TEST
I’ve read every book, with the exception of one, that Anne Rice has written, including her S&M fantasies, and have thoroughly enjoyed most of them, even when they’ve “weirded me out”. At her best, the author creates entirely new worlds for readers to explore. At her worst, the author veers into self-indulgent pap. Luckily, she’s closer to her best more often than not, especially in her vampire series (with the exception of Tales of the Body Thief) and her Mayfair witch series. With Pandora, author Rice explores an ancient world with one of the characters from Queen of the Damned, my favorite of her vampire novels. Pandora, who literally eats her victims, may not be your typical protagonist, but she’s a fascinating one.
Those of us who feared the end of exploration of the vampire world in Memnoch, can rest assured that there will further exploration by some familiar characters. Those readers who felt the author had drifted out of horror and into religion may still not sigh with relief after reading Pandora, but after last year’s horrid Violin, it seems Rice is back on track. This book is a read-in-one-sitting novel that explores more of the vampire mythology Rice created in Queen of the Damned. After having read her early vampire books, almost every vampire novel I’ve read has suffered in comparison. When I read a vampire story involving garlic or wooden stakes, I end up thinking, “That’s ridiculous – everyone knows you can only kill a vampire by burning him. I read that in Interview!”
Rice is at her best when writing sensually of the horrific. For instance, a scene early in the book has Pandora ripping out the heart of a victim and sucking out its blood until it is drained of color and life. This scene is reminiscent of a scene in Queen where Pandora picks up her victims and snaps their bones like twigs before devouring them. To explain to the non-aficionado that this reads like lyrical prose is difficult at best; when I tried to tell my husband about it, he looked at me like I should be locked in the attic.
Pandora is a two-thousand year-old vampire who was given blood by The Queen. As such, she is powerful, beautiful, and strong. The book is in the form of a written narrative. Pandora’s story began in ancient Rome. She was raised in a powerful family as the pampered daughter of a senator and saw the over-indulgences and vulgarities of Roman life at the time. As a free woman, she was well-educated and took part in religious cult activities. She chose the Egyptian cult of Isis, but gave it up when it fell out of favor. When her family was killed for political reasons, she was spirited out of Rome by Jewish traders, who brought her to safety in Antioch.
It is in Antioch that she is brought back into the cult of Isis through a series of dreams and hallucinations. She experiences the power of The Queen, and is as well re-introduced to Marius, whom she had met as a youth in Rome. The remainder of the book explores her relationship to Marius, who bestows upon her the Dark Gift, and provides evermore glimpses into The Queen, and how she created her own mythology. This is not a book to read for the plot – it is a book to read to delve once again into Rice’s vampire mythology and to experience the vivid richness of her written word.
Readers will not have to have read the earlier books in the series; this book is good enough to stand on its own. But it wouldn’t hurt, and readers who haven’t read the earlier books will likely want to read them after reading Pandora. As is often the case in her vampire books, she delves into religion – here going to the very start of the Christianity that so fascinates her.
Most enjoyable for me was that Pandora’s story was a woman’s story. So often Rice’s lead characters are male – Pandora is a match for Marius and Lestat, and her experiences with The Queen are rendered exquisitely. Also fascinating was a vivid look, Anne Rice style, of the ancient world of Rome and Antioch. The reader will feel transported to a time and a place which otherwise seems merely historic. Pandora is not her best work – the author loses intensity toward the end when Pandora’s relationship with Marius suffers, but this sets the stage for the next book, which I am eager to read.
Here are my (updated through 2004) ratings for Anne Rice’s vampire series, which I first discovered back in the late 1980s:
| Interview with the Vampire | 1976 | A | Vamp Chron #1 |
| The Vampire Lestat | 1985 | B+ | Vamp Chron #2 |
| Queen of the Damned | 1988 | A+ | Vamp Chron #3 |
| Tale of the Body Thief | 1992 | F | Vamp Chron #4 |
| Memnoch the Devil | 1995 | B | Vamp Chron #5 |
| The Vampire Armand | 1998 | D | Vamp Chron #6 |
| Blood and Gold | 2001 | D | Vamp Chron #7 |
| Blackwood Farm | 2002 | B+ | Vamp Chron #8 |
| Blood Canticle | 2003 | D | Vamp Chron #9/Mayfair Witches #4 |
| Pandora | 1998 | B+ | New Tales of the Vampires #1 |
| Vittorio | 1999 | D | New Tales #2 |
| Merrick | 2000 | C | New Tales #3 (related to Mayfair too) |
Grade: B+
Book Type: Paranormal Historical
Sensuality: N/A
Review Date: 28/04/98
Publication Date: 1998
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Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.