vampires

In Ms. Rice's latest installment in the Vampire Chronicles, Marius tells his story. _Blood and Gold_ is beautifully written, but adds little more than details to Ms. Rice's vampire universe.

Parts of Marius' life have been told in other volumes of the Chronicles, but Ms. Rice manages to avoid too much repetition. About 80 pages of the book is devoted to events previously recounted in _The Vampire Armand_, but the rest is either greatly expanded from previous tellings, or completely new. All of it is written is Ms Rice's distinctive style. As a reader, I shared Marius' love of his ancient cities, beautiful art, and his mortal and immortal companions.

Unfortunately, the biggest problem with the novel is that it is really just backstory. None of the events Marius describes are particularly important to Ms. Rice's world. The themes that made her earlier Chronicles so compelling - the discovery of vampiric nature and origins, the suspense and danger in Akasha's plans for conquest - are sadly absent. As they must be, for those stories have been told.

Even the introduction of a new character - the mysterious Thorne, an ancient vampire whose origins are linked to Maharet herself - was not enough to infuse the series with some new blood. What little we hear of his history, while tantalizing, is quickly forgotten as Marius takes center stage. Thorne's sudden dramatic role at the very end of the novel would have had more impact had we known more about his past.

If you have read _Pandora_, _The Vampire Armand_, and _Vittorio the Vampire_, then this novel will hold few surprises for you, in content, style or author's intent. _Blood and Gold_ is every bit as good as Ms. Rice's more recent novels in this series, but it suffers from the same lack of new insights into the creatures she's created.

I was torn between giving this book a 3 or a 4 star rating. I enjoyed it, of that there is no doubt. I do love Anne Rice, and her work rarely fails to impress. Marius is also one of my favorite vampires.

However, there are some issues I have with this book.

Marius' story, in part, is Armand's story told from a different point of view, which makes for a redundancy that after reading Armand's story, seems a little boring to me.

Other than a single Bianca sighting centuries later by Armand, we never know what becomes of her. She was one of the most important characters in this book, and in fact, without her, Marius might not have escaped his villa. Yet, she is not important enough for Rice to have told us a little more. At the time that I read this, I imagined that we would get the rest of the story in one of the other books, but alas, we know nothing of the troubled Bianca's fate, and barely get to venture a guess. If this loose end is meant to be this way, then it was not done in a way that intrigues, but rather, it frustrates.

I gave the book three stars because Rice could have done better, despite the fact that this is a very entertaining book.

Oh god, this book was beautiful. Even if it wasnt Rice's best work, it was her most beautiful. Marius is so exquisite in his love, his life, and his isolation. The loving but evident painful quarrelling of him and his love Pandora; his hate for his companion and accomplice to making him, along with his love for Mael's lifelong friend Avicus was a perfect paradox and rising contradiction, and the addition of Zenobia from the ashes of the wretched Eudoxia was specifically beautiful. Although Rice seemed to cut corners, using "long sleeps" to attain a time that she wished to get to, i was relieved when the book finally reached the Renaissance, and Marius' intense and forbidden loves for the courtesan Bianca and his apprentice Amadeo. I will mention no more, but i will say that the book is gorgeously written, and you feel your emotions rising and falling with that of Marius.

The main reason this book only got 4 stars: the random use of the "Mind Gift" "Cloud Gift" and all of that when it had never been used before urked me. Also, there is never any conclusion to what happened to the strong Avicus, Zenobia, and Bianca. They were all strong, and it was never known whether Akasha destroyed them or if they just dissappeared. You would think that Rice would have given us closure on that fact, but no. For those two reasons, i had to dock her 1 star, but still it was one of the most beautiful and heart-wrenching books i have ever read, and i really do adore it. Nice work Anne Rice!!