Vittorio the Vampire (New Tales of the Vampires)

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Summary: A new Vampire tale, sort of.
Review: "Vittorio the Vampire" is about Vittorio, a 15th Centrey Italian knight who loves art and his family (a rare turn for an Anne Rice vampire). One night his family is given an ultematum; give vampires a tribute or the village dies. The tribute is refused, and Vittorio's family is murdered in front of him; but he spared by the beautiful vampire named Ursula. He escapes and goes after the vampires for revenge with the help of some gaurdian angels. This is Anne Rice's attempt to seperate herself from Lestat; and it dose seems more like a sequal to "Memnoch the Devil" than anything else. It has a lot to do with angel and devil worship, to a degree. There is a lot to this book that is pretty good. I liked the Ruby Grail court, it has a kind of Charles Manson like cult spooky feel to it. There are some big problems with "Vittorio the Vampire"; it is too close to "Interveiw with the Vampire", with Claudia/Ursula comparison, and the Ruby Grail court reminds me a lot of "Theater of the Vampires" that Armand run in Paris. Also it seemed like a history lesson of the beginning of the Renaissance in Italy. But all in all it is short enough to really injoy before it gets tedious.

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Summary: Ggorgeous as always
Review: After reading the opening chapter I was immediately pulled into the story and the newness of such an unusual vampire. Sadly, I found the rest of the first half of the book to be a barrage of background information about an unlikeable character-- Vittorio. While not everyone can be a Lestat or even an Armand, Vittorio lacked any sort of substance or definition for the first half of the story. His seemingly absent amount of grief for the annihilation of his family left only the dull resolve of his vengeful plans as he blindly stumbled around an interesting town. However, the second half of the story improved considerably and left me wondering if I had simply not given Vittorio a chance. The introduction of Florian as a mercurial sort of vampire with a gorgeously cunning wit helped, and at this point Vittorio's complex nature took shape. The addition of the angels was breathtaking and daring, and left me hungering for a series further exploring these beautiful characters. Once again Anne also used her spellbinding power of breathing life into an actual historic figure by resurrecting the defiant painter Fra Filippo. His presence in this story adds the flair of humor at his wild antics and significantly defines Ramiel and Setheus. Eventually even Vittorio did take on the shade of a wonderfully noble and often stubborn soon-to-become-vampire, and you can't keep from loving him. The ending was shocking and lovely beyond all words, and if only for that I would recommend Vittorio to anyone who ever had an interest in the supernatural or in true "goodness."

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Summary: Anne Rice Cannot Write
Review: I knew I shouldn't have bought this book (luckily I bought it at a used book store) because although I enjoyed Memnoch the Devil, I didn't care for her other writings. Well, I am a big fan of historical fantasy, namely Jack Whyte, and almost anything from the ancient Roman/British era, but this book sounded interesting, so I gave it a go. Not only did it drag, but the main character was not well rounded, and I am convinced Anne Rice cannot write worth a darn. Maybe I'm just not used to her style, but I was halfway through the book, bored and wondering if the guy was going to become a vampire, and how lame that he would probably end up with the vampire woman. I hate leaving books unfinished, but The Tribune (which I found quite good) was waiting, and so Vittorio fell by the wayside. I would encourage anyone who's used to reading excellent authors, and hasn't yet read Anne Rice, to consider borrowing this book from the library. I gave it two stars because it started out interesting, but it would have been a better story had there been a different auther, I'm sure.

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Summary: A Fresh, new beginning for Mrs. Rice and her vampires
Review: I love all of Anne Rice's vampire novels. When I first saw the book, Vittorio, in the book store it immediately caught my attention. I had to read the book. Just from reading the summary on the inside cover I was excited about reading and couldn't wait to get home with the book. I must truly say that this book was everything I thought it would be. I love the way Mrs. Rice combined the elements of love, murder, lust, and betrayal. I thought the descriptions of Italy in the first few chapters gave good background to the story. The usage of description of the battles between Vittorio and his foes also really added color to the storyline. Lastly, I loved the way that Vittorio and Ursula fell in love and how they lived happily together in the end. I must say that the "new" vampire stories will be the beginning of a great chain of new vampire chronicles. I will be on the lookout for future stories of Vittorio and the new clan of vampires.

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Summary: Missionary Rice
Review: Whatever happened to Anne Rice? Is she suffering from religious delusions? Still being a fan of her first 3 vampire novels but increasingly disappointed by her last books I had some hope left for her newest offering. The Ricean catholicism (as featured in Bodythief, Memnoch and Armand) it seems, won't go away and is here to stay. Religious images lurk everywhere and smothered the story for me completely. Humor, usually not abundant in Rice's novels but at least glimpsed when Lestat was around, is missing entirely. The description of early Renaissance Florence is nicely done but nowhere near as vivid as New Orleans or Venice. I'm afraid I'll still read her next vampire book but more out of habit than anything else. A bit more irony and less religious zeal would help to change that ...