Review

The Queen of the Damned is the third novel in The Vampire Chronicles series which was first published in 1988 and resolved the cliffhanger ending of The Vampire Lestat when Akasha, the mother of all vampires, kidnaps Lestat from his lair. The book goes on to explore the origin of the vampires and Akasha’s desire to reduce the number of male mortals to create a new world where women rule in peace.

The book is divided into several parts and after a brief explanation from Lestat that the point of view of other characters is essential for our understanding and he would return at an appropriate point. The first part, consisting of six chapters narrated by different characters, reveals they all have one thing in common in that they are dreaming of the same red-haired twin sisters. We also learn that someone or something is destroying vampires around the world by immolating them. While these chapters vary in length, presumably according to the importance of the narrator, they seen to go on forever and get quite repetitious. The important part of the story is that Akasha, awakened by Lestat’s music, has destroyed her consort, Enkil, and trapped Marius in ice. As Pandora and Santino rush to free Marius, the vampires realise it is Akasha who is destroying the young ones.

In the second part, we return to Lestat’s concert where we are introduced to Jesse Reeves, a member of the Talamasca and a descendant of the ancient vampire Maharet who has been charting her family throughout the centuries in one giant tree. As the concert descends into chaos, Jesse is seriously injured and is transformed into a vampire by Maharet. Maharet takes Jesse to her secret compound in the Sonoma mountains where the other surviving vampires start to congregate when they learn Akasha has abducted Lestat. The character of Maharet is really fascinating and it is easy to discern that she is one of the red-haired twins and the third part of the book delves into Akasha’s background and the story of the twins. The vampires soon realise they cannot destroy Akasha as she is the source of them all.

Meanwhile, Akasha reveals her plan to Lestat to encourage women to kill their male oppressors so they can live in a more peaceful world devoid of male aggression. Akasha wants Lestat to be her new consort and fellow ruler in exchange for sparing the lives of those he loves. Akasha takes Lestat to remote locations around the world where she revels the extent of her power and watches in horror as she kills man and vampire alike. Aware he could be destroyed at any time, Lestat reluctantly complies with her request for him to help her and finds himself caught up in the blood lust. It obviously goes without saying that Rice has to be very careful to balance Lestat’s participation in Akasha’s bloodbath as he is meant to be her anti-hero and even this would be a step too far for him.

In the fourth part, Akasha decides to confront the vampires gathered at the Sonoma compound where she reveals her plan to create a new paradise and to rule over the mortal world as their goddess, however they refuse to join her despite her threats to destroy them all. Akasha is also devastated when she realises that Lestat has no intention of being her consort when he tries to get her to see reason by listening to the others. Just as Akasha is about to release her rage, the missing red-haired twin, Mekare, arrives and beheads her. Mekare takes the source into her own body by consuming Akasha’s heart and brain, thereby saving the vampires from instant death. Akasha is pushed into a window with a falling sheet of glass acting like a guillotine to sever her head from her body but the whole is anti-climatic.

The Queen of the Damned is a rather drawn out affair with too much padding which detracts from the main themes of the book. Akasha’s idea of destroying the majority of men to make a more harmonious world is actually an intriguing one and I can think of a few current ones that could do with her special brand of punishment. As usual, the author’s decision to add a slew of new characters means the regular ones are sidelined to the extent they are just pretty ornaments. Why not use the characters you have already established with a couple of new ones thrown in to move things forward? The origin of the vampires and the story of the twins is the best part but we really didn’t need to have all their ancient counterparts along for the ride since most of them are useless.