Pandora

Rating:
Summary: Nice, but not in the way you may be thinking.
Review: "Pandora" is a peculiar case. On one hand, it's billed a vampire novel; on the other, it states in the beginning that the primary subject it's going to touch upon is Pandora's human life, prior to becoming a vampire. All of Rice's vampire novels up to this point have scarcely touched upon the human portion of each character's life but for the sole purpose of setting up an interesting dynamic when the leap to immortality has taken place. So it's clear from the get-go that this is certainly a project of lofty ambition, given Rice's conception of the blandness of a human existence in contrast to the romantic, epicurean lifestyle of her vampires.

But of course, life in the Roman era is anything but bland. In "Pandora," little details trickle out of every crevice between sentences and paragraphs with such conviction, such description, that it's difficult to keep from envisioning most scenes as if they had taken place in your own life. Granted, placing a story in the Roman time means you probably won't know squat in regards to background when you begin to read of politics and emperors and gods and foreign tribes, but it's much akin to reading a contemporary political thriller and looking at the job label of just about any of the government bigwigs--if you're not familiar with what the hell each term means, chances are that the little nuances will probably fly over your head.

As "Pandora" drew to an end, I certainly didn't have any problems with the fact that only about ten nights of Pandora's vampire life were described in detail. Her life, as we are shown, begins with Marius and ends with Marius--anything more or less is inconsequential, save her father and the road that led her to become the intriguing, seemingly paradoxical being that she is. Her ruthlessness is, without a doubt, truly something to be admired.

Alas, despite all the pretty descriptions, all the glamour of the world Pandora inhabits, the novel falls a bit flat in terms of pacing and, to put it simply, "eventful events"--the soup du jour here is either a reflection on the state of the empire, the sumptuous poetry of Ovid, or the facade one has to erect in order to keep in good terms with the emperor. That, coupled with the awkward, awkward beginning, where Pandora relates the previous nights' conversations with David, unfortunately mires the book enough in its shortcomings to keep it from taking a proper breath of narrative sense.

Mind you, "Pandora" isn't bad; just make certain you don't want to read a vampire novel prior to picking this up.

Rating:
Summary: Exquisite
Review: Of all the vampire tales, Pandora takes my breath away. Right from the start the story draws you into the landscape and takes you on a playful journey though the eyes of a fascinating blood-drinker as she flashes back to her mortal years as a little girl, defying the rules as she grows up and playing the clever woman. She was a formidable mortal, and it made her vampire life all that much more interesting. I couldn't put the story down. I devoured this book like Pandora devours hearts. By far the best of all previous vampire tales.

Rating:
Summary: Decent Book
Review: Good book starts a little slow but, when it gets moving turns into a good book.

Rating:
Summary: Good, but not great. For die hard fans only!
Review: In the Vampire Chronicles, Pandora has been one of the several Children of Night you wanted to know more about. Pandora is an interesting character, but a supporting one nonetheless. She didn't need a book of her own. Even more so, there were others in the "New Coven" which would have made a much more of an interesting read than Pandora. Khayman and/or Gabrielle or even Marius (which I hear is the next book to be released)would have been greater stories. Needless to say, Pandora's story does have some good moments, but they are too and far in between. Pandora starts off recounting her story for David, Lestat's newest creation. Pandora is one of the few more powerful vamps in the world, after Queen Akasha's death in QOD (Book III). Pandora pretty much sums up what we wanted to know two books back. You have to read it to find out however. Pandora then starts her story 2,000 years in the making when she was a wee child meeting Marius for the first time when she was only a mere 10 years old. As any Anne Rice novel concerning her peternatural brood, she mixes in fantasy with history, but Pandora's story is more history than fantasy. We are taken down an old road in which some would rather skip,but it lends a helping hand into understaning exactly what shapes Pandora to who she is today. More so, it does give a little bit more understanding of her on again/off again relationship with Marius (which are mostly philosophical and funny) and also showing us her various mood swings, emotions, and reactions to Akasha as we see in QOD. Pandora's all of a sudden interest in seeing Lestat in his comatose that he obtained in Memnoch the Devil comes out of leftfield. Like I said before, Pandora does have some moments were you would love. Some action scenes flesh out into the utter powers of these elder vamps, but it's not gone into further detail. Of course, Anne does introduce characters who you want to know more about, but somehow looses them in the novel never to be heard from again. I'm going to say one name: Flavius. Once you read it, you'll know why. All in all, I recommend anyone who reads this - keep an open mind. Anne Rice will take you to fantastic worlds, which are long gone, but you have to be comfortable with the driving. This is not a book you can just pick up if you are a first time reader of her work, even though this could be a stand alone novel, Pandora takes about 50 pages to adjust to, then about 200 pages to really get cooking. But I know Anne Rice's fans will devour this anyway!

Rating:
Summary: A walk in Rome and Antioch....
Review: The formula for this paper reminds me of "Interview with a Vampire." Unfortunately, it feels like a formula written book.

The basic premise is Pandora, one of the older vampires, has met David, a newer vampire who has been in earlier Rice books, and he has asked her to write about her creation. This book is her writing to David about how she was called to Akasha, how she met and "married" Marius, and where she originally came from.

The book starts with a few mentions of Lestat and earlier books, then ends with more mentions of Lestat with the hint that she is going to find him. It seems more like a pause in the telling of the story of Lestat. Not that this is bad, but it is not engaging as her first two books.

It is difficult to feel any kind of connection with Pandora. She mentions in the beginning that she doesn't want to write, writes, then tells us she doesn't want to write anymore. Although Rice does a good job in the settings of New Orleans, Rome, and Antioch, the story as a whole never sets. You can easily put this down and pick it up later.

