes from her need to deal with her nothingness and is well-established by her own sincere belief in it! This selfish stupidity of her is further enlightened in the (relatively) last pages, where she protests in tears that "no one stands by her" or "everyone is against her", or something like that, marvelously reminding us of some very human -and very disastrous- type of person!It is a pity that books like that are mostly read (or at least so I think) by people just obsessed with vampire stories and often only superficially following the plot. I think Ann Rice is of the authors who use the vampire tradition to seriously talk about deep human thoughts, instincts and feelings, as well as of moral and social issues still crucial (or even especially crucial) in our years. It is the kind of literature that forms a bridge between "difficult" or `upper" art and the "mainstream" one, and this, in terms of education involving pleasure, is worth a lot.

Surprisingly good series.

I read the Vampire Chronicles when I was 12, and I've found that re-reading them again at 40 was well worth it. Anne Rice is a lovely storyteller. I love the historical aspects to her immortals. I do, however, wish Ms. Rice had given more cultural diversity to the historical context, because these are all immortals of a clearly Euro-Christian paradigm. I, for one, would have learned far more of the world around me if I had the gift of immortality. When, for instance, Makare lands in the "New World," her twin laments that she would have experienced unprecedented loneliness due to the false, Euro-centric idea that man somehow didn't exist in Peru a coup!e thousand years ago. In reality, Native South Americans were alive and well. Maharet also speaks of Jesus in the singular way Christians do, even though she was a "witch" from ancient Egyptian times, and would logically not have been a Christian. The Bible plays far too much of a role in these stories, holding these immortal characters hostage with archaic ideas of sin and evil, and imprisoning them in limited existential understanding. It seems difficult to believe that every single vampire we are introduced to is of Caucasian origin, has no real cultural understanding beyond the Euro-Christian, Bible tormented view, and after hundreds of years, learned nothing outside of those very limited paradigms. If you were immortal, would you not travel and learn something beyond being a white European? Anne Rice also tends to portray other cultures as being "ignorant," or somehow easy to control and dupe. The " ideal" beauty and intellect clearly belongs to the blonde haired, blue eyed archetype that, after awhile, indicated that, perhaps, Ms. Rice may do well to broaden her own cultural paradigm when portraying the immortal life experience. I just don't believe one who has conceivably lived to experience history firsthand would continually be so limited in worldviews. Other than these aspects of the writing I didn't pick up at the age of 12, I greatly enjoyed reading these books again at 40.

I have been obsessed with Anne Rice’s Vampires since I was a teenager. I had to buy this copy, because my original one finally fell apart. Wonderful book!

I loved this book and it was an interesting expansion on the world we already were introduced to in Lestat the Vampire. The ending was lackluster and it could've been developed in a better way, so why am i giving this product 5 stars?Honestly, the ending, even though mediocre or regular at best, doesn't change that i enjoyed the ride through the whole book and i was totally immersed while reading through the chapters.

Is as described

The media could not be loaded.  It took some time to arrive but it's okay ! I love it ! I'm planning on having a collection of Anne Rice's paperbacks !!

Excelente.De las primeras ediciones, llegó en buen estado.

Fast shipping, the book arrived in perfect condition. Couldn't be happier!

A bit confusing at first with all the story threads but oh the writing, absolutely magnificent and glueing even my neurodivergent brain to the pages for hours.

Only up to the third book out of thirteen but Anne Rice does not disappoint. 12/10 recommend