Pandora

By: Anne Rice

Narrated by: Kate Reading

Anne Rice, creator of the Vampire Lestat, the Mayfair witches and the amazing worlds they inhabit, now gives us the first in a new series of novels linked together by the fledgling vampire David Talbot, who has set out to become a chronicler of his fellow Undead.

The novel opens in present-day Paris in a crowded café, where David meets Pandora. She is two thousand years old, a Child of the Millennia, the first vampire ever made by the great Marius. David persuades her to tell the story of her life. Pandora begins, reluctantly at first and then with increasing passion, to recount her mesmerizing tale, which takes us through the ages, from Imperial Rome to eighteenth-century France to twentieth-century Paris and New Orleans. She carries us back to her mortal girlhood in the world of Caesar Augustus, a world chronicled by Ovid and Petronius. This is where Pandora meets and falls in love with the handsome, charismatic, lighthearted, still-mortal Marius. This is the Rome she is forced to flee in fear of assassination by conspirators plotting to take over the city. And we follow her to the exotic port of Antioch, where she is destined to be reunited with Marius, now immortal and haunted by his vampire nature, who will bestow on her the Dark Gift as they set out on the fraught and fantastic adventure of their two turbulent centuries together.

Look for Anne Rice’s Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis.

©1998 by Anne O'Brien Rice (P)1998 by Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

"TANTALIZING."--Library Journal

"SEDUCTIVE . . . [RICE] HAS RETURNED TO THE SOURCE OF HER BEST WORK, her sexy and invincible vampires. . . . Pandora is a superheroine: beautiful, of course, but also smart, fearless, independent, lusty, resourceful, and so pumped up at the end of her breathless narrative, she takes off for New Orleans, hot on the trail of Lestat and Marius."--Booklist

"EERILY VIBRANT . . . The title character is a highborn woman of Augustan Rome who later names herself after the Pandora of mythology, opening her own box of surprises. Sitting in a modern-day Paris café in the aftermath of a fresh kill, the vampire Pandora accepts the challenge of recounting her history and immediately sets to work, filling the blank pages of an elegant leatherbound notebook. . . . A wealth of narrative twists and period detail."--The New York Times Book Review

70% history of Rome, 20% vampires, 10% husband wif

70% history of Rome, 20% vampire chronicles, 10% what wives see wrong in their husbands.
Interesting if you would like a history of Rome interpreted by an outside observer.

excellent

wonderful. the eloquence of her writing and research she must do for her novels to make them what they are. must be vast. I did not like the beginning but as it continued it got better and better.

Ok, but short

It was cool, but a little short. I thought her backstory would be a little more compelling since she was such an old character and connected to Marius

Good story but short

The story didn't add to the overall vampire mythology as I had hoped. It was shorter than most of her previous vampire books. I liked the setting and the attempt to tie history together in the end.

Great detail on Pandora before she became Pandora

Wonderful story telling on the life of Pandora. So good to hear and know more of who she is and who she once was.

sooperdooper!!!

I like the performance a lot I learned a lot of new things on here and it was really really really interesting I'm going to buy the next one awesome

My Favorite book by my Favorite Author

The history in the background of this story is fascinating. and races literature is pure poetry

Kate Reading IS Pandora!

The book follows Pandora’s life from her point of view, yet manages to NOT be repetitive. It is also a lesson in world history, philosophy, and theology. I highly recommend this book!

👍👍

Expertly read by Kate Reading, now if only they could have her read the rest of the vampire chronicles?! 😅

Still my favorite

I read this 20 years ago and it is still my favorite. I adore Pandora. I enjoyed cominh back all these years later and listening to it very much.