Thorne, his long sleep interrupted by the waking and rampaging of the Vampire Queen Akasha, is now driven to find the one who made him, the one he saw in his visions – Maharet, one of the two oldest vampires in the worldHe emerges from his icy tomb to seek his own kind – and finds Marius, the Roman, Child of the Millennium, Former Keeper of Those Who Must be Kept. And avid biogorapher – who recounts his history to the Norse vampireThorne emerges from his centuries of sleep, trying to find answers, trying to find his creator, trying to find some explanation for what happened in the vampire world. At first it seems lucky that he runs into Marius, ancient roman vampire who knows all the answers, but as he’s taken to Marius’s home he realises the dreadful truth… he had fallen into the hands of The Biographer Vampires and their Endless Exposition.Despite having known Marius for less than a few hours, this poor vampire is then subjected to Marius’s entire 2,000 year old life story (as an added bonus, he also tucks in the story of Eudoxia, a vampire he met along the way). I honestly think these books aren’t even trying to come up with a plausible explanation for why these vampires feel a need to info-dump their entire histories with the most purple of prose – just randomly dropping it on a stranger will do now. Thorne wanted to know about the events of Queen of the Damned, it would have taken exactly 10 minutes to sum up the (limited) plot of that book! No-one asked you your life story, Marius!To be fair, though, this is one of the better interminably long, over-detailed biographies in the series because a) Marius is a relatively relevant character and b) we get a good sense of him in this book which we haven’t seen elsewhere (unlike, say, The Vampire Armand which was repetitive and added nothing new).We get a good insight into Marius’s character as time and again he repeats the same patterns – Marius needs company. Not just vampire company (though for much of his existence he seems to need or crave a vampire companion), but human company as well especially when he was younger (relatively speaking), often throwing open his home for people to join him in parties and salons – far more so. In some ways he’s very much a product of his time and place: he’s a Roman. He’s very civilised, very social and, tellingly, pretty arrogant. Which is a wonderful repeated sense I get of Marius which is well done because I get this sense while seeing through Marius’s eyes AND without Marius himself conceding the point. But Marius is Roman, the civilised man in the world of barbarians who need to be educated. From a young age he was entrusted with the duty of keeping Akasha and Enkil safe and repeatedly drank Akasha’s blood making him much much stronger than pretty much every vampire he met. There’s a lot of fuel to that arrogance but once you see it, it puts everything else into a whole new context with Marius.Like the vampires he always has with him – he says he likes to be a teacher, but ultimately with both vampires and humans he wants to be the AUTHORITY – teacher, mentor, patron, father-figure (and lover at same time because it’s the Vampire Chronicles) up to and including his latest companion. Everyone is subservient to him, every vampire has had to look up to him or been in a weaker position than him – and any vampire who argued with him gets a completely disproportionate response from him: Pandora, Mael, when Armand defied him (and a great deal of Marius’s distrust of Armand seems to stem as much from his unwillingness to follow exactly the path Marius laid down as anything else), any vampire he has been with. He even has a completely childish snit with and Mael because they won’t take on Zenobia – who Marius has no time or inclination for; never once considering that if he didn’t want to take on a student then maybe nor did they? In turn it raises a question about why Marius wants humans around him – is it a desire for civilised company? Or is it a need for an entourage to lord it over?It also puts into context the semi-frequent disasters that blight Marius’s life – is it because he’s too close to humanity? Is it because his overarching obsession with Those Who Must be Kept distracts him? Or is because, as we see hinted at over and over, the arrogant Marius is too careless and too sure in his own abilities to take precautions?Read More
The first Anne Rice book I read was The Mummy or Ramses the Damned. I was in the 8th grade. I loved it, and tried to read Interview with the Vampire but never finished it.Almost five years later, I was in Sestriere, Italy, a small mountain town outside of Torino, near the French and Swiss borders. I was there for almost a week, and it was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been in my entire life. I could spend hundreds of words describing it all, but I'm getting off track. It was the end of my European jaunt with Nana, and I had exhausted the last of my cache of books on the train from Milan to Torino. I raided Nana's, and the only applealing option was the newest Anne Rice paperback, Blood and Gold.I curled up in my bed with my new book, not exactly looking forward to it, but knowing it was better than nothing. But once I started, I couldn't stop, and finished it sometime around 4 am the next morning. I can't explain how I could suddenly be completely sucked in to this world, but when I got home, I raided my friend's collection of Vampire Chronicle books. I've read them all, except Interview. That confuses many people, but I just can't get into it. All four main characters - Louis, Lestat, Claudia and Daniel - appear in other books, I'm familiar with the plot points, and don't think it's necessary. I just really don't think it's a very good book. I much prefer the characters' appearances in the other books.I've loved many of the other selections in the series, but none quite as much as I love Blood and Gold. For me, it's the true last contribution to the Vampire Chronicles, even though two or three more books were published. (Those stories were Mayfair Witches crossovers, and I did not enjoy them very much.) It's Marius' story, and he and Armand are by far my favorite of the characters (followed closely by Lestat, who also plays a big role in Marius' story). Marius is very close to being the oldest vampire of the group, so his maturity and authority are to be expected. However, his immaturity and childishness are surprising elements, and those unforeseen qualities are some the reasons he is so interesting to read about. I've read it three times so far, and if I could give it another star, I would.
