Reseñado en mi blog Nanny BooksTenía entendido que la saga Nuevas historias de vampiros era posterior a la saga principal de la autora, Crónicas vampíricas, pero resulta que no es así. ¡Atención! Esto es muy importante para todos los que estén siguiendo libro por libro de Rice (como yo). El orden ideal para leer estos tomos sería así:° Crónicas Vampíricas #5: Memnoch el diablo- Nuevas Historias de Vampiros #1: Pandora° Crónicas Vampíricas #6: Armand el vampiro- Nuevas Historias de Vampiros #2: Vittorio el vampiro° Crónicas Vampíricas #7: Merrick y demás tomos.¿Se ha entendido? Eso espero, jajaja. Además de las sagas de vampiros, también se debería intercalar la lectura con la saga Las brujas de Mayfair, pero esto sería a partir del séptimo tomo de las Crónicas. Y ya es un terreno más opcional.Como siempre ocurre conmigo, he leído la saga en mal orden. Se suponía que no debía leer Armand el vampiro hasta que terminara con Pandora, pero lo hice totalmente al revés... Bueno, de todas formas no es que el personaje del vampiro con rostro de angelito me guste mucho, como ya saben...La historia de esta novela, inicio de una saga paralela a las Crónicas que la autora abandonó prontamente, comienza justo al final de Memnoch el diablo y nos encontramos con un peculiar David Talbot que busca recolectar las historias de los vampiros antiguos. No avanza para nada en el hilo argumental de las Crónicas, por lo tanto es un spin off en toda regla.Es algo extraño y resulta muy increíble que el inglés David vaya a conocer a los vampiros ancianos, que son más fuertes y antiguos (por algo se llaman Los Hijos del Milenio) que todos los demás, debido a que, en primera instancia, es super peligroso; en segunda instancia, él es una creación de Lestat, y no todo el mundo quiero a nuestro héroe; en tercero, ¿para qué?, ¡está loco!. Si logramos superar nuestro escepticismo al respecto, resulta grandiosa la historia que se nos contará:Pandora es una protagonista excepcional, una mujer que de humana ya era fuerte y controvertida... de vampira promete muchos dolores de cabeza, para nuestro querido Marius especialmente. Por primera vez en mucho tiempo, Rice nos concede a una narrador femenino. Sin embargo, como suele suceder con todos sus personajes, termina siendo un tanto ambiguo.La novela, narrada en primera persona a estilo de diario, pronto nos sorprenderá con sus descripciones históricas y paisajistas realmente documentadas hasta el dedillo. Y esto se los puedo confirmar, Rice se esmeró muchísimo con su trabajo de investigación.Lo romántico se mezcla con lo histórico, con lo sobrenatural y con el thriller. Oh, sí, aquí hay de todo, incluso se hace lugar para hablar de religión (una vez más). Veremos el lado masculino de Marius, ¡lo veremos incluso humano! Sabremos de los enredos amatorios de Pandora, tanto como vampira como humana. Y en medio de todo eso, tendremos un par de detalles acerca de nuestra antigua reina caída, Akasha.El libro es realmente corto, al menos para lo que nos ha acostumbrado Rice. No llega a las trescientas páginas, y la mayoría del contenido es acerca de la vida humana de Pandora. Y ahí se encuentra el fallo único que tiene: deja varias cosas inconclusas y otras tantas las apura.En fin, me ha gustado, pero no es lo mejor que he leído de Rice. Es de rápida lectura, más breve que otros tomos, igual de interesante. Se los recomiendo solo a aquellos que vienen siguiendo la saga.
I haven't read Anne Rice for almost a decade. We parted unfavourably after my third attempt to read Armand, and I haven't returned since. Pandora reminded of why I both loved her earlier works and why I found Armand impenetrable.The negatives, unfortunately, dominate the first three quarters of the novel. Much as I remember Armand, Pandora spends significant chunks of time locked in her own head. As a fan of first person narrative, this should represent a positive. But the way this is incorporated during the first 150 pages, is drastically different to the earlier Vampire Chronicles. Instead of using the device to gain access to the protagonist's reactions to characters or situations. The narrative seems more like riding a rail car, taking in the sights and sounds of the world but remaining disconnected. When interaction does occur, I simply found both the dialogue and internal monologue, more often than not, irritating. Around page 105 Pandora says: "This was very rude and irreverent, but I was in a full state of alarm"For the majority of the book this seems to be her character. Exclamation marks are used gratuitously and consequently everything appears overly dramatised. I suspect this was all done to best imitate translation from the romantic languages and show how Pandora has changed over the centuries. But, personally, I was more interested in learning of Pandora throughout her life, not just the early off shoot where her brash impulsivity seemed alien to what I remember of her character. The positive aspects of the story and the author's writing, appear once she has received the Dark Gift. At this point the story turns back to the vampire's mythology and this reminded me why Anne Rice's version of vampire lore remains my favourite. It was particularly interesting to witness the fall of Rome and the rise of Christianity through Pandora's eyes. These sections highlight Anne Rice's ability to integrate historical events into a fictional word and I was impressed at her understanding of how and why Christianity took over as it did. It just seems a waste that we spent so much time one minute part of history when there was the potential of a sweeping narrative and intense character study. An opportunity that is unique to character who has lived for 2000 years. 2.5 stars Ultimately disappointing, but I do still feel the desire to spend further time in this mythology. Hopefully an increase to my age will allow me to enjoy Armand (the next book) in the way I always hoped I would.
