A Short Review
Why a short review, do you ask?

Well, because I feel as though most of this has been said before.

Anne Rice is a wonderful writer. Her style is smooth, her words wrapping you into a whirlwind of pictures, tastes, even sounds. When she describes Ancient Rome, Venice, Dresden... you feel as though you're right there with her, walking those streets, enjoying the riches of the times.

Unfortunately, there isn't much more in Blood and Gold.

Marius Who?
Blood and Gold is the story of Marius, as told to a newly introduced, randomly Viking old-world been-in-the-ice-alone-forever vampire, one created way back when by Marahet. (One of the red-haired twins from Queen of the Damned, remember?) So Marius, choosing to live apart from all of his previous companions of the Queen of the Damned, decides to lay out his life's story on this poor bloodsucker. And we get to hear it too.

Marius is the keeper of Those Who Must be Kept. (Before Queen of the Damned came along.) That's pretty much the entire theme of the book, nothing else. There is a little more insight into Marius' beginnings since he had already told that story to Lestat, remember. Mael, the man who brought him to the vampire who created him, and that very same vampire, appear and then fade away. Marius glosses over the making of Pandora but whines incessantly about losing her. He loves Bottecelli (the painter) and then loses Bottecelli. He loves and vampirizes Amadeo (an event that fans may remember from The Vampire Armand, written after Amadeo changes his name) loses Amadeo. He loves and vampirizes Bianca (who is insipidly annoying) and loses Bianca. He finally reconnects with Pandora, but she's enslaved herself to an Asian vampire that's never been heard of before and ditches Marius.

So pretty much goes the story of Marius. There's a lot of history of Italy that's fairly interesting, and a few other vampires he runs into briefly but forgetfully, except for meeting Santino, that evil blood drinker who believes he is a child of Satan and turns Marius' beloved Amadeo into the Satan-worshipping Armand. That apparently is important. See my concluding paragraph.

Talamasca
The most interesting part of this yawn-inducing story? The brief few page of Marius meeting the Talamasca, and the subtle hint that the Talamasca doesn't know their own origin. Do I sense the theme of the next book? (I hope so, because that fascinates me!)

If not that, maybe it'll be the story of Santino, who Marius, lover of all things, hates with all his being, even though I don't remember Santino doing all that much. The last couple of chapters sum up everything that happened in the Vampire Lestat and The Queen of the Damned (didn't this book come out just before the movie originally should've?) and hey, thanks for the reminder that Santino was the guy who helped Pandora rescue Marius when he was trapped under all that ice!

Apparently, that wasn't enough. I won't ruin the ending for you, but when you read it, e-mail me and explain it to me? I won't say it was as confusing and nonsensical as, oh, The Planet of the Apes with Marky Mark, but it came close.

The Skarfe Rating Scale:

* = I didn't even bother to finish it
** = I tried to get into it and couldn't
*** = I can't believe I finished it and I'm so depressed that I did
**** = Not bad, pretty good, nice potential
***** = Good, enjoyed it, will look for other books by this author
****** = Great book! What fun! Would recommend to friends
******* = Loved it! It was so good I read it twice because I didn't want it to end so soon!

My final review for Anne Rice's Blood and Gold: ***
Content: ***
Style: *****

The probability that I'll read her next book? 98%
(Come on. It's Anne Rice. Things can only get better, right?)