Product Description

Here is the gorgeous and sinister story of Marius, patrician by birth, scholar by choice, one of the oldest vampires of them all, which sweeps from his genesis in ancient Rome, in the time of the Emperor Augustus, to his meeting in the present day with a creature of snow and ice. Thorne is a Northern vampire in search of Maharet, his 'maker', the ancient Egyptian vampire queen who holds him and others in thrall with chains made of her red hair, 'bound with steel and with her blood and gold.' When the Visigoths sack his city, Marius is there; with the resurgence of the glory that was Rome, he is there, still searching for his lost love Pandora, but bewitched in turn by Botticelli, the Renaissance beauty Bianca, with her sordid secrets, and the boy he calls Amadeo (otherwise known as the Vampire Armand). Criss-crossing through the stories of other vampires from Rice's glorious Pantheon of the undead, haunted by Pandora and by his alter ego Mael, tracked by the Talamasca, the tale of Marius, the self-styled guardian of 'those who must be kept' is the most wondrous and mind-blowing of them all.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #30559 in Books
• Published on: 2002-11-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 752 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
With Blood and Gold, Anne Rice is firing on all cylinders again, producing the kind of heady mix that distinguishes her best work: a bizarre mélange of gothic horror, overripe romanticism and a genuinely poetic vision that is very much her own. This latest vampire novel boasts all the Rice specialities, notably a moody, patrician vampire protagonist.

Marius, from a noble family (and a distinguished scholar), is one of the oldest of all vampires, his origins lost in the mist of ancient Rome, in the time of the Emperor Augustus. But all of his encounters over the centuries have not prepared him for his meeting in the present day with a sinister being of snow and ice. The northern vampire Thorne is seeking Maharet, his "maker", a centuries-old Egyptian vampire queen whose unbreakable hold over him rests in chains made of her red hair. As the Visigoths looted and pillaged, Marius looked on; he strode the decadence of the Roman empire, still seeking his lost love Pandora, but was later beguiled by Renaissance beauty Bianca, and the boy Amadeo. Rice, as usual, intertwines her diverse and complex narratives, keeping a massive cast of characters always alive for the reader. But the emphasis here is on the brilliantly created Marius, in thrall to Pandora and his alter ego Mael. As Rice conjures him, Marius may be the most distinctive protagonist in all her fiction. Throughout the seven volumes of the Vampire Chronicles, and most notably in such recent books as Memnoch the Devil and Merrick, Rice showed that she would never be content to repeat herself. Blood and Gold is further evidence of her willingness to tackle new areas in her colossal vampiric mythos.--Barry Forshaw

From the Publisher
Blood and Gold is the latest mesmerising and exotic vampire novel from the mistress of the genre. Here is the gorgeous and sinister story of Marius, patrician by birth, scholar by choice, one of the oldest vampires of them all, which sweeps from his genesis in ancient Rome, in the time of the Emperor Augustus, to his meeting in the present day with a creature of snow and ice. Thorne is a Northern vampire in search of Maharet, his ‘maker’, the ancient Egyptian vampire queen who holds him and others in thrall with chains made of her red hair,‘bound with steel and with her blood and gold'.When the Visigoths sack his city, Marius is there; with the resurgence of the glory that was Rome, he is there, still searching for his lost love Pandora,but bewitched in turn by Botticelli,the Renaissance beauty Bianca, with her sordid secrets, and the boy he calls Amadeo. Criss-crossing through the stories of other vampires from Rice’s glorious Pantheon of the undead, haunted by Pandora and by his alter-ego Mael, tracked by the Talamasca, the tale of Marius, the self-styled guardian of ‘those who must be kept’ is the most wondrous and mind-blowing of them all.

About the Author
Anne Rice is the internationally bestselling author of seven volumes of the Vampire Chronicles, including Interview with the Vampire (made into a major film starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt) and most recently Memnoch the Devil, The Vampire Armand and Merrick. Her other numerous novels include the short vampire novels Pandora and Vittorio the Vampire, as well as Servant of the Bones, Violin and The Feast of All Saints. She was born in New Orleans and lives there now with her husband, the poet and artist Stan Rice.

Customer Reviews

Anne Rice at her best
This is perhaps her best story of all.
I bought it because I am captivated by all her Vampire Chronicles.
I did not expect it to be anywhere near her best because I realised it would cover old ground explored in her earlier books.
But she covered it so well. She made what was ground covered before new ground from Marius's perspective. Rather than him being a supporting character he was the main character and you got to see his true feelings on what occurred.

The book is a tragedy in many ways and brings out many emotions in the reader. It is spell binding. It is a love story and it is a action book. It makes you fall in love with the characters and the places they go.

She has always been an expert at bringing out the emotions in her readers and she does to with great skill in this novel, the scene where he meets Pandora again after so many centuries but must let her go is heartbreaking.

I started off loving Marius as a character in her earlier books, then as she wrote more books coming to dislike him, but reading this has made me once again come to admire and respect and have empathy for this character. He shall now always be one of my favourites of all her characters.

If you have not read any of her other Vampire novels then this is a good one to start with.

As long as she writes books like this I will be a fan and eagerly buy her work.

