Blood And Gold: The Vampire Chronicles 8

Bruce P. Grether here, though my partner Tom's name appears on the account.

Every time I read one of Anne Rice's books I am seduced and I am pulled through irresistibly...

Not long ago I re-entered the VAMPIRE CHRONICLES via PANDORA, with its 2000-year first-person perspective on the world of Anne Rice's beloved characters. Pandora has a bittersweet relationship with the half-Keltoi, half Roman Marius.

Despite her inability to live with Marius, it was to his story BLOOD AND GOLD that Pandora brought me, as if by the hand. "His version of things is in its own way as comprehensive as Lestat's," I could almost hear her telling me. In first-person terms, it is even more so because Marius is far older. In Lestat's own accounts it is also Marius who provides much of the older history. Marius tells his own tale including how he first encountered They Who Must Be Kept so long ago and spent many centuries protecting those parents and originals of all vampires in Anne's mythos.

I've so much enjoyed my reunion with Marius, whose account of his own existence forms a kind of common spine of all the CHRONICLES, much as Lestat's do--and yet in this case from Marius's own fantastic perspective.

One remarkable thing about Marius story is his brilliant account of the Renaissance, when he lived in Venice as a painter and discovered Amadeo--someone we know later as Armand--whom he liberates from enslavement, where he would have been sold to a brothel. Let me not provide too many SPOILERS to the delicious intricacies of the plot for the uninitiated... however I especially enjoy how the vampiric Marius clearly delights in providing the beautiful red-haired youth Amadeo with erotic pleasures in his own ways. I am moved and touched all over again as Marius bestows the Dark Gift upon Amadeo to save his life. Their involvement with the lovely Bianca is also likewise delicious and totally plausible, and something of a triad.

Towards the end of the novel, Marius himself became a bit long-winded and repetitive, even fussy, for which I would blame Marius de Romanus himself, not Anne! She writes when a story "comes to me like a swarm of bees surrounding my head," she says, and I've also heard her say that at one point she had not intended to write another, but Lestat began to whisper in her ear. Like any great storyteller, her imagination is so strong that the characters come alive, and even take on a life and a distinct voice of their own!

I'm always astounded at the sensory details Anne invokes, the richness of settings and atmosphere and the depth of interaction among the characters, the total immersion in place, times, characters that this she achieves every time!

Now that I've finished this remarkable journey again, Marius directs to his fledgling Amadeo, AKA Armand. I also recall that for me, THE VAMPIRE ARMAND was the most erotic of these novels, as it became even more clear that though Marius did not make love to Armand as a mortal would, he definitely pleasured the young man! Plus I recall that Armand provides his own rich and unique perspectives on everything in these realms.

Oh, what a cunning web Ms. Rice weaves!

Onward...

Bruce P. Grether here, though my partner Tom's name appears on the account.

Every time I read one of Anne Rice's books I am seduced and I am pulled through irresistibly...

Not long ago I re-entered the VAMPIRE CHRONICLES via PANDORA, with its 2000-year first-person perspective on the world of Anne Rice's beloved characters. Pandora has a bittersweet relationship with the half-Keltoi, half Roman Marius.

Despite her inability to live with Marius, it was to his story BLOOD AND GOLD that Pandora brought me, as if by the hand. "His version of things is in its own way as comprehensive as Lestat's," I could almost hear her telling me. In first-person terms, it is even more so because Marius is far older. In Lestat's own accounts it is also Marius who provides much of the older history. Marius tells his own tale including how he first encountered They Who Must Be Kept so long ago and spent many centuries protecting those parents and originals of all vampires in Anne's mythos.

I've so much enjoyed my reunion with Marius, whose account of his own existence forms a kind of common spine of all the CHRONICLES, much as Lestat's do--and yet in this case from Marius's own fantastic perspective.

One remarkable thing about Marius story is his brilliant account of the Renaissance, when he lived in Venice as a painter and discovered Amadeo--someone we know later as Armand--whom he liberates from enslavement, where he would have been sold to a brothel. Let me not provide too many SPOILERS to the delicious intricacies of the plot for the uninitiated... however I especially enjoy how the vampiric Marius clearly delights in providing the beautiful red-haired youth Amadeo with erotic pleasures in his own ways. I am moved and touched all over again as Marius bestows the Dark Gift upon Amadeo to save his life. Their involvement with the lovely Bianca is also likewise delicious and totally plausible, and something of a triad.

Towards the end of the novel, Marius himself became a bit long-winded and repetitive, even fussy, for which I would blame Marius de Romanus himself, not Anne! She writes when a story "comes to me like a swarm of bees surrounding my head," she says, and I've also heard her say that at one point she had not intended to write another, but Lestat began to whisper in her ear. Like any great storyteller, her imagination is so strong that the characters come alive, and even take on a life and a distinct voice of their own!

I'm always astounded at the sensory details Anne invokes, the richness of settings and atmosphere and the depth of interaction among the characters, the total immersion in place, times, characters that this she achieves every time!

Now that I've finished this remarkable journey again, Marius directs to his fledgling Amadeo, AKA Armand. I also recall that for me, THE VAMPIRE ARMAND was the most erotic of these novels, as it became even more clear that though Marius did not make love to Armand as a mortal would, he definitely pleasured the young man! Plus I recall that Armand provides his own rich and unique perspectives on everything in these realms.

Oh, what a cunning web Ms. Rice weaves!

Onward...

