Rating: 
Summary: Another Masterpiece from The Mistress of the Dark
Review: I have never had any interest in vampire stories and have never understood why they keep writing books and making movies about the same thing over and over again. I mean ok, you have a vampire, and then he lives forever and then he has some sex and kills some people to survive. And then one vampire is frustrated that he can't live a normal life while another thrives on killing and living forever. Ok..what else can you do with that? And then along comes Ann Rice, with her boundless imagination and her whacko, black-wardrobe, mystical, full-moon New Orleans thing she's got going and boy oh boy, watch out. Ummm, well, actually, come to think of it, she doesn't really tread any new ground here. Let's see, no,.. there's a vampire..lives forever...he's frustrated...some wierd homosexual encounters...killing...sucking blood...ok...nothing new here. Well anyway, she is our mistress of the dark from New Orleans who writes splendidly and prolifically, god is she prolific, about these vampires in Italy and Spain, and oooooh...San Francisco, and they suck people's blood and have sex and live forever and we applaud you Lady Rice, for you are the Mistress of the Dark from New Oreans. Bravo.
Rating: 
Summary: Over-milked teet finally wrung dry
Review: Anne Rice has sucked the vampire genre dry. The only reason she continues to publish these travesties is to fill her pockets. Although her first few novels were fresh, she hasn't had an original idea in more than a decade. She writes primarily to feed a large community of uncritical escapists who lap up whatever she happens to regurgitate that year. The prose in this novel is self-consciously baroque, and Marius has no epiphanies or insights beyond the dimensions of any of her prior characters. The only thing that makes the novel different from her past works is the setting. In retrospect, her oeuvre has become the gothic equivalent of Hope and Crosby's On the Road movies. Don't buy this novel unless you have the undiscriminating loyalty of one of her many zombies.
Rating: 
Summary: Marius meets Botticelli (but you knew that)
Review: Anne Rice takes a look at the long life of Marius, his devotion to Those Who Must Be Kept and his centuries-long search for Pandora, and introduces another ancient vampire to the mix. Filled with Rice's interpretations of history and her opinions on art, this book, like all the others in the Vampire Chronicles, takes a different slant once again. Those who admire Ms Rice's writing should definitely read this book. If you are looking for a return to "Interview with the Vampire", then you will be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Finally she is moving away from purely biographical stories
Review: I love the world that Anne Rice has created. But I had to admit I have been a little disapointed with her last few books. Many of them read like biographies more then stories. I longed for the tales of Lestat where he was unafraid to use his power and we could all revel in his abilities with him. She has finally come back to that. Blood and Gold is hardly action packed, but it does feature a vampire who is accostumed to flexing his muscle form time to time. This is the story of Marius that picks up after where we last saw him in "Pandora." This story covers centuries and fills in the blanks that we left in this intriguing character. I am glad the Anne finally focused on the vampire and not the biography and history. Thank you Anne.
Rating:
Summary: A Definite Improvement
Review: As an avid Anne Rice fan I was ecstatic to learn that she was writing a book about Marius, a central character in the Vampire Chronicles. After Merrick, which was one of the worst books Anne Rice has ever written, I was not disappointed. She really managed to give Marius a belivable voice, making him seem both the logical scholar and the doubting vampire searching for the meaning of life. I especially loved the way that Rice interwove the characters Armand and Pandora into this story, and the love that Marius felt for both of them was tragic and heartbreaking. The only real problems I had with this book was the character of Thorne, and Marius's almost childish hatred for Santino. Thorne was never really fleshed out as a character, but at least he wasn't that boring know it all David Talbot! As to Marius's need for revenge, it seemed almost forced, considering that he has always stood for reason and logic. To carry a grudge for more than 500 years seems a bit much. In all a good book and much more enjoyable than the last offering of the Vampire Chronicles
Rating:
Summary: the horror the horror
Review: Blood and Gold was pretentious and boring. From beginning to end this book was awful. There are a very few new surprises for anyone one who had read the old VCs. And holes remain as always such as what happened to Benji and Sybelle they are not mentioned at all. They should be in this book since the book is about the history of Marius as they are part of his history. And the capitalization of the vampire powers such as the Mind Gift, the Fire gift and many more other "Gifts" was utterly annoying and was driving me insane. Where the hell did that come from she never wrote the vampire powers as this before. It seems to me that Anne is bent on character assassination. Every time Anne Rice come out with a new book she desecrates characters from previous books. On Merrick she defiled Louis and in this book she reduces Daniel into bumbling fumbling zombie. Either she kills the good characters or turns them into zombies. The new characters she adds are weak and lack intelligence. Marius in this book comes out as egotistical and whining. I was bored to tears and fell asleep twice reading Marius' description of the Renaissance and its artists. It seemed that Anne was giving a really boring art history lesson that nobody had asked for. The book comes to an end so abruptly that you are left wondering what hell just happened, and where did that come from? And why did that have to happen? A note to old VC readers do not read this book if you like Daniel and Santino. And an advice to new readers; do not start reading the vampire chronicles with this book. Read the first four VCs they were great and everything after that is pure crap.