What do You think about Blood And Gold (2002)?
I'm quite surprised at how mixed the reviews are here as I thought this was yet another winner from Anne Rice! Blood and Gold follows the history of Marius and his long and troubled existence as he travels and strives to keep his secret of 'Those Who Must be Kept' and forges relationships to keep him sane and to stave off his loneliness; from the peculiar bond with Mael and Avicus to the love and devotion of Amadeo and Bianca. For someone so strong Marius does a lot of running to save his secrets and he never loses sight of what he has lost... the beautiful Pandora. Marius watches the rise and fall of human and vampiric civilisations and falls head first into artwork for his shrine to 'TWMbK' and to his mortal love. This novel nurtures the already well established character of Marius whilst upkeeping previous vampire chronicles in its wake and pleasingly adding the Talamasca for yet more interesting interaction with the supernatural. Marius' relationships between Amadeo, Bianca and Pandora are possibly the most intriguing with how he seemingly wishes to be the father figure to Amadeo and Bianca, stern yet loving whereas with Pandora a frenzy in which he must possess her overwhelms whatever love he may feel for her.Personally I would advise this book. I agree that as with most Anne Rice books there does not feel like there is a beginning, middle and an end but as it is essentially a biography of a fictional character I feel it is presented wonderfully as always. The patterns of the vampire chronicles are the same but the characters themselves and their stories are not. This book is worthy of audience in its own right and I suggest you try it if you haven't already!
—Jane
I'm kind of glad I waited more than a year to read this book after having read the first eight, plus the Mayfair Witches book all pretty much right in a row. I think I would have found the parts where Marius is retelling things that Lestat told is in The Vampire Lestat and that Armand told us in The Vampire Armand rather boring and repetitive. As it was, it was a nice reminder of things I'd forgotten, and I was able to jump right back in without re-reading, which would have been quite the undertaking. I've always really admired the wisdom and even temper of Marius, particularly in The Queen of the Damned and although we knew a little of him from the two previously mentioned books, it was a treat to have his story fleshed out even more and his perspective shown on things we already knew the other side of. It's unfortunate that the character of Thorne, who emerges from the ice apparently only to listen to Marius tell a 500-page story and then complete a couple of acts no other previously introduced character would have been able to. I would have liked to have known more about him; the climax of this tale might have meant more or had more feeling for me. As it was, it was a little bit of a let down. I was feeling like awarding this book three stars because of that feeling, but sitting down to write about it has induced me to add back the fourth star I was intending to give it right before I came to the end. Had the ending been more exciting or satisfying, I probably would've given 4.5 stars. As it stands, it's a good, full, tale of history and blood and a fascinating vampire with a rather lame last three chapters. I hope that's a set-up for something more interesting, but it seems the next book in this series takes an entirely different tack. I am looking forward to completing this author's vampire-related works in their entirety.
—Emily
Shall I say Marius de Romanus is my new favorite vampire, in all of his oozing sensuality? Why, yes.Reading this book made me excited to reread The Vampire Chronicles. I have to admit, I actually found myself falling in love with Marius, or at least developing a crush on him, towards the end of the book. Oh, how I would gladly pin a poster of this Ancient Roman Blood Drinker to my wall if ever they made one of him. Besides, Anne Rice's perpetual glorifying sensuality found so prominently in almost all of her books and "luxurious, sumptuous, and the finest material of everything (of course, what else am I to expect when reading an Anne Rice novel?), there is also a very simplified history lesson. By this I mean, a very watered-down version through the eyes of a centuries-old Blood Drinker, of the rise and fall of Rome, the creation of Constantinople, the subsequent Dark Ages, and the Renaissance. This has been, by far that I can remember, one of my most favorite books of the Vampire Chronicles series.
—Orphic {Ally}
