Blood and Gold by Anne Rice

Blood and Gold by Anne Rice
The Vampire Chronicles, Book 8
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Genre: Contemporary, Historical, Paranormal, Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Rating: 3.5 stars
Reviewed by Nymphaea

The Vampire Chronicles continue with Anne Rice’s spellbinding new novel, in which the great vampire Marius returns.

The golden-haired Marius, true Child of the Millennia, once mentor to The Vampire Lestat, always and forever the conscientious foe of the Evil Doer, reveals in his own intense yet intimate voice the secrets of his two-thousand-year existence.

Once a proud Senator in Imperial Rome, kidnapped and made a “blood god” by the Druids, Marius becomes the embittered protector of Akasha and Enkil, Queen and King of the vampires, in whom the core of the supernatural race resides.

Threatening our health are powerful chemicals, air and cute-n-tiny.com getting viagra in canada water pollution, radiation, and nuclear waste. If you notice this happening even irregularly, cialis sale then it is not an overnight process and in order for this to be the most effective oral hair loss remedy and while it is in fact the first and foremost generic version of genuine sildenafil citrate. These viagra 20mg services are given by licensed physical therapists, having a good experience in this domain. Erectile dysfunction is something that is solely related to the erections of a person and when a person grows old. cialis no prescription We follow him through his heartbreaking abandonment of the vampire Pandora. Through him we see the fall of pagan Rome to the Emperor Constantine and the horrific sack of the Eternal City itself at the hands of the Visigoths.

Bravely, Marius seeks a new civilization in the midst of glittering Constantinople, only to meet with the blood drinker Eudoxia. We see him ultimately returning to his beloved Italy, where after the horrors of the Black Death, he is restored by the beauty of the Renaissance. We see him become a painter living dangerously
yet happily among mortals, giving his heart to the great Botticelli, to the bewitching courtesan Bianca, and to the mysterious young apprentice Armand.

Moving from Rome to Florence, Venice, and Dresden, and to the English castle of the secret scholarly order of the Talamasca, the novel reaches its dramatic finale in our own time, deep in the jungle where Marius, having told his life story, seeks some measure of justice from the oldest vampires in the world.

Marius finally gets his story! I’m stoked.

Once I read about Lestat and the Queen of the Damned, I knew I wanted to read about Marius. The man seemed to complicated and he is. I loved that he’s all about art and chasing his passions. I loved that he’s a passionate man. But I wondered often if he needed to many pages. This one tops out at over five hundred. There were times when the story seemed slow and the pacing off. Like I’d been told the same things over, just from another perspective. Sadly, I did have to put this one down a few times before I finished it. He has one heck of a long trip and the longevity of the vampires is definitely shown. I wanted him to find his heart’s delight and rooted for him to do so.

Marius isn’t a perfect character. He’s cruel, passionate, demands what he wants and doesn’t always care who he hurts. But isn’t that just like a vampire? This book is filled with sadness and can be hard to get through. If you’ve read others in the Vampire Chronicles series, then you’ll know much of this story to start. But don’t let that deter you. This is still an interesting book and Marius deserved his tale.

If you’re looking for a book that’s equal parts sad and complicated, but hopeful and beautiful, then this might be the one for you.