This is absolutely one of my favorite Anne Rice novels ever! I love how descriptive she is about times and places. Vampire Marius, one of the oldest of the group is so sophisticated. He falls in love with the work of Boticelli and speaks about how his paintings represent angelic faces. I went to the Met and unfortunately, they have none of the Boticelli paintings of this time in his career. Bummer! Love how Anne Rice describes the fall of the Roman empire and Marius moving to Constantinople. The adventures are some of the most descriptive of any I have read in her books. She has equally strong female characters like Bianca and the story of the beginning of Lestat is covered as well. Clearly one of the best of her works and a must read for art lovers. She is so vivid in describing Florence. That is how I fell in love with Anne Rice's writing. She is amazing at story telling and makes you fall in love with her scenery. I ended up going to New Orleans after reading the Mayfair witches. No writer ever before or ever again can replace her story telling. Next stop on my travels, Italy!

Although there's some slow-going moments in 'Blood & Gold' (though nowhere near as bad as 'Blackwood Farm') on the whole the story works fairly well and follows an 'Alexandria Quartet' style Multiple-Persons POV to tell, retell, and newly explain a shared history and series of events that the protagonists of the story were all involved in concurrently and/or sequentially and are thus better/worse able to explain than others. Lack of resolution of long-estranged relationships is a problem in the Anne Rice Vampire Chronicles Universe in that Great Loves are routinely formed, broken, and lost and then when the characters eventually do reunite there's a curious lack adequate reconcilliative processing. Rice, to her story and styles strength and weakness continues to work-out her Christianity Questions & Conflicts and Catholic Demons by way of the Vampire's internal, external, and interpersonal dialogues.

We now have novels from the viewpoints of Armand, Marius, Pandora, and of course, Lestat -- about themselves and each other. They all come from families of education, privilege, status, nobility, and money.

Do any fledglings come from more humble backgrounds -- farmers, weavers, soldiers, hunters, potters even -- people who are not used to critical or philosophical thinking? They adhere to a simplistic understanding of beliefs based in "sacred writings" such as the Bible. Such people can be swayed readily by someone who speaks well and deludes them with false false promises and twisted interpretations of those beliefs.

The closest I can find in Anne Rice's novels are the followers of Santino, who do not question their leader's warped message that in terrorizing humans they are doing God's work. Santino needed an army, and apparently he picked up persons who asked no questions, and accepting his promises of glory, would become his minions wherever he could find them. Santino would probably say (these are my own words, not a quote from Rice's novels), "Consider the Book of Job. God gives a commission to the Devil to torment Job. It is our commission from God to go forth and torment humankind as well."

It is a fact that the Devil failed. Yet one gets the impression that the Chronicles have more to say about Santino, despite his failures. Let us wish him well.

Marius was my favourite character in The Vampire Lestat and Queen of the Damned.
So, I was really looking forward to his biography, even though it has already partly been told in other books.

Unfortunately, this book was not what I hoped it to be. First of all, the Marius has only very little resemblance to the Marius from the first books. That Marius was very intelligent, cultured, thoughtful, empathetic and had a strong moral consciousness. He was a mentor/father for Lestat, cared a lot about other vampires and carried the great burden of Those Who Must Be Kept.

This Marius is a pompous, arrogant, whiny paedophile. He is neither very intelligent nor empathetic. He is angry with everyone who contradicts him and prone to bear grudges for centuries if not millennia.
Gone is the gentleman scholar and instead the reader gets a 40-year-old man who acts like an immature teenager for 2000 years.

---------------SPOILERS-----------------

This book has so many issues I don’t even know where to start.

What made this read extremely uncomfortable is the recurring theme of pederasty.
Even his relationship with Armand is borderline paedophilic. But Armand is around 16 and in those times people where considered adults and married off during their teenage years. So, that could be explained by the historic context. And it wouldn’t be half as bad if this were the only instance. But unfortunately, it’s not and Marius is lusting after basically any child (boys and girls) over the age of 10 that crosses his path: Pandora while he is still alive, Eudoxia, her male vampire-slaves, Zenobia and Armand. And none of the other characters ever remarks upon that, as if it was normal that a middle-aged man is sexually attracted to any teenager that moves.
But it’s not only the age difference that’s bothering me. It’s the kind of relationship that Marius and Armand have. It’s essentially an abusive relationship. The descriptions of the intimacy between Armand and Marius are not as graphic as in “The Vampire Armand” but detailed enough to know what’s going on.
So, Marius rescues Armand from a brothel where he was supposed to become a sex slave after having been abducted from Kiev. Marius takes this deeply traumatized boy home and has immediately sex with him. Wait what?! He has sex with a boy who has just experienced sexual violence and is barely conscious? Right, that’s exactly what he does and I think it’s really disgusting. Armand has no time to reject his advances or to voice his consent. And he isn’t asked either. Marius simply takes what he wants. It’s the same with Zenobia whom Marius kisses immediately without ever asking if that was ok.

In “The Vampire Lestat” Marius tells Lestat that he must never tell anyone about Those Who Must Be Kept and nobody can ever know where them and Marius are. In this book, he doesn’t heed his own advice at all! On the contrary he tells everyone where he lives and almost every vampire he meets who they are almost immediately. He also doesn’t even bother to conceal his existence from the humans in Rome and Venice. He is so arrogant he actually thinks the guests of his parties in Rome don’t realize that he doesn’t age simply because he doesn’t attend these parties very often and those humans wouldn’t remember his face. He also seems to think that no one on Venice might think it strange that he only appears at night and is never seen during the day. Such incredible arrogance is unbelievable.

