I Read Pandora by Anne Rice So You Don't Have To!

[@RaraRogerL]

The thing with the bees possessing the scarecrow was so weird, but so interesting, I feel like I'll remember that lil passage forever 🤔😶

[@janenightreadsandwrites223]

I love your reviews on the Vampire Chronicles! So fun to watch.

[@evangosse471]

My only complaint with Anne Rice is the... How do I say it.. the romantasization and to some extent positive outlook on ped****Philip throughout her books. It makes me deeply uncomfortable to take the responsibility of a grown man and put that to a child somehow Make itseem empowering. I continue to read herbooks but i continue to read really inappropriate relationships that are justified in pretty gross ways.

[@UncleTonyK]

I (respectfully and without criticism) disagree. Though, some of what AR describes is uncomfortable to modern day humans. Her books are most often about ancient day supernatural creatures. To expect these characters to know or care about modern human concerns would be to sacrifice the integrity of the work. Pandora, for example, was born, raised, killed, and embraced (to borrow a term from Kindred) in an era when slavery and pedophila were socially acceptable. Though, she may not have been able to wed until after she bled. It would have been perfectly proper for Marius to approach her father to arrange a future union (which would only serve to make her unavailable for anyone else). Though, a modern reader would be understandably repulsed by this fact of her reality. For her, it would be a normal practice. I'd, of course, take a completely different position when discussing the antics of the Mayfairs. But it has always been my personal interpretation that AR vampires are beings who are in a kind of suspended animation. While, they do get somewhat smarter. They tend to not mature past the point when they became vampires. I suspect that this is why so many of them adore art, literature, and travel. Like mannequins, they can't truly experience time and space. They can only exist while time and space happens around them.

[@renalanf0rd]

Even in ancient times they weren’t marrying kids. This is a work of fiction but as someone that owns a bunch of her books just no.

[@nursemain3174]

Even a long time ago they knew pedophilia was wrong, as a huge Anne rice fan she clearly has some sort of trauma she’s working through

[@dominiquedevereux7205]

​@@UncleTonyK interesting last paragraph. I like how you stated that.

[@CSM100MK2]

No one asked

[@jaredgenova2228]

Thank you for reviewing Pandora! Anne wrote Pandora and Vittorio the Vampire as "New Tales of the Vampires", kind of like offshoot stories (or detours as you mentioned). While I think that's a great descriptor for Vittorio, I thought Pandora fit so well with the pace of what she was writing in the mid to end of the 90s. Pandora's story fits right in there with The Vampire Armand and Blood and Gold that I don't see it personally as a departure of canon from the rest of the Vampire Chronicles. Vittorio, on the other hand is absolutely quite the departure and we never hear from him again, like a true detour of sorts. I actually think Pandora is one of her strongest Vampire Chronicles, and I'm somewhat surprised it doesn't live up to be a fan favorite. It's also so wonderfully unique in that Anne so rarely channeled female characters and wrote from their perspectives. As far as characters we've not heard much from over the years (and never will with Anne's passing a few years ago), I, like everyone else, would've loved to know more about Gabrielle and what she was doing after Lestat made her a vampire and they parted ways. Sadly, even while Anne was still alive this would've never come to be as she somewhat famously admitted that she didn't write more about Gabrielle simply because she didn't like her! She was basically like why would I write about someone who quite frankly I can't stand? Lol. It'll be interesting if you decide to read through Merrick, Blackwood Farm, and Blood Canticle. Those three are super controversial, and technically (per Anne's recommendation) you can skip them and go to Prince Lestat if you'd like. Years after their publishing, Anne admitted she didn't consider them to be VC canon, either. I don't detest them, and I actually kinda liked Merrick and Blackwood Farm for New Orleans-y reasons, but the blending with the Mayfair family didn't go over well with a lot of readers. I think you'd enjoy Prince Lestat if you decide to ever get that far. Thanks again for the review! Cheers!

[@TheNaughtyLibrarian]

I would have loved a Gabrielle story too. She always reminded me of a female vampire Indiana Jones.

[@jaredgenova2228]

@@TheNaughtyLibrarian She so was. How many times throughout the series was it like "Hey, have you heard from Gabrielle in the last century or so?" "No, not really. Last I heard she was living in a tree in the Amazon." "Seems about right".

[@nursemain3174]

Pandora literally sets up the vampire Armand

[@ErraticWarlock]

I really liked Blackwood Farm. I'd love to hear a review exploring Quinn and Mona's life.

[@hudayfaxnobara1173]

@Dylan Nimrick omg same, when that stranger just ended up being arrogant and just a average asshole😭😭 like it took away the mysterious gender-fluidity intrigue of it all

[@kingslayer2999]

Pandora is a very sassy character 😂

[@cipherbloom]

Had to pause this video early bc you've given me hope! I'd read Memnoch too many years ago and didn't like it, but couldn't help being tantalised by a title called Pandora. Will give Memnoch another go and probably Pandora a first! Thank you!

[@user-pi5xo4og9d]

This was the first Anne Rice book I read, my friends cool mom let me borrow it and I was hooked.

[@hauntedhouse9951]

Has heard mixed reviews for Vittorio the Vampire. Would be great to see you cover that one as well, so I can decide if I will read or not.! ;)

[@freebotnowify]

It's kind of a shame Pandora is so mopey the whole series because she's such a badass in this book. I've always wanted to know more about the vampire Petronia from Blackwood Farm.

[@melissak8419]

It's nice getting a female vampire's POV, I know we had Claudia for a bit, and Queen of the Damned, Merrick also, but I also always wondered about Lestat's mom and wish she would have written Gabrielle's chronicle. With the new IWTV series coming upon Season 2 which changes timelines and other things from the books, I have picked up on reading TVC that I haven't read after reading the first half of the series several years ago. Loved Marius's story in Blood and Gold, now reading Pandora's story and Blackwood Farm books

[@TinyNDangerous]

I want to know more about Santino. He somehow went from fanatic hunting and psychological torture to rescuing the guy he tried to kill and playing chess with the kid he tortured. I feel like I missed a few steps. Also talking to rats is the vampire power I would want, rats are great.

[@UncleTonyK]

After listening to your review, I feel the same way about this book as I did when I read it years ago. It was an ok story. Honestly, I think that it would have been better to condense her story, enfold it into Blood & Gold, then make her a more important character in that book.

[@victoria856]

Xoxo pandora cracked me up

[@therecalcitrantseditionist3613]

Love the otis redding shirt

[@Emmanuelelouch]

Sometimes one loves a quickie

[@JCResDoc94]

/i wonder if marius' bk is less rxpe-y.* i mean, probably not right? i like blackwood too. then witching hr. but really i just want you to get to atlantis, so you can experience just how off the rails this can go. _JC

[@vonniedemers5683]

As recently as the early 1900s it was legal for a girl to get married at 12.....so 10 probably wasn't a big deal in Rome. They did alot questionable things. I like Pandora and Marius's love story.

[@ambrosia5356]

Flavius comes back in later stories

[@TheNaughtyLibrarian]

I’m so excited!

[@JCResDoc94]

*1st!* ha HAH! take that internets. _JC

[@alexsherel3344]

She was 35? That’s kinda old for back then…

[@victoria856]

She was. But she didn't have kids, and that was the kiss of death back then.

[@deliafavara9470]

😻😻😻😻

[@JCResDoc94]

fire. love it. _JC

[@marniekilbourne608]

The slavery is not problematic, it was just a part of life for many people at many points in history. It's historically accurate. Marius wanting to marry a 10 year old is problematic even for back then.