The Vampire (New Tales of the Vampires Book 2)

Having read many of Anne Rice's works (Interview with the Vampire, The Vampire Lestat, The Queen of the Damned, Blood and Gold, The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty), I can safely say that this is one of her most well-written and beautiful books. I think it took me the whole of about five days to read "Vittorio" from cover to cover, and like Rice's previous works, it didn't fail to mesmerize me. There is something different about this book, however, compared to the others I've read.

Like Rice's other characters, Vittorio is fully realized, coming to life in the reader's mind as he tells his story, but because of his uniqueness he will linger longer, in my mind at least, than even the charismatic Lestat. He is likeable in a way that Lestat could never be, because he is capable of gentleness and mercy, because he never loses his respect and love of humanity. He is not the jaded cynic that Lestat is, but a fragile, humble individual, with a mind hungry for knowledge and a fierce devotion to his family and God.

Always present in Rice's novels is her effortless inclusion of historical facts and period detail. Her writing never gets bogged down by its historical authenticity, though; it never descends into quasi-encyclopedic detail, like so many historical novels do. Rice's characters don't merely exist in their time period to tell of its rich history; they live in it and describe its qualities only to further color the picture of their story in the reader's imagination. In this aspect, Rice excels, and "Vittorio" is no exception.

Despite the fact that "Vittorio" follows Rice's formula of likeable vampire in historical setting, it strays from that formula in its treatment of the titular character. The events of the book revolve largely around supernatural/spiritual themes, yet the story that Vittorio tells is as believable as it is enthralling. Unlike the other books in the Vampire Chronicles series, in which the storyteller (be it Lestat, Louis, or Marius) is in his vampiric state for the bulk of the novel, Vittorio's story encompasses mainly his life as a human. Here is where this novel is unique in the Tales of the Vampires.

Rice's characters are almost always sympathetic to the reader on some level due to the fact that the vampire novels are written in first person, but this quality -- that Vittorio is human throughout most of the book -- lends this particular novel a beauty and heartrending realism that is not present, in my opinion, in the aforementioned others. Vittorio's character is multifaceted and nuanced, like the other vampires', but his human perspective gives him an innocent and courageous appeal that Lestat and Marius just don't have.

Vittorio's story is truly heartbreaking, breathtaking, and utterly believable, at least from a psychological perspective. If you can't reconcile the idea that demons and angels exist, you will certainly be able to identify with Vittorio's feelings of vengeance, wrath, loyalty, love, honor, and bravery. This one of those books that you won't want to put down, and when it's over, you'll wish you had read it more slowly.

Once again, Anne Rice has written a very vivid and colorful tale that pulls in her reader. Written from Vittorio's view and in the timeperiod of the Renaissance, you can understand why in some places the verbage seems labored. Whereas Pandora: New Tales of the Vampires kept me totally riveted and wanting for more, in spots Vittorio had me feeling; get on with it and was this meant to be a short story. Overall the book is quite good and her die hard fans will enjoy. But as with Violin, sometimes she changes her style and I end up hopeing that her next book will solidly win me back.

Vittorio the Vampire has a lot going for it. The descriptions of both places and actions are lush and involving. The romance is intense without taking over the book. The story is a bit different than the usual Vampire Chronicle, because most of it takes place before the eponymous hero is turned into a vampire, making it unpredictable and fresh. Vittorio the character is a mix of Louis and Lestat: he has Louis's melancholy and thoughtfulness, plus Lestat's sarcasm and temper. I liked him quite a bit.

The story hits the ground running. We meet Vittorio and his family of Italian nobles, and learn a bit about their daily life and culture. When a band of vampires invades the castle and demands people "no one wants" for food, they are refused. In retribution, they massacre the whole castle save for Vittorio, who is spared by the vampire Ursula, who falls in love with him. She remains an intriguing, mysterious figure on the edges of the story, trying to keep Vittorio alive but not revealing anything about herself until the very end.

VtV hits a sour note about halfway through when Vittorio begins seeing angels. They appear as actual characters in the story, talking to Vittorio about his duty to God and physically flying him places he can't reach himself. Their inclusion was poorly executed to the point where I finished the book not having a clue what their purpose had been. I think Ms. Rice was trying to give the book religious overtones--in addition to the angels, there's a scene of demonic mass held by the vampires which is much more involving than the angels' parts--but the end result came across as bad exposition.

