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Summary and Reviews of Vittorio The Vampire by Anne Rice

Vittorio The Vampire by Anne Rice

Vittorio The Vampire

New Tales of The Vampires

by Anne Rice
  • Critics' Consensus:
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  • First Published:
  • Mar 1, 1999, 292 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Feb 2001, 304 pages
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About This Book

Book Summary

In the second of her New Tales of the Vampires Rice tells the mesmerizing story of Vittorio, a vampire in the Italian Age of Gold.

With Pandora, Anne Rice began a magnificent new series of vampire novels. Now, in the second of her New Tales of the Vampires, she tells the mesmerizing story of Vittorio, a vampire in the Italian Age of Gold.

Educated in the Florence of Cosimo de' Medici, trained in knighthood at his father's mountaintop castle, Vittorio inhabits a world of courtly splendor and country pleasures--a world suddenly threatened when his entire family is confronted by an unholy power.

In the midst of this upheaval, Vittorio is seduced by the vampire Ursula, the most beautiful of his supernatural enemies. As he sets out in pursuit of vengeance, entering the nightmarish Court of the Ruby Grail, increasingly more enchanted (and confused) by his love for the mysterious Ursula, he finds himself facing demonic adversaries, war and political intrigue.

Against a backdrop of the wonders--both sacred and profane--and the beauty and ferocity of Renaissance Italy, Anne Rice creates a passionate and tragic legend of doomed young love and lost innocence.

Chapter One

When I was a small boy I had a terrible dream. I dreamt I held in my arms the severed heads of my younger brother and sister. They were quick still, and mute, with big fluttering eyes, and reddened cheeks, and so horrified was I that I could make no more of a sound than they could.

The dream came true.

But no one will weep for me or for them. They have been buried, nameless, beneath five centuries of time.

I am a vampire.

My name is Vittorio, and I write this now in the tallest tower of the ruined mountaintop castle in which I was born, in the northernmost part of Tuscany, that most beautiful of lands in the very center of Italy.

By anyone's standards, I am a remarkable vampire, most powerful, having lived five hundred years from the great days of Cosimo de' Medici, and even the angels will attest to my powers, if you can get them to speak to you. Be cautious on that point.

I have, however, nothing whatsoever to do with the "Coven of the ...

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Reviews

Media Reviews

Booklist
Elegant & sumptuous, and as enjoyable as anything she has written...she provides a vivid picture of Florence in its Golden Age using the sumptuous paintings and architecture of the time as a glorious backdrop to her macabre tale.

Library Journal
In addition to Rice's trademark sensuality, a strong current of Christian philosophy drives the plot. This is the second book after Pandora in Rice's "New Tales of the Vampires" series, and it is told in the rhythmic, evocative prose of her best works.

Publishers Weekly
Blood and holy water both run thick through the streets of 15th-century Florence in Rice's 21st novel of the undead, the second in a series of New Tales that leave New Orleans's cemeteries behind. While there's not much plot to this lushly described story of how Vittorio di Riniari became a vampire, there's plenty of period detail about Italy's Golden Age.

Reader Reviews

Traci

Intreging!!!
This book, though vivid in ways, was extremely hard to put down most of the time. There should have been more time spent between Vittorio and Ursula, but it still painted a clear picture of their love. I rated it a five because I believe, ...   Read More
victoria

This is a book that can be read by someone who has never read any of the other books in the vampire series, because the storyline has nothing to do with any of the characters in other books. I loved it! Spooky, horrific, and full of suspense all the...   Read More
Jessica

I love the book, it is very intreging....it gave me a feel for ancient Italy, and since I'm part Italian it makes me feel at home even if he is a vampire. Also vampires are fasinating to me. It gives me a feeling of how vampires lived before the U....   Read More
brandi

I can read this book over and over again.It is wonderful in all aspects of the word.

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Read-Alikes

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