This is a bone thrown to the vampire fans. Unfortunately, there is not a lot of meat on this bone. I enjoy the continuing stories of Rice's vampires, but she is having a hard time living up to what she started.

Rating:
Summary: Pandoras Box For Ms. Rice
Review: What a great disappointment this book was to me. I had heard great things about Ms. Rice and seen many of her books on the New York Times Best Seller List. Ms. Rice must certainly have paid the Times to list her book here.

Not being one who typically reads/listens to this type of book, I decided to give it a try based on the recommendation of my son. Now that I have finished this book, my son tells me that I didn't like it because I haven't read any of the other books to be familiar with the characters. Perhaps it is because I haven't read any of the other books by Anne Rice, but I found this book to be extremely slow. I didn't think the first tape would ever end.

Here you have Pandora (an old vampire) and David (a young vampire) sitting in a café, drinking coffee (first off, vampires only drink blood). Obviously not related to Count Dracula. I guess even vampires must change with the times. Anyway, David requests Pandora to write her life story, both mortal and undead. Why, who's going to read it? Is David going to be the first vampire to get on the Times Best Seller List? Please, lets get real here. Vampires are goolish and evil, with the exception of Barnabas Collins of Dark Shadows Fame (Old soap for you younger folks) that only want to run around and drink blood.

Not wanting to be completely negative, I did find some parts of the book rather enjoyable, for instance, her escape from Rome to Antioch, and some of the things she did there. I thought the part about Pandora becoming a vampire was pretty good; however, Ms. Rice could have ended the book here because all of the dribble that went on after that was of little importance to the story. I did like the character Pandora and her glib, egotistical attitude. She definitely wasn't going take any guff from anyone. Other then that, this book was definitely not for me.

The reader of this audio book (Kate Reading), at times could really grate on your nerves. In particular, in the first chapter she made the character Pandora drone on and on. It got rather boring. I can say for a fact, had this been a printed version vice audio, I would never have gotten past Chapter 1.

I have never read any other books by Ms. Rice and my son tells me that is why I didn't like this one. He says I didn't know the background and the characters. The only other books and authors I can compare Ms. Rice to are Dracula by Brauhm Stoker and Frankenstein by Marry Shelley. The later two would definitely be placed on a shelf above Ms. Rice. Being one who believes that it takes three strikes to be out, I will try at least two more Anne Rice books. I don't know when, but I will.

Folks, take my advice, stay away from this book, at least for a starter. I can't swear that any other books by Ms. Rice are any better, but my son assures me they are.

Rating:
Summary: A battle of Passion and Reason
Review: Oh people are nuts! Nuts I tell you! Peanuts, walnuts, chestnuts, so forth! This book was magnificent, I loved it! And what more, unlike some other reviewers I will tell you WHY I loved it so much.

First off, why the heck did people expect this to be Interview with the Vampire part II? This is NOT the other books, it has a life of its own, it has its own story to tell. Just because Anne Rice is best known for her books the center around the existence of Vampires, doesn't mean ALL her books are going to be about that. This book is about the battle between passion and reason, between science and religion, logic and dreams, mathematics and poetry, Pandora ( aka Lydia ) and Marius. In all truth it's about how Pandora became a vampire. In a nutshell, Pandora is the daughter of a senator, lives a good life, and then one day her family is attacked, and she just flee to Antioch. There she is attacked by her brother, saved by the god Marius, becomes a vampire, lives with Marius, and then separates from Marius. What I liked about the character of Pandora was her strength, her quick wit, her morals, and her sexuality. How can you not love a girl who has morals and yet is so damn comfortable with her own sexuality? My favorite line from the book? "I see your gift has added inches to your height, has it added inches else where?..." I laughed out loud when I read that. Pandora saying something like that to someone like Marius is just hysterical. It's too bad what time has done to Pandora's quick wit and humor. Anyways, the book goes into depth on the reason for religion, whatever that reason may be. The book argues constancy, because there is not such thing. You can depend on logic, on reason, on math to get you through life but it will NOT be there in your darkest times. We may not know whether religion exists or not, but we need it., and that is precisely what Pandora's argument with Marius is throughout the book. Akasha was a mindless twit who wanted to wipe out the whole male race, how could anyone prefer a brainless child like Akasha to the wisdom and Ovid rambling woman Pandora? Pandora is the best female character in the Vampire series I would think. Gabrielle is cold and just unlikable, Merrick was a deceiving, Akasha as I said was a mindless ditz, Dora was just annoying because she turned on Lestat, and Claudia was a child who died and can't be revived...soooooo......go pandora?

Rating:
Summary: Pandora Rocks
Review: Pandora reveals the depth of Rice' research into history. This is easily one of her most powerful stories, in fact its as good as any of the Lestat tales. The scenes in room are very historically accurate and the sense of time passing on inhuman scales is breathtaking. I'm partial to Rice' 'Marius' character and this gives a good background to him as well. If you liked the Lestat stories you should like this as well.

Rating:
Summary: More vampire less talk!
Review: Please Anne. We love vampires! We see enough people, we dont need stories about people.

I am hurt. I bought this book hoping that Anne was branching out (she is) with the masterly written (writing is still great) vampire stories. The problem was that Pandora is a vampire for about 20 pages. Its not until the VERY end that this all happens. Yes I understand dramatic climax... I have read plenty about people. Its the vampires that I thirst for, please Anne, more vampires less people. Please.

Rating:
Summary: Pandora
Review: If you really wanted to read a good novel about vampires, this isn't it. I didn't like that Pandora didn't become a vampire until practically the end of the book. It wasn't even that interesting. Nothing exciting or gory happened that you would hope to find in a book dealing with vampires, or at least mysterious. It was just boring.