Thankfully, the story gets back on track as Vittorio and Ursula meet again and the book winds down to a great conclusion.

Overall, with the exception of the few chapters invaded by angels, VtV is an excellent story mixing everything from historical fiction to romance to artistic exploration to bloody horror. In Vittorio's travels across Italy we witness beautiful country and art, contrasted with evil human deeds--one town agrees to give their undesirables to the vampires for food, for example. The contrast is fascinating and well balanced. I, like many fans, found myself losing interest in the Vampire Chronicles after QotD; this book is the best one since then.

For all those people out there who have never before picked up an Anne Rice novel, either because they were grossed out by the movie of Interview with the Vampire, or because they, like Oprah, don't want to "contribute to the forces of darkness"; you just ran out of excuses. Within the pages of Vittorio the Vampire, Rice explores the nature of good and evil; art and life; innocence and wisdom, themes that she also delt with in an earlier novel, Memnoch the Devil. In Vittorio, she explores her themes by making references to literature and art, incorporating the works of such diverse writers as St. Augustine; Dante; Sheridan Le Fanu; and te painters Fra Angelico and Fra Filipo Lippi. This kind of grand scheme could only be achieved by a writer of Rice's caliber; a writer at the height of her power. Vittorio marks the first time that Rice has used angels as major characters, and her description of the light, ethereal qaulity of the angels is in direct contrast with the heavy symbolism of the Court of the Ruby Grail. Letting loose her imagination on the beauty of Italy, Rice is able to see with the eye of an artist, bringing to life through words the colour; texture; light and beauty that is Italy. One of the things that is striking about the book, besides Vittorio's story itself, is the fact that Rice appears to be using words to create a kind of painting of her view of Italy. Even her references (the book includes a bibliography of books of Italian art and history) are not heavy handed, as they can be when a writer starts to show off their literary knowledge. Instead, Rice is able to incorporate her references into the context of the story, so that even if the reader is not familiar with the work of Fra Angelico or St. Augustine, it doesn't spoil the novel as a whole. No need for an appendix here. The details of life in Florence, as well as the decadence of the Court of the Ruby Grail, are drawn with the same loving hand and an eye for detail that makes all of Rice's work so compelling. Known for her well developed characters, Rice's Vittorio is no exception. He becomes a very sympathetic character, one who, unlike the infamous Lestat, has no desire to be good at being bad. Since Vittorio the Vampire is a seperate and distinct work from Rice's Vampire Chronicles, it really is a wonderful book to read if you have never before read any of Rice's novels, and want to see what all the fuss is about. You will certainly not be disappointed. Since Anne Rice seems to get better with every novel she writes, I can safely say that Vittorio the Vampire is one of the best books that Anne Rice has written, so far. END

This book is probably the slowest book I have ever read. It probably could have been 1/3 of its lenght and still could have gotten the point across. There is something to say about the charectorazation, though. Vittorio and Ursula are great charectors. This book proves that love can come from complete opposites. Also, this book is written extremely well. Everything in this book is written is crystel clear, although it takes 10 pages to describe one object. Thats what drove me crazy. This book took way too long to read. It wasn't, I feel, worth the time. If this book wasn't as long as it was it would be a great book.

About once every two or three hundred years, a man lives who is so charming and beautiful and prone to uncontrollable weeping that he is destined to become an Anne Rice vampire. And so we meet Vittorio. This new vampire comes off as arrogant, pretentious, childish and unlikable, as does the book that bears his name. I am a big fan of Interview with the Vampire, but Anne Rice's books seem to slip gradually farther from the depth and drama of that first work. She didn't always need angels and demons to walk her through explorations of good and evil. I hope her next installment is a little fresher. I would love to love her again.

