Review: The Queen of the Damned

The Queen of the Damned by Anne Rice
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book is just Maharet, Mekare, Jesse and Khayman to me. No one else exists. There's nothing else. What's that about Lestat? La la la I can't hear you

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Review: The Confessional

The Confessional by Paige Hender

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to me by Kiara!

A young vampire named Cora finds her faith exploited by her priest, as her search for redemption against her new killer nature leaves her vulnerable to a man with his own blood-soaked agenda. The Confessional explores grooming and exploitation in a really interesting way, but it doesn't explore the juxtaposition between Orville using Cora's romantic feelings for him as a way to leverage her for his use, and the vampiresses in the coven's brothel using men's sexual interest in them as leverage to steal their blood.

The strongest point of the graphic novel comes in the vast amounts of Catholic guilt experienced by Cora and the ways it's visualized. She transforms into a succubus-esque demon form when she feeds, literally feeding the sin she sought out Father Orville in order to escape, and bears a permanent burn of a cross over her heart from continuing to wear it into immortality. Her guilt follows her through every window. However, Cora's guilt isn't exactly resolved, so much as her guilt for acting as an agent of God begins to outweigh the guilt she has for feeding as a means of survival.

The art style was gorgeous, with a few specific elements I really enjoyed. I enjoyed the way bubble-lettered words would flow across a panel for emphasis toward movement, etc., and the comic's lack of fear around nudity. There's no double standard where gore is okay but nudity and sexuality are deemed too explicit on these pages.

In summary, I really liked it! I just think a little more thought could have gone into the religious and moral side of Cora's escape from Father Orville's hold.

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Vampire Books

Snow, Glass, Apples by Neil Gaiman

Read: September 11, 2023
My rating: 4 of 5 stars ⭐

Please note: I do not support Neil Gaiman and have conciously decided to cease reading his books since the sexual assault allegations against him came out in the summer of 2024. Unfortunately, in 2023, I tried to read everything he'd ever published. The world is full of nothing if not ironies. I now know better than to commit myself to reading the complete works of anyone who isn't dead.

And no, the humor of me reading it on Sep. 11 two mere seasons before his cancellation is not lost on me.

When Life Gives You Vampires by Gloria Duke

Slaying It #1
Read: September 13, 2023
My rating: 1 of 5 stars ⭐

I read this entirely due to a vampire bookclub livestream hosted by the YouTuber Maven of the Eventide and proceeded to hate it. I didn't leave a review at the time, which is a same, since my original thoughts have naturally disolved with the tide of time. I don't remember much about it (which is likely a show of it's uality in and of itself, since I'm usually very good at remembering my different books no matter how long it has been) but I remember being utterly unimpressed with the fat representation within the book, which is clearly meant to be the main draw of the novel. Shame.

Naturally, I did not continue in the series.

Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu

Read: January 4, 2024
My rating: 5 of 5 stars ⭐

Shorter than you'd think it would be! I intend to re-read this one whenever I get around to reading The Gilda Stories, since I have a bindup of Carmilla with the short story Carmille.

The Vampyre by John William Polidori

Read: January 22, 2024
Re-read: February 10, 2026
My rating: 3 of 5 stars ⭐

Review from Second Read: Could have used a few more drafts, but alas.

Initally read to pair with Carmilla, and later re-read as part of a college course I took on the evolution of literary monsters. I also read Dracula for this class, see below.

The Black Vampyre: A Legend of St. Domingo by Uriah Derick d'Arcy

Read: January 22, 2024
My rating: 5 of 5 stars ⭐

Review: Why do we keep writing jokes when the peak of comedy was already hit 200 years ago

Was read to be paired with The Vampyre. Short, sweet, and really funny. Meant as a humorous spin on Polidori's novel, following an enslaved Hatian vampire. Highly recommend.

Dracula's Guest by Bram Stoker

Read: January 21, 2024
My rating: 4 of 5 stars ⭐

Review: I love when weird shit happens. Especially when it involves lightning.

Scrapped scene placed near the opening of Dracula. That I read it so long before I actually read the novel it originates from is a mix of me being on a short vampire kick, pairing it with the previous few books, and from the copy of Dracula I own being one of the daunting special editons from Barnes & Noble. I still have not touched that special edition, despite having read the book now.

Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice

The Vampire Chronicles, #1
Read: January 27, 2024
My rating: 5 of 5 stars ⭐

The Vampire Chronicles! I am slowly making my way through the series (by which I mean, I've been reading one book a year.) At the time of writing this, I am in the midst of reading the third book (The Queen Of The Damned). She'll be getting her own review post under the Vampire tag, once I have finished reading it.

These books are really important to me. By which I mean, the physical books I'm reading from. When I turned about fourteen, my mother gave me her personal copies of TVC books, all mass market paperbacks from the 80s. Naturally, they are very dear to me.

"[...] And you'll see the moon the same way, and the same flicker of a candle. And with that same sensibility that you cherish you will see death in all its beauty, life as it is only known on the very point of death. Don't you understand that, Louis? You alone of all creatures can see death that way with impunity. You... alone... under the rising moon... can strike like the hand of God!"
Page 83

Prom Nights from Hell

Contributing Authors: Meg Cabot, Lauren Myracle, Kim Harrison, Michele Jaffe and Stephenie Meyer

Read: February 19, 2024
My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars ⭐
More details to follow.

A short story collection based around supernatural happenings infesting school proms, though I'm sure that was gleamed from the title. I picked it up because it has a contribution from Stephenie Meyer, the author of Twilight. (More on that later.)

• The Exterminator's Daughter by Meg Cabot: ⭐⭐
• The Corsage by Lauren Myracle: ⭐ ("I would give it 0, if possible")
• Madison Avery and the Dim Reaper by Kim Harrison: ⭐⭐⭐
• Kiss and Tell by Michele Jaffe: ⭐⭐.5
• Hell on Earth by Stephenie Meyer: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Average rating: 2.5 ⭐

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer

The Twilight Saga, #3.5
Read: October 16, 2024
My rating: 2 of 5 stars ⭐

While writing this, I am pursuing my very first re-read of the entire Twilight Saga! However, I don't think I will be covering this book in it, due to how recently I read it for the first time. Oh well. I remember being rather disappointed with this one, even to the point of being rather bored. I don't believe any of the other books have ever bored me, since I'm actually a really big fan of the slow, everyday pace posessed by the Twilight Saga, but I really just couldn't stand Bree Tanner as a perspective character. I missed Bella!

Also, as I am starting my Twilight Saga re-read while reading The Queen Of The Damned, I would be remiss to neglect mentioning my suspicion that the QOTD chapter "The Short Happy Life of Baby Jenks and the Fang Gang" directly inspired this novella. and, of course, my Nico's suspicon that very same chapter named the Twilight antagonist Laurent.

Interview with the Vampire: Claudia's Story by Ashley Marie Witter

Adapted from the Earlier Mentioned Novel by Anne Rice

Read: May 18, 2025
My rating: 5 of 5 stars ⭐

My personal favorite adaptation of the character Claudia, followed closely by the 1994 film Claudia. Which is to say nothing of my feelings for the Claudia presented in the AMC television series! I really like what I've seen of the show so far (season one), but in my mind it's a beast onto itself, whereas the novel, film, and this comic are all clustered together.

Vampires Never Get Old: Tales with Fresh Bite

Contributing Authors: Zoraida Córdova, Natalie C. Parker, Samira Ahmed, Dhonielle Clayton, Tessa Gratton, Heidi Heilig, Mark Oshiro, Julie Murphy, Rebecca Roanhorse, Laura Ruby, V.E. Schwab and Kayla Whaley

Untold Legends, #1
Read: September 21, 2025
My rating: 2.8 of 5 stars ⭐

• Seven Nights for Dying by: Tessa Gratton - ⭐
• The Boys from Blood River by: Rebecca Roanhorse - DNF
• Senior Year Sucks by: Julie Murphy - ⭐.5
• The Boy and the Bell by: Heidi Heilig - ⭐⭐⭐
• A Guidebook For The Newly Sired Desi Vampire by: Samira Ahmed - ⭐.5
• In Kind by: Kayla Whaley - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Vampires Never Say Die by: Zovaida Córdova & Natalie C. Parker - ⭐.5
• Bestiary by: Laura Ruby - ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5
• Mirrors, Windows & Selfies by: Mark Oshiro - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
• The House of Black Sapphires by: Dhonielle Clayton - DNF
• First Kill by: V.E. Schwab - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Average Rating: 2.8 ⭐

