Why is Akasha a fan favorite?

To preface, I have not seen the QOTD movie so this may factor a great deal into answering my question, but before reading QOTD I got the impression from fandom that Akasha is a bamf girl boss queen who everyone in the fandom loves and is very excited for the casting of. I just finished QOTD last night and I've been very surprised by how her character actually is. She's a genocidal maniac with big terf energy and a ton of eugenicist rhetoric, who brainwashes and rapes Lestat??? The most satisfying full circle theme in the story was how the women she and her husband brutalized and colonized at the start of all things got to be the ones to wreck her shit at the end and take back the power. I'm so excited for Maharet and Mekare to enter the story and very excited for their casting. I honestly don't know who I would want to see play Akasha, but I hope the casting directors are sensitive to the fact that this woman embodies all the worst traits of humanity. So yeah, I guess am I missing something about her being a fan favorite? Is it just the movie, or are there other things people like about her or latch onto? I do think she's a fantastic villain, but that was not the impression I got of her before reading. Additionally, who do you guys want to see play Maharet and Mekare?