Rating:
Summary: Best Anne Rice book in several years
Review: Not since The Vampire Lestat has Rice lived up to her potential in The Vampire Chronicals. This is clearly the best of them since then. Several new characters of real note are introduced. Chief among them is Thorne, who is as much a warrior as Marius is a magician. Deceptively simple and direct he turns out to be more complicated and certainly more powerful than one might expect. The chapter on the encounter between Marius and the beautiful and sinister Eudoxia is the best chapter in the chronicals since the rock musicial phase of Lestat. If you love The Vampire Chronicals, but have been disillusioned with them of late, this one will restore your enthusiasm.
Rating: 
Summary: Appalled
Review: I purchased this book despite serious misgivings, having been discouraged by the quality of the author's recent endeavors. As with most of her books, it starts out very slowly and one must persevere to get at the real meat of the story. The middle of the book was quite entertaining if a bit erratic. *Loose ends, inconsistancies, out of character behavior, etc.* But the real horror was the ending. For about the last forty pages, the book takes on an air of complete incomprehension. I read with disbelief the completely illogical and totally unbelievable ending. It was as though the author had turned it over to a ghost writer who had absolutely no knowledge of the characters and arbitrarily decided to shock us. Well, she did. I for one, will purchase no more books by Ms Rice.
Rating:
Summary: The theatre reopens
Review: The latest saga in the vampire chronicles sees the tales of Marius, an old vampire
from the roman era. The usual surroundings abound, where there is an open fire it
will be an oak fireplace, where there are seats to be sat upon they will be leather,
where there are clothes to be worn they will be satin or silk. Anne Rice loves the
attention to detail and finery, a gothic masterpiece for a world inhabited by vampires
who we begin to believe are angels earthbound to suffer the pangs of bondage.
The tale that unfolds is not relevant, the visions and the emotions that unfold are, one
feels throughout the day an empathy with the fallen brethren, imagining oneself to be
a part of the flock that Rice relates to us, viewing the world with an objective reality,
harsh and cruel, and yet relishing the interaction with society as a beautiful yet filthy
creature of the night.
Anne Rice fans will love this book, reluctantly having to put it down to continue
with the days chores, thinking about reading it again. Ideally we'd lock ourselves
away upon a leather armchair, with an oak fire blazing and dwell deep into its
contents.
Come join the theater and behold the essence of our own inherent gothic reality. Armand Thoth
Rating:
Summary: Classic Anne Rice
Review: Anne Rice has once again shown her excellence in this new book, Blood and Gold. I enjoyed the book tremendously. As it sweeps across history telling the full story of our beloved Marius, the book delivers in grand-style. For dedicated "Rice-readers", you will truly enjoy this revelation on Marius, who's past has not been previously described in such detail or told totally from his point of view. For interested first time readers, my advice to you is READ ALL OF HER VAMPIRE CHRONICLES FROM START TO FINISH......You will not find a better source of entertainment anywhere.
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