Note: This is the third installment of The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice. Readers who have not read the other novels should begin with Interview with the Vampire. Reading this review may spoil plot points from earlier novels in the set.

In The Queen of the Damned, Anne Rice resumes the narrative of her Vampire Chronicles at the exact place the The Vampire Lestat ended, with the return of a very ancient, very evil creature to the modern world. The story follows various characters, both familiar and entirely new, as they are impacted by the arrival of this immensely powerful force, an event that threatens the existence of mortal an immortal alike. This story is interesting as simply an entertaining story, but it also delves heavily into deep topics such as free will and at what point in a moral decision do the ends cease to justify the means. Although this novel contains the same poetic prose which makes Rice’s novels so engaging and pleasurable to read, the plot itself is sometimes slow. The narrative often loses its flow and intensity of action by wandering into heavy philosophical considerations which distract from the action more than they contribute to any thoughtful statement that such additions could express. This is an enjoyable book, but it does not have the same ability to enthrall the reader or keep the pages turning as the earlier installments did. As a continuation of the story, it is solid, but it is not the masterpiece that readers will expect having read the prior books.

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language: 24 religious exclamations; 37 mild obscenities; 7 religious profanities; 16 derogatory names; 1 scatological word; 1 anatomical term.

Violence/Gore: A few verbal threats; a few reports of a fight; a few scenes where characters kill others  by drinking their blood; a building collapses, trapping a character; a few reports of buildings burned intentionally; characters are burned to death a few times, including one instance that involved child victims; characters have gory dreams involving violence and cannibalism several times; a teen kills her parents by beating her mother and chopping her father with an axe; a bloody scene in which many people sacrifice themselves to be killed by a monster; a few reports of women raped by multiple men; characters drink each other’s blood a few times; a graphically described scene in which a woman dismembers victims; a few reports of murders; a description of a gory movie scene; it is implied that a man kills a child; a man remembers raping two women; a few characters cut themselves with knives intentionally; a few fights without major injury; a character is decapitated in a gory fashion; a creepy scene without gore in which a character is spooked by odd happenings; report of a woman’s eyes being removed; a few reports of mass murder;  characters sweat or cry blood a few times; fight with major injury; a character suffers a broken neck; people are trampled in a stampede; a character kills an animal and drinks its blood from a glass; a scene in which a man is killed by a gory decapitation and others are killed in graphic and bloody ways; characters notice a dead body; a scene in which people kill each other and vehicles are destroyed; a few reports of cannibalism; report of a war; a few reports of executions; a few reports or mentions of rape; a character is afflicted with minor injury by magical attack; a report of characters maimed as punishment; a report of children killed in war; a report of women mutilated in which no details are given but the implication is that it is cultural genital mutilation; report of a death after lingering illness; a scene in which a village is destroyed, with civilians killed including women and children.

Sex/Nudity: Several sensuous scenes in which characters drink each other’s blood; a report of women raped by multiple men; a report of children indulging in sensual pleasures; a man has sex with various people on different occasions while his male lover watches (no details are given); a man bathes another; a man remembers raping two women; a woman feels physical attraction to a man; a man kisses a woman’s lips and breasts; a few scenes in which two men kiss; a few scenes in which man and a woman kiss; two women spend a sensuous night snuggled together, but there is no explicit mention of sex; a man verbally expresses his love for another man; characters of various genders hold hands; discussion of erotic pleasures in a vague and non-descriptive way; report of a rape, with a few details but not graphic ones; a sensuous scene in which women strip a man for a bath, caress, and kiss him, and he examines his body, with description of his privates, in a mirror; a few mentions of rape; characters kiss while exchanging blood; report of women mutilated, no details are given but the implication is that it is cultural genital mutilation.

Mature Subject Matter:

Death of a parent, arson, abortion (reported, discussed); murder, prostitution (reported); patricide; matricide; rape (reported, is a major plot point); war; characters philosophize about what happens after death; homosexuality; piracy; infanticide (reported); gender discrimination; cannibalism (reported); mass murder; genocide (reported); slavery (mentioned); riot ( mentioned); the holocaust and atomic bombings of WWII (mentioned); abject poverty; sacrilegious imagery and discussions that may offend many Christians, particularly of the Catholic and Orthodox denominations; child soldiering (reported).

Drugs/Alcohol Use:

Report of teen using illegal drugs; mention of beer, mention of smoking and drinking; character is drugged heavily in the hospital; mention of junkies; a character has taken hashish; report of hallucinogenic drugs used in religious rituals; mention of tobacco.