He belittles everyone around him, be it human or vampire. Neither the humans around him nor other vampires or even his companions are allowed to criticise him or haven a different opinion on anything. He’s a tyrant who doesn’t even allow the thought that anybody might be his equal. He is speaking about liking to teach or educate those around him and sees himself as a mentor. But in reality, all he constantly does is trying to indoctrinate others with his world view and getting angry when somebody doesn’t share it. Not a very fitting behaviour for one being described as having gravitas. His unwillingness to except other opinions also doesn’t fit with his image as scholar because all scholarly discussion is clearly beyond him.

Speaking of scholars. The historic events in the books aren’t that well researched as well. For example, Marius claims ‘scythians’ had invaded Rome. There were never any ‘scythians’ in Rome.

Maybe the most frustrating thing about this book is that there is almost nothing new. Even though the reader has had only small glimpses of Marius life in the previous books this book mostly recycles those glimpses. It’s his origin again, then late antiquity, renaissance, 18th century. Only few new things are told and the centuries of his life that are left, for example the Middle Ages, are being fast forwarded.

I remembered this book very fondly from my first reading, and I wasn't disappointed the second time through. It has all the hallmarks of a good Anne Rice - rich characters, rich settings, and powerful emotions. That said, it also suffers from many of the flaws of much of Rice's works.

For one thing, why the new narrator? I'm not sure what the point of bringing in yet another character is, especially since he plays no real, useful role in the story. Her world in the last few novels seems to be exploding with new characters, and I am not sure that is a positive change - I personally would rather see more time spent on old favorites.

I do have to give her kudos for the scene where Thorne is marveling at the heat - she has such a knack for imagining their perspectives and thinking about the small details of how the world would feel different today than hundreds or thousands of years ago. It is this talent that, I think, really drives her popularity and makes her characters so easy to connect with.

As always with her works, the beginning drags. Literally the first 10 percent was a rehash of her earlier books, which to me is way overboard - especially when a lot of it isn't really necessary to the story she intends to tell. On the other hand, she has started to simply her writing style here, leading to increased readability, in my opinion. Likewise, later in the story she gets lost in her descriptions again, especially of the paintings. I understand what she's trying to accomplish, but I found myself wanting to say "Ok, it's been a dozen pages, move on already."

She really succeeded in making Marius a more interesting, likeable character here. We really got to see the human side of Marius and to understand him in a way we didn't in previous novels, and I think she really did a great job of making him a character we can really fall in love with. The cycles of happiness we see in his life are extremely human, I think. I also was interested in the way she managed to make him into the instrument of his own destruction, without making the plot feel contrived. Rice does nothing if not weave believable, genuine plots.

I also liked the way she filled in some of the gaps in his story, like how he came to live with mortals and why he was the way he was with Armand. But I am not sure why she skipped hundreds of years of history just to rehash Armand's story. I assume she wanted to retrieve the success she had with showing Louis and Lestat's sides of the story in two books, but I felt that she didn't really achieve the same effect here. While I suppose it completed Armand's story and our understanding of him, it also left me feeling like I was reading a good chunk of the book that didn't really tell me anything new, which is unfortunate.

Rice seems, at least in this novel, to have a hard time creating likeable female characters. I think a lot of authors suffer from that flaw, but I really felt this novel suffered from it. The primary female characters, Bianca and Pandora, were both hard to like. Bianca is very whiney and annoying for much of the novel, a dramatic contrast to most of Rice's other characters (maybe that was what she was going for?) Pandora is also eminently dislikable, in my opinion. She apparently lacks any spine or ability to withstand traumatic circumstances, and she also comes off as a bit whiney and "woe as me." I suppose they show the variety of the personalities of the vampires, but they rubbed me the wrong way.

On the other hand, I was fascinated by Marius' interactions with the Talamasca, and it left me wanting more of their history. When did the relationship between the vampires and the Talamasca change? Where did the Talamasca come from? It left me hungering for a novel following the history of the Talamasca, or at least explaining it. It almost felt like she might be setting up for that, and I know I'd love to see it.

As always, Rice does a phenomenal job of showing the human side of characters that could otherwise be monsters, and her sometimes florid and overly-descriptive writing does little to take away from the beautiful settings and characters she creates.

Thanks to Anne Rice for sharing her story telling gift with the world.
I am once again reading 'Blood and Gold' (for maybe the 3rd or 4th time) from 'The Vampire Chronicles' series. For me, this is one of the best books in fiction as it shows the camaraderie so important to all living things early on in the novel and brightens the mind with the fantastical world she recreates from history and also creates from inspired love of the times for this immortal. Marius is one of my most favorite characters ever brought to life (so to speak assuming you account for his nature) by all the authors and their creations that I have ever read. Ms. Rice, you clearly create all your characters out of love and they are most definitely your children so thank you again for sharing your fictional family with us.

Marius has always been an interesting character to me ever since I saw the movie Queen of the Damned and read the book The Vampire Lestat. Although I read parts of his life in the book, The Vampire Lestat I had an urgency to know more about him. It seemed as though Anne Rice had forgotten Marius; I once thought to myself how wonderful it would be if she had wrote a book about his life in the big picture. However, it turns out she already did.I finally had the book about the ledgendary vampire who is revered and known by most vampires. I had it right in my hands which was enthralling. This is my first time to review a product so bear with me please.

The Story of Marius is filled with adventures, wealth, relationships, adventure, pain, loss, vanity, and abandonment. His life from imperial rome to modern times reflects something that is truly undeniable and that is life.

