March 07, 2004

The Vampire Chronicles, Vol. 1

This weekend I completed The Vampire Chronicles: Vol. I. For those of you too lazy to look at that link, it included Interview with the Vampire, The Vampire Lestat, and The Queen of the Damned and it was all written by Anne Rice.

I have always loved vampire stories. I am not sure why but something about vampires fascinates me. The novels that make up The Vampire Chronicles tell a series of stories involving the same vampires from the viewpoint of the vampires. I think it might be this fact more than anything else which causes people to object to Anne Rice's novels. In the eyes of a "normal" vampire, taking the life of a human is an everynight occurrence. This causes it to be discussed oftenly in a rather dismissive tone. It can be quite disturbing at first.

Many people seem to believe that these novels are specifically anti-Christian. Although Interview with the Vampire seemed to be like that at times, I have to disagree with that statement. By the end of The Queen of the Damned, it becomes extremely obvious that they are anti-religion in general if they are anything.

Putting theological issues aside, I enjoy Anne Rice's writing style. It is quite involving and by the end of The Queen of the Damned I cared about what was happening with every single character. The depth of information involved in the creation of each novel is remarkable.

Another problem that many people have is the amount of "love" scenes between the vampires. People who have problems with these things have forgotten two things, in my opinion. First, the vampires are no longer human. They have a human body, but it is basically kept alive by a "spirit" that enters them through the blood of another vampire. Second, the "love" discussed is not physical love. Other than an occasional kiss or hug, the love is purely emotional attachment.

I enjoyed these novels and will probably continue with The Vampire Chronicles. I hope that volume two is released soon.

Posted by Randy at March 7, 2004 05:42 PM | TrackBack