How to Read Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles

Anne Rice has written many well received books over the years, but the Vampire Chronicles remain her best-known works. The Vampire Chronicles series has been translated into languages spoken all over the world and two of the books have been made into films. This series is sure to delight, disgust and entertain. Here's how to get the most out of them.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

1. Have a basic understanding of the historical periods. Learn about the early years of the United States, specifically in New Orleans, to help you understand the first book in the series. Read Interview With the Vampire first before seeing the movie, which leaves out most of the story.
2. Continue on to the Vampire Chronicles. Read the Vampire Lestat with the story from the first book still in your mind. Be open to the contradictory stories that appear in this book, and understand that both narrators are right to a certain degree.
3. Read the Queen of the Damned next. Study some of the historical contexts separately if necessary.
4. Explore next, the Tale of the Body Thief. Take it for the escapism that it is. It is not considered to be as deep as the other books in scope or insight. Learn from the outsider's view of humanity when Lestat becomes human again. Read Memnoch the Devil and the Vampire Armand. Think about Anne Rice's real-life turn from her famous atheism toward Christianity during this period. Notice the increasing religious themes in these two novels.
5. Read the Blood and Gold, Blackwood Farm and Blood Canticle, which were later works that introduced a host of new characters into the vampire world.
6. Read Pandora and Vittorio the Vampire, which were shorter companion works not included in the original series.