I surprised myself by reading this book. After finishing “The Vampire Armand” and finding it a bit too Christian for my taste, I decided never to read an Anne Rice book again. But one day I forgot to bring my Kindle with me on an outing and found myself thrown upon the book collection in my iPod Touch which had “Pandora” stored in it. So I began reading lazily and found myself engrossed. So interesting was the story that I then transferred it onto my Kindle so I could read it full time.
I loved it so much that I realized I was at the end only a page or two before the conclusion! One of the differences between reading a physical book and an ebook. It tells the story of the mysterious vampire Pandora who was quite an enigmatic figure in the earlier novels. Lestat himself had opined once that there was “something fundamentally wrong with her” since she seemed strangely immune to the dreams plaguing all the others at one time. She was also intimately related to the legendary Marius and so was doubly interesting.
She ends up writing her story as a favor to the fledgeling vampire David while sitting in a cafe. It tells of her interesting life in Rome, her flight into Antioch, her creation, and her most memorable encounter with the ancient ones. Akasha and Enkil. The Queen and King of the damned.
But the book is a bit unsatisfying. It leaves out almost all of her life between the time she left Marius and the present day, though in all fairness one cannot detail a 2,000 year old life. Perhaps nothing interesting happened to her in that time. But it turns out she wasn’t as independent as projected in the earlier novels because she seems to have hooked up and become a slave to an ancient eastern vampire – perhaps the same one we saw her cavorting with in The Queen of the Damned.
It pleased me greatly though that the book wasn’t “Christianized.” I had had quite enough of that in the story of Armand and I was afraid that Rice had lost it. Good to know she got some of her “mojo” back :D . She also sets the scene for a good follow up book when Pandora expresses an interest in hooking up with Marius again. I would have liked it to be longer since I wasn’t satisfied with the meager amount of detail presented, but still it’s a great addition to the Vampire Chronicles.
Pandora was good, but I think more definitely could have been done with her story. I love the relationship she has with Marius. Have you read Blood and Gold yet? It focuses on Marius and there’s some discussion about his relationship with Pandora.
In reply to RenKiss
Haven’t read “Blood and Gold” yet. Was afraid it would be too “Armand” like for my taste. But perhaps one day I’ll give it a go :)
When you finish with Rice’s Vampire series, you should take a look (if you haven’t already) at her series about the Mayfair witches. I believe it starts with, “The Witching Hour” – but it’s been a long long time since I read all those books, so I could have the starting point wrong. I liked the Mayfair series better than the vampire books, which by the end had gotten on my nerves. Perhaps it was the “Christianized” effect that got to me. I do remember the stories about Pandora and Marius being among the highlights of the later part of that series.
In reply to Thurman
You’re not the first person to recommend the Mayfair series starting with the witching our to me. I’m definitely putting them on my reading list!
Go for the Mayfair Series … that is awesome! Do you know she’s quit being a christian?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/29/anne-rice-i-quit-being-a_n_663915.html
I refuse to read Chetan Bhagat. I find him to superficial and his characters are so cardboard.
In reply to Phoenixritu
Wow – so many recommendations for the Mayfair series! Gotta read the series :)