The Vampire Armand

In the most recent episode of The Vampire Chronicles, Anne Rice conjures up vivid realms to tell us the tale of Armand, who has the face of a Botticelli angel and is forever youthful. The first of The Vampire Chronicles, Interview with the Vampire, introduced Armand in all his dark splendor more than twenty years ago. This book made the author famous across the globe for being a fantastic storyteller and creator of fantastical worlds.

Now we follow Armand across the ages to his childhood's Kiev Rus, a destroyed city ruled by the Mongols, and to ancient Constantinople, where he is sold into slavery by Tartar pirates. And we see him becoming emotionally and intellectually enthralled with the famous vampire Marius in a gorgeous palace in the Venetian Renaissance. Marius poses as a mysterious, reclusive painter among humans and will give Armand the gift of vampire blood. The book builds to a dramatic conclusion as it travels from scenes of luxury and elegance to ambush, fire, and devil worship to nineteenth-century Paris and modern-day New Orleans. The novel's romantic and ever-vulnerable hero is forced to decide between saving his immortal soul and achieving twilight immortality.