the vampire chronicles

HolyGoji777 · #1 June 8th, 2004, 10:53 PM

anyone else read anne rice's vampire chronicles? i fell in love with them after seeing queen of the damned...so far ive read
interview with the vampire
the vampire lestat
the queen of the damned
tale of the body thief.
and im in the middle of memnoch the devil....anyone else love these books?

china · #2 June 9th, 2004, 12:03 PM

I have read first book! It was really great! Way better than the movie. I have the rest of the books but have not read yet. I better get started soon. Anyway, my favorite charater is the little girl and Armond. I think thats his name.

HolyGoji777 · #3 June 9th, 2004, 11:22 PM

i love claudia she was an awesome character. armand was ok...but lestat will be come much much kooler in the following books ill assure you.

Zigra · #4 June 10th, 2004, 12:18 AM

Uh oh, don't let Lord Morgoth see this thread

Morgoth · #5 June 10th, 2004, 03:47 AM

I already have, but decided not to rise to the bait. If people enjoy that sort of thing, well, I can't understand it but have fun.

HolyGoji777 · #6 June 11th, 2004, 12:13 AM

^^^^????? whats wrong with it? i think its a whole different take on what a vampire is/would be. they convey emotion and have inner conflict. the only thing i never really could relate to is the homosexual themes that sometimes enter the books but i have nothing against them i just couldnt relate. other than that i enjoyed these books very much!

Morgoth · #7 June 11th, 2004, 03:44 AM

Well, my huge problem with the crimes Ann Rice has committed is this: her vampires are pretty much just like normal people with the full range of emotions, likes, dislikes, prejudices ad nauseum. That, to me, takes away an immense part of what makes a vampire interesting. These creatures are NOT human any longer - they are the damned, possessed of only a rotten remnant of their soul. They do not think and act as a normal human being would - how could they when they aren't even alive any longer? In pretty much all literature before Ann Rice came along, this aspect of the vampire was always paramount - that they are in no way human any longer.

Now, the big problem I have with humanising the bloodsuckers is this: they still prey on human beings, they are still murderous parasites. With the detachment of 'these are monsters not men' removed, vampires are no less disgusting than a serial killer, and taking them to that level removes what makes them special. Even the few attempts at 'remorseful' vampires I've seen from Rice and her emulators are more absorbed in self-pity than any real concern for the people they prey upon. Contrast that with Lawrence Talbot from the Wolf Man films - a man who agonised over his curse not because of what it did to him but because of the lives he would take as a werewolf. Sadly, the Ann Rice 'vampires are people too' thing has become so widespread and rampant that I don't know if we'll ever get back to the Gothic style vampire I grew up with and which was so much more interesting than decadent hedonists with morality issues.

Didn't mean to disturb your conversation, but you did ask.

Cole Deschain · #8 June 11th, 2004, 04:50 AM

More or less what Morgoth said. ^ Vampires are abulatory corpses that feed on the blood of the living. Making that glamorous or sympathetic just doesn't fly with me.

That, and Rice couldn't write her way out of a paper bag.

Melkor · #9 June 11th, 2004, 05:16 AM

I myself am not fond of the books, for reasons already stated by Morgoth. The idea of vampires as sympathetic, hedonistic, decadent and above all, tortured souls just doesn't click with me. It seems like Anne Rice's idea of a Gothic Vampire is one which sulks all day, reading depressing poetry and perpetually clad in Victorian-era clothing, which is quite abominable imho. Sorry, but I just find that utterly puerile and would much rather take the 'classic' vampire anyday-- thrice damned, cruel, cold as stone, and a true monster. In short: vampires are vile, damnable creatures who feed on the blood of the living, and as Cole said, making that glamorous and sympathetic is simply a bad idea.

But that's just my opinion anyway.

Peace,

Melkor

HolyGoji777 · #10 June 11th, 2004, 10:02 AM

well to each his own. i found it quite a refreshing take on vampires because im sick of seeing mindless blood suckers. and vampires arent like other monsters really because although they are "dead" they still think and speak like a normal human and not just in anne rices novels...so instead of them being the embodiment of pure evil she wrote as if they were regular thinking beings. they drink blood to survive whats so different about that than say...slaughtering a cow for food? but more importantly its the characters themselves who interest me more...like lestat, louis, marius. everything about them is sorta...poetic. though the books may have flaws ive become enthralled by these tortured souls...but everyone has their own opinion. this is just something i like is all.