Honestly, most of my rating is nostalgia. This was my first Anne Rice (30y ago, wtf) and at the time I had no idea how prone she was/would be to overwriting. If I had read IwtV first, I probably never would have read any more of her stuff, and missed out on the queer kid rite of passage that is this series (and the Mayfair Witches). 

As an adult, I realize that Lestat is merely an authorial insert, which is why he's so fucking perfect and everyone loves him despite him doing every single godsdamned thing he's warned not to do.