Vittorio the Vampire: New Tales of the Vampires [Deckle Edge] [Hardcover]

Anne Rice (Author)

Book Description

Series: New Tales of the Vampires | Publication Date: March 8, 1999

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.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Tired of the same old vampires? Check out Anne Rice's new race of undead bloodsuckers, independent of the Lestat series. Her alterna-vamp books began with Pandora, but the second of her New Tales of the Vampires, Vittorio, is truly a new beginning--a more controlled story and probably the best of her last half-dozen books.

Rice has called Vittorio her vampire version of Romeo and Juliet. The hunky Vittorio is sweet 16 and "incalculably rich" in 15th-century Italy, the epoch of the Medicis and Vittorio's favorite painter, madly passionate Filippo Lippi. Florence is to Vittorio what New Orleans is to Interview with the Vampire.

One night, Vittorio's family is butchered by vampires. The gorgeous Ursula spares Vittorio to make him her reluctant undying sweetheart. Ursula's ravishings of Vittorio recall the erotica Rice wrote under her own name and the pen names Anne Rampling and A.N. Roquelaure.

Vittorio flees to the creepy town of Santa Maddalana, which has made a pact to sacrifice its young to Lord Florian's vampire horde. Vittorio is bent on revenge as he invades the eerie Court of the Ruby Grail (i.e. blood), as angry with the child-sacrificing humans as he is with Florian's fang gangsters. Torn between lust, murderous rage, and vampire thirst, Vittorio is one interestingly troubled soul.

Rice urges readers to enter Vittorio's world by reading the sources she embroiders, Fra Filippo Lippi and Public Life in Renaissance Florence, and to get a feel for the scary communion Vittorio sees in the Court of the Ruby Grail by listening to All Souls' Vespers. --Tim Appelo

From 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. With the courtly arrogance of one who's to the manor born, Renaissance man Vittorio tells of his seduction into evil immortality. As the 16-year-old scion of a wealthy home, he rubs elbows with Cosimo de Medici and is attracted to the work of Fra Filippo Lippi, whose tormented paintings of angels mirror Vittorio's own heart. In the year 1450, he witnesses the massacre of his entire family by a band of demons. Fleeing from the primal scene, he follows the fiends in search of vengeance, and instead is overcome by the devastatingly beautiful "strega," the bare-shouldered Ursula. His desire for revenge?and his desire for Ursula?propel him in a dizzy descent to religion's darkest side, especially after Ursula's vampire attentions render him able to see and converse with angels. Though the narrative is presented as a tragic tale of doomed love, we know so little of the swooning, inarticulate Ursula that there's hardly any romance or suspense. And while Vittorio's particular road to hell is a new entry in Rice's repertoire of vampirification, much of the material is familiar: the rich, brash young man transformed against his will who agonizes over his new existence. Vittorio's painstaking narration of his biography takes so long to acquire momentum that when at one point he admits, "This chapter ought to be over," even diehard readers may be tempted to agree that it's time for a new vampire for a new age. Agent, Lynn Nesbit. (Mar.) FYI: Rice includes a bibliography of readings for greater appreciation of the time period.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Knopf; First Edition edition (March 8, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375401601
• ISBN-13: 978-0375401602
• Product Dimensions: 4.8 x 1.2 x 8.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (262 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #466,935 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Anne Rice was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. She holds a Master of Arts Degree in English and Creative Writing from San Francisco State University, as well as a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science.

She is the author of over 30 books, most recently the Toby O'Dare novels Of Love and Evil, and Angel Time; the memoir, Called Out of Darkness;and her two novels about Jesus, Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt and Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana,

Anne publicly broke with organized religion in July of 2010 on moral grounds, affirming her faith in God, but refusing any longer to be called "Christian." The story attracted surprising media attention, with Rice's remarks being quoted in stories all over the world.

Anne is very active on her FaceBook Fan Page and has over 550,000 followers. She answers questions every day on the page, and also posts on a variety of topics, including literature, film, music, politics, religion, and her own writings. She welcomes discussion there on numerous topics.

