Blood and Gold

Rating:
Summary: I have a question...
Review: while I enjoyed this book a lot, as I have with all other books in the vampire chronicles, I have a question on my mind. Having read Pandora previously, I cannot help but find discrepancies between it and Blood and Gold. Like, in Pandora, her Indian lover was discribed as this evil dominating vampire, and yet in Blood and Gold, it seems that Pandora wants to stay with him and that she loves him, in fact we find out that she made him! What's going on? And Bianca was never mentioned in Pandora...Anyway things like that made my experience if reading this book a bit dissapointing...it made it less "real" you know? But all in all it is great book for all Riceans!

Rating:
Summary: Extremely Disappointing
Review: Once, I truly enjoyed the work of Anne Rice. Her prose was baroque and vivid, her stories sensual and disturbing. I especially liked the Vampire Chronicles.

In retrospect, however, each volume of the Chronicles has declined in quality from that first extraordinary novel, Interview with the Vampire. Although Rice's fascinating mythology for her vampires was built up throughout the second and third installments, those books were, as stories, messy and unsatisfying compared to the original book.

Since then each new Chronicle has been a letdown, in one way or another. Blood and Gold does nothing to reverse the trend. The first chapter is a clumsy recap of The Story So Far, rendered in prose so turgid, so poorly thought out, so insulting to the reader, that I was hard put to even continue past that unpromising introduction.

I might as well have stopped there. Almost nothing in this story is new. The narrative voice of Marius is basically the same as all Rice's other preternatural characters. The much-vaunted, well-researched history is hazy and questionable; Rice doesn't even keep dates from her OWN previous stories straight, never mind making her work consistent with real history.

At least one batch of Blood and Gold was printed with the misspelled legend on the cover: "A Noval". This ridiculous mistake seems sadly indicative of the slipshod work and contempt for the reader that dogs the Chronicles now. The author and publisher apparently feel that they can put out any lazy self-indulgent bit of babbling, label it a Vampire Chronicle, slap a classical painting on the cover, and have a bestseller... without editing, without originality, without anything of interest whatsoever. My advice... avoid this "noval" and prove them wrong.

Rating:
Summary: The same story as before...
Review: As usual, Anne Rice manages to spin a spellbinding tale about the Vampire Marius, one of the oldest and wisest blood drinkers of the modern world. However, most of the book is an abbreviation of key stories already told of in delicious detail in her book "The Vampire Lestat". It left me a little disappointed, although her great talent as a writer kept me from putting it down until I was finished with it.

The most interesting parts of the book are the stories of Eudoxia, Avicus and Mael, as well as Zenobia, one of the most interesting of all and one I would love to read a book about. Yet, most of the book has already been told and not until page 337 did I start to enjoy it on a deeper level when Marius tells his version of Santino's attack and how Bianca becomes a blood drinker. His reunion with Pandora heightened my interest, although the outcome was disappointing because I felt Pandora's actions were completely out of character for someone so strong.

This book will be best understood by those whom have already read the previous Vampire Chronicles and can fill in the gaps on the parts that were not in depth. But those who pick this book up not having read the others will be left wanting. For those I recommend "The Vampire Lestat", "The Vampire Armand" and "Pandora" to better understand Marius.

Difficult to put down, but 80 percent of the book has already been told.

Rating:
Summary: Getting Lazy
Review: I was looking foward to Anne Rices new novel. Maybe my expectation was too much but I wanted alot of questions answered from previous novels and I wanted to read more about Marius's mortal and immortal life. But everything in the book was uninteresting and boring expect the vampire Bianca. And I also thought Armand the love of Marius now its Pandora! It seems that Marius falls in love to easily with everything thats beautiful around him and it seems like he still wants to be a mortal man. The only reason he keeps Akasha and the king to himself is because it gives him a purpose in his immortal life. I dont know I expected more from Anne and this novel just seemed so lazy.

Rating:
Summary: Hope your a fan...
Review: If you're not associated with the lore and history already present with Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, do not purchase this book unless you like to be confused or even bored.

I feel Anne Rice used BLOOD AND GOLD as her opportunity to further perpetuate and fill in gaps present in her earlier "Chronicle" books. If you liked THE QUEEN OF THE DAMNED especially or are at least aware of the characters and circumstances involved in that book, BLOOD AND GOLD will be much more enjoyable as the story of Mekare and Maharet, the red-haired twins, is added to and explained more fully. Also as the book centers around the character of Marius and his life story, it helps to be interested in his character, but it also helps to have read Rice's PANDORA and THE VAMPIRE LESTAT, both which involve Marius's history and are alluded to in BLOOD AND GOLD.

Anne Rice may choose not to include new readers into her realm of witches, vampires, and eroticism. By having written so many previous books, it makes a new reader feel as if they need to do their "homework," but she has created a rich world nonetheless. If you want to take up the daunting and challenging task, you will better for it, but be sure you're ready for it.

Rating:
Summary: Is Anne Rice running out of puff?
Review: This novel is mostly about the life of one of the Children of the Millenium, Marius, who we have seen as a recurring character throughout the Vampire Chronicles: friend of Lestat, lover of Pandora and mentor of Armand. As such, many of the stories told about Marius's life are familiar to fans of the series.

