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A review by arnrockwell
Pandora by Anne Rice
challenging
dark
informative
fast-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Pandora is the first book in the New tales of the Vampires sub-series of Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles. A short novel that serves as the origin story of Pandora, a character previously namedropped in The Vampire Lestat and first appeared as a character in The Queen of the Damned. David Talbot approaches Pandora in a cafe, and leaves behind a notebook and pen in the hopes that she will record her life story. She does of course, since we have this book.
Pandora was born in Rome during the reign of Augustus and grew up in a privileged noble family. It is through her words we learn of the multiple encounters she had with Marius, some from even before he became a vampire. We learn of what life was like for a woman in Ancient Rome. We watch as she loses her home and goes into hiding under an alias (which is why she came up with the name "Pandora" in the first place).
While the first half of the book had a lot of content, the latter half was more slim. The pacing was a little took fast and it glossed over large portions of Pandora's life as a vampire. Don't get me wrong. It was good to learn about how her life was as a human, but I read books for the vampire goodness and there wasn't a whole lot of that.
Overall, I would recommend Pandora for those curious about the character, those who love historical vampire tales, and those who want a nice quick read. It just over 300 pages, and that's wish a larger-than-normal font for a mass market paperback. A breeze to get through.
Pandora was born in Rome during the reign of Augustus and grew up in a privileged noble family. It is through her words we learn of the multiple encounters she had with Marius, some from even before he became a vampire. We learn of what life was like for a woman in Ancient Rome. We watch as she loses her home and goes into hiding under an alias (which is why she came up with the name "Pandora" in the first place).
While the first half of the book had a lot of content, the latter half was more slim. The pacing was a little took fast and it glossed over large portions of Pandora's life as a vampire. Don't get me wrong. It was good to learn about how her life was as a human, but I read books for the vampire goodness and there wasn't a whole lot of that.
Overall, I would recommend Pandora for those curious about the character, those who love historical vampire tales, and those who want a nice quick read. It just over 300 pages, and that's wish a larger-than-normal font for a mass market paperback. A breeze to get through.