Reviews with content warning for Rape - The Queen of the Damned

Looove all the creativity in this book. Lots of awesome female characters. Really neat lore and world-building. Queen of the Damned really stands out and is so different from the other books in the series. I wish the books followed some of these awesome women around instead of a certain egotistical fellow.... I could have done without

the rape and the rapist being redeemed by the narrative, though

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thysparklyreads's review against another edition

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4.5

This was a really good one. I'm not sure how to compare it to the others in the chronicles because it's so different but maybe that's one of the reasons why I enjoyed it so?
It's one of those books that really picks up towards the end and it drags quite a bit at the beginning but other than that I have no complaints.
I really liked all of the characters we were introduced to and their stories so I'm looking forward to the next book.

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peggy_racham's review against another edition

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5.0

"The past may instruct us. But it won’t save us."

Women's rights and wrongs but has Akasha ever been right?

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mysimas's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective slow-paced

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

2.5

The plot was lost in too much navel-gazing and prolonged scenes of characters just talking or sometimes even just standing and staring at each other awkwardly. Lestat’s concert was exactly that: a bunch of vampires standing in the crowd and observing one another. And you know how in movies, at the end, the villain always discloses their whole philosophy and motives? Well, that was Akasha’s whole shtick, all her scenes were either about that or about letting Lestat drink from her and then teaching him his new super powers. Got old pretty quick.

I did enjoy some parts though — the end was good, as was the worldbuilding, like it always is with this author (though I wish it wasn’t all built around a rape, like why). But in the end I would only recommend this to people already curious about the lore. If it wasn’t for the show I would never have bothered to finish — I really wanted to know what’s the deal with Daniel and Armand, and I sincerely hope the show will elevate it with all the changes that are already in place.

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trin's review against another edition

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dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

I mean...it's not <i>good</i>. Overly long, honestly deeply boring with long stretches that are just characters talking in rooms or wandering aimlessly while thinking, and action only in bursts; dense with inane vampire mythology which is itself based half in fetishization and half in disdain for Egyptian culture. There's a rapist who still gets to hang out with his victims because he feels bad about it I guess? Oh, and Akasha's a TERF?

I never liked these books in Vampire Phase 1.0; I think I gave up like two chapters in to [book:The Vampire Lestat|43814] because Anne's supreme blorbo is bafflingly dull to me. But uh...I need Armand and Daniel Molloy (TV versions) to fuck nasty, and they do indeed do that in this book! Also, Armand, show-canonical iPad Teen, cannot use a telephone. It's cute! They have a sex island! I'll just be holding onto this one chapter in this book, which I did get for free, until season three premieres, thanks.

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