The Vampire Chronicles

In the first book, Interview with the Vampire, a young journalist has a nocturnal rendezvous with a strange man, the vampire Louis. He tells how he in Louisiana in 1791 became a vampire and began feeding on the living. Louis must come to terms with this terrible change and adjust to his new existence as an undead vampire. In the second volume, The Vampire Lestat, the story centers around Lestat, Lious' vampire companion from the first book. Less romantic but more intense and with more happening, it is the best book in the series in my opinion. In the third installment in the series, The Queen of the damned, Rice develops the mythology of the vampires and (here comes a small spoiler!) traces their history back to Ancient Egypt. This book is very good, but I'm not sure that I really wanted to know how the vampires originated. Somehow this takes away some of the mystique and romance from them. The fourth book, The tale of the Body Thief, was a let-down.


This series is an admirable attempt to modernize and develop vampire mythology. Apparently this series is so popular that it actually has increased the number of tourists visiting New Orleans!