What do You think about Pandora (2003)?
Este livro conta-nos a história de um vampiro com dois mil anos de idade, chamada de Lídia, a Pandora, que terá vivido durante o auge do Império Romano. Um pouco como o livro “Entrevista com o vampiro” aqui Pandora é abordada numa das ruas de Paris, por outro vampiro chamado David, que quer escrever sobre a sua vida enquanto mortal até aos últimos dias. Claro que Pandora fica de pé atrás, por não gostar de falar da sua vida passada, no entanto os encantos do estranho levam-na a ceder.Eu adorei Pandora, é uma personagem extremamente forte, que viveu em diversas épocas, super inteligente e que se liga ás áreas dos direitos das mulheres e ao feminismo. Juntando também as diversas religiões.Falando no Egipto Antigo, o Império Romano, a Mitologia Grega... é simplesmente maravilhoso. Com uma pesquisa meticulosamente bem elaborada e usada, e como sempre uma delicadeza para o detalhe e para a descrição que Anne Rice nos tem habituado, mais a sua imaginação talento inigualável.Mulher independente apaixona-se por Marius que é o seu contrário absoluto. (Quem leu os livros da Crónicas dos Vampiros já o conhece certamente, e Pandora é então a sua ex-namorada). E grande parte do livro ela fala dele, e tenho a dizer que é das mais belas histórias de amor que li.Ao invés do que se possa pensar, este livro e o próximo tem ligação com as Crónicas dos Vampiros, como se fosse um extraÈ um livro que poderia ser um pouco maior, deixa-nos cheios de sede de conhecer mais, viver mais pelos olhos de Pandora.
—Raquel Leite
I think I'm seriously in a reading slump. I'm hardly enjoying anything I'm reading lately. One of the first problems I probably had with this, is that I've only read "Interview with the Vampire", so I don't know most of these characters. The first chapter was a summary, I believe, of the previous books in the series; which was simultaneously helpful, and rather annoying. It seemed a tad long and unimportant, at least to me. Maybe it is for those that have read the previous books, but in that case, shouldn't the reader already know what had happened?From there, the rest of the book (at least where I got up to) was Lydia/Pandora writing out her life story. It was sort of cool, considering it was set in Rome, but not much happened in the two-hundred pages I read; and I really just wanted to get to the vampires. Pandora herself, I wasn't super fond of. For somebody who seems so astonished, and amazed by the world (there were so many exclamation marks) she was really detached. Or at least, her writing was. It wasn't in the first chapter (when she was telling David everything they had talked about, just in case he forgot, or wasn't actually there) but after that, it just got very boring.I think one of my main issues was not seeing Rice's usually beautiful style. I have read some of her truly bad books, but read the entire thing, because the writing was just so gorgeous. It was not in this book. It was so basic and boring. Ultimately, I found myself not wanting to read this book, even when I had absolutely nothing better to do. (Seriously, I had two hours until my next class started, I had the book with me, and after about a page or two, decided that doing nothing was more entertaining than reading the book.)I will continue to try Rice's books, because two of them ("Interview with the Vampire" and "The Mummy") are some of my favorite books. I think I might just be more wary of her vampires though.
—Nick
I don't know whether or not I loved this book. There were parts that promised brilliancy, but it would miss the mark within a few more sentences. And Pandora?At times she was reasonable, others, mad. It didn't seem believable (I cannot believe I just typed that considering I'm reviewing vampire fiction.) It all seemed so rushed. One minute she was worshipping at the Temple of Isis, the next she was beating the walls of her house again, it got pretty hard to follow her mood swings.Towards the end, when she and Marius were arguing OVER AND OVER AGAIN about his being "too reasonable", well from then on until the end, the book simply wasn't enjoyable. Not to mention she was very contradictory, being with that asian vampire when all this time she wanted to be a free woman. It was too back and forth for me. Pandora did not seem like she knew herself at all.The only saving grace of this book, was all the mysticism, and talk of ancient cities. Other than that, it was just a woman on a bipolar rampage.
—Anna Pappas
