Books like “Interview with the Vampire”

What to read after “Interview with the Vampire” by Anne Rice: a list matched by tropes, mood and atmosphere. Under each book you will see what it has in common.

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1
The Vampire Lestat
Anne Rice · 1985
Similar atmosphere: “Philosophical”
Lestat de Lioncourt, the vampire who once narrated Interview with the Vampire, tells his own story: a boy of the Auvergne who fled to Paris for the stage, was taken by an ancient vampire, and rose to become a rock star, awakening forces older than any of his kind.
2
A Dowry of Blood
S.T. Gibson · 2021
From the same world: “Vampires” and “Gothic”
Constanta is saved from death by a vampire lord and becomes the first of his brides. Over centuries he brings two more consorts into their home, and as cruelty and control replace affection, she begins to record the truth of their long and dangerous marriage.
3
Melmoth the Wanderer
Charles Robert Maturin · 1820
From the same world: “Gothic”
- Gothic
- Immortal Protagonist
A scholar finds a manuscript telling of Melmoth, a man who centuries earlier traded his soul for knowledge and an unnaturally long life. Doomed to wander the earth, he appears to people in their worst moments and offers them the chance to take on his burden.
4
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame
Victor Hugo · 1831
Similar atmosphere: “Melancholic”
Quasimodo, the deformed bell-ringer of Notre-Dame, is kept hidden by the archdeacon Frollo. When the gypsy dancer Esmeralda is accused of witchcraft, several men desire or condemn her, and the cathedral becomes both her refuge and her trap. Set in 1482 Paris among beggars, judges and stone gargoyles.
5
Carmilla
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu · 1872
From the same world: “Vampires” and “Gothic”
- Vampires
- Gothic
In a lonely Styrian castle, Laura longs for companionship. A carriage accident brings Carmilla, a charming guest her own age, to stay with the family. As Laura's health fades and strange dreams visit her at night, she begins to suspect that her new friend is not what she seems.
6
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Oscar Wilde · 1890
Similar atmosphere: “Philosophical”
A beautiful young man surrenders to his vanity when his portrait begins to age and wither in place of his body. Sheltered by a cynical friend, Dorian chases pleasure without consequence until the hidden painting becomes a record of his cruelty.
7
Dracula
Bram Stoker · 1897
From the same world: “Vampires” and “Gothic”
- Vampires
- Gothic
A young solicitor journeys to a remote castle in the Carpathians to settle a client's estate, only to find his host is no ordinary nobleman. As the count travels to England, letters and diaries record a creeping sickness spreading from Whitby to London.
8
The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner
James Hogg · 1824
Similar atmosphere: “Philosophical”
- Philosophical
- Gothic
A young man raised to believe he is one of the elect is drawn into a double life by a stranger who may be a demon, a double, or a delusion. His own account of his crimes is set against an editor's, and the two versions refuse to agree.
9
The Coldest Girl in Coldtown
Holly Black · 2013
From the same world: “Vampires”
- Vampires
- Morally Grey Character
After a party ends in a vampire massacre, seventeen-year-old Tana wakes surrounded by bodies and finds her infected ex-boyfriend and a strange vampire boy still alive. She takes them both to Coldtown, a walled city where vampires and humans live under quarantine, and has to decide where she belongs.
10
We Have Always Lived in the Castle
Shirley Jackson · 1962
From the same world: “Gothic”
- Gothic
Eighteen-year-old Merricat lives with her sister and uncle in a large house outside a village that despises them, after the rest of the family died years earlier from poison. When a cousin arrives hoping to claim the estate, the careful order of Merricat's world is broken.
11
Earth Abides
George R. Stewart · 1949
Similar atmosphere: “Philosophical” and “Melancholic”
- Philosophical
- Melancholic
A plague kills nearly everyone on Earth. An ecologist emerges from the mountains to find empty cities and a few survivors, and spends the rest of his life watching a new, smaller society take shape without the old world's machinery.
12
Guilty Pleasures
Laurell K. Hamilton · 1993
From the same world: “Vampires”
- Vampires
Anita Blake raises the dead for a living and executes vampires for the state. When a frightened vampire hires her to find who is murdering the city's undead, her search pulls her into the hardboiled politics of Jean-Claude and the master vampire of St. Louis.