Synopses & Reviews
In a feat of virtuoso storytelling, Anne Rice unleashes Akasha, the queen of the damned, who has risen from a six-thousand-year sleep to let loose the powers of the night. Akasha has a marvelously devious plan to “save” mankind and destroy the vampire Lestat—in this extraordinarily sensual novel of the complex, erotic, electrifying world of the undead.
The Vampire Chronicles continue in Prince Lestat. Look for a special preview in the back of the book.
Praise for The Queen of the Damned
“Mesmerizing . . . a wonderful web of dark-side mythology.”—San Francisco Chronicle
“With The Queen of the Damned, Anne Rice has created universes within universes, traveling back in time as far as ancient, pre-pyramidic Egypt and journeying from the frozen mountain peaks of Nepal to the crowded, sweating streets of southern Florida.”—Los Angeles Times
“Imaginative . . . intelligently written . . . This is popular fiction of the highest order.”—USA Today
“A tour de force.”—The Boston Globe
Review
"It's too long, too preachy, overloaded with themes and subplots. But it is equally provocative and thoughtful. It is also (dare I say it) fun to read." Cordelia Sherman, Women's Review of Books
Review
"Queen has its page-turner parts, but old fans should be warned that it's gorier than its predecessors, full of crunching bones and burning brains. I also regret to report that in addition to this upsurge in violence, there's a downsurge in sex. Rice's earlier writings...were swooningly sensual. They had a strange intimacy that gave those of us with more vanilla preferences a clue as to why some people like sadomasochistic sex. In The Queen of the Damned, the 'sex' is mostly a perfunctory interval between the exploding bodies and the talking heads." Lindsy Van Gelder, Ms.
Review
"A tour de force. Her refugees from sunlight are symbols of the walking alienated, those of us who, by choice or not, dwell on the fringe." The Boston Globe
Review
"Anne Rice is a writer of enormous ability. She has a masterly way with language, works on a broad canvas, has a vast range of knowledge, brings exotic settings vividly to life, and is wonderfully clever, but these gifts are wasted on vampires. May she find subjects worthy of her talents before these dead guys suck her dry." Eric Kraft, The New York Times Book Review
Review
"Rice tells her story in fine melodramatic style, overwriting with zest and exuberance: the text pulses with menace, mystery and violence, and with sensuality verging on erotica....Though she ingeniously pulls together the various plot strands, Rice then almost loses the reader in philosophic overkill. She regains her verve in the final chapter, however, promising yet another mesmerizing installment of the Vampire Chronicles." Publishers Weekly
Review
"Don't let the title or the subject matter fool you; this is quality fiction written with care and intelligence. There are no false steps or wasted words in the multilayered plot, and the many characters each have a distinct voice....Rice is doing for the vampire genre what Dashiell Hammett did for that of the private detective raising it from the dregs of the penny dreadful to the heights of A fiction." Library Journal
Review
"Exhilarating....Rice is equally adept at evoking rain-swept Paris streets, concert-hall mayhem, ramshackle mansions in New Orleans. She is a very sensual writer." Newsday
Synopsis
"With The Queen of the Damned, Anne Rice has created universes within universes, traveling back in time as far as ancient, pre-pyramidic Egypt and journeying from the frozen mountain peaks of Nepal to the crowded, sweating streets of southern Florida."--Los Angeles Times In a feat of virtuoso storytelling, Anne Rice unleashes Akasha, the queen of the damned, who has risen from a six-thousand-year sleep to let loose the powers of the night. Akasha has a marvelously devious plan to "save" mankind and destroy the vampire Lestat--in this extraordinarily sensual novel of the complex, erotic, electrifying world of the undead.
Praise for The Queen of the Damned
"Mesmerizing . . . a wonderful web of dark-side mythology."--San Francisco Chronicle
"Imaginative . . . intelligently written . . . This is popular fiction of the highest order."--USA Today
"A tour de force."--The Boston Globe
About the Author
Anne Rice was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. She holds a Master of Arts Degree in creative writing from San Francisco State University and is the author of twenty-one novels. Her first novel,
Interview with the Vampire, was published in 1976 and has gone on to become one of the bestselling novels of all time. It was in
Interview with the Vampire that Rice first introduced the Vampire Lestat to the world.
Rice continued her vampire saga in The Vampire Lestat, The Queen of the Damned, The Tale of the Body Thief, and Memnoch the Devil. These novels, collectively known as "The Vampire Chronicles," have great mainstream and cult followings and are widely assigned in high school and collegiate English and philosophy classes. Her latest novel, Vittorio The Vampire, follows Pandora and The Vampire Armand, continuing Rice's new series of vampire tales. Rice is also the author of The Witching Hour, the first book in a trilogy about a clan of witches (the other novels in this series are Lasher and Taltos). Her other works of fiction include The Feast of All Saints, Cry to Heaven, and The Mummy; the contemporary erotic novels Exit to Eden and Belinda (written under the name Anne Rampling); and stylized, pornographic novels known as "The Beauty Books," which include The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty, Beauty's Punishment, and Beauty's Release (written under the name A.N. Roquelaure). Her books have sold over 100,000,000 copies worldwide.
Rice wrote the screenplay for Interview with the Vampire which was directed by Neil Jordan (The Crying Game) and starred Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, and Antonio Banderas.
Rice lives in New Orleans with her husband, poet and painter Stan Rice, and son Christopher.