Where Should New Readers Start In The Interview With The Vampire Book Series?
2026-07-24 02:57:25
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RoseOwens
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3 Answers
NoelMoore
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I tried to get into it years ago and started with 'Memnoch the Devil' because the title sounded cool. Worst decision ever. I was utterly lost and thought the writing was insane (which, to be fair, it is, but in a good way if you're prepared). I gave up. Years later, I started properly with 'Interview' and loved it. The lesson? The later books assume a massive amount of character baggage and lore. They are not entry points. The early books are the entry points. Don't be like past me. Be smart. Start at the literal beginning.
2026-07-26 12:37:31
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ChasePage
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Start with 'Interview'. Full stop. It's a self-contained novel. If you love it, you have a huge series to explore. If you don't, you've read a classic piece of vampire literature and can move on. The other books assume you've read it. Characters, relationships, and traumatic events from 'Interview' are referenced constantly. Even in later books that focus on other characters, Louis's story is the foundational trauma of the vampire community. Not starting there is like starting 'The Lord of the Rings' at 'The Two Towers'. You'll be constantly playing catch-up on who these people are and why they feel the way they do.
2026-07-26 16:14:47
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SamArnold
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Well, the series began with 'Interview with the Vampire', but honestly? You could start with 'The Vampire Lestat' and be perfectly fine. That book actually retreads a lot of the first book's events from a different angle, and it's way more fun and energetic. Lestat is the star of the whole chronicle anyway. Starting with his origin story feels more like jumping into the main event. The first book is slower, more melancholic—it’s Louis’s sad, brooding perspective. If you dive into Lestat's book first, you get a thrilling, arrogant, and charismatic narrator right away. Then, going back to 'Interview' feels like getting the 'other side' of the story, which is a cool way to experience the world. I know purists will say publication order, but I’ve convinced a few friends to start with book two and they never looked back.
It just works better for modern tastes, in my opinion.
2026-07-30 09:59:45
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Currently Ongoing: Vampire and the Siren
"Who are you?" I asked again, ignoring his care and affection.
"I'm …...and I'm just a friend," he smiled.
His smile tugged at my heart and I can't believe I'm in the presence of someone this beautiful and breathtaking. He's six-foot, two inches tall, almost a giant to the short five-foot me. His dimple was one-sided and that made him extra attractive. I love how his sharp jaw is perfectly shaped to fit his face. He's so perfectly built that his biceps are almost bulging out of the black shirt that he was putting on.
"How do you feel, Bella?" He asked, pulling me out of my thoughts.
His hand landed on my shoulder, trying to force me back to sleep and once it made contact with my skin, I felt butterflies fluttering in my stomach.
"You're perfect Bella, so perfect"
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After meeting with Adonis for the first night, Bella asked for her memory of the night to be erased so she could forget about everything that happened that day and Adonis did as she wanted even though it was hard for the 200 years old vampire to let go of his soulmate.
The only problem was Adonis couldn't keep off Bella and those memories won't stop hunting Bella's dreams every night, especially with the mysterious man who seems to be stalking her.
BOOKS IN THE VAMPIRE CHRONICLES SERIES
Book 1: Vampire and the Siren
Book 2: Vampire's Wallflower
Book 3: The Vampire King's Bride
NB: Book cover changes when a new book in the series start
When Lyra gets forced into a contract marriage with a dying aristocrat by her greedy adoptive father, she is resistant. But what she doesn't expect is that the man who she is in a contract marriage with isn't Ill or dying at all. Instead, he is a multi-faced arrogant aristocrat vampire who also happens to be her boss.
Set in New York in the 1800s, where charming salons exist alongside dark alleyways, an exceptional independent young woman, Eleanor Blake, comes face-to-face with an enigmatic gentleman of magnetic charm, Adrian Velmont. The chemistry between the two is undeniable, and through secret meetings, their attraction blossoms. But Adrian is a vampire, haunted by centuries of solitude, and Eleanor comes from a lineage of vampire hunters. As love begins to bloom, Eleanor learns shocking secrets about herself and Adrian from her father, a ruthless hunter. Now, she must make the choice between the love she bears and the duty she must confront- an ever-growing threat marked by vampires, led by Isolde, and a family that considers Adrian a danger. In a dark swirl of battles and betrayals, Eleanor and Adrian fight against a fate that sets out to doom them. A passionate, mysterious love story where romance defies death.
Once, as a girl of seventeen, beautiful, headstrong Portia Cabot saved the cursed life of the dashing vampire Julian Kane—who marked her forever, then left to go in search of his soul. He returns five years later to find the enchanting young girl he left behind grown into a bewitching woman with a woman's heart . . . and a woman's desires.
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Lena Moreau never believed in monsters until she started working for one. She gets an elite internship at Vale Biotech, the world’s leading blood research company. There, she meets her boss, Sébastian Vale—powerful, distant, and impossible to ignore. He only works at night, avoids mirrors, and reacts strangely to her presence. Because Sébastian isn’t just a billionaire. He’s a vampire. Four hundred years old, he has spent his life trying to stop his kind from feeding on humans. He has no desire and no warmth until Lena walks into his world. Her scent draws him in. Her presence weakened his control, and she looked exactly like the woman he once loved and lost. But Lena is now a target. A dangerous vampire enemy believes her blood holds the secret to walking in sunlight and will stop at nothing to get her. To protect her, Sébastian must face the darkness he tried to leave behind. Because loving her could destroy her and feeding on her could kill her.
Lurking here because I've only seen the movie and the new show. The comments are convincing me to finally pick up the books. Gonna grab 'Interview' this weekend.
Library sales are your friend for this series. You can often find the whole run in old paperback for a few bucks. Grab them in whatever order they appear and then just sort them by the publication date inside. It's a cheap way to commit to the whole journey.
I envy you getting to experience it for the first time. The slow unraveling of the mystery in 'Interview,' followed by the glorious, ego-filled history lesson in 'The Vampire Lestat,' is a one-two punch few series can match. Just follow the numbers on the spines. The complexity of the later books is a feature, not a bug, but it requires that initial foundation.
Part of the joy is in the unreliable narration. You get Louis's sad, possibly distorted version, then Lestat's vibrant, possibly exaggerated rebuttal. Reading them out of order ruins that delicious tension.
You know, I read 'The Vampire Armand' first by accident. I was confused for about 200 pages, but the writing was so beautiful I stuck with it. When I finally read 'Interview' and 'Lestat', it was like getting all the prequels at once. A weird way to do it, but it made Armand's tragedy hit even harder in retrospect. Not recommending it, just sharing my weird entry point.
The popularity of that first book can't be overstated. It's the one that's almost always in stock, the one with the most ratings on Goodreads, the one teachers know. That widespread recognition makes it the de facto entry point. When someone says 'I Survived,' the Titanic cover is what many people picture first. For a new reader, there's a comfort in starting with the most famous one. You're joining a massive club of readers who began the exact same way.
It's a shared cultural starting line.
I'm just here for the movie and AMC series discourse. The book order is one thing, but seeing how they're adapting (and changing) the sequence for TV is its own rabbit hole. The show is blending 'Interview' and 'The Vampire Lestat' timelines already. Makes you appreciate how bold Rice was to retcon her own protagonist's story.