May 14, 2017 09:20 PM
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It is really scary. Anne Rice's vampires have served her well, bringing to(undead) life a fully-realized world of the supernatural. Unfortunately, to appreciate her newest offering, "Pandora, " the reader had best be well acquainted with that world, and have an insatiable appetite for more.
The book opens with yet another Rice vampire preparing to recount her history of a few thousand years on Earth. Haven't we been here before? To clear away any doubt, within the first few pages we're given references to "The Tale of the Body Thief, " "Queen of the Damned" and "Memnoch the Devil"; wading through the introductory chapter with me were Lestat, Armand, Maharet, and David Talbot of the Talamasca, among others.
The sense that Rice is coasting on the coattails of her previous stories grows stronger as the story proceeds. Her tale falls flat in part because Pandora, the 2, 000-year-old vampire from Imperial Rome, annoys rather than interests the reader. She repeatedly cheers her own cleverness, resourcefulness and high social status, leaving the reader little room to empathize with her. The limited supporting cast remains in the background, leaving the self-aggrandizing Pandora to dominate the story.