Blood and Gold (Vampire Chronicles)
Average Rating: 3.5 Stars
by Anne Rice
List Price: $7.99
Store Price: from $4.00
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Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 0345409329
Amazon.com Review
Time heals all wounds, unless, of course, you're a vampire. Cuts may heal, burns vanish, limbs reattach, but for the "blood god," the wounds of the heart sometimes stay open and raw for centuries. So it is for Marius, Anne Rice's oft-mentioned and beloved scholar. We've heard parts of his tale in past volumes of the Vampire Chronicles, but never so completely and never from his own lips. In Blood and Gold, Rice mostly (but not entirely) avoids the danger of treading worn ground as she fills out the life and character of Marius the Lonely, the Disenchanted, the Heartsick--a 2,000-year-old vampire "with all the conviction of a mortal man."
Plucked from his beloved Rome in the prime of his life and forced into solitude as keeper of the vampire queen and king, Marius has never forgiven the injustice of his mortal death. Thousands of years later, he still seethes over his losses. Immortality for Marius is both a blessing and a curse--he bears "witness to all splendid and beautiful things human," yet is unable to engage in relationships for fear of revealing his burden.
New readers to the Chronicles may wish for a more fleshed-out, less introspective hero, but Rice's legions of devoted fans will recognize Blood and Gold for what it is: a love song to Marius the Wanderer, whose story reveals the complexities and limitations of eternal existence. --Daphne Durham
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Product Description
“RICE WRITES WITH HER USUAL EROTIC AND HISTORICALLY EVOCATIVE FLAIR.”
–People
Once a proud Senator in Imperial Rome, Marius is kidnapped and forced into that dark realm of blood, where he is made a protector of the Queen and King of the vampires–in whom the core of the supernatural race resides. Through his eyes we see the fall of pagan Rome to the Emperor Constantine, the horrific sack of the Eternal City at the hands of the Visigoths, and the vile aftermath of the Black Death. Ultimately restored by the beauty of the Renaissance, Marius becomes a painter, living dangerously yet happily among mortals, and giving his heart to the great master Botticelli, to the bewitching courtesan Bianca, and to the mysterious young apprentice Armand. But it is in the present day, deep in the jungle, when Marius will meet his fate seeking justice from the oldest vampires in the world. . . .
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Customer Reviews
Was not disappointed!
4 Stars
I very much enjoyed this book. We all know Marius and his role as Lestat explained previously. I was engrossed in seeing everything from Marius's viewpoint and figuring out the "why's" and the "how's" that I was always wondering about.
Anne Rice has always given vivid visual images in her novels without getting mundane.
~ J. Mahurin,
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One of Rice's better books.
4 Stars
This is definitely one of Rice's better books. She delves into the life of Marius and you can't put it down. It's only faults are, one we've heard much of this before and two, it's too long. His love for Pandora leads to a wonderful climax of his story. The ending shocks and surprises.
~ Jaga,
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Who is Marius?
5 Stars
I bought this book at a used book store, and I did not read it for several years upon hearing some pretty poor things about it. So decidedly I brought it to work with me one night, with nothing better to do in hand I opened it up and didn't put it down until I expressly HAD too. It was an amazingly provocative book, I felt as though I was with Marius the entire time. I saw things through his eyes, the places, the people, all of them firmly etched in my mind. I felt as though I had experienced Rome, Italy, and Marius all in one night.
I have often heard people say "this isn't how vampires are" but I can only believe what i hear, and I have read Dracula and I find Anne Rices books far more provocative and enjoyable. I believe Anne Rice really puts us dead center into a vampires mind. Mind you not all vampires are like Dracula, she gives them individual thought, perspective, lives, personalities, not just blood thirsty, violent blood suckers but vampires who were once human, and remain human at heart when their bodies are not human any longer. This book makes these things clear to us, more so than ever, and I believe if you want to give it a light read, do so, it's a truly amazing book!
~ Jennifer N. Bauters, Melfa, Virgina USA
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