I know there are other people like myself that eat everything (at least concerning Vampires) Rice puts in the market; we are all waiting for news about Lestat and his lovers, another journey to the "Dark Gift" or maybe only fun. Vittorio is an enjoyable history; one can have fun with it.
But, this book have some very bad points: The first part seems not to finish...I don't know, but it seemed like Rice wanted us to see that she has read a lot of books concerning the Florence history or the Italian paintings...one may like these, but I found extremelly boring! After the characters are introduced, the history adquires a good rhythm and can catch the reader. This is the only reason why I give 4 and not 3 stars to it. But there's nothing very new. It's the same handsome and rich lord that fights between being good or evil after a bloodsucker had entered his life in a tragic way. It reminds me Lestat, Loui and even Armand, altough I consider Lestat the best character of all these. And you have the end...Ok, there is a sort of unnexpected, but that "new era" not true about "all humans having a piece of God inside" is very disappointing.
Well, she could have made it better. Pandora was lovely and amazing. I hope the "new tales" really bring some new about this universe that we all love.

Anne Rice will always be a master of fiction, but VITTORIO is another nail in her casket as far as I am concerned. The short three hundred pages of this book were not enough. They were well written, but they were very much lacking. The joy of Anne's books includes learning the stories of more than the main character. In the golden days, Anne would have told us the story of Ursula at least. Come to think of it, Anne left out the last five hundred years of Vittorio's life too. Don't tell me he and Ursula haven't done something interesting in five hundred years. In summary, I'm very dissapointed with this book. Sorry Anne.

Never before have I met such a likeable, well-intentioned vampire as Vittorio. Never meaning to harm another, he struggled with what he had become, in order to survive. The profusely descriptive settings in this story set in fifteenth century Florence make the chase all that much more interesting. The romance story of the two young lovers is saddening in its ultimate corruption. The spiritual elements in the story bestow us eventual unattainable hope during hopeless situations. I enjoyed the ride.

I have enjoyed reading Anne Rice - until perhaps 4 books ago when she started her new series of vampire books. The last four, including this one, lacks a lot of the luster that her previous writing had. Vittorio was an engaging book, and the ending was very nice -- a love story I'd say but it lacked something. I also don't like the physical format of the book i.e., much smaller in size. You do get the impression you are reading a regular book, but it's simply an impression. Perhaps if the book had been longer she may have had more of an opportunity to bring it to life. In any respect I do look forward to her next book.

Although this is the best and most original of her latest couple of books (I could not finish Violin - it was so boring), it is still based on the same formula: very rich, extremely good looking, and incredibly charismatic charater becomes a vampire and confuses blood with sex, God, angels, the devil, and so on.
I'm still waiting for Anne Rice to write "Moshe", the middle-class, balding Jewish vampire who lived in the suburbs, drove a Saturn, and worked in the insurance industry.

Sadly, Vittorio The Vampire turned out to be another of Rice's smotheringly Christian novels. This time hidden behind the guise of a love for Italian art. Even I thought this one was too pious to be anything more than ennuyant & I can usually put up with just about all of her self righteous tripe to get to a good read. The morality she is gracelessly vomiting at her loyal readers has become all but intolerable to this reader. Will I personally purchase another piece of junk food litterateur by Mrs. Rice? Yeah probably but I never claimed I didn't have masochistic tendencies. Sometimes I think it's helpful to express a not so terribly positive view of things. In my honest opinion if I can save just one reader from the agonizing boredom caused by this book than I have done something pure & good.

Rice vividly gives us a taste of ancient Italy...alive with the painters and artists that made those times unique and beautiful. The book dazzles you as she uses her words to show you how it used to be in Italy. As for Vittorio, you will grow to love him, especially after reading his past and what he has been through. He is sort of like Louis, having humanity to him more so than the other vampires. Give it a try. I think it would have been more exciting with less descriptions and more action or weirdness, but it was good. I fairly enjoyed it, it was a tad bit better than Pandora.

