Rating: 
Summary: The best one yet
Review: I've read all the Vampire Chronicles, and I must say that this is the best one yet. I've always wanted to know the whole story of Marius, and it was told beutifuly. It goes more into the tragities that befall him in his long life time. Things that "Armand" and "Pandora" left out.
Her pace was excelant. She didn't go to fast or slow. Her use of discriptive words is as always wonderful. It's a wonderful love and pain story. Before this book "Armand" was my favorite. Well after reading this I have to say that "Armand" is a close second. I totaly recomend this book to the other fans of this series. Definatly Anne Rice at her best.
Rating: 
Summary: Only read if you are obsessed with Anne Rice books.
Review: Honestly, I was not thrilled with his book at all. Actually, I never finished it because I got sick of Marius's whiny character. All he does through the whole thing is whine about how terrible his life is and how lonely he is and how he regrets things he has done in the past. Also, as many people have said...all of what I read of the book is just a retelling of events that Anne wrote about in previous books. Sure Marius encounters a few new interesting characters, but those parts are failt brief...and he STILL whines about even them! He's never happy...this is the most annoying Anne Rice book i have ever read. It's all about showing how whiny Marius is...and 300 pages into the book and I still did not seem to find any kind of interesting plot at all. So...i wouldnt recommend this Anne Rice book...it's very dull. I mean, if you are obsessed with her books, you might enjoy it, but if you jsut casually read her books, then i would suggest reading some of her earlier books...or read the Mayfair Witches books.
Rating:
Summary: This is one of the best books in the series.
Review: For those of you that want the vampire lestat to appear, let me point something out, he is lying comatose on the floor of a church! Second, the first five books were about him, now Anne Rice has moved on to telling the tales of other characters. Third, she sums up what happened in the previous books in every other book she has written! Did you pay attention to the end of Vampire Lestat, it talks about Interview and Queen of the Damned talks about Vampire Lestat and so so and so on.
What I think makes these books great is that it is the same tale, the tale of vampires suffering the curse of immortality, but it is told from a different point of view each time. What the book Blood and Gold does is show that Marius is not the creature he claimed to be to the Vampire Lestat. Wouldn't you be bitter after you had been set on fire or lost your true love for all time? What it does is show a depth to the character Marius that has not been seen before. You do not see him as the pillar of time, which is how he displays himself to Lestat, but you see that he has suffered as much as Lestat or Pandora or any one of the other vampires. The tale is not about superhuman creatures who live these fantasic exciting lives traveling through time. No, the real point of the book was to reveal what the vampire thought of immortality, what is it like to be a vampire. Is he like Dracula or is he more human? The whole point of the chronicles is to show that these creatures are stil ldeep down human and how, by being robbed of their mortality, have suffered several lifetimes. If you had to live centuries, milliena, you would be bitter and crushed too. Fortuanetly, all we have to live is one life time with all the trials of that lifetimes, vampires live several lifetimes which means they have to face harder, more challenging trials as time goes by because not only do they change, lose partners and family, but time itself changes around them.
The chronicles are a beautiful story that shows the dark glory of being a vampire and I think Marius's story does it best because his story shows how hard it really is to pass through time and face trial after trial as everything you love slowly rots away (that's a quote from Armand)Being set on fire and losing everyone and everything you loved would be terribly hard on anyone and I think that it shows just how hard it was for him to stay "alive" and not bury himself within the dirt. I think it was a wonderfully written book and the best out of all her books so far.
Rating:
Summary: The most beautifully written Anne Rice Novel I ever read
Review: This was one of the best books I have ever read. I couldn't put it down so I finished this book in less than two days. For those of you that think it is boring, you are fools. Yes it may tread over some of the same grounds that were in previous books, but it gives a wonderful, fresh perspective on it. Remember in The Vampire Armand when he mentioned he might have seen Bianca as a vampire, here you find out why! You find out why Marius is such a bitter creature and why the beings he created are in such (I guess for lack of a better word) miserable state. You find out the depth of feeling Marius has and how immortality has really affected him, he admits how it is not what he thought it would be, it puts a spin on the things that he told Lestat. For the people who thought this would be a continuation from the ending of Merrick, I will remind you that if you are a huge fan of Anne Rice, you realize that only the first five books actually go in chronological order, the rest are books that take place here and there from the time of Memnoch the Devil. If it helps, the way I have figured out the books go after Memnoch is Pandora, Vampire Armand, Blood and Gold and then Merrick, but all those books are independent enough that they do not have to be read in order. So if you are looking for order in the books after Memnoch, forget it unless you are willing to put a lot of time into figuring out where things happen in the books and what is a continuation from the previous books you just read. Instead enjoy this book for the masterpiece it is. I for one, believed that Marius having his own book was long overdue, and I am glad he finally got to tell his tale. And for those that don't like rehashing, a lot of Vampire Lestat rehashes Interview with the Vampire and the last and first few chapters of Pandora and Armand rehash what has happened to Lestat since Memnoch the Devil. It is all the telling of the same tale from different perspectives. It is the telling of how all these beings are trapped together in the web of immortality. I think that that is what makes the Vampire Chronicles great.
