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Fantasy. Fiction. Literature. Thriller. HTML:Anne Rice, creator of the Vampire Lestat, the Mayfair witches and the amazing worlds they inhabit, now gives us the first in a new series of novels linked together by the fledgling vampire David Talbot, who has set out to become a chronicler of his fellow Undead.The novel opens in present-day Paris in a crowded café, where David meets Pandora. She is two thousand years old, a Child of the Millennia, the first vampire ever made by the great show more Marius. David persuades her to tell the story of her life.
Pandora begins, reluctantly at first and then with increasing passion, to recount her mesmerizing tale, which takes us through the ages, from Imperial Rome to eighteenth-century France to twentieth-century Paris and New Orleans. She carries us back to her mortal girlhood in the world of Caesar Augustus, a world chronicled by Ovid and Petronius. This is where Pandora meets and falls in love with the handsome, charismatic, lighthearted, still-mortal Marius. This is the Rome she is forced to flee in fear of assassination by conspirators plotting to take over the city. And we follow her to the exotic port of Antioch, where she is destined to be reunited with Marius, now immortal and haunted by his vampire nature, who will bestow on her the Dark Gift as they set out on the fraught and fantastic adventure of their two turbulent centuries together.
Look for Anne Rice’s new book, Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis, coming November 29, 2016.. show less
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I have to say that out of all the vampires, Pandora is one of my favorites. It is a refreshing book as it is written from a female's POV, rather than the usual male narrative. While essentially having nothing to do with the grand scheme of the Vampire Chronicles (like how 'the Vampire Armand' explained events that happened in 'Interview with the Vampire' and 'The Vampire Lestat'), since Pandora's story is so contained and separate from the others even though she is Marius' love, it is still a great read. I honestly enjoyed this book, and it's definitely a worthy addition to the Vampire Chronicles. 4.5/5 stars.
A fairly good book -- much quicker read than most of Rice's stuff. More back story on the whole Vampire Chronicle-thing, but this time with a decidedly heterosexual female character. Reminded me a little of McCullough's Rome stuff with the ancient Rome/Greece historical setting. Overall, pretty good.
3.5 stars
In the first book of Anne Rice's New Tales of the Vampires, she looks back on the life of one of the original vampires, Pandora. As Pandora writes her own story, she goes back to her childhood in ancient Rome before she was a vampire, through the massacre of her family, and how she escaped to the port of Antioch (in what is now Turkey) and her life there.
Mostly, I liked this. I got a bit bored with the vampire parts, though. Mostly I preferred Pandora's life story, and luckily that was the majority of the book. I do plan to continue with the next in the series, Vittorio the Vampire.
In the first book of Anne Rice's New Tales of the Vampires, she looks back on the life of one of the original vampires, Pandora. As Pandora writes her own story, she goes back to her childhood in ancient Rome before she was a vampire, through the massacre of her family, and how she escaped to the port of Antioch (in what is now Turkey) and her life there.
Mostly, I liked this. I got a bit bored with the vampire parts, though. Mostly I preferred Pandora's life story, and luckily that was the majority of the book. I do plan to continue with the next in the series, Vittorio the Vampire.
What can I say about this? Well, it was pretty boring. Not much really happened, and Pandora didn't even become a vampire until more than halfway through, then there was really nothing about her life as a vampire, with or without Marius. But I guess I at least made it through this one. I quit Marius' story after 100 pages because it was just literal history of Rome, and that is not what I read fiction for. Pandora had the opportunity to be a captivating story and it just wasn't. I basically just pushed through because I hate DNF-ing a book.
All in all, I'd skip this one if you didn't like Marius' story, or if you're iffy about the series in general. You wouldn't seem to be missing a whole lot. Anne Rice has always been a difficult read show more for me, but some voices are better storytellers than others, and this did not hold up to Quinn's voice in Blackwood Farm, which is the only Rice book that I was actively trying to read more of. show less
All in all, I'd skip this one if you didn't like Marius' story, or if you're iffy about the series in general. You wouldn't seem to be missing a whole lot. Anne Rice has always been a difficult read show more for me, but some voices are better storytellers than others, and this did not hold up to Quinn's voice in Blackwood Farm, which is the only Rice book that I was actively trying to read more of. show less
He de admitir que en 'Pandora' me he encontrado lo que me esperaba, es decir, la historia de la vampira Pandora, de cómo llegó a convertirse en bebedora de sangre y a vivir más de dos mil años, pero contada de una manera algo insulsa y con poco brío. La historia está narrada en primera persona por Pandora, que la está escribiendo para ser leída por el vampiro neófito David Talbot. Gran parte de la historia transcurre en la Antigua Roma y se trata más de novela histórica, donde se habla de las costumbres y la cultura de la época, que una historia de vampiros. Esto no significa que sea una trama aburrida, es interesante, pero no es la Anne Rice que me gusta, la que desvela las aventuras y desventuras del vampiro Lestat.