Therein lies much of the problem. There is very little new here. The tale is told as it is recited to a new character, Thorne--a child of Maheret the eldest. However, his role is puzzling at best, his quest hard to rationalize.

Mostly, this book left me wondering if Rice has gotten tired of the series and is only now writing because people want to keep reading. The story here doesn't "grab" you like in the first three novels in particular. Following so closely on Merrick, with its own set of problems, it makes you think that perhaps the Chronicles is living beyond its use-by date.

Rating:
Summary: More... For those who crave more. But not enough!
Review: Sometimes when I read Anne Rice's work I liken it to being a fish swimming just underneith the author's boat. I keep coming back to Rice because she hooked me before with several big, fat, juicy worms in her Vampire Cronicles. With her Witches' Cronicles I just lazily swam in circles getting bored. For almost half of "Blood and Gold" I thought that I would merely stare at the familiar barnicles on the bottom of Rice's boat... But, not quite half way through she hooked me. AGAIN! As ususal the history is rich and once she gets her rhythm going, Rice's characters and events become mesmerizing. It took me a week to read the first half of this book. It took me a day to read the second half.

I feel I should mention that, as much as I liked this book, my former favorite vampire (Marius) is no longer my favorite. I found him too weak and self-doubting to continue to identify with him. Marius and Louis are way too apologetic for my taste. Once again, Lestat becomes my favorite. [Note: neither Louis nor Lestat are featured in this book.]

I beg Anne Rice to write about an all new vampire. A strong, self-confidant, non-apologetic, spirited creature of the ages. That despite his selfish and fiendish behaviour, we are compelled to love. An anti-hero that unlike Lestat, has a sense of purpose.

I don't know what it is about Anne Rice's work. I seem to absorb her words as though they were my own thoughts put down on paper. The way Rice writes is the way I think. Not in a gothic sense, but in a literary sense. She inspires me to become a writer myself.

Rating:
Summary: Good read!
Review: I have to say I didn't have any faith in Anne's VC books, after going down hill with TOTBT, MTD, Pandora, TVA and esp Merrick. I was about to throw in the Anne Rice towel, then I decided to give her one last try when I got this book as a Birthday gift, I'm glad I did. I have to say this book was great, learning about Marius' past, the places he'd gone, plus there's some pretty gory parts with Mael which was great. We're introduced to new characters who are actually enjoyable to read, we learn more about Bianca (whom I hated in TVA but now like in B&G). What I didn't like was the Amedeo rehash, how many times are we going to have to read that!??! Yes Armand was his kept boy ok now move on to something else! The ending (...) big time! It was stupid, rushed and useless, I was totally disappointed with it as a few others who read the book. That's why it's 4 and not 5 stars. I still say it's a good read just watch out for the terrible ending.

Rating:
Summary: The Tale Of Marius - What I Expected and More!
Review: Before you read any more from me, I will repeat what I say to anyone who wants to read any book in the Vampire Chronicles: You MUST read them all, in order, or the story can tend to have holes in it. Remember, this is a Chronicle, and reading from the end or middle first is not going to be helpful.

Having said that, I must say that I was pleasantly surprised by this book. It had everything in it that I expected, but it also had more. The story of Marius; everyone knew that was what this book was all about. A few more details to fill in the gaps from the previous books. Perhaps to make it all a little more clear. What we get is that and much more.

Not only is his story told here, but we also learn about the man. His fears and doubts, the lies he has been telling himself for 2000 years and the fears that he still has trouble verbalizing. Marius is an immortal who is every bit the human he was before he was taken to the Druid grove and made a blood drinker. Even 2000 years hasn't been able to remove his humanity. This is what I always suspected of Marius, but there was never any way to confirm it in either deeds or words.

This is not to say that this is all there is in this book. The details that were missing from the story of Marius and Pandora, and Marius and Armand, are filled in here. There is never a true story about a relationship when only one side is heard. We now have Marius' side of the story, which makes some of the things that were confusing much clearer. We also have the proof of Marius' need for others, be they mortal or immortal. And the answer to the biggest tease from "The Vampire Armand" is a twist that I did not expect, and thoroughly enjoyed.

Yes, there is no Lestat, no Louis, no David, but there are others who do not appear until the end, but this is the only place they could have appeared.

Though some may call him inconsequential, the character Thorne is anything but. He is a vital and necessary character from start to finish. This is a story told in the first person, and for that to happen, there needs to be a story teller and a listener. Thorne, as the listener, is a perfect character.Without Thorne, there is no way for Marius to tell his story. And, in the most surprising ending of any of the books in the Chronicles, Thorne plays a most dramatic and important role.

In summation, this is not the best book in the Chronicles, but it is far from the worst. I would recommend this to any fan of Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles. But as I said at the beginning, if you haven't read the whole series, a lot of this may be confusing.

Rating:
Summary: horrendous
Review: Am I alone or does anyone else think Anne Rice has a problem remembering what her earlier characters have done? I remember that at the end of 'Armand' Marius and Santino are friends, walking around NY together. Yet here, Marius wants Santino dead for centuries-old offenses. What gives?