Another wonderful feast for Anne Rice fans. Wondeful!
This, the 10th of Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, is about one of the oldest Vampires, Marius. I read the book in 2 days; such was my delight in the release of his life story. Whilst not disappointed by it, I was not as fascinated by it as I have been with some of the other novels. Being the 10th novel, it has the disadvantage of having to re-tell story's we have already heard, for instance Marius's time with Pandora and Amadeo later known as Armand.

However, new readers and die-hard fans will consume this particular tale with relish. It is a wonderful introduction to all that has gone before, and whereas some of the other Vampire's tales brushed only the surface of Marius's life, this delves deeper and further. I have, as a die-hard fan, only one true complaint. The ending. I hated it. Whilst unable to go into the details here, a new (to us) Vampire, Thorne, is involved. Justice is done, and ancient scores and grudges are finally (?) settled. But the way Anne has done this seems, well, as if she had run out of ideas. I have no qualms about the final outcome, but I really don't think that what happens in the last few paragraphs would have happened in the way that it does, should the characters be real and true (indeed, assuming they are not!) to their previous characteristics. I think she could have missed out virtually all of the ending, and come up with a more satisfying and realistic ending. Perhaps. Please note, I use realistic here due to my understanding of the characters through reading and re-reading all the previous Vampire Chronicles.

In essence, the book covers a common theme - how lonely the Vampires are, and how lonely they are destined to be. They all have found and lost true loves within their bizarre and beautiful world, yet no number of years can erase hurt, pain and hatred or indeed love. Marius is no exception. He has found many and lost many loves - more indeed than most, due to the extent of this life, if that's the correct word! They have all (at least, the Children of the Millennia) found ways to carry on and survive and to justify their existence. But to what end if they are always destined to be lonely? I think it's this bitter-sweet message that all the novels try to relay to us, the reader. I think in many ways, Anne is trying to reflect our own lives, no matter how wonderful or tragic they seem to us. What would we really do with eternity?

To sum up - if you are new to the world of Anne's Vampires, buy this. If you are, like me, a die-hard fan who must have the hard back version, buy this. If you have enjoyed her previous Vampire novels, but not with a passion, wait until it comes out in paperback, or borrow it from a library! And finally, if you do not have the slightest interest in Vampires or glimpses of interesting history or of "human" nature and heartache, leave well alone, for you will hate it!

I would give the book 5 stars, if it weren't for the ending. However, we can't all be perfect all the time, can we, and Anne Rice is no exception to that!

Finally another good Vampire Chronicle
I am a huge fan of Anne Rice's first three Vampire novels, "Interview", "Lestat" and "the Queen of the Damned", but became increasingly frustrated by the books she's published since.
Whereas in the original trilogy she thought up exciting adventures of the undead, with "the Tale of the Body Thief", "Memnoch the Devil", "Pandora", "Vittorio", and especially "Armand" she bored me to death, forever talking of God, angels, paintings, artwork, and lovesick homosexual vampires without ever something interesting actually happening.
I found "the Vampire Lestat" to be a truly enthralling tale of a rebel vampire having great, yet still credible, adventures in the Western World from the 18 century till present day and finding out how these blood drinkers actually came to be. I was unable to stop reading and was fascinated by every single vampire he came into contact with. I was especially anxious to read Armand's story, after Antonio Banderas brought him to life so well. That's why his story was such a disappointment. Rice was forever whining about how much this vampire was in love with poetry, God, angels, paintings, his fellow art students and even his master and rushed through the really interesting parts: Armand's origins on the cold, barren plains of Russia and his defection to the Satanic Devil worshippers from which he would eventually be freed by Lestat, allowing him to become the master of the Theatre des Vampires and Louis' savior.
After this monstrosity I swore I'd never read another Rice novel, but then decided to give "Merrick" one final shot and I was pleasantly surprised. Although the religious element was still very much present in this book, Merrick's story was interesting enough for me to keep on reading, albeit still a far cry from her earlier tales of Louis and Lestat. Encouraged by this, I decided to give "Blood and Gold" a chance, although Marius's story was aleady elaborately discussed in "the Vampire Lestat" and "the Vampire Armand", the latter in the most boring way I might add. But right from the start I realized this book was nothing like her previous five Vampire Chronicles. It had good pace, an interesting new Blood Drinker from the North Lands, just awakened form centuries of slumber and Rice doesn't waste time forever going into details like she used to over the last decade. She does spend a lot of time describing the various cities and countries in which Marius has lived, but, contrary to "Armand", "Pandora" or "Vittorio", you don't feel like you're reading a history book that happens to involve vampires. Instead, the background she provides us with creates a beautifull setting and helps us understand what it was like for a Blood Drinker to live in that historic age.
This book is very much linked to her second and third novels in this series and therefore Marius briefly recaptures the events that took place in those years without needlessly repeating all that Lestat and Armand have already told us about this Child of the Millennium. We also get a lot of new information about the first two vampires, Akasha and Enkil, and this helps us understand how angry Marius was when his Queen abandoned him for this young Brat Prince whom he entrusted with his deepest secrets.
Therefore this work is definitely an invaluable addition to the entire Vampire Chronicles. In fact, unless you really want to know all there is to know about Rice's Blood Drinkers and are willing to labour through a couple thousand terribly boring pages, I recommend skipping all of her Vampire books that were published in the 1990s. Just stick to the first trilogy and then cut right to Blood and Gold. All tings worth knowing from the other novels are recaptured in this brilliant work anyway.