I have read many of these reviews, and agree with all of them...yes this is a great book, and yes, this is a rehashing of the vampire series...but, yes, this is anne rice...i did not want the book to end, and i could not wait to get to the end to see the outcome...
what i love about her writing is the placement she can give me...i can see new orleans, i can smell it...i want to go to that place to see the old wrought iron fences, and the flowers and feel the muggy days and the rain, and walk the streets at night (maybe not a great idea in 1999 if you are not a vampire...) the same held for me in italy...to be taken behind walls and into homes...i saw it as i have not been able to see it in all my years of living...a history teacher needs to impart this same "feel" for times ...then maybe any of us would care about what they were trying to tell us of history. she makes it come alive...i do not tend to pause on her details, i read almost too quickly to get the full "feeling" of her placement.
i read her books, maybe too quickly, because at the end, i know i have missed most of it, and yet i am placed in another space for days on end...i could read many of her books three and four times and see something new each time...
she is able to place me in her vision...and i am grateful for that...yes, this book is not new material...we have read it before, but the place is different, the people are, the beginning was...
all i can do is wait for the next anne rice, and reread the withches series in the meantime

Rice is trying to break through with a new "type" of vampire. I am not comfortable with a strong religious message. She is trying too hard to be deep. Vittorio is not deep; he whines and is for the most part boring. What happened to entertaining the audience? She will be isolating a large audience, due to the strong themes, and a misplaced gore. The blood and violence should be part of the book, not an afterthought for effect. This is not the glitzy sexy vampire book of her past; this is however, her need to understand God in a changing, difficult world. This seems to be the detour all her work is taking. It began in The Tale of the Body Thief and she hasn't let up. Vittorio is not a vampire that the audience entirely sides with or even likes. In a gendre such as hers, Rice needs to develop strong ties between her characters and the reader. This an example of failure. There are a few other themes which she continues to fall short. Her inclusion of a musical theme has not been perfected. She needs to start slow and perfect its presence in the interworkings of the characters. She needs to stop writing characters to fit a theme. The location, Italy, of the new vampire is interesting, but why only the gloom. There is little mention of the beauty of the time and place. Setting has always been a strong element of Rice's books; Vittorio falls short once again. Overall, Vittorio is a disappointing read. Mrs. Rice try again. We will wait, but next time make it good.

This book is about demonds destroying a mans home and family. His name is vittorio he was turned into a vampire and seeks revenge for his home and his family.

I liked this book because it was very good it had very good parts.

I realy liked this book but it was realy long so it was not the interesting at some parts. Overall this book was realy good and i recomend this book because its scary and if u like scary books then this book is for you.

To tell everyone the truth, I loved this book! The way it brought me into the world of Italy was amazing. By the end of the novel, I did go and find out more about Fra Filippo Lippi and Cosimo and Fra Angelico and all the other wonderful characters Rice had intertwined with her story. I also loved it because it had absolutely nothing to do with the New Orleans Vampires, and states this quite clearly in the beginning. Congratulations on a job well done Anne! :o)

Anne Rice has created a character in Vittorio the Vampire that I hope to read more of. Frankly, though I love Lestat, I am getting tired of him and feel like he has gone about as far as he can go, what with that boring Memnoch fiasco and all that. Vittorio could easily become a new vampire hero. He is what we expect of Anne Rice vampires, beautiful and brooding. Vittorio is strong and daring like Lestat, but is more like Louis in his sensitivity and introspection. I liked how the story was told from the mortal Vittorio's point of view. It is more effectively chilling to read of a mortal's dealings with the undead. Vittorio the Vampire is a wonderful, but short story. The end of the book came too soon. I was left wanting more, and I hope that was the book's intent. Hopefully this is not the last we read of Vittorio and his beautiful sire Ursula.

I applaued Rice's colorful description, furthermore her undaying passion whitch showes it self in her work. Rice's world is filled with dark beauty. yet her new book is too short and really lakes debth. It seems written only to demonstrate her love for that particilar age, as if she wrote it upon a visit to florance just to immortalize an imortal city. but non the less I may seem harsh yet the level of perfection maintained by Rice has demolished in this book

This story introduces a mere adolescent of 16 who is taken into the dark side by force. A girl who died and was yet born into a world where blood is a salvation and your only choice for a safe haven seduced him. This boy's name was Vittorio. Belonging to the well-known town of Italy, he seeks revenge on all blood drinkers who with acid hearts sliced and diced his family's bodies into liquid shards. His life ended and ironically began when he caught eyes with one female vampire who seemed to stay and linger in his mind for eternity. Her name was Ursula. She too, died at 16 and she had no choice but to become one of them as well. Slowly, she begins to seep and reek from his mind. Little did he know that eventually, he becomes one of them. Vittorio regretted and hoped for all the happenings to occur all at thesame time. There were of course the good and the bads to this but he found no problem for that. No longer, could he dream in the day but only was his power to rule at night. No longer could he see the soft shade of yellow pouring down from the sun but only to see a mere reflection from the moon. This is Vittorio's Life, how it began, how it ended and how it was redeemed. A great book in my opinion and should be a great read for you too.

