Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

Unavailable
The Queen of the Damned: The Vampire Chronicles
Unavailable
The Queen of the Damned: The Vampire Chronicles
Unavailable
The Queen of the Damned: The Vampire Chronicles
Audiobook20 hours

The Queen of the Damned: The Vampire Chronicles

Written by Anne Rice

Narrated by Simon Vance

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

()

Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

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.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateMay 31, 2011
ISBN9780307914095
Unavailable
The Queen of the Damned: The Vampire Chronicles
Author

Anne Rice

A.N. Roquelaure is the pseudonym for bestselling author Anne Rice, the author of 25 books. She lives in New Orleans.

Related to The Queen of the Damned

Related audiobooks

Fantasy For You

View More

Related articles

Reviews for The Queen of the Damned

Rating: 3.654255266737589 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

2,820 ratings53 reviews

What did you think?

Tap to rate

Review must be at least 10 words

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Anne Rice is the author to go to when you want to read a really good vampire novel. Not the type of vampire novels where vampires sparkle and are just too over the top (eye roll). This is vampires done well, with all the rich details and history to go along with them. I love this series and need to pick it back up again - I got stuck on the 6th one and need to push through it!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Good book. SOOOOO glad I read this before the TERRIBLE movie came out. Nothing but an advertisement for a lousy singer and a bunch of Y2K NU Metal bands. If you read this.....stay as far away from the film as possible and enjoy the story for what it is.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    OK, I have no idea why in hell Anne Rice allowed Hollywood to make that movie that's "supposedly" an adaptation of this book! They are so utterly & completely different it makes me hate the film. There was SO much of the plot and so many characters that were in the book but left out of the film it makes me confused as to how anyone can see them as the same let alone similar. I'm partial to the film Interview with the Vampire, however Queen of the Damned is nothing but a poppy vampire fad film now after reading the real story of the book. While I'm excited to continue the book series, I also believe that if there's a film series that needs a reboot, it's THIS series. And DO IT RIGHT THIS TIME DAMMIT!!!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Explanation of the vampire mythos of Anne Rice. Lestat continues to be an incorrigible rogue.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    OK, I have no idea why in hell Anne Rice allowed Hollywood to make that movie that's "supposedly" an adaptation of this book! They are so utterly & completely different it makes me hate the film. There was SO much of the plot and so many characters that were in the book but left out of the film it makes me confused as to how anyone can see them as the same let alone similar. I'm partial to the film Interview with the Vampire, however Queen of the Damned is nothing but a poppy vampire fad film now after reading the real story of the book. While I'm excited to continue the book series, I also believe that if there's a film series that needs a reboot, it's THIS series. And DO IT RIGHT THIS TIME DAMMIT!!!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Incredibly thought prevoking. Somehow through a disturbing and seductive vampire story she makes you examine society and the world around you through infantile eyes.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I remember really loving this book. It might have been my favorite in the whole series at one point. Part of that I think was the delving into the history of these vampires. It is a slower going book than the previous two however in my current opinion. The second book leaves us on a cliffhanger and then here in this third volume, we don't get a conclusion to that cliffhanger until 200 pages in. But having read it before, I knew what was going to happen and could spend more time on the other perspectives like they deserved. I do still really enjoy this book but I think I'm more excited to read the next and fourth installment to tell the truth. I love Lestat and while this book's events were a crucial turning point for him, the next volume deals much more with his emotions.