Now, I'm a big Anne Rice fan and I love the majority of her books but this has to be one of the worst books along with "Armand"! The book is basically "Queen of the Damned" and "Armand", "pandora" all in one, all over again. Why do we need a repeat of those books again? I really advise Anne (yes I know she'll never listen) to get an editor again for her books. I know she's against and stopped using one for her books years back but she really REALLY needs one desperately. If she wants her fans to stay interested then do us the favor and please get the stories back intact!

I loved so many of Anne Rice's works - The Vampire Lestat, Cry to Heaven, Lasher, Taltos - those books were a thick stew of plot, history and human interest. In comparison, this book is watered-down soup from a can. It's embarrassing, I can't believe she allowed it to be published - it's as formulaic as a Silhouette romance. I couldn't even make it to the end.

All of Anne Rice's work from the last five years would have benefited from some editorial assistance. Unfortunately for her fans, she has the right to refuse it because, from the excellent reputation she gained from her earlier work, she rakes in the money for her publisher. "Violin" was tedious, "Pandora" was mediocre, "Vitorio" was awful, and "Blood and Gold" is redundant.

Anne Rice has sucked the vampire genre dry. The only reason she continues to publish these travesties is to fill her pockets. Although her first few novels were fresh, she hasn't had an original idea in more than a decade. She writes primarily to feed a large community of uncritical escapists who lap up whatever she happens to regurgitate that year. The prose in this novel is self-consciously baroque, and Marius has no epiphanies or insights beyond the dimensions of any of her prior characters. The only thing that makes the novel different from her past works is the setting. In retrospect, her oeuvre has become the gothic equivalent of Hope and Crosby's On the Road movies. Don't buy this novel unless you have the undiscriminating loyalty of one of her many zombies.

Another pointless and tired retelling of a story that has been told in four separate novels. Badly slapped together with a horrible wrap around story that seems to be constructed by a 5 year old. Don't waste your time. Maybe the next Vampire Chronicle will actually advance the series or at least have something new to say.

If you've already read the Vampire Armand, this book will bore you to tears. There are very few new ideas here.Save your book-buying dollars for writers with integrity.