Here is a man (or vampire) who lived his life for 2000 years, filled with many things most men (and women) wish to have; Wealth, Power, Fame, Love, and adventure. But ironically as it turns out, Marius, who still lives on in the novel,still lives a wretched life in the inside and that is a feeling of loneliness and abandonment as the result of a break-up with Pandora, Bianca, Lestat, Mael, Avicus, and Zenobia. But How does this reflect the theme of life? That life is not like other typical novels with solid plots and happy endings. Instead Life is filled with personal (and big) events that are important to one who bears it. This isn't really a typical story, but a story with an authentic components of life; Pain from loss, loneliness, and abandonment. Joy with those who he loved and loved him back. Regrets when someone leaves the other. Loneliness which makes one long for love and an intimate relationship than the wealth of the world. Challanges he faced in his life. To me the life of Marius seemed real enough to come alive. Although there is no solid plot in the life of marius, I would like to argue in the book's defense that there is no life with a solid plot but only experience which one longs to tell as if it was a tale to tell.

To listen to a story of Marius would be like getting to know him personally. To listen to his story, you are actually listening to one of the most powerful and ancient vampires there is in the world of Anne Rice. You are only discovering his immortal past filled with the things I have listed above.

It's true that the book didn't have both a satisfying ending and a relevant title (Blood and Gold) that doesn't relates to Marius (Perhaps if one reads the book carefully maybe the title could be understood well enough), which were the only things I didn't have much fond of. But for those who are curious to know Marius I strongly recommend you read this book and I hope you will have no regrets reading it for it is truly an appreciative experience.

"`Blood and Gold' is the telling of Marius' life as told to his new immortal friend and companion, Thorne. Thorne, a Viking warrior when mortal, awakens after centuries of sleep to search for his maker, the great Maharet and to search for the companionship of another ancient one. He finds Marius, hungry for conversation, desperately lonely in spite of his companion, Daniel, who has become obsessed with building model cities and can concentrate on nothing else. Marius takes advantage of Thorne's curiosity and thirst for knowledge and settles in to explain to him the history of his life.
"The story revolves around Marius' various travels, from Rome to Constantinople, Venice to Dresden, his Aegean island palace to the dense jungles of South America. The overwhelming theme throughout is the urgent search to find his beloved Pandora, who he abandoned without a word so long ago. He mourns for her and regrets leaving her, and this breeds great anger and resentment in him. This anger, which he usually hides deep within himself, has a tendency to flare up at the least provocation. This mixed with his frantic need to find Pandora hinders his life dramatically, leaving all those he encounters hurt or dead. The action of his inflicting pain on others hurts him deeply and causes him extreme despair, thus leading to more anger. This vicious cycle is never-ending and leaves poor Marius emotionally scared forever.
"Through Marius we are reunited with some old friends as well as introduced to some new and incredibly vivid new characters; the bitter and angry Mael, the innocent and childish Amadeo, the magnificent and emotional Pandora, the mute and wild Mekare, and the snide and vengeful Santino. Also appearing is an eclectic cast of new immortals; the brave and curious Thorne, the young and insanely evil Eudoxia, the innocent and beautiful Zedonia, the ancient and intelligent Avicus, the dark and cunning Arjun, and the graceful and powerful Bianca. This infusion of old and new creates a story much like Queen of the Damned in its complexity. We finally have new characters that will leave us craving their stories, their lives.
"`Blood and Gold' is just what the Vampire Chronicles needed to be brought back to life. The story of Marius is a roller coaster ride of emotions, bringing you to incredible highs and dramatic lows. From page one you will be caught up in the story, twisting and turning down the road from its historic beginnings all the way to its climatic and shocking ending. I highly recommend this book! If you don't like Marius now, you will fall in love with him by the time you've finished. He is, quite possibly, the most incredible immortal that the Vampire Chronicles will ever see."
Simply, the book is written by Anne Rice, that says it all doesn't it?

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!!

I have to agree with other reviewers who have panned this book for being a rehash of previous "Vampire Chronicle" books, such as "Vampire Armand" and "Queen of the Damned." (I confess I have not read "Pandora," the one "VC" novel I have missed, but given the way Marius's time with her was glossed over, I suspect that "Blood and Gold" is a rehash of "Pandora," too, as other reviewers have suggested.) And what is the deal with this new Thorne character? Clearly, he was brought in so that Marius could have someone to tell his life story to, but it was never fully explained why he was so angry at Maharet. And why did he feel it necessary to take revenge on Santino on Marius's behalf? The whole Thorne plotline made no sense whatsoever, and was far more frustrating than the Marius story, which for all its repetition, at least kept my attention for being told from a different viewpoint.

At least Anne Rice's storytelling is up to her usual lush standards, the Thorne plotline notwithstanding. We get her beautiful descriptions of the ancient and Renaissance times, as well as that of the 1700s. We learn more about Bianca and her relationship to Marius, as well as what it meant for him to guard the secret of Those Who Must Be Kept for so long. So it is not a total waste of time. But don't buy the hardcover version -- save a few dollars and buy the paperback.

