From Anne Rice, conjurer of the beloved best sellers Interview with the Vampire and Prince Lestat, an ambitious and exhilarating new novel of utopian vision and power
“In my dreams, I saw a city fall into the sea. I heard the cries of thousands. I saw flames that outshone the lamps of heaven. And all the world was shaken . . .” –Anne Rice, Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis
At the novel’s center: the vampire Lestat de Lioncourt, hero, leader, inspirer, irresistible force, irrepressible spirit, battling (and ultimately reconciling with) a strange otherworldly form that has somehow taken possession of Lestat’s undead body and soul. This ancient and mysterious power and unearthly spirit of vampire lore has all the force, history, and insidious reach of the unknowable Universe.
It is through this spirit, previously considered benign for thousands of vampire years and throughout the Vampire Chronicles, that we come to be told the hypnotic tale of a great sea power of ancient times; a mysterious heaven on earth situated on a boundless continent–and of how and why, and in what manner and with what far-reaching purpose, this force came to build and rule the great legendary empire of centuries ago that thrived in the Atlantic Ocean.
And as we learn of the mighty, far-reaching powers and perfections of this lost kingdom of Atalantaya, the lost realms of Atlantis, we come to understand its secrets, and how and why the vampire Lestat, indeed all the vampires, must reckon so many millennia later with the terrifying force of this ageless, all-powerful Atalantaya spirit.
From the Hardcover edition.
Be prepared to be engrossed and challenged. A Jewel. “A little while afterwards there were great earthquakes and floods, and your warrior race all sank into the earth; and the great island of Atlantis also disappeared in the sea. This is the explanation of the shallows which are found in that part of the Atlantic Ocean.” (1)
A circle closes. A new world opens. There is a child sleeping against my chest. A toddler, not even two years old. Even in his dreams his little heart beats wildly against mine while I loose myself in the world of my most beloved author. Anne Rice and her vampires have accompanied me ever since I was 10 years old. Louis and Lestat have been the first same sex couple in my life. My philosophical and religious view of the world has always been considerably shaped by these books. I chose to be a teacher, a choice also rooted in the…
This Is One Of The Best LESTAT Books Ever Well, it was about a third of the way into this one that I realized just how much I was digging it. Like the first time I read VAMPIRE LESTAT or MEMNOCH. The story just caught hold and moved along economically, with tantalizing mysteries and great characters … and, MOST importantly, it didn’t feel like a re-hash of previous Lestat outings. This is fresh. This is NEW. And yet — a story-within-a-story! — all the great Lestat novel stuff we all love.