The Vampire Chronicles Book Club

Whoops, I keep forgetting to write a post about sections as I go. Think I've supposed to have covered part vi, and part vii split over two weeks.

So, Lestat and Gabrielle (who I v. nearly wanted to call Gabby just now, like a suicidal human) travelled across Europe and down to Egypt, and diverged in their lifestyles as he searched for meaning whilst she explored all the random things she wanted to know. I liked the hints of over immortals out there, hints at a broader world than we could get in Lestat's story. And then... Egypt. Nicki. The revolution and his family. Kind of sad, really, that he sent so much money and tried to spoil his family only to have his father of all people be the only survivor. No wonder he hated him so much in IwtV. The tragedy of Nicki always breaks my heart.

And then, finally, we get to meet Marius! My teenage love of Armand already endeared me to his maker, and oh, who knew I really have a thing for older men, and the scholarly type would be right up my alley. (I did, however, want to slap him for his line about how women are generally weak unless they're exceptional like Pandora or Gabrielle, and then they're unpredictable. I don't know how much I want to blame character's shitty misogyny on Bad Writing Anne or them just being low key dicks, but oh well. I love me a problematic fave.) It's funny how we end up getting about three versions of his story, first the one he tells Lestat, then the one Armand tells, then the one he tells us.

But doesn't Lestat just reek of Mary-Sueness that of all vampires who have sought out Marius and Those Who Must Be Kept, and the history, it is him that Marius seeks out to tell all? (Plus the fact he evokes such strong reactions from Akasha and Enkil, because of course he does.) And then to have Marius tell him he can't share this knowledge with anyone, even future fledglings, which contributes to the resentment and attempted murder by Claudia & Louis...

I found it fascinating, as Armand shared his story, and then begged to be allowed to join Lestat and Gabrielle on their journey. Lestat doesn't just say no...

"I've been a rebel always," I said. "You've been a slave of everything that ever claimed you."
"I was the leader of my coven!"
"No. You were the slave of Marius and then of the Children of Darkness. You fell under the spell of one and then the other. What you suffer now is the absence of a spell."

And

"We cannot be Marius for you," I said, "or the dark lord, Santino. We are not artists with great vision that will carry you forward. And we are not evil coven masters with the conviction to condemn a legion to perdition. And this domination--this glorious mandate--is what you must have."

Anyway, all this is to say that Armand is the bottomiest bottom to ever bottom (even if he's a power bottom) and basically Lesat hasn't the patience to be his top. (Also, yeah, let's find Marius. I love Marius.)

Oh, Nicki! He is such a tragic figure. It breaks my heart, how utterly doomed he and Lestat are.

"Disaster, my son." Gabrielle captures so much truth in so few words.

It's an interesting thing, about the mad old vampire queen, and her observations on Magnus, that so many vampires kill themselves after 300 or so years. Like, human minds aren't really built for immortality, and slowly but inexorably they are driven mad by their unchanging longevity. There might be exceptions to ones who can manage longer, and also many are killed by their vampire brethren because of the Children of Darkness satanic bullshit, but how many get through the their first couple centuries before time starts to take its toll, and Forever Death becomes more & more appealing?

But still, as a teenager, oh how I craved a vampire willing to give me the Dark Gift, hahahahaha. At what age do you think would be best to be turned into a vampire? I feel like, as a woman, being turned around 30 wouldn't be too bad. But 40's or 50's would be ok too, since according to Lestat his mother lost a lot of her age lines and gained a more youthful appearance after he changed her. So you get a decent lifetime of experience as a human, before starting on the Devil's Road.

What do you think of Magnus? Why do you think he turned Lestat so quickly but not any of those others in the tower?

Also, who else noticed the very things Lestat would laugh at Louis for doing, like getting enamoured with candle flames, were very distracting for him in the beginning too?

"Which one of you did it? Which one of you made me what I am?" -still one of the best lines.

I feel so bad for Claudia. I mean, she never got a choice in being made, and then here she has these two fathers (with a side of creepy father-lover in Louis) that continue to treat her like the child she appears to be for decades. Buying her dolls and dressing her up. Even as they educate her and take her hunting and all that, just... No wonder she gets to be so fucked up, she has no recollection of her humanity, she's stuck in a child body, with a messed up family dynamic.

And then there's Lestat's eventual obsession with the boy musician. Partly I think he knew things were changing or going to change at some point. Louis doesn't know, but don't we find out in later books that it's sort of inevitable that a vampire's children leave their maker because too long together they get sick of each other's idiosyncrasies? That the telepathic block works against them? And the boy being a musician, I can't help feeling Lestat is repeating Nicki all over again, and trying to distract himself from the break-up...

I do understand s bit, in their first four years together, why Lestat may have held info about his human life and his vampire origins close, but, by the time Claudia's questioning things, he really couldn't open up and share that with them? I know, Louis is still a dramatic emo, and Claudia is a weird child-monster, but damn, Lestat, no wonder your kids want to kill you when you still won't open up to them. (I really miss how much we're not really seeing/getting the Brat Prince Lestat in this story. How much is it Louis being an unreliable narrator and how much is it Lestat screwing things up?)

I'd totally forgotten how intense the attempted murder of Lestat was. Like I was reading but sitting on the edge of my seat nearly biting my nails, even though I knew how the scenes would go! And once again Louis transitions from one life to the next by burning down his house.

Did anyone else find themselves reading about his life he built with Lestat and Claudia and going, "but what happened to Babette? You said you saved her physical life, but didn't expand on her tragedy. What was it?!" And finally he gets back to mentioning what happened, but it took a while.