As usual, Anne Rice manages to spin a spellbinding tale about the Vampire Marius, one of the oldest and wisest blood drinkers of the modern world. However, most of the book is an abbreviation of key stories already told of in delicious detail in her book "The Vampire Lestat". It left me a little disappointed, although her great talent as a writer kept me from putting it down until I was finished with it.
The most interesting parts of the book are the stories of Eudoxia, Avicus and Mael, as well as Zenobia, one of the most interesting of all and one I would love to read a book about. Yet, most of the book has already been told and not until page 337 did I start to enjoy it on a deeper level when Marius tells his version of Santino's attack and how Bianca becomes a blood drinker. His reunion with Pandora heightened my interest, although the outcome was disappointing because I felt Pandora's actions were completely out of character for someone so strong.
This book will be best understood by those whom have already read the previous Vampire Chronicles and can fill in the gaps on the parts that were not in depth. But those who pick this book up not having read the others will be left wanting. For those I recommend "The Vampire Lestat", "The Vampire Armand" and "Pandora" to better understand Marius.
Difficult to put down, but 80 percent of the book has already been told.

The Vampire Chronicles wouldn't be complete without the legendary Marius, who has appeared so predominantly in many of the previous stories, telling his side of the story. We start in modern times where Marius meets another ancient vampire Thorne, who has recently awakened from self-imposed hibernating sleep. Longing for company, Marius offers Thorne fresh clothing and a place to stay. Then he begins his story by taking us off to ancient Rome. Through Marius we see the fall of Rome, the rise of Christianity, the Byzantine Empire, and later the birth of the Renaissance. He meets several other vampires, creates some of his own, and has an encounter with the Talamasca. He talks of his lost love Pandora and spends centuries trying to find her. All the while, this story stays true to the earlier stories told in "The Vampire Lestat," "The Queen of the Damned," "Pandora," and "The Vampire Armand."
Anne Rice is truly a gifted writer. She remains true to real life history as she creates her characters' history. Each character is deep and complex. We may not like the fact that Armand went on to led a Vampire Cult, but when we recall that as a child he was raised knowing that he would enter a monastery, it makes sense. Only a truly talented writer would venture so deeply into her characters' psychoses.
There is some homosexual overtones that may disturb some readers, but remember vampires see beauty in everything. They don't really acknowledge traditional male/female roles, except on occasion. The romances do not seem overly sexual. Rather they express themselves thru touching, kissing, and sharing of blood.
A great edition to a fantastic series!

I never really bothered to read Anne Rice novels and just always kind of avoided them at the book store, till one day someone donated this book to the a public library at my work so I figured why not.

I saw Interview, loved it, Queen of the Damned, hated it, like most people. I never found the character Marius or Armand interesting, in fact I forgot who Marius even was because I just brushed off the characters from Queen of the Damned since the plot was so weak. So when I picked up this novel I wasn't expecting much, the typical story of being immortal, angsty and lustful.

When I opened the book though I was already curious as to how Marius was made and his encounters with the other "famous" vampires. The story eased into the answers of the who, what, when and where, and why but slowly the novel turned my thought process from, "who does Marius encounter," to "who encounters Marius," and quickly through reading his narrative thoughts he becomes the spotlight character and captures my interest.

The story starts off with another ancient vampire awaking to Marius' kind welcome. Marius then takes this wake being in and tells him his life story. Marius was a very interesting character to me because like the beloved vampire Loui, he too shares a deep love for mortals. In the story you come to find out that he feeds on evil and not only has a passion for justice but is also captured by art and knowledge. This story tells his tale of trying to be the brilliance and magnificence of each city he moves into by lavishing himself in his interests of literature, art and philosophy. But, unfortunately each time he becomes the life of the town tragedy strikes, leaving him with only the ashes of his burned books, paintings, and eventually, broken heart.

He encounters many humans, and at one point meets a famous painter, but he only converts a certain few to become his damned companions, including the vampire Armand (who was once called Amadeo). The story is very well written and its characters are solid gold. It's a recommend read, especially for those who haven't read any of her other novels.

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.

Having read each and every book in the chronicles, I cruised along the last several. In fact, nothing since book #3, Queen of the Damned, grabbed me as did this one. Blood and Gold fills in the gaps of old stories, gives you different perspectives on the events that we've read. The tales of the vampires, seen through my favorite vampire, Marius, was compelling and a very exciting read. I've always preferred reading the ancient histories and this book contains all the familiar faces, Maharet and Mekare for a short while, Pandora, Armand, Mael, Santino and of course Those Who Must Be Kept.
A short portion in the middle was all too similar to a recent novel, The Vampire Armand. While she spun her tale from the eyes of Marius, it felt all too familiar, and I spent several chapters saying, 'I KNOW!' However, this was brief, and I was soon thrust back into the story. Other tales are recounted with the familiarity one might have after reading the first half dozen or so novels, but all was done carefully and I found myself recalling so many little things from prior stories. Putting the pieces together, seeing it all as I had never seen it prior. Construcing an even larger, more complete world of these vampires!
Perhaps this is only for those who have kept up with the series, or at least read the first 3 novels of the Vampire Chronicles. You needen't have read the later entries to get into this book. I would recommend the first 3 though, the classic tales! It might be confusing if you haven't read those, but everything since isn't necessary.
If you've gotten through the recent books, Vampire Armand, Pandora, Vittorio and want more, then get this. If you were at all losing interest in these stories as I was, I still recommend Blood and Gold. I won't spoil the ending at all, but I was certainly moved and emotionally affected by the tale. Perhaps I've become too involved in Marius, as I said, he's my favorite vampire to read...but overall I think this is Rice's best work in many many years!

Marius was very happy living as a patrician in Ancient Rome. However, he becomes disheartened when a Druid priest kidnaps him insisting that Marius will be the God of the Grove. He is turned into a vampire, but manages to escape. Marius journeys to Egypt to find the Divine Parents of the Vampires and bring them back to his hometown. For most of his life, he was the guardian of Those Who Must Be Kept, paying homage to them on a consistent basis.

