The Queen of the Damned
core novel 1988 The Vampire Chronicles
Record
| First published | 1988 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 3.93 (165,223 ratings, collected 2026-08-26) |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780394558233 |
| Internal chronology | 3 |
Synopsis
The Queen of the Damned follows an ensemble of vampires, including familiar figures from the earlier books, after Lestat's rock stardom inadvertently rouses Akasha, an ancient and immensely powerful being whose long slumber had kept her dormant for millennia. Newly awakened, Akasha begins killing vampires worldwide through spontaneous combustion as part of a plan shaped by her own ancient ambitions, a disturbance that forces vampires who might otherwise avoid each other to band together in response. As the surviving characters converge to confront the threat Akasha poses, the novel uncovers the origins of vampirism itself, tracing its roots back to ancient Egypt and the events that first created beings like Akasha and, eventually, Lestat.
Where it sits
- Universe: The Vampire Chronicles
- Series: The Vampire Chronicles core; position 3 of 13 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Anne Rice
Notes
- From the series record (The Vampire Chronicles): A continuous, decades-spanning narrative of vampire immortals told mostly through Louis and Lestat, running from the author's 1976 debut to her final volume in 2018; treated as complete following the author's death in December 2021.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings, but they resolve to the exact same sequence for this book, so one combined line is shown instead of two identical ones.
- Reading order, within the series The Vampire Chronicles: position 3 of 13: previous The Vampire Lestat (1985) · next The Tale of the Body Thief (1992)
Sources
← The Vampire Chronicles dossier · All universes
Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.