Anne Rice is best known for The Vampire Chronicles, a series of books about a rather verbose group of vampires. Even the books that aren't technically part of that series inhabit the same universe, which leads me to the conclusion that she's pretty much a One Trick Pony. It's worked for her so far, though. Go with what you know.
The following is not Anne Rice's complete bibliography, they're just the ones I own and have read. They're sorted according to the "How They Appear On My Bookshelf" method, not order of preference.
| Title | Synopsis | My Two Cents |
|---|---|---|
| Interview With The Vampire | Louis tells his story of becoming a vampire. | The movie did a good job with this one. If you want to skip it, watch the film and you won't miss much. |
| The Vampire Lestat | Lestat responds to Louis's story by explaining his own. | I read this after I read Queen of the Damned (the next book in the series). To be honest, I didn't miss much. Lestat is a fairly 2D character so the only way to keep the story moving is to introduce him to new characters (which were actually old characters for me since I already knew them from Queen). |
| The Queen of the Damned | The Queen of Vampires awakes to "free" the world. | This is the best book in The Vampire Chronicles. As long as you've seen the movie Interview With The Vampire, it works as a standalone book, as well. |
| The Tale of the Body Thief | Lestat switches bodies to experience being human again. | She used this primarily as a segue from Queen to Memnoch. |
| Memnoch The Devil | Lestat meets the Devil who enlists his help. | This was the book that finally convinced me that Anne Rice is a complete and utter nut. All of her books rely on the blurry lines between reality and the her Fantasy Universe to create the suspension of disbelief. This book shoots so far beyond those bounds that one is left wondering whether she realizes that THESE CHARACTERS DON'T EXIST. |
| Pandora | Pandora tells her story. | I think Anne Rice might be stuck in a rut. |
| The Vampire Armand | Armand tells his story. | I think Anne Rice might be stuck in a rut. |
| Vittorio The Vampire | Vittorio tells his story. | I think Anne Rice might be stuck in a rut. |
| Blackwood Farm | Tarquin seek guidance from Lestat about a spirit that is tied to him even after his transformation. | This book is utter crap. It's the antithesis of the "Show, don't tell" motto. From start to finish, she tells of this luxurious chair and that spectacular table, never once allowing the reader to draw a conclusion for himself/herself or even bothering to explain why they are luxurious and spectacular. This glaring flaw could be forgiven if the story were good or the characters were interesting. Neither are the case here. If you see this book in the store, do the world a favor and flush it down the nearest toilet. |
| The Feast of All Saints | The son of a plantation owner and his black mistress grows up in New Orleans. | I liked this one. She used her gift to describe regular people instead of witches & vampires. It was a fairly compelling story, too. Check it out if you get the chance. |
| Servant of the Bones | The spirit Azriel averts an apocalypse. | Plunged into molten gold. That's how I want to die. |
| Violin | Triana steals a ghost's violin. | Give him back the violin, bitch! |
| The Witching Hour | A ghost haunts a clan of witches. | After 1038 pages, the book simply stops. No resolution. No explanation. If it wasn't for the back cover, you would never have known that the book ended. |
| Lasher | Lasher is re-incarnated and kipnaps Rowan | Anne in her den: Hmmm, I've signed a deal to write three books about the Mayfair Witches but I only have one story. I know, I'll place the manuscript in two different piles! Voila, two books! Now, about that third one - maybe if I just photocopy some pages from part one and call it a "flashback"... There, that wasn't so tough. |
| Taltos | Ash explains the origins of the Taltos. | My bookmark hasn't moved from page 401 for over 3 years. I just can't bring myself to trudge through the final 66 pages of this piece of crap. |