Throughout his long life, Marius observed many world events including the fall of the Roman Empire. He found mortals that he loved and converted them, but none ever remained with him for long after changing. Marius made many enemies with one nearly killing him, causing centuries of healing before recovering. However, the ruler of the vampires stymies his efforts for vengeance by forbidding Marius vengeance.

Anne Rice has created another brilliant installment in her vampire chronicles that seem to have been running at a top quality level for as long as Marius' life span. Readers see the events of history through the eyes of the protagonist and understand what it is like to live in each era depicted in BLOOD AND GOLD. The characters are deep and complex and the tale is enhanced by action that occurs throughout the novel. Vampire lovers, paranormal fans, and Rice readers will enjoy this saga.

Harriet Klausner

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.

Since nothing is more annyoing than tediousness, I'm only going to say one thing that others have said: Anne Rice, you are the true Queen of the Vampiric World, and it will be a millenium before anyone takes your throne.
On to something more original, Rice did something in this novel I thought she'd never do. In the first novels we only hear mention of historical figures like Marrie Antoinette, from the point of view of other vampires. As we get newer and more involved books the vampires may or may not have much more involvement as a result of family bloodlines, (IE Vittorio's father served Cosimo De Medici, and Pandora's father was a close friend of Augustan) but Marius breaks a barrier that no other chronicle has yet to attempt...he speaks with the great Botticelli!
Not only do he and Botticelli form a powerful friendship, but on one occasion Marius considers giving him the Dark Blood.
This step not only shocked me but it amazed me as well. If I hadn't known Botticelli was an actual artist I would have assumed him another well crafted character, and for the life of me I loved him as much as I loved all of her other ones. I believed in his personality and the way he and Marius got along so well.
Perhaps it was a bold step on her part in order to attain some originality, as I myself was worried about how similiar it would be to the other stories. Nevertheless I both praise and admire this new and exiting leap and know that it is only a step that Rice herself could make.

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 the annoying Benji and Sybelle? They should be mentioned as they were added to the VC the Vampire Armand. Nothing was written about them. 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 this way before.
It seems to me that Anne is bent on character assassination. Every time Anne Rice comes 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.

And Marius in this book comes out as egotistical and whining. I was bored to tears and fell asleep twice reading Marius' descriptions. They were sooo boring. She used to write history so well. 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 garbage.

Anne's books are becoming increasingly formulaic, from Pandora onward. We have the introduction, the main part of the book which is the 'life story' and then a resolution which ties in whatever threads of plot were brought out in the introduction (which usually are forgettable five minutes after reading them) and the main part all together, and usually said ending is a quick flurish of pages (no more than 10-20 pages) that is supposed to wrap things up all nicely, complete seemingly with cute little bow.
This book falls into the same trap. The main part with Marius' story is excellent. Tremendous. Probably the most interesting thing Rice has written since Tale of the body thief. But like the rest of her newer vampire books, the shoddily written introduction and the horribly contrived conclusion just left a horrible taste in my mouth. Same with Blackwood Farm. Same with Pandora. Same with Vampire Armand. I could go on and on here.
Come on Anne, ditch the formula and bring back the magic that you have from Interview iwth the Vampire through Tale of the Body Thief!

If you're not associated with the lore and history already present with Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, do not purchase this book unless you like to be confused or even bored.
I feel Anne Rice used BLOOD AND GOLD as her opportunity to further perpetuate and fill in gaps present in her earlier "Chronicle" books. If you liked THE QUEEN OF THE DAMNED especially or are at least aware of the characters and circumstances involved in that book, BLOOD AND GOLD will be much more enjoyable as the story of Mekare and Maharet, the red-haired twins, is added to and explained more fully. Also as the book centers around the character of Marius and his life story, it helps to be interested in his character, but it also helps to have read Rice's PANDORA and THE VAMPIRE LESTAT, both which involve Marius's history and are alluded to in BLOOD AND GOLD.
Anne Rice may choose not to include new readers into her realm of witches, vampires, and eroticism. By having written so many previous books, it makes a new reader feel as if they need to do their "homework," but she has created a rich world nonetheless. If you want to take up the daunting and challenging task, you will better for it, but be sure you're ready for it.

While this is not the best Vampire Chronicles book Ms. Rice has written, I nonetheless enjoyed hearing Marius' story, which begins after his split from Pandora in Antioch. As a lover of history, I greatly enjoyed Ms. Rice's descriptions of ancient Rome, Constantinople, Florence, and Venice. The only negative I can say about that detail, and the reason I give only 4 stars, is that she can ramble on for pages about this stuff ad nauseum! You can always tell when Ms. Rice has fallen in love with the material she researches, and her descriptions of Botticelli are an example of that.
Anyone who enjoys the Vampire Chronicles should enjoy this book. It introduces some new and intriguing characters like the brooding Avicus and the powerful Eudoxia. We also learn a little more about what happened to Mael and how he became a vampire before hooking up with Maharet. The book does rehash some of the material from Pandora and the Vampire Armand, but that doesn't detract from the overall positives.

