Blood and Gold: The Vampire Marius (The Vampire Chronicles)

Rice, Anne

ISBN 10: 070116719X / ISBN 13: 9780701167196

Published by Chatto and Windus, London, U.K., 2001

About this Item

Hardback. London, U.K. Book Condition: As New. Dust Jacket Condition: As New. Without dedication. Spine a little bruised. 471 pp. Extremities maybe a little rubbed. D/J:- Price Un-clipped £16.99. In Stock. - THANKS! We do stock ex-library or Book Club Editions. We offer a money back guarantee if you are not fully satisfied, please contact us if you have any questions. IN EXCELLENT CONDITION. Shipping is normally same day from the UK. "UK BASED SELLER ALL OVERSEAS SHIPPING VIA AIRMAIL". We offer a money back guarantee if you are not fully satisfied, please contact us if you have any questions. Bookseller Inventory #O. 20180915_181129. / 20180915_181322_1.

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: Blood and Gold: The Vampire Marius (The Vampire Chronicles)
• Publisher: Chatto and Windus, London, U.K.
• Publication Date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 070116719X
• ISBN 13: 9780701167196
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: As New
• Dust Jacket Condition: As New

About this title

Synopsis

Here is the gorgeous and sinister story of Marius, patrician by birth, scholar by choice, one of the oldest vampires of them all, which sweeps from his genesis in ancient Rome, in the time of the Emperor Augustus, to his meeting in the present day with a creature of snow and ice. Thorne is a Northern vampire in search of Maharet, his 'maker', the ancient Egyptian vampire queen who holds him and others in thrall with chains made of her red hair, 'bound with steel and with her blood and gold'. When the Visigoths sack his city, Marius is there; with the resurgence of the glory that was Rome, he is there, still searching for his lost love Pandora, but bewitched in turn by Botticelli, the Renaissance beauty Bianca, with her sordid secrets, and the boy he calls Amadeo (otherwise known as the Vampire Armand). Criss-crossing through the stories of other vampires from Rice's glorious Pantheon of the undead, haunted by Pandora and by his alter ego Mael, tracked by the Talamasca, the tale of Marius, the self-styled guardian of 'those who must be kept' is the most wondrous and mind-blowing of them all.

Review

Time heals all wounds, unless, of course, you're a vampire. Cuts may heal, burns vanish, limbs reattach, but for the "blood god," the wounds of the heart sometimes stay open and raw for centuries. So it is for Marius, Anne Rice's oft-mentioned and beloved scholar. We've heard parts of his tale in past volumes of the Vampire Chronicles, but never so completely and never from his own lips. In Blood and Gold, Rice mostly (but not entirely) avoids the danger of treading worn ground as she fills out the life and character of Marius the Lonely, the Disenchanted, the Heartsick--a 2,000-year-old vampire "with all the conviction of a mortal man."

Plucked from his beloved Rome in the prime of his life and forced into solitude as keeper of the vampire queen and king, Marius has never forgiven the injustice of his mortal death. Thousands of years later, he still seethes over his losses. Immortality for Marius is both a blessing and a curse--he bears "witness to all splendid and beautiful things human," yet is unable to engage in relationships for fear of revealing his burden.

New readers to the Chronicles may wish for a more fleshed-out, less introspective hero, but Rice's legions of devoted fans will recognize Blood and Gold for what it is: a love song to Marius the Wanderer, whose story reveals the complexities and limitations of eternal existence. --Daphne Durham