The vampire genre has always been a reading failsafe. As an inquisitive 8 year old with a curiousity for the macabre, strange, dark world of horror I devoured every age appropriate vampire book I could.
Anne Rice is the Queen of the Vampire fantasy her books are rich, vibrant with just the right amount of dark, lurking sinister vibes one insists in a good vampire tale.
The Vampire Chronicles have journaled the Prince Lestat watching his character growth through the past novels which has kept my interest piqued.
Blood Communion sees the return of Lestat and he is a more mature refined, version than previously portrayed.
The characters we love are back with a sparkle of new faces as well which is a readers delight.

Anne Rice delivers the dark, beautiful yet gory horror in a backdrop of sheer opulence and luxury as felt through the entirety of this series world.
With all the feels of the previous installations Rice delivers a bright shiny new story with additional world elements and complex character plots.
As always I was firmly immersed into the opulent world of the Vampire the feelings the rich backdrop the glitz and glamour that's consistent in her books.

The beginning pacing was a slower creating a real buildup to the story centre yet Anne's extravagant & deliciously descriptive writing helps build suspense.
The writing is effortless and so poised with flowery elements which I enjoy in her books the characters were complex and as always I was enamoured with Lestat he is this dark brooding petulant at times yet soft at the core dreamy Vampire.
An amazing addition to this long running series that equalled the rest.
Solid 4 star read.

Thanks to Anne Rice, Netgalley and Random House UK for this advanced readers copy in return for an honest review.
(All opinions are my own and are unbiased)

My only experience of Anne Rice before this was Interview with the Vampire... the movie. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and had heard many great things about Anne Rice, but never picked up one of her books. I regret this decision immensely. While Blood Communion is the latest in The Vampire Chronicles, I enjoyed the book quite a bit. I loved the characters and the world created by Rice. Her descriptions of everything were beautifully vivid and I just wanted more and more. There were a lot of characters who popped up throughout the book that had apparently appeared in previous books, but Rice did a great job with keeping newer readers like myself in the loop with short descriptions of these characters. This book has definitely convinced me to take the time to go back to the beginning and explore this rich story from the start.

How do you begin to write a review about a series so well-known for such a long time? The majority of the bibliophilic world is familiar with Anne Rice and her series of novels about the sensual, smart, and - let's face it- sometimes evil Vampire Lestat. So, fro the gifted writer who gave us lots and lots of incredible reading time, here comes the next book in the series: Blood Communion.

Lestat is finally a Prince, presiding among vampires along with his court of trusted fellow creatures. But peace is not easily maintained among such a violent race of beings. And new enemies have risen. More powerful than ever before, these new enemies will threaten the lives of many, and Prince Lestat will have to make a lot of hard decisions.

From its birth to this, the most recent novel, Lestat has evolved a lot as a being. There have, of course, been characteristics of him withstanding during all of his adventures. However, as a reader I detected a higher level of maturity to a character that, up until now, has caused a lot of trouble. Intelligent and narcissistic at the same time, Lestat has grown to care about some of his fellow vampire beings. In this book, we see a slightly more responsible side on this charming vampire.

This is a series that readers tend to either love or hate. Is this the book you want to start with if you haven't read the series? Although the author has gone in great efforts to keep the readers up to date, I would definitely say this isn't the book for Lestat first timers. But if you're familiar with this character, then go for it. It is a quick, thrilling and enjoyable read. And, let's be honest: once you're familiar with Lestat, you keep coming back for more!

Full review: http://www.sublimehorror.com/books/review/blood-communion-by-anne-rice-review

The bloodline of Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles is as enduring as the ancient blood drinkers about whom she writes and, with the publication of 1976's Interview with a Vampire, is largely to blame for Twilight and the rest of its handsome and un-horrifying brood.

Fans of the series forgive me, for I am entirely new to it and may make observations that are obvious to you, knowing as I do only of the influence it has had on popular culture, the fiction of the vampire, and their chiselled new image. Once, the vampire had no need for mirrors, but you get the impression Rice's regularly enjoy tending to their hair, “Almost all vampires are beautiful. They are picked for their beauty.”

..............

I suspect my lack of investment in this world is due to having jumped in at the very end. And being new to the series, I cannot speak for how typical Blood Communion is, or how one would rank it alongside its 12 predecessors. But if you’re already a fan, you don’t really need my opinion on whether you should read this book. As for everyone else, know that this is a rich and mostly enjoyable read, but one lacking an edge, and crucially for this blog: horror.

I think if you’re a Lestat fanatic you’re either going to love or hate this book. Personally I found it an entertaining read, happy to just let the narrative happen and switch off my inner critic in a way that so rarely happens for me anymore. That said I’ve always been far more interested in the Witches and the Talemasca than in the (let’s face it) pretty damn emo vampires. There was a bit of a rehash over stuff that had happened in previous books and I don’t think this ever really quite got back to the heights of the previous vampire chronicles. That said it was a marked improvement on the previous book. Lestat is his usual brilliant, flawed, brash and self-involved self. Three centuries has not given him time to develop into anything more than a spoiled princeling and some of it is a bit wearing. However if you let it go over your head, he’s an excellently entertaining companion. Think of him like one of those people you only associate with at parties – fun for a few hours of sparkling repartee but obviously don’t take them home. So I enjoyed it and if you are a fan of the Chronicles then you don’t need me to recommend it – I imagine you’ll read it anyway. If you’re a newbie, start with The Vampire Lestat and work up to this one, back tracking to Interview for completeness.

I was so happy when this ARC was approved and loved the book. It was really better than the previous one, more vampire centered and more similar to the old Vampire Chronicle instalments.
It's a fast and enjoyable read with some great horror&gore moments and the basis for new developments.
Lestat is at his usual narcissistic and boisterous self, full of love and good intentions. I'd have preferred some more Louis, my favourite characters, but I had a lot of fun so I cannot complain.
The canon is getting more complex, new concept and new characters are introduced and some old are removed.
The books is shorter than usual, a bit slow at the beginning.
I think this book is for fun of Rice's books and would not be the best one to start the series.
I recommend to people who already read the rest of the series.
Recommended!
Many thanks to Random House UK, Vintage Publishing and Netgalley for this ARC