Mrs. Rice's talents are incomparable. In Blood & Gold, finally the tale of Marius is told (my favorite character - aside from Lestat), and it is told splendidly. Unlike Pandora and Vittorio the Vampire, Marius' tale reveals much of real history...Rome, Italy, etc, and Rice goes into plush details about these times, but they aren't as overbearing. And the events that happen to Marius, and the character himself, outshine the vast historical information she gives. Indeed, the history is the background and Marius and those in his stories are indeed vivid in color and story.
The book is simply fascinating. As you know, the Queen of the Damned and The Vampire Armand is woven into Blood & Gold, but with details that, I think, make the story even more alive than what the singular books are already. Amadeo, a.k.a Armand, becomes even more real. Indeed, both books compliment one another. As for the Queen of the Damned, you get a better understanding of her and Enkil and what Marius went through relating to the Divine Parents in his narrative.
And Pandora. Ah, the lovely romance of the two vampires is powerful and alluring, drawing you in to continue to read to see what happens with the couple. Heartbreak, tragedy, triumph, passion, and love are woven throughout this story. If Marius were real, I would without a doubt love him wholeheartedly...and so would other fans of Rice's vampires.
The new character she introduces in the story, Thorne, is fascinating and has a distinct personality from the other vampires. The end was simply amazing...you would never expect it...my only hope is that we hear more tales from these vampires, now that their history has been told. I hope further adventures come for Marius and Pandora....Thorne and the twins...and Armand.
Anne Rice fulfills you but not enough to the point where you aren't asking questions about what is to happen next. A couple of loose ends aren't tied at the end of the book...I can only hope they will be in books to come.
Another interesting fact about this book is that Marius' story doesn't unfold like the others. In the first 3 chapters, I think, she introduces Throne and all is in third person. She picks up with this at the end of Marius' story, and I enjoyed it because it was more to the book than just Marius story. Outside of that, an adventure was transpiring - no matter how short-lived - and left you awaiting more of her books.
If you have read the Vampire Chronicles, you can by no means skip this book. (I say this because I skipped Memnoch the Devil, but all the significant parts are mentioned again in the books afterwards and therefore it was really important to read). I think, aside from the Vampire Lestat, this is the best one of the vampire narratives in which they tell their history!
Now, it's off to Blackwood Farm.

I seriously don't understand why everyone is like "this book is horrible, the last few pages don't seem like the same story, i hate anne rice and i curse her, blah blah bitch bitch" Look, this is a good story. This story was obviously not intended to be like the others. The others are all centered around Lestat, the most arrogant and loveable devil ever, and his whole crew are lively and...fresh. But Marius is more patient, he's not the spontaneous Brat Prince we are used to hearing about, or even Armand, who is pretty messed up. (i also don't know how armand managed to be healed in one night in the Vampire Armand, where it took Marius 60 years or so to heal after his deal with fire....kudos armand, you got some strong blood). As for the last part of the story, yes it is a different story, Marius even says "This is the end of my story". it's not the same after that point, so if you missed that, then you are retarded. Anyway, this book, despite people shooting fire out thier arse and onto review pages, is a great book, and i recommend it, although the Vampire Lestat is still the best, in my opinion, tied with The Queen of the Damned of course.

Since reading from Anne Rice's website that her followup to Merrick would be the story of Marius, the 2000 year old vampire who has graced the pages of most all of her other chronicles of the undead, I have waited patiently to read it. The result is disappointing.
In past Vampire Chronicles, Anne Rice has comfortably found the voice of Lestat, Louis, Armand, David Talbot, Pandora, and a host of others. With Marius, she never really seems to find his voice.
The first three hundred pages of this long-awaited novel are drivel. Marius, the strong, dedicated servant of Those Who Must be Kept, is nothing but a simpering, overly-analytical weakling. The book covers vast historical territory, but as has plagued the most recent Vampire Chronicles, at least in my opinion, it is all too underdeveloped. A sudden, all-consuming love of Botticelli is nothing more than a simple nocturnal visit to his workshop. The horrors of the destruction of Rome are glossed over. Marius the watcher simply witnesses his beloved Italy destroyed, and merely moves on. So out of character of his past convictions. He appears only a lovesick simpleton, moaning for Pandora, his lost love, wailing over the destruction of home after home by the ravages of fires set by a Satanic band of blood drinkers, and never appearing any stronger as a result of all this misfortune.
The story only finds its momentum when we reach the part of Marius's tale already chronicled in The Vampire Armand, when he rescues the young Amadeo, as he calls him, from a brothel and takes him in as apprentice and lover, finally giving him the Dark Gift of the Blood to prevent his mortal death and provide him an immortal eternity to share with Marius, which as we already know is not the course of events.
Following this, Marius fleshes out fully as a character. His love of Pandora is believable only in their inevitable reunion, his devotion to guarding the Divine Parents of the Vampires, so wishy-washy throughout the novel, becomes more palpable. The novel concludes with the Marius that I had come to understand from prior novels, yet the preceeding pages all seem to destroy that image.
Most recently, Anne Rice has been criticized for losing focus of her characters from their original inception. I have found that while the characters have changed, it would seem a logical course of events as they live from century to century, and evolve just as we all do as human beings. However, the Marius here is not even a shadow of the Marius of prior works, and it seems as though Ms. Rice simply never found his voice to tell his tale.
For the strength of Marius throughout the past novels, and even though the last 150 pages are worth wading through the rest of the book to reach, this overall is a disappointment at best.