Probably one of Anne's most stunning peices thus far for the new tales of the vampires. She takes you on a spiritual ride that will blow your mind. I was totally blown away by the last 1/3 of the book. I in no way could have ever imagined that she would ever take us to this type of a spiritual plane. Forcing Vittorio to alway recognize the spiritual side of life. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to be spriritually challenged

Vittorio is a neatly zipped story - maybe a novelette by Witching Hour standards; you can finish it in a few days if you have little else to do. Anne Rice is famous for those huge and luscious sagas of the Vampires and the Witches, yet this one is not like them. Fans of her old style may become dissatisfied with Vittorio because it departs from the familiar. But don't let that stop you (or you, Mrs. Rice). This is a worthwhile book to say the least, glowing with the beauty of God's angels and flowing with fresh blood as usual. The chapters about the sons of God from Fra Filippo's paintings are quite inspiring and moving. There is strong morality and spirituality here. Who cannot identify with Vittorio as he is caught up between love and desire, honor and faith? Although I was disappointed by his choice in the end (why I don't give it 5 stars), I was not disappointed with the book. Neither will you.

Normally I enjoy everything Ms Rice writes. This new book lacks the depth of her prior books. Vittorio is an angry and aguished young man and we spend more time delving into his emotions than developing a full story line. Disappointingly, Ursula appears sporadically and is never fully developed, nor is the coven she lives in. The angels storyline is interesting but also underdeveloped. I kept waiting for the climax and still, 50 pages from the end of the book had not found it. I finished the book in almost 6 hours, lacking the desire for the next installation,the exhillaration from the book, or the disappointment that the story had ended from Ms Rice as I normally do after completing her works. I remain a loyal Rice fan, but would have happily waited longer for the next installment to the chronicles,a vintage Rice book instead of this mediocre addition. Vittorio could have easily gone as an unexplained vampire and would have never been missed. His story adds nothing necessary to the history of the vampires that Rice is working to develop and we are hardly the richer for having "met" him.

Looking for a dependably readable book for a long air flight, I picked up this continuation of Anne Rice's successful series. While Vittorio's story is much like many other of her vampires, it almost seemed as if written by an assistant, not unlike the Renaissance artists of the Florence era art world where her novel is set. Full of the sames scenes- a religious, repentant vampire, and his nobleman young life cut short, "Vittorio" is not original, yet with the addition of angels, it takes on a Tony Kushner flair. I liked the Italian setting, and it was too short, but if you like anne Rice's usual ornate, florid style, and occasionally sexy interactions, this one is fine, but no classic.

Rice's most recent novel was seriously lacking something. It had an excellent premise, good characters, but almost no depth. If she had lengthened this, instead of creating somewhat of a novella, it would have improved the quality of the story. At times, I found myself falling asleep. Descriptively, Rice is still the queen, and she's wonderful when it comes to historical accuracy. I still can't wait for her next book.

This book is a excellent addition to the new vampire series. As in Pandora, Vittorio allows you to step into a portion of his life. He does it with the flair and grandeur of the society he lived in. Ms Rice has always pushed my imagination to the limit and she has a winner in this story. I felt the anguish and pain Vittorio felt when he saw his family destroyed and understood his desire to kill the monsters that had done this deed. But throughout all this horror, we see a special love. Yes this love was created from a awful circumstance, but you understand why he had to make the decisions he did. We all have felt passions this great in our lives at one point in time. I was able to devour this story in 3 1/2 uninterrupted hours. Afterwards all I can say is WOW, smile and wipe a small tear.

