Fall Reads: Blood Communion: A Tale Of Prince Lestat

KNOPF: 275 pages; $27.95; Amazon

The Gothic-horor author Anne Rice didn't hit my radar until I was teenager in the mid-90s after I had watched the edited version of Interview with the Vampire on network television. Shortly later, I bought the film on VHS. Well, my parents bought the movie since I was underage at the time and the movie was rated R. That lead me to seek out Anne Rice's novels, which I believe I got the first three books in the The Vampire Chronicles at Barnes & Noble. To make a long story short, I was obsessed with reading anything written by the author throughout my high school years. While my tastes for books have changed as I have gotten older, I still read every new novel in the series.

The 13th novel in The Vampire Chronicles, titled Blood Communion, was released this month from KNOPF. It's under 300 pages, making it the shortest entry in the series.

Blood Communion takes place after the events Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis, where the Prince is telling his life story to the Blood Communion (aka Vampires). The first few chapters is basically a recap of all the previous books; telling us readers (or vampires) about Prince Lestat's past. Then the novel shifts towards the main plot involving the death of the ancient vampire Maharet by the hands of Rhoshamandes, the Child of the Millennia, a demon spirit who refuses to live by the laws set by Prince Lestat.

Blood Communion was a fast read for me. Typically, the books in the series are very lengthy with tiny print, but this book is under 300 pages, which is a little too short for a Lestat tale, but at least the print is normal size and I didn't have to squint my eyes to read it.

I'm going to make my final thoughts short and sweet - Blood Communion is written well, but it feels a bit uneven at times. There's not much of an actual plot, but it's more or less a recap of the previous novels with only a few new things. Speaking of new things, this is the first book in the series to have illustrations, which were by Mark Edward Geyer.

Overall, Blood Communion is the weakest entry in the series, but I didn't think it was a bad read. I like that the narration is once again told through the eyes of Lestat. There's some entertaining dialogue throughout the tale. If you're new to the series, you can easily begin with Blood Communion, as the first few chapters recaps Lestat's life. Older fans will probably be a bit disappointed with the disjointed story. I'm hoping this isn't the final chapter for Lestat, as the character deserves a better sendoff.