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book just made me love Lestat in ways I didn't think possible! Especially within the final couple pages of the book, or the entire last chapter. In fact, some of the overall enjoyment suffered for me because there were some sections, as "Lestat" explained, that needed to be told in third person as opposed to in his narration. I loved his self-centered persona that much, but I wouldn't say the book depended on it either. While introducing some of the new character this way lost my attention (having lost both first person narration and familiarity from the first two books), I was still interested by stories of what happened later with Armand, Daniel, Marius and I grew especially fond of one of the new characters: Jesse. "The Story of the Twins" also added the touch of the grotesque needed to remind the readers how 'demonic' these creatures/people are supposed to be after growing attached to Louis, Lestat, Armand, some reminders of Claudia... added some well-needed horror to what was becoming drama between the vampires.But speaking of horror: the title character, the vampire queen, Akasha... I have no words for her. Her character is good in that it is terrible. A true ignorant ruler which made me scared and angry and not even her fellow vampires or her husband, Enkil, could talk her into anything. Lestat is that playful evil that everyone loves and then Akasha just kind of...ruins that ride, for Lestat too, not just the reader. (Like, no, this is the messed up kind of evil; give me the fun evil back.)Really enjoyed what was there. Cannot even compare it to the first two books because they really just flow well enough that they seem like an extension of each other. Planning to read The Tale of the Body Thief after. I'm coming back to edit this review to make a comparison to the movie later. I have already been informed that the movie to Queen of the Damned was pretty terrible (though the music may be worth watching it for), but I cannot stop my curiosity. I am attempting to enter it with an open mind and make this a dual-review of both book and movie. EDIT - SPOILER WARNING - DO NOT READ AHEAD FOR COMPARISON IF YOU DON'T LIKE(YOU CAN SKIP TO THE CONCLUSION IN THE LAST COUPLE LINES AND THE FIRST PARAGRAPH SPOILER-FREE)The movie was better than expected, at least. I can put my feelings aside long enough to say that, had it be put of of the mind its relatiion to the Vampire Chronicles, it would be a pretty decent movie. Loved the music, pretty much how I imagined it. Akasha was gracefully done, as was her incineration powers. The pacing seemed a bit too fast for the backstory it tried to include, but all in all I enjoyed it.What I did not enjoy, however, is the diregard for the majority of the novel. When you have read the books, you know that not everything is Lestat, ok? Where was Louis? Gabriel? Armand? Daniel? Mekare? They managed to fit in Marius, but he only ever made Armand, not Lestat. Also...an implied romance between Lestat and Jesse? No. Lestat loved Akasha and Louis, meaning yes he is bisexual (though I believe vampires are incapable of having sex in the first place). Lestat was not her maker. She, as well as the rest of her family were psychics (or witches) and the Story of the Twins was completely overlooked. There was also an underlying theme in Lestat in him wanting attention for motrals because he didn't want to be lonely...but, in the book, he just liked to see what would happen. He was a rulebreaker. He liked the spotlight, true, but he craved entirely selfish attention and hardly gave a care to anything. In the movie, Akasha finally died when the vampires drank all of her blood. Nevermind the fear established in the book that if she dies all of vampirekind dies with her, her death was also supposed to be a lot more brutal: she was supposed to be beheaded and then have both her heart and brain divided and eaten amongst the twins who were as ancient as her. And Akasha was not just looking to make the vampires rule in the book. She was looking to create world peace through the death of 90% of earth's men. And she fought Lestat constantly on this. It looks like a lot has changed between the two media forms, when in fact I feel this is only scratching the surface on what differences there are. So, in conclusion, the Queen of the Damned movie is perfectly fine. Unless you have read the books. Then you will have a nerd rage for sure.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Too much past history; not enough action. Everything (almost) of consequence happens in the past. She may have been trying to set up the next book, but this one was pretty dull. On top of that, there just simply were no likable characters -- well, Armand was OK, but he played a very small role in the book.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    This book killed it for me. By this point she is beating the reader over the head with the homo-erotica and allegory of vampires representing the gay sub-culture.... ugh. I got tired of reading Anne Rice after this one.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Along with Interview with a Vampire, by far one of the best books I've ever written. Anne Rice eloquently states her case for and against humanity via Akasha, Marius, and her "children", and weaves a tale that leaves the reader spellbound throughout the entire book. The mystery within compels the reader forward, and the reader genuinely feels for all the characters, not just Lestat who is, as usual, arrogant and pompous.