This reminded me of my first experience with brandy: beautiful, by the look of it, but once sampled, found lacking. The ending was very hurried and there is an unfortunate stink of laziness with this version of an unrequited love that has (supposedly) spanned centuries.Sad. Marius's tale was so beautifully woven, but Pandora's account of her life and their love fell absolutely short of the mark. Not Rice's finest in the collection. Not my favorite by far. Given the choice between this and the disappointing brandy, I'd pick the cordial.
A compelling story about love, wrapped in Rice's trademark turgid prose. The vampire Pandora details her life, from wealthy Roman woman to Paris sophisticate, and in the process rediscovers her love for Marius, a vampire who has loved her for two thousand years.
The research Rice put into this is sometimes obvious, but always interesting. The only fully formed character is the narrator, but there is a nice contrast between Pandora's thoughtful hedonism and Marius' almost stereotypically brooding vampire.
It's been years since I read Rice's vampire chronicles (and totally missed the last three or four books). I sometimes felt that the narrator was talking about events and characters I should know, but didn't, without the backstory show more necessary to understand the plot. show less
The research Rice put into this is sometimes obvious, but always interesting. The only fully formed character is the narrator, but there is a nice contrast between Pandora's thoughtful hedonism and Marius' almost stereotypically brooding vampire.
It's been years since I read Rice's vampire chronicles (and totally missed the last three or four books). I sometimes felt that the narrator was talking about events and characters I should know, but didn't, without the backstory show more necessary to understand the plot. show less
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Author Information
132+ Works 189,697 Members
Anne Rice was born Howard Allen O'Brien on October 4, 1941 in New Orleans, Louisiana. She received a bachelor's degree in political science in 1964 and master's degree in English and creative writing in 1972 from San Francisco State University. She published her first short story in 1965 called October 4, 1948. Her first book, Interview with the show more Vampire, was published in 1976. It was made into a film starring Brad Pitt, Kirsten Dunst, and Tom Cruise in 1994. She wrote various series in the same genre including the rest of the Vampire Chronicles, the Mayfair Witches books, and The Wolf Gift Chronicles. Her novel, Feast of All Saints, became a Showtime mini-series in 2001. Her other works include Cry to Heaven, Servant of the Bones, and Violin. In 1998, Rice returned to the Catholic Church and for some time only wrote for Christ or about Christ. These works include Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt, Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana, and Called Out of Darkness. Anne Rice died on December 11, 2021 at the age of 80. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Some Editions
Awards and Honors
Distinctions
Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
Pocket (9248)
Fischer Taschenbuch (15338)
Work Relationships
Is contained in
Exit to Eden / Feast of All Saints / Interview With the Vampire / Lasher / Merrick / The Mummy / Pandora / Queen of the Damned / Servant of the Bones / The Tale of the Body Thief / The Vampire Lestat / Vittorio the Vampire / The Witching Hour by Anne Rice
Lasher / Cry to Heaven / Pandora / The Feast of All Saints / The Mummy / Memnoch the Devil / The Tale of the Body Thief / Taltos / Servant of the Bones by Anne Rice
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Pandora
- Original title
- Pandora
- Original publication date
- 1998-01-01
- People/Characters
- Pandora; Marius de Romanus
- Important places
- Rome, Italy
- Dedication*
- Dieses Buch ist gewidmet
Stan, Christopher und Michele Rice
Susanne Scott Quiroz und Victoria Wilson.
Der Erinnerung an John Preston.
Der irischen Bevölkerung New Orleans',
die in der Mitte des 19 Jhds. in der... (show all)
Constance Street das herrliche Gotteshaus
St. Alphonsus erbaute, sie hinterließ uns damit
durch Glaube, Architektur und Kunst
ein großartiges Denkmal für
"den unvergänglichen Glanz des Hellenismus
und die unvergessene Größe Roms". - First words
- Not twenty minutes have passed since you left me here in the café, since I said No to your request, that I would never write out for you the story of my mortal life, how I became a vampire-- how I came upon Marius only years... (show all) after he had lost his human life.
- Original language*
- Englisch
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
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