The Ballad of Michael Valentine

A book which I have recently had the pleasure of reading is The Vampire Lestat. This is the second book in the Vampire Chronicles series by Anne Rice, following on where Interview with a Vampire left off. The style is similar, but the scope much larger. We pass the limits of Louis' experiences which is all we have to go on in the inceptual novel, and this time focus on Lestat, an older and more knowledgeable creature. He relates to us his tale from the time he was 'made', through the vampire's realisation of the loneliness of his immortality, and his discovery of his roots. This takes us back to ancient Rome, the Druids of Celtic Europe, and the dark mysteries of BC Egypt, where the original two vampires were created. An epic of it's kind, and challenging to anybody who has preconceptions about the 'humanity' of these noctambulant immortals.