stooby's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Colonisation, Kidnapping, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Murder, Physical abuse, and Racism
thesawyerbean's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
The story unfurls before us, laced with treachery, eroticism, death, love and a lot of blood; paced with twists, turns and climaxes; and underpinned with a nuanced discussion on existence and the concept of good and evil.
What made me not enjoy it as much as I could’ve was the lack of connection with the protagonist. I know fundamentally he is supposed to be evil as a murderous vampire, but I think in reading vampire fiction we suspend the vilification of this inhumanity as one both expected and understood. However, the seeming obsession in contemporary vampire fiction of making important characters have involvement in the slave trade/confederacy is so off-putting and honestly needless. In addition, his relationship with Claudia (although a grey area considering her actual temporal age), was very strange and gave off similar vibes to that in Lolita. Overall my empathy with Louis was extremely stunted from the get-go which made the rest of the story quite the slog.
That was a shame indeed, as the writing is incredible - vivid, atmospheric and poetic. If my gripes with the characterisation were non existent I’d be tempted to give it 5 stars just for that. As an important part of the vampire canon I’d say this was worth the read, especially for spooky month.
Graphic: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Slavery, Stalking, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Violence
usually_sleep_deprived's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Murder, Racism, Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Torture, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Gore, Slavery, Animal death, Toxic friendship, and Violence
finch77's review against another edition
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Murder, Slavery, and Blood
Moderate: Racism and Emotional abuse
carrionkid's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Murder, Torture, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Violence
Moderate: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Adult/minor relationship
Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Slavery
bambidew's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Child death, Emotional abuse, Murder, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Racism and Slavery
sofipitch's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
9/22:
I read this book in Dec 2020 and promptly became obsessed with it and the Vampire Chronicles. I still am, I reread this in anticipation of the TV show which I am loosing it with excitement looking forward to us. This book and series and author has a lot of flaws and I think rereading IWTV with the knowledge of what AR's later books would be like and the themes she will just keep hammering without any self relfection (pedophilia and incest) did bring out it's flaws even more. But still I can't not love this book it means so much to me I can barely put it into words. At least not something as short as a review, maybe a 40 page essay. The characters and everything they go through just feels so real to me and feels like it captures emotions that before I myself didn't know how to put into words. So despite all it's flaws and the fact that I would very willingly have fought Anne Rice in a Denny's parking lot (or would popeyes be more appropriate? 😂) this book is probably my absolute favorite book of all time and means the world to me. This reread took so long compared to how quickly I read other books a) bc I have like half the book underlined with lines or scenes I like and mostly b) because the emotions it invoked are so strong I often had to take a break
Graphic: Death, Murder, Blood, Grief, Child death, Gore, and Mental illness
Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Slavery, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Pedophilia, Racism, Emotional abuse, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Death of parent
cookieclutter's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Murder, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Bullying, and Grief
Minor: Drug use and Pedophilia
lavender_ani's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Grief, Toxic relationship, and Child death
Moderate: Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, Murder, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Self harm, and Adult/minor relationship
Minor: Confinement, Animal death, and Slavery
laurajones's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Toxic relationship
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Racism, and Slavery
Minor: Racial slurs