Pandora

'Not twenty minutes have passed since you left me here in the cafe', since I said No to your request, that I would never write out for you the story of my mortal life, how I became a vampire - how I came upon Marius only years after he had lost his human life.'
Pandora by Anne Rice

Above is the first paragraph in this wonderful novel. I am far behind the times and have only read one other of Anne Rice's vampire novels, Merrick. I did not enjoy that one nearly as much as I enjoyed Pandora. This is a rich novel, full of history. We start out in present day Paris, in a small but busy cafe'. David Talbot is a fellow vampire who has taken on the task of chronicling the stories of his fellow vampires. In the paragraph above, David has asked Pandora to write down for him her story, how she came to be two thousand years old, the first vampire ever made by Marius. Pandora has told him no, that she won't do it, but finds that she can't stop herself and it is a healing process for her. (As writing our stories is for many of us). This book is much more than your typical vampire story. It is more the story of a young woman in ancient Rome. The book is alive with Roman and Greek history, from the year 15 BC, we are taken through time - through the Roman Empire as Pandora is a daughter of a Roman Senetar, through Greek Mythology and visits to some of the greatest cities of that era.
As a very young girl, Pandora meets and falls in love with the very handsome and charismatic Marius, who begs her father for her betrothal, only to be turned down time and again. Marius goes on his way and Pandora only meets up with him again years later in exotic Antioch. By this time Marius is immortal and very unhappy with his fellow vampires. The story continues with the next two centuries of Pandora and Marius' life together.
This one, for me, ended to soon. I could have stayed in Ancient Rome with Pandora for much longer. Now I may be looking for more in this Anne Rice series. I so enjoyed my time there. This book is being passed on to my daughter, Shilo. I think she will get the same pleasure from it that I did.
My favorite passage is this: (as Pandora is starting to write her own story for David)
'I reach now for a victim who is not easy for me to overcome: my own past. Perhaps this victim will flee from me with a speed that equals my own. Whatever, I seek now a victim that I have never faced. And there is the thrill of the hunt in it, what the modern world calls investigation.'

How ridiculous and what a stranger he is who is surprised at anything which happens in life.
~Marcus Aurelius ~ Meditations
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