I thoroughly enjoyed Anne Rice's first few Vampire Chronicles but began to lose interest as she moved away from epic romance and character development in favor of overly detailed descriptions of the mating habits of the undead. For me, Blood and Gold, featuring the ancient Roman vampire Marius telling his own story, was a partial return to form. Marius, a familiar and appealing character, relates tales of love and heartbreak and the rise and fall of civilizations. He also relates the stories of many of the vampires he meets throughout the years, and all this once-removed storytelling takes its toll. The dialogue, laden with capitalized vampiric catch-phrases, is horribly stilted, and the distant as-told-to quality of the narrative deprives the reader of Rice's usual lush, sensuous immediacy. Until Rice comes up with some new ideas I'll sit out the next few installments of the series.

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.

The Story of Marius de Romano is finally told from end to end. It was a magnificent story. The pace was at times exciting but at times boring. It tells the story of Marius' journey through the millenia and of his burden keeping and caring for Those Who Must Be Kept. More than anyhing it was a story about loves lost and found, promises kept and broken told to the background of history through the millennia.
This time Marius tells his story as he sees it through his own eyes. This perhaps explains the inconsistencies with other stories regarding his life as told by Lestat, Armand and Pandora. The same story but different perspectives. For example events which were not important and glossed over by Marius were told in great length and detail by Armand.
Anne Rice took me on a wonderful journey which left me less than satisfied. Read this and you'll enjoy the story.

I was very much looking forward to Blood and Gold as it was the story of Marius, and who doesn't love Marius? Anyway, I was really hoping the novel by the wonderful Anne Rice would bring a sense of nostalgia of the first three novels that was sorely missing in Tale of the Body Thief, and Memnoch the Devil, and The Vampire Armand though was reclaimed IMO in Merrick-a new favorite of mine. So did Blood and Gold reach the nostalgic feeling from the original three and Merrick, or did it have another feeling altogether? Well, it wasn't like Tale of the Body Thief which to me was boring, and it wasn't like Memnoch which was rather unsettling on a personal level. It didn't have the nostalgic feeling I wanted either; however, Blood and Gold shares the feeling of The Vampire Armand, which IMO has a different feeling than Body Thief or Memnoch. It's a feeling of being in History Class while having fantasy elements thrown in their mixed with drama and elegance. Its rather nice, don't get me wrong, but it will never beat the classic Original Three, as I call them.

Blood and Gold tells the elegant, historically provocative tale of the Vampire Marius as he shares it with the vampire Thorne, whom I did not get to love in this novel and hopefully will in another. As any good Vampire Chronicles novel, there is plenty of vampire misery, and loneliness along with the blood. Marius deals with losing many companions such as Bianca, Armand, and Pandora, while having the hard task of keeping the Parents- Akasha and Enkil.
What I love most about the novel is that it helped me understand school more! I was learning about the Roman Republic and all that nonsense, and honestly, my teacher wasn't--er--teaching if I should say. I barely knew the stuff, but thanks to Anne's great novel, guess who finally understood that chapter--this guy!
But the novel isn't a boring history lesson, even though I did leave it aside for awhile because it started to drag. It's an excellent tale of immortality, that is elegant and bloody when it must be.

Fans of The Vampire Armand will absolutely love this one, but fans of the first three will still wish for ones as good as those.

I know plenty have complained about this book, but I enjoy it immensely. Truly, it is a difficult read, and I can not say this is because it is full of detail and fact; Marius, the narrator, comes across as confused and rambling. Readers can take this as poor writing quality, or merely as good characterization for one who is ultimately confused, lost and momentarily drifting.

I would recommend Blood and Gold for anyone who wants to get more in-depth into characters such as Marius, Armand, Bianca and Pandora, or for those who merely wants a different perspective or more on things already discussed. For those that want additional events to the stories, or an update on what the vampires are doing after Queen of the Damned will probably want to steer clear.

Having found the first four Vampire books absolutely riveting, I was a tad disappointed here: "B and G" is not as tightly written, the characters are not quite as compelling and the plot is more episodic and meandering. Just the same, I enjoyed it. Marius, the Blood Drinker with the soul of an artist, succeeds and suffers mightily across the centuries, but heroically stays true to his creed. Yet, because of his supercharged powers and all too human weaknesses, his relationships unravel as they might for you or me, but in epic proportions. So in many ways Marius seems the least strange and most accessible of the Blood Drinkers, all throughout The Chronicles. Also, the book features wonderfully detailed depictions of life in ancient Rome and Constantinople, Renaissance Italy, and 18th century northern Europe-a great treat for the historically minded reader. Definitely a worthwhile read!

I love Anne Rice. I love the Chronicles (though not nearly as much as the Mayfair Witches). Why didn't I love this book? As you've probably already read, because there's nothing new here. Readers of all the Chronicles know most of this information about Marius. And as I've never really been as fascinated by him as I have by Maharet, Mekare, Pandora, et al., this book seemed more like filler to the next chapter.
I don't understand why Rice continually pens these love missives to her male alter-egos, when she's continually created vibrant and exciting FEMALE characters. Why was Pandora's volume so thin, when she's lived over 2000 years? She's Marius' age, she appears fleetingly in most of the other texts, but she only merits a novella instead of the full treatment? Where are the volumes on Maharet and Mekare? The twins are the oldest vampires still walking the earth, and they spent most of their 6000 years apart? THAT would make for some fascinating storytelling.
The only reason to read Blood and Gold is to glean more about the Vampire Bianca, a fledgling of Marius's. As she is younger than Armand by only weeks, it stands to reason she was not destroyed by Akasha, and still walks. There's someone I'd like to read about.
Since Rice has decided not to continue the Mayfair series, it sure would be nice if she could give us some anti-heroines to read about in their place.

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.