I had seen "Interview with a Vampire" in the cinemasand having loved it, read "The Vampire Lestat" and "TheQueen of the Damned". Afterwards I ordered the rest of thechronicals and started reading one after the other. When I started to read Vittorio, I knew it would be the last of the magnificant chronicals till ... "The Vampire Armand 2" is going to be published. So I tried to read it slowly and enjoy every breath of it.But, "as always" I was soon through it...But this time I can't simply start to read the next tale of my beloved Vampires... :(
I felt familiar with Vittorio the moment I read his introduction to his "autobiography". Though he is in no way as extravagant as Lestat or feminine as Louis,Vittorio is one of the most human vampires of Anne Rice. I'm sure there will be a second book about Vittorio, because having finished it, I felt there was so much more I'd like to know about him. I hope Anne won't dissappoint me. :)

Vittorio was definitely not of the same calibur as the earlier Vampire Chronicles. He wasn't as vivid and alive. The story was ok... not great, but ok. It is a little more fanciful than the others. More out there in the wide world of dark fantasy. Vittorio's tale isn't quite as believable as the others were. If you haven't read any of the other chronicles yet, this one would probably be a good read, but when put up against The Vampire Lestat, Interview With a Vampire etc. it just doesn't hold up.

I loved every Anne Rice Vampire book, except for this one. A word to the wise, save your 26.95 dollars on this book, if you're interested buy the cheap paperback cover. This book is soooo vague, I couldn't believe it! I was so disappointed. Vittorio didn't even change into a vampire until like the last 50 pages! This novel reaked! I think Anne Rice should've took a little more time on this novel. maybe she shouldn't write anymore Vampire novels.

So we have an Italian vampire now, totally unrelated to lestat and his gang. One would expect a different story but, here we go again, the kid falls in love with a French blonde vampire from the middle ages (I still wonder how Ursula and her crowd got stablished in Italy). The kid wants revenge but ends up in love with this vampire woman who saves his life from sacrifice... This is a short story but I had a hard time finishing it because well it was so BORING. Reminds me of Marius love story with Pandora, as well as le theatre des vampires in paris trying to get rid of Louis killing claudia and Madelaine...In other words the only original thing about this book is the Italian landscape descriptions. Oh and BTW, be ready to see some Godly angels flying around.Are we doomed to see the same story but in different locations each time Anne Rice takes a vacation trip?Are we doomed to hear about Jesus, Mary, God himself, and all the angels socializing erotically with vampires every time Anne reafirms her christian faith in real life? I hope not.

I knew I shouldn't have bought this book (luckily I bought it at a used book store) because although I enjoyed Memnoch the Devil, I didn't care for her other writings. Well, I am a big fan of historical fantasy, namely Jack Whyte, and almost anything from the ancient Roman/British era, but this book sounded interesting, so I gave it a go. Not only did it drag, but the main character was not well rounded, and I am convinced Anne Rice cannot write worth a darn. Maybe I'm just not used to her style, but I was halfway through the book, bored and wondering if the guy was going to become a vampire, and how lame that he would probably end up with the vampire woman. I hate leaving books unfinished, but The Tribune (which I found quite good) was waiting, and so Vittorio fell by the wayside. I would encourage anyone who's used to reading excellent authors, and hasn't yet read Anne Rice, to consider borrowing this book from the library. I gave it two stars because it started out interesting, but it would have been a better story had there been a different auther, I'm sure.

Dear Authors: if you have a number of interesting but not necessarily related ideas, take the time to flesh each one out individually in a well-plotted and well-written book. If you decide to cram them all into one short work you'll end up wih a pointless little casserole like Vittorio, the Vampire. The book starts well enough but then disintegrates; while the places are, for the most part, beautifully described, the characters are poorly drawn, the plot meanders aimlessly from pillar to post until it disappears altogether, and the various jumbled themes can't be addressed satisfactorily in a book this brief and hastily assembled. No wonder it was only $3.98.

vittorio could possibaly be a.rice's best wrighting.this book has helped me understand that know matter what the human state,we are all equal,and special.it makes you think about the good and bad in people,and what can make you a good or bad person,and how love can alter a person and play a major part in a persons actions which effect directley to the good or bad in a person.vittorio also has strong religious parts in the plot.also an accurate depiction of italy around the 14th century.i feel this book should be a must read for psychology classes,upon finishing it you will find you'll have much to disguss.everyone i know who has read it (and its more then a few)all feel the same way about it as i do,outstanding.vittorio was also a main selection of the literary guild.hats off to a.rice.bravo.

