In a feat of virtuoso storytelling, Anne Rice unleashes Akasha, the queen of the damned, who has risen from a six-thousand-year sleep to let loose the powers of the night. Akasha has a marvelously devious plan to "save" mankind and destroy the vampire Lestat--in this extraordinarily sensual novel of the complex, erotic, electrifying world of the undead. Praise for The Queen of the Damned "Mesmerizing . . . a wonderful web of dark-side mythology."--"San Francisco Chronicle" "With "The Queen of the Damned, " Anne Rice has created universes within universes, traveling back in time as far as ancient, pre-pyramidic Egypt and journeying from the frozen mountain peaks of Nepal to the crowded, sweating streets of southern Florida."--"Los Angeles Times" "Imaginative . . . intelligently written . . . This is popular fiction of the highest order."--"USA Today" "A tour de force.""--The Boston Globe"