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Title: Blood and Gold by Anne Rice ISBN: 0-345-40932-9 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 29 October, 2002 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.55 (161 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: We've been here before...
Comment: Blood And Gold is the story of Marius, one of the oldest vampires in the Anne Rice mythology. He's been around since the early days of Rome and he was the creator of the vampires Pandora, Armand and Bianca. He was also the keeper of Enkil and Akasha, the King and Queen of Vampires.
Now, his very interesting story - which spands hundred of centuries - finds it's way to the page. I was very excited to get this book. After all, I wanted to read Marius's story in its entirety for so long! But the problem with the book is that we've seen most of this before. Marius has been a prominent character in many of Rice's books; from The Vampire Lestat to The Queen Of The Damned to Pandora to The Vampire Armand... Rice has already told us a lot about Marius in those novels. We already knew half of his story.
So we end up with Blood And Gold, a book which is half new and half repetition. Everything that happened in The Vampire Armand is retold through these pages. The book isn't very original.
And yet, Rice finds a way to enthrall the readers. Her poetic style of writing is as griping as ever and her tormented Marius is her most complex and interesting vampire after the beloved Lestat. The book does offer the reader many new exciting moments (such as Marius's encounter with Mael and the making of a young female vampire, as well as the destruction of an all-powerful female vampire). So overall, the book is very interesting and very entertaining. It's just too bad that it leaves you with this sense of deja vu.
Rating: 3
Summary: Good summary book of the Vampire Chronicles
Comment: I have to admit that I'm a bit torn in my review of this book. Overall the book is a good summary of many of the stories and concepts that were touched on in previous books. But new ground is not broken, in my opinion. It is a mile-marker book, a potential segue. And although I found this to be an enjoyable read, I felt as if I'd just read the "flashback episode" of The Chronicles.
Anne Rice does a terrific job of describing the ancient world. It's obvious that she's worked a long time to develop her knowledge of Western culture and history (particularly Roman). In fact, while others may not like Rice's Pandora and Vittoro books, I found their biographical and historical qualities to be quite intriguing. To each their own, right?
The oft-spoken-of character of Marius is the central character of this book. He is the keeper of the "Divine Parents" (prior to to Queen of the Damned), maker of Pandora, maker of Armand, and student of Art, History, Literature, and Culture. He makes his appearance throughout history and learns to live among mortals, even befriending the artist Botticelli. He becomes a socialite, while preserving the secret of his blood-drinker Nature and the secret of the Divine Parents ... for the most part. He is hounded by the continual appearance of the Satanic cult of vampires, which his beloved Armand eventually joins. And, inevitably, his heart is broken time and again by the ones he loves.
That's the gist of it. The story behind it all? I'm still not sure. Readers who are not familiar with Rice's previous additions to the Chronicles will be a bit lost, as this book cannot stand alone. Readers of the Chronicles may find this to be an acceptable supplement to those other vampire stories.
Rice is a master wordsmith, and this book will draw you into it by virtue of the language alone, even if it doesn't draw you to a conclusion. Perhaps the book is just a tool to segue into a new realm for the blood-drinkers. If so, this book has served its purpose. If not, then perhaps it's time to place a solid "The End" on the Chronicles before another "flashback" story comes out.
Rating: 3
Summary: Haven't we heard most of this before?
Comment: This novel is about Marius, my favourite vampire. Although I have quite a few problems with this book, it was still okay to read.
The problems were these:
1) most of the story line has already been told in the previous books;
2) I'm tired of all the vampires loving all the humans and always crying at the slightest provocation. They are becoming a bit too wimpy for me. Marius most often alternated between being sad and being shocked (is that the limit on vampire's emotions?)
What was also very irritating was the mention of other stories (previously untold) that Marius says that happened to him but he is not allowed to talk about them by the author. Instead, Anne Rice rehashes old plots. A bit boring.
Another irritating thing was the fact that after introducing a new and interesting vampire Thor (to whom Marius tells his story) she hardly gives us any insight into him. Not only that, but because we don't know much about Thor, the ending of the book makes no sense whatsoever, since it involves him and his history with his maker, the ancient vampire Maharet.
To sum up, a bit disappointing but okay. I say okay because I'm a big fan of Anne Rice (so I can take a lot of maudlin stuff from her), however, a casual reader would probably be irritated by this book.
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Title: Blackwood Farm by ANNE RICE ISBN: 0345443683 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 30 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Merrick (Vampire/Witches Chronicles) by Anne Rice ISBN: 0345422406 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 02 October, 2001 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: The Vampire Armand (The Vampire Chronicles, Book 6) by Anne Rice ISBN: 0345434803 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 03 October, 2000 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Blood Canticle (The Vampire Chronicles) by ANNE RICE ISBN: 037541200X Publisher: Knopf Pub. Date: 28 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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Title: Memnoch the Devil by Anne Rice ISBN: 0345409671 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 28 May, 1997 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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