I'm normally a reader of mainstream fiction like The Triumph and the Glory, Havana Bay, and the Oprah books, but I've ALWAYS read Anne Rice because she is so incredibly talented. But Vittorio was a little weak in plot, character development and theme. Only the narration was upo to Rice's high standards set by her previous masterworks.

Three cheers to Anne Rice!! For creating something so different from her past Vampire Books. VITTORIO manages to be, in 288 pages, a beautifully written, gloriously violent (it is a Vampire novel after all), and the most gothic novel Anne's ever witten. A tale of love, revenge and history in a great new voice that's an important addition to her Chronicles. Too many people - if the reviews here are any indication - start an Anne Rice novel with preconceived ideas of what it will be, or what it should be, STOP IT... and enjoy.

My very first Anne Rice novel was Interview with the Vampire--quickly followed by the other members of her Vampire Chronicles, my favorite being a tie between Interview and The Vampire Lestat. The moment I saw Vittorio upon the shelves, I rushed to the checkout counter and ran home to begin reading. While it was a wonderfully vivid and imaginative text, especially in its descriptions of Vittorio's guardian angels, I was wholly disappointed. The chronicling of Vittorio's life and ascent into vampirehood was interesting, no doubt, but the sudden ending after Ursula's blood initiation of the young Italian left me wanting more. The detailed relationships and descriptions of nightly occurrences which characterize Rice's Vampire Chronicles are no where to be found within Vittorio's text. While this second installment of the New Tales of the Vampires is a quick, easy read, it in no way challenges the awesome tale that is Interview with the Vampire.

Though not as exciting or character driven as her other Vampires, Vittorio was still a fun read. It is short and does not lack for action or beautiful writing. I have only read it once, a long while ago, but plan to re-read it as I have done to numerous Anne Rice novels. I would recommend this to any fan. It can even be read as a stand alone even if you have never picked up a Vampire Chronicle.

I thought the story of Vittorio was noting short of truly wonderful. I loved it in every way. Rarely has a book ever gripped me such as this with such a wonderful story, along with Rice's ever present conflict of Good & Evil, & the question of being good, while physically being pure evil.

Incredible.

On my personal Vampire Chronicles Appreciation Scale - with the first three books at the top and "Memnoch" at the bottom - "Vittorio" floats somewhere in the middle.
While Vittorio himself is a fairly interesting character, I did not really care for Ursula. Maybe her part in the story is just too small; on the other hand, Flavius' part in "Pandora" was small too, but him I liked very much... Also, I could have done without the Angels-subplot.
I hope Anne Rice manages to reduce the Religion in here future Vampire books. (But I'll probably buy them anyway ;-) )

This is yet another typical Anne Rice "vampire" novel. There are chapters that seem to go on forever, bogged down in historical background. Anne Rice never gives the reader the chance to get a feel for the main character. If you enjoyed the other books in the vampire chronicles, don't read this book.

Once again, Anne has left me breathless with her passionate writing. Anne is one of those rare writers who can actually make you *feel* the character as though he was actually sitting next to you and telling his story. For a short story, Vittorio was wonderful. Keep up the great work, Mrs. Rice!!

i read this and pandora well after completeing the first vampire chronciles set and to be honest i liked the new direction anne was going with the stories. if you have been to florence or venice before reading books like vittorio or the vampire armand the story telling has its own way of bringing you back to the sights and smells of both of these amazing cities. that aside vampires rebelling against their makers is a popular theme in the chronicles but with this book it is taken to a whole new level. this book captured my attention enough within the first 50 pages that i ended up reading it from start to finish in a little less than a day.

Vittorio is simply intoxicating. It is one of Anne Rice's best novels to date. The character of Vittorio is a character of which the readers haven't seen the like since Louis in Interview. He is totally mesmerizing and I anxiously await more of his story. Bravo Anne!!

'Vittorio the Vampire' is a short gripping read and I highly recommend it. I am surprised by all the negative reviews here. I found this book engrossing and richly detailed. I wanted to read it cover to cover without stopping. Anne Rice has lovingly crafted this story, her prose is lush, and Renaissance Florence and surrounds are gloriously described and well researched. Passionate Vittorio leaps from the pages. Give it a go.