Amazon.co.uk Review
Anne Rice wasn't the first writer to show vampires as sexy--there are powerfully perverse sexual undercurrents in Bram Stoker's Dracula, granddaddy of all modern vampire novels. But Rice's 1976 Interview With the Vampire made vampirism lusher and more explicitly attractive. Though there's still a dark and messy side (as with sex), non-vampires are irresistibly tempted by perks like immortality and great good looks. Pandora, one of many follow-ups, is the partial autobiography of a heroine born human in Augustan Rome and still undead today. Much of it reads like historical romance, but involvement with the cult of Isis makes Pandora dream about blood-drinking ... Characteristically for Rice, the romantic climax--foreshadowed from paragraph one--means finding not true love but true vampirism with Mr Right. Indeed the horror aspect has almost vanished and draining people of their blood is considered acceptable since Pandora and friends kill only bad guys. (Compare the morality of Terry Pratchett's on-the-wagon vampires, who make do with animal blood from kosher butchers.) Sensuality alternates with dollops of historical research and references to previous novels such as The Vampire Lestat-- referred to by title--whose events readers are expected to remember. Pandora is written for, and will satisfy, Rice's many established addicts. --David Langford
Book Description
The first in an irresistible new series of short and mesmerising vampire novels.
Product Description
In a cafe in modern-day Paris, in the aftermath of a fresh kill, the fearless and beautiful Pandora begins to tell her tale of treachery, vengeance and love stretching across two millennia. As a young mortal in Imperial Rome in the time of Caesar Augustus, Pandora was first introduced to the blood-tainted cult of Isis. Later, in exile in Antioch, she was drawn even further into the dark, ancient rites. Now looking back across the centuries, Pandora decides to return once more to New Orleans, to find the love of her early life, Marius, and to see once again the Vampire Lestat...
About the Author
Anne Rice is the author of The Vampire Chronicles and creator of phenomenally successful fictional worlds in 25 previous novels, most recently Blackwood Farm and Blood Canticle. She recently moved from her native New Orleans to La Jolla, California. (19980910)
