Review: Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis

Name: Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantic
Author: Anne Rice
Type of book: ebook (recommend physical book as easier to skip to appendixes and it's better)
FREE EBOOK IN EXCHANGE FOR REVIEW FROM NETGALLEY

  If you haven't read Prince Lestat then you really need to read that first. This review contains spoilers straight away of Prince Lestat.

My Review:

The story starts where Prince Lestat ends:

 Amel is inside Lestat and they are trying to build their Court, the vampires story continues and we are also introduced to a new character who's story is crucial to the narrative.

Lestat is dreaming of a city falling into the sea and so begins the story of the Realms of Atlantis.

Anne Rice is a great writer, the atmosphere in her novels! It’s as though you are right there experiencing it all for yourself. The characters as always are real and breathing (do vampires breath?) beings, our favourites are there and it feels like meeting up with old friends. I loved the continuity- Lestat thinks about his past and remembers Claudia and little moments that I recall from the previous novels. I can’t really put into words how delightful it is to read about these characters again and read about the events in The Vampire Chronicles which I so loved to read and reread in my pre-teens!

I read some bad reviews of this novel and was uncertain whether I wanted to read it. Straight away I felt that there was just too much talking and not enough action. At times the story felt directionless, there's a lot of talking and nothing much seems to happen. It pains me to give a negative review to anyone who has sat down and poured out their soul and imagination on to paper, but I like to be honest.  There's a lot of description of clothing and surroundings but that isn't always bad, it builds up atmosphere. Loyal Anne Rice fans won't be concerned. I did get into the story though and continued reading and enjoyed it immensely until the moment of revelation where Lestat is being told a story. It reads like a report and I felt that this section did not flow very well. I skimmed through some pages because there was so much information the information did not seem relevant to me, there were too many excruciating details of Atlantis which did not seem to aid the story's plot in anyway.

I was frustrated but…

I can’t say I hated this book! I enjoyed reading about Lestat again, Lestat had been and always will be my favourite literary character. Anne Rice-despite the sluggish parts- is a great writer, her world comes to life off the page. And I loved the story, I loved the ideas and how they all come together so naturally. So how can I say I hated it!

After that section of story where I skimmed, only a few pages, I was then hooked again, it was like being in my pre-teens again where I read the books at breakfast or during school dinner break (yeah, I’m a bookworm!) eager to get to the end, devouring the contents of the book. I had to know if everything was OK and then without realising I got to the final page! And I didn’t want it to end! Confusing I know, I went from skimming pages and being frustrated to not wanting to say goodbye to Lestat. Despite what I’ve said I loved this book, I felt happy and sad: I felt everything with the characters, I lived everything with the characters.

 That’s the thing that has always kept me reading, that is Anne Rice’s main accomplishment: her characters are amazing. And if you love the characters as much as I do anything that lets this book down maybe overlook. After all how can you resist Lestat? I know I can’t.