    She argues for the monsters, stating they are all the more human for their monstrosity, and thus, engenders pity in us for them despite their homicidal tendencies.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A fantastic book, perhaps my favourite of the early Vampire Chronicles.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Read it again for the first time in about 20 years. Even better than I remember.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I might give this 3 1/2 if I could. Lestat is interesting as always, but most of the middle of the book was long and too historical. I found it difficult to pay attention to most of it.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Finished last night. Anne Rice's books always take me long to read. It seems I can only take about 50 pages a day although at the end i was reading it a bit faster.

    I really liked to read about the twins, not so much about Akasha and lestat.
    What to do? Shall I try to get a copy of The Tale of The Body Thief?
    3.5 stars on goodreads.which means an 8 out of 10 for me
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Really torn on this one. Found myself enthralled by the origin story of the vampires, yet found myself annoyed with the trite nature of the final discussion: are humans good or evil? Much of the arguments for them being good sound like some thing from the Lion King. I was also a bit perturbed by how sudden the end of the conflict comes. Finally, Rice spends much time setting up the remainder of the series with the introduction of newer characters and this dilutes the punch of this novel.

    In the end, it's worth a read to learn the history of the vampires as well as to provide the conclusion to the saga of Lestat the rock star, but as a novel, it suffers greatly from "middle book" syndrome: wrapping up old story lines and laying the ground for new ones while not being solid enough on its own.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Ok so this next book is definitely the best so far in the series. Even though it is the best it still isn't my kind of story. So I give it 3.5 stars.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Great read for vampire lovers.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Strange that a book that brought so many feelings of anxiety about death and the hereafter would leave me prouder of the human race at the end.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    Long, too long... Anne Rice is not famous for the fast-paced action in her book but this one is just to Anne-Ricy for me :o)
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    There seems to be something about Anne Rice's books that has me a little puzzled. A while ago I read 'Blood Canticle' which I liked but something about the book irked me a little. I had then guessed I would probably like the earlier books in the Lestat series better. And I did, I enjoyed this book much more than Blood Canticle. I really like the sensuous almost erotic feel this book has, it makes it all the more exciting. I love the mixture of old and new.What bugged me a little is the jumping from a first person narrative to a thirs person, later in the book. And sometimes Rice's language. (I just can't figure out what bothers me about it though.)
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Definately one of the best out of the Vampire Chronicles gives a great history on the vampires beginings!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This book has its ups and downs, in sections I'm total in love with it and in others it just doesn't click. I'm not sure why but Lestat's sections just don't work and are the ones that don't click the most in this book. But this is an interesting continuation of the the Vampire Chronicles, where all of our old members Louis, Lesat, and Armand along with others are all there and all together but facing the threat of their lives. But I'm not sure to give this 3 or 4 stars, so I'm going with 4.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A pivotal book in the series. Great.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is the third installment of the Vampire Chronicles. Now we meet some of the more ancient vampires as new characters are introduced to us. A truly elaborate mosaic of vampire lore and history spread out over six thousand years.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This was the last of the vampire chronicles that I read. It just did not engage me like the first two books. I read it when it first came out but I remember really looking forward to the book. My expectations may have been too high.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A pivotal book in the series. Great.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    At first, I hated the concept of having to read this book while jumping back and forth in between the different stories of different characters. But as I kept reading on, I found myself loving every character that I had to read about, and I was anxious to find out what heppened next with Lestat, Jessie, or the story of the legendary twins. I found myself reading through this book faster than I thought I would. Despite the fact that it's thicker than the two books before it in the Vampire Chronicles, I read it much faster than I had with the two previous books.I love the story in it, although I didn't like how easily Lestat fell into doing things he definitely shouldn't have been doing...
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Perhaps my least favorite in the series due to its choppy presentation of various seemingly unrelated (but of course are related) story lines. I must admit, however, that the stories involving Queen Akasha are highly entertaining. Appropriate for high school and beyond.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Third book of the Vampire Series. Not as good as Interview with a Vampire, but I liked getting to meet the other vampires.