Reviews
By far, the best of the vampire chronicles. In my opinion at least.
Anne Rice continues to build a very intricate world of her vampires, pulling you into each of their stories and letting you experience what they themselves have gone through during their lives as both mortals and vampires.
I like reading about how the vampires choose to hunt in the more modern day and age. It adds a fun spin on things.
Marius will be telling his story to another ancient vampire, one who was made by one of the red haired twins.
Marius does a very brief gloss over of his making of a vampire and how he cared for their oldest vampires as well as some general parts from the past books whenever his story has crossed with others. In a way we are getting bits of a re-cap.
We then switch to a first person pov as Marius tells his story to the other vampire, one who has been out of the loop with all things.
We get straight to Marius and his time having saved Those Who Must Be Kept.
Marius once again meets Mael, the being responsible for him having become a vampire and he is quite angry. They both are angry with each other.
There are so many extra stories woven in. I really like that about this series.
Marius plans to leave those he has spent years with, as a way to preserve the secret of the Queen and King. To keep others from ever finding them.
At times, this story almost feels like a history text and it bores me a bit to be honest. I can't say I'm happy with Marius's character growth in this book. He makes me a bit angry with him. Overall this was on okay book. Felt a bit repetitive at times having already had portions of this story throughout the other books in the series.
Unfailingly gorgeous writing as always. Knowledgeable and yet limited by that wisdom, Marius is a fitting narrator of the ages that span his life and history. Marius is a rational, far-sighted, loving and protective guardian. One of his most fascinating facets is his complicated, almost fearful, relationship with his own anger that, I suppose, would not be revealed by anyone except himself in reflection, which makes it a privilege to have him account for himself in his volume. His feelings are no less strong as the other vampires, but there is, I felt, always this forward-looking sentiment and with it, the idea of mastering himself. It complements his thirst for knowledge. It was most wonderful to deepen a spectator's knowledge about his time in Venice with Amadeo, rendered in fine, indulgent detail that makes its brevity even more heart-rending. (This constitutes one of the main reasons why this volume was anticipated.) The touching scenes here augment the great devotion shared between them, first briefly touched upon by Armand in The Vampire Lestat, then vividly coloured for the first time in The Vampire Armand. Blood and Gold supplies the other voice, responding to one account with another, to paint a fuller, more vibrant picture. While the latter seems more sensual, Blood and Gold unsurprisingly concentrates upon upbringing, guidance and maturation, the filling of the mortal cup for a purpose of making an immortal, which is such a Marius thing to do, really. For the first time, the voice of the older vampire also reveals gaps that only he has perceived (being more wise) and how secrets dwell within these gaps, widening the cracks. This mediates idealism; his perfect time is not entirely ideal. For all his shortcomings, and for all the shortcomings that are always present (and he sees them), Marius is one who appreciates, builds and savours. And these redeeming qualities make him beautiful and worthy of respect.