Rating: 
Summary: Blood and Gold by Anne Rice
Review: The Vampire Lestat and Queen of the Damned were so well done that I keep giving Anne another chance only to be disappointed over and over again. I'm starting to wish I could ward myself off with a wooden stake or some wolfbane. This story is nothing but a retelling of the same stories from all of her other books about Marius from his point of view. It's also repeats much of Queen of the Damned as if to make sure we don't get it confused with the movie version. If you want the story of Marius just read the page or so about him in Katherine Ramsland's Vampire Companion. However, being an artist myself I did like the art history that this story told of. I did enjoy it better than the last few. Being a glutton for punishment, I will anxiously be awaiting the next and hoping it will finally be as good as the first four in the series were.
Rating:
Summary: I never get tired of Mrs. Rice's books
Review: Yet again Mrs. Rice leaves me hungry for more. I read this book on my Christmas break while I was between semesters and polished it off in a matter of days. Rearing two children, working full time and maintaining a household doesn't leave me with much time read with pleasure yet I managed to abandon all responsibilities and read until I finished it. If you are an Anne Rice fan and liked her other books - this one is great!
Rating: 
Summary: The worst Vampire Chronicle yet!
Review: Being a big fan of Anne Rice, I was very excited by the ending of Merrick. It truly gave me hope that there was still some future in the Vampire Chronicles. It was with great joy that I picked up Blood and Gold. And it was with even greater disappointment that I put it back down. This is one of the most labored, dredfully boring tomes that I have ever run across. Marius, who up to this point has been an interesting side character, is a dull whiner who drives away those whom he loves and who love him in return and then spends 2000 years feeling sorry for himself. I would rather have not known his story than to know that it was so uninteresting. There were times when a passing reference would be made to "the Vampire Lestat," and my pulse would quicken. Is our (anti-)hero about to make his entrance? I would think. No such luck. Aside from references to past stories, Lestat remains out of the picture. Sadly. Anne Rice has strayed so far from what made the Vampire Chronicles (the first four, anyway) great that I do not feel the series will ever be important again. Blood and Gold has about as much to do with Interview With the Vampire as an English Bulldog does with a necktie. Totally unrelated. And then Rice does something that seems childish. She adds in a summary of some of the previous books in the series! This is the best portion of Blood and Gold (as it contains interesting characters doing things, which the rest of Blood and Gold lacks), but it is totally unnecessary. It is well known that Anne Rice did not approve of the screen adaptation of Queen of the Damned, so she attempts to set the record straight and remind us of what really hppened. I'm sorry Anne, but we already knew that that movie took great liberties with your story; we are not so myopic as to have forgotten. Stay away from Blood and Gold. Your time would be better spent rereading The Tale of the Body Thief. That is the best book in the series.
Rating: 
Summary: Finally ....
Review: Anne Rice has given her readers a novel that is exciting and captivating. I have not read one of her Novels since "Armand" (which I had a very hard time finishing). However, I couldn't resist "Blood & Gold", the story of Marius. This particular vampire has always intrigued me. I started reading and this book has held my attention and I found it hard to put down. I have read all of the Vampire Chronicles and none have really held my interest as this one has, since "Queen of the Damned". If you've found her recent work lacking, just try this one, it shouldn't be disappointing.
Rating:
Summary: Back and fill, back and fill...
Review: The story of Blood and Gold was decent. The language in which it was conveyed was, as always for Anne, far above average. The problem, though, is that she *once again* is filling in background rather than advancing the story. The portions that exist in "modern times" are the first 50 or so pages and the last 10 or so. The intro satisfies, the end does not - I wanted *much* more interaction between Maharet and her "child" and I wanted some explanation of the "chains". The story of Marius is mostly well known. There are several large inconsistencies between Marius' version and Pandora's (or Lestat's or Armand's, for that matter), but that is only to be expected. There were also new characters and events in Marius' life that were introduced, although I find it a little hard to digest that these experiences that were so potent to Marius would never have been revealed to any of the other players in his life/death that also have their own books. Regardless, Anne has once again thoroughly researched her subject. There is nothing in my knowledge of the history of the decline and fall of Rome and its resultant empires that contradicts her story - and that is saying something, as I know quite a bit about that particular subject. It was very nice to be able to see ancient Constantinople come alive. I can only hope that, now that she's done backstories on all the major players, she takes the next book forward. What of Gabrielle? What of Lestat after drinking the Blood of Christ? What of Memnoch - has he given up? What of the Talamasca, now that their former head has become a Vampire? Will the the Brat Prince create more havok, or is it finally Louis' turn to bring the Vampire hordes closer to humanity? That is what we are waiting for, Anne, and that is what you continue to not provide. The readership, or at least this reader, will not stand for yet another backstory - we want progress, not history. For a history, this was good. It is worth your money. But if you were expecting to learn anything important to the overall progress of the Vampire Chronicles, you will be disappointed. Heck, she spends about 1/10th of the book going over The Queen of the Damned from different perspectives.
Rating:
Summary: Mrs. Rice has written much better
Review: All of Anne Rice's work from the last five years would have benefited from some editorial assistance. Unfortunately for her fans, she has the right to refuse it because, from the excellent reputation she gained from her earlier work, she rakes in the money for her publisher. "Violin" was tedious, "Pandora" was mediocre, "Vitorio" was awful, and "Blood and Gold" is redundant.
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