Vittorio the Vampire

Lush, descriptive prose doesn’t make up for the slight plot. I picked this up because I’m a sucker for Renaissance Italy, but Chelsea Quinn Yarbro and John M Ford both did the era far more justice with their take. Too much self-indulgent musing, I mean, 450 years old and he still hasn’t grown up? I also quibble about how 2 vampires are surviving in a ruined castle out in the country.

Only for the dedicated fan.

VITTORIO THE VAMPIRE could be described as Anne Rice light, but for me that is not a necessarily a bad thing. After reading the saga of the Mayfair Witches, and the follow up, MERRICK, where she crosses over the Mayfairs with the Vampire Chronicles, I was in the mood for something different, and in this slight – 284 pages in my paperback – book she delivers. Written at the end of the ‘90s, VITTORIO THE VAMPIRE is exactly what the title implies: a vampire’s story. It is subtitled The New Tales of the Vampire as a way to set it apart from The Chronicles, which is fair, as Lestat and his crew from The Big Easy are referred to once, and make no appearances here. It seems that at this point, Rice had run out of stories to tell with show more Lestat; I remember hearing her say in an interview that she literally saw him walk away in her imagination, and that she was finished with the character (though he would return years later).

But clearly she was not finished with the creatures of the night. Told in the first person, we meet Vittorio on the first page, and he proceeds to recount how he came to receive the Dark Gift. Born to a noble family in the country side of Renaissance Italy, he is one of those incredibly handsome youths Rice loves to describe in detail. And put through hell, which occurs when young Vittorio’s family is massacred in the night by an army of “demons” who stalk the countryside, demanding a payment in flesh from the nobility and commoners alike in order to be left in peace. Of course these monsters turn out to be vampires, and only Vittorio survives because one their number, a female, takes yen to him. The young man vows revenge, and sets out to make it happen, but it is a journey which takes some interesting twists and turns. A journey that includes a prosperous town with no sick, feeble, beggars, or criminals; the Court of the Ruby Grail, where scores of vampires worship Lucifer, and feed upon captive humans kept in a “coop;” Renaissance Florence, where guardian angels walk the streets, and do their best to keep foolish mortals, including Fra Filippo Lippi, an artist whose work Vittorio particularly admires, from their worst instincts. Along the way, Vittorio encounters the vampire Lord Florian, whose offer of immortality he contemptuously rejects; the armor wearing angel Mastrema, who ultimately aides him in his quest for vengeance; and Ursula, the centuries old vampire child bride. It is love at first sight for Vittorio and Ursula, and his weakness for her proves to be his undoing.

A lot of Rice fans gave this book a negative review; especially when it was first published. It seems they wanted more Lestat, and Louis, and Armand, and the Talemasca, and would settle for nothing less. But I enjoyed it if for no other reason than that she reigned in her penchant for long passages of prose stuffed with adjectives and minute details, though she did her homework when it came to Renaissance Italy, and imparts plenty of knowledge on the reader – it never overwhelms the story. There are also no flashbacks within flashbacks that have become a Rice trope, as at no point in the book do two characters sit down and have a very long conversation where one goes on for 500 pages regaling the other with back story. In her depiction of the town of Santa Maddalana, Rice is saying something about prosperity and the price those deemed of no value pay for it. This book is also blessedly free of the kinky or off putting sexual elements that too often turned up in the Mayfair books. I thought her depictions of the Court of the Ruby Grail, and the cavorting vampires there to be some of Rice’s best work; so too the sections where Vittorio returns there to get his revenge. And in Vittorio and Ursula, Rice has created two of her more likable lead characters.

The best compliment I could pay VITTORIO THE VAMPIRE is that it could have been the basis for a great film directed by Mario Bava. Sadly, he was long dead by the time this book was published, but if anyone does not understand, or doubt what I am talking about, check out Bava’s classic Italian horror films, BLACK SUNDAY and BLACK SABBATH, and you’ll see what I mean. It is my hope that if we ever get that TV adaptation of The Vampire Chronicles, then we’ll get to see Vittorio and Urusla. show less

While this book isn't the best of the Chronicles, it's a nice, light read. There's not quite as much angst here - you could say it's a 'lite' Vampire Chronicle novel. Some readers might be dissatisfied by it, but I honestly enjoyed it. I do wish that there would have been more insight into the vampire world, much like Queen of the Damned or Blood and Gold. Still, it's a decent read, with a rather nice vampire.

That it I'm afraid. I'm finished with Anne Rice after following her since the first - there's only so much angst you can take before depression sets in.

Early Anne Rice novels, the first Lestat books in particular, carried you along in wonderment at a new view of the world, but that wonder has grown stale and stagnant, and lanquid posing while waiting for the next sexual frisson does not, for me anyway, make for interesting reading.

Wondering about your place in the world is all very well, but most of us grow out of it in our teens. Maybe that's why these Vampires do little more than gaze at their own navels - they are emotionally stunted.

Too much new-gothic lounging and not enough plot.

Once again, Rice's prose is lush. This book didn't have any of the erotic scenes that she is known for. This was more a dissertation on good and evil and the power of love. It also answers the question: Do vampires have souls. And yes they do. At least in Rice's universe. But once again, I enjoyed the first half of the book, the description of Florence and the paintings of Lippi. But so many scenes were repetitive, I skimmed the second half since Vittorio repeated his same hopes and fears and religious arguments. This felt like it should have been a short novella and Rice had to pad it into a short novel.

Except for the descriptions, this book was boring. I didn't learn much about Vittorio as a person. Also, I'm not sure how old he's show more supposed to be. 16? Sometimes he refers to himself as a boy, as do others. Sometimes as a youth. He says he's not considered a man yet and his beard hasn't come in. I thought there were rules about not turning someone so young. I just found that talk about his age inconsistent. show less

I really got into this novel. It has all of Anne Rice's trademark prose,whilst keeping her descriptive tendancies in check.
Also i found it refreshing to read a totally new vampires tale,without referencing her characters from the chronicles.
As in Memnoch the devil, Rice explores the dynamics between heaven and hell to wonderful effect. Throw in the conflicts between love and hate,honour and betrayal and good and evil that Vittorio finds himself throughout this book,and you have the best Rice novel for a number of years.

Rating: 4.5 stars