Her latest novel, The Wolf Gift, a werewolf story set in Northern California in the present time, will be published on February 14th, 2012. With this book, Anne returns to the classic monsters and themes of supernatural literature, similar to those she explored in her Vampire Chronicles, and tales of the Mayfair Witches.

Her first novel, Interview with the Vampire, was published in 1976 and has gone on to become one of the best-selling novels of all time. She continued her saga of the Vampire Lestat in a series of books, collectively known as The Vampire Chronicles, which have had both great mainstream and cult followings.

Interview with the Vampire was made into a motion picture in 1994, starring Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Kirsten Dunst and Antonio Banderas. Anne's novel, Feast of All Saints about the free people of color of ante-bellum New Orleans became a Showtime mini series in 2001.

Anne Rice is also the author of other novels, including The Witching Hour, Servant of the Bones, Merrick, Blackwood Farm, Blood Canticle, Violin, and Cry to Heaven. She lives in Palm Desert, California.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Anne weaves a masterful tale, April 14, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Vittorio the Vampire: New Tales of the Vampires (Hardcover)

I can hardly express how much I enjoyed Vittorio. I do have to say though, that I went into reading this amazing work NOT looking for Lestat, or the Witching Hour, or blood and gore. I read it with an open mind. It is NOT one of the Vampire Chronicles, and shouldn't be read as such. I'm dissapointed with the fans that couldn't grasp the concept that there are vampires outside of the small ring. It is wonderful, lush and rich on its own. Yes, it does paint a dark picture of Italy, but that is due to Vittorio's circumstances, having just witnessed the massacre of his family! How should he describe his world? And as for the book being mostly set in his mortal life, it is a change. And change is good. It is supposed to be the story of his early life, which is what it is. And it is amazing. I completely enjoyed the angels' involvement, it was a surprising and lucious twist. I would be greatly dissapointed if Anne didn't challenge what she has done before, and push the boundries of her own worlds, but she does. This is why I will continue to love her. She has never been a "Horror" writer for me, no one should pick up one of her novels expecting this, for you will only be dissapointed. She makes vampires human, giving them thoughts, feelings, and voices, each unique and individual. It's not just about the blood. The imagery in Vittorio is rich, and deep and it is a wonderful work all on its own. She made me really feel Vittorio's pain, and I almost dreaded the moment Ursula tricked him into the dark gift. Though it seems he should have been smarter, I think he really wanted to be fooled. Ah, well, what can I say...Anne has done it again. I think she is growing beyond the little world we've grown comfortable with, and I look forward to seeing what else lies in store.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous!, February 22, 2000

By 

Joan Aldin - See all my reviews

This review is from: Vittorio the Vampire: New Tales of the Vampires (Hardcover)

As all of Anne's books are, not only was Vittorio the Vampire a story of adventure and revenge and vampires and religion, but it was also a book about love, the human character, and above all about passion and belief. Perhaps I'm too sentimental or imaginative, but who could not have fallen in love with Vittorio? His character, however short the book may be, was beautifully developed throughout the pages. Anne's romantic descriptions of Florence and of the arts of that time were beyond wonderful. Besides the sublimely fluid writing style, what attracted me most to the book was the conflict and the struggle for Vittorio between Good and Evil, between Heaven and Hell, between Love and Obligation. So greatly and so truly are Vittorio's emotions described that the novel reaches and touches the deepest parts of your soul, and questions your greatest beliefs. As Vittorio says, "Have I not rendered a conflict so full of torment that something looms here which is full of brilliance and color...?" The sentence captures the true essence of the book.

To add one more comment, Anne's angels were beautiful. Her descriptions of them, yes, but moreover their relationships with Vittorio, their, for lack of a better word, personalities, and their differences were absolutely intriguing. How can anyone who has not spent time pondering religion, life, and death not find their endless contributions to the depth of the story fascinating?

My last words here: Read Vittorio.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Finally...., April 25, 2002

By 

Ascension (Purgatory) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Vittorio, the Vampire (Mass Market Paperback)

After the last couple Anne Rice disappointments this one is actually worth the read.