Review: Seven Nights for Dying ended with a lackluster twist and featured too much grooming for a casual taste. The Boys from Blood River featured impressively poor writing, rivaling the bafflingly rushed nature of Senior Year Sucks. The Boy and the Bell had an interesting premise, but was bogged down by the choice to dedicate half of the page time to the main character being repeatedly misgendered. A Guidebook For The Newly Sired Desi Vampire tried and failed to make up for its utter lack of substance with half-hearted pop culture references and emoji use. In Kind was beautifully written and told a very rare story about a disabled person who is able to retain their disability after being granted immortality, as well as being able to reclaim stolen agency in the process. Vampires Never Say Die continues the theme of vampire grooming from the first story (yes, even in a platonic sense) and features an amazingly clueless main character in Theolinda. Bestiary was a definite high point in the book, including a futuristic sci-fi setting over the typical urban fantasy claimed by the other stories within and a unique set of vampire powers. Mirrors, Windows & Selfies was an excellently done parody on Tumblr and the sorts of teenagers who typically flock to it (this coming from someone who has been using Tumblr since the age of 14). The House of Black Sapphires manages to come off as a sort of racist caricature, and is best noted for its mention of Charleston, South Carolina. Finally, First Kill reinvents the basic premise from the third story in this collection in an exciting new way, featuring far more depth and build-up, in addition to building out its lore for hunters and vampires in a seamless way.

The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice

The Vampire Chronicles, #2
Read: September 26, 2025
My rating: 4 of 5 stars ⭐

Not my favorite book in the series; I found this book to drag a lot, which is odd since I didn't get the same feeling from IWTV or QOTD. Though, that could be my utter distaste for most of the characters populating Lestat's childhood, and my disinterest in his rockstar life. I might just be disinterested in Lestat, actually. I truly hope not, due to the fact he has functionally taken the series hostage, along with late Anne's affections.

I originally attempted to read this one soon after I finished IWTV, only to crash into an immediate wall with it and put it on pause for over a year. My read of it took about two months, in comparison to IWTV's few weeks, and was finally snuffed out by me resorting to the audiobook. Oh well.

Dracula by Bram Stoker

Read: March 20, 2026

Finally, the moment we all waited for. I read Dracula for my monster class. Following far too much build up. I didn't review it, but I really liked it. It has a lot of lines that surprised me with their eroticism, despite my knowledge that the modern, sexy vampire can be attributed to Stoker's novel. During my class, I got a video call lecture from Dacre Stoker, his decendant, which was really neat.

I do intend to continue on with different books by Stoker, specifically a wyrm(?) one my professor kept raving about. But that's all non-vampire business for another day.

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Other Vampire Links:

Review: A Discovery of Witches
My vampire movies list
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Review: A Discovery of Witches

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

biz barclay was very right in the summation of this book as "Twilight, with eugenics!" There are several scenes in this book with a direct equivalent within the first Twilight novel, and the overarching plot of this book follows Diana and her vampire love interest through the same relationship beats that Bella and Edward hit through their entire saga. As for the eugenics, essentially every plot point in this book has to do with anti-race-mixing sentiments (most peculiarly from an elder lesbian), race extinction, and characters who wish to enact a genocide on one magical race or another.

Furthermore, an uncomfortable amount of the book is focused on concepts of genetic superiority. For example, Diana Bishop is not the main character because she's an alchemical scholar who happens to fall in love with a vampire. She's the main character because she happens to be descended from two lines of witches (both of which start with actual victims of the Salem witch trials, a subject which is handled with no delicacy), and she happens to have eaten her twin in the womb, and she happened to inherit several genes related to magic that were thought to be extinct. Diana is a brilliantly talented witch through no fault of her own, it's all because of how she was bred.

I do think that this is a fun sort of book for anyone who loves Twilight to read, though I urge other readers to keep their critical thinking hats on through the novel. Diana and Matthew's quick burn romance is all fun and games, but, as with Twilight, there are deeply troubling themes baked into the logic of this plot. So to with the romance itself.

All of that being said, this would have been my entire personality if I had read this in middle school.

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