Vittorio the Vampire
Published: 16, March 1999
Author: Anne Rice
Book 2 of 2: New Tales of the Vampires
Genres: Classics, Fantasy, Fiction, Ghost, Greek, Historical, Horror, Horror, Legend, Myth, Roman, Thrillers, Vampire
Check the summary of this book here:
Vittorio the Vampire Summary
The Review:
In Vittorio the Vampire, Anne Rice takes a break from the regular cast of characters (Armand Lestat Pandora, etc.) to present a new vampire branch that is only distantly connected. In the 16th century, Vittorio was the son of a wealthy noble family from the northern Italian Alps. His family is linked to the Medici of Florence, Italy, and avoids becoming involved in wars and politics. Vittorio learns both cultural understanding of literature, mathematics, and art, as well as the manly arts of knights, as he grows up. Vittorio was unaware of the presence of a vampire cult known as "The Court of the Ruby Grail" while growing up in his family's tranquil mountain valley castle.
I thoroughly appreciate immersing myself in Anne Rice's novels and despite the fact that Vittorio the Vampire has no connection to Lestat and his gang of vampire associates other than the fact that it is a vampire novel; I found this book to be just as enjoyable to read as the others.
Vittorio di Raniari, the central character, has strength of character and a depth of feeling that reaches deep into the well of human reaction and conduct. Anne Rice has skillfully interconnected Vittorio's fateful experiences — the destruction of his family and life, his relationship with the mysterious Ursula, an unexpected intervention by angels, and his unwilling baptism into the undead — with beautifully descriptive views of the Italian countryside and way of life in the fourteenth century.
The visual detail was captivating, and the dark gothic setting was ideal. At the start, Vittorio's goals were not always apparent, even though I loved him as a character. It wasn't until I realized he was sixteen that his behaviors and emotions made sense. I was likewise unsure about the inclusion of angels, but at the conclusion, I appreciated what they added to the plot and Vittorio's - now five-hundred-year-old - point of view. According to several readers, the plot is dull. I don't agree. In fact, the shorter tale appears to have aided Anne Rice in quickening the pace. The novel is dark and gritty, with a love story that pulsates between dread, anger, and acceptance, because of the Ruby Grail coven's uncanny wickedness.
Vittorio was an easy book to read. It just took me a few days to finish. It was, in my opinion, one of the least graphically violent vampire books in Anne Rice's books. Vittorio is distinct from other self-hating vampires in that he had a pleasant existence before becoming a vampire. He could see angels, was wealthy, had a family, and lived in Renaissance-era Italy... basically he wasn't doing too badly.
Louis and other vampires chose the Dark Gift because they were afraid of dying, or because they thought their lives were a waste of time, or because they were miserable or duped into it. Vittorio was essentially seduced into turning into a vampire.
This, I believe, is a metaphor. We witness dark things as we grow older, gain independence, and enjoy adult pleasures. But who doesn't wish they could go back in time and be young and innocent? Consider a time when you were very little, too young to understand how terrible people can be. When your sole obligation was to wash your hands before supper, it was a simpler time. Wouldn't you give up every adult pleasure if you could reclaim your childhood innocence and joyful ignorance of how messed up the world can be if you could? Isn't it a pity that we can't have everything? The loss of innocence is the subject of this novel.
Vampires who like being vampires, just as much as vampires who despise being vampires, strike me as clichéd. Anne Rice's Louis, I believe, was the first self-hating vampire, predating Vittorio and, to some extent, Stephanie Meyer's animal-feeding vampires, and even True Blood's vampires that drink artificial blood. When this novel was written, vampires like Vittorio were not a cliché.
This book distinguished itself from her previous vampire tales in the Chronicles. Anne Rice accomplished a number of things in this book that she hasn't done in the Vampire Chronicles previously. I've read them all, and this is the only and final one for Vittorio.
To be honest, I think here is an excellent place to finish, partly since it concludes in a more upbeat tone. People appear to despise this book mostly because it has nothing to do with Lestat or any of the other Vampire Chronicles characters, and it focuses on Vittorio's human existence rather than his vampire one.
However, I believe that many who rejected the book for these reasons missed the meaning of the tale. It was about his journey as he fought evil while trying to be good and true to himself. I loved that it didn't involve any of the other characters since it was unique. The entire book was different from the others in the series since it was darker but also more optimistic.
Vittorio the Vampire was not really frightening, but then again, it is a vampire story. It's quite engaging and a little bit humorous, much like Fra Angelico's angels' discussions and disagreements are hilarious. It's also fascinating to read how Anne Rice characterized the natural beauty of the setting for the novel. The majesty and grandeur of Florence in the fourteenth century. While reading the novel, you may find yourself in it.
The narrative includes art and renowned painters like Fra Angelico and Fra Filippo Lippi, as well as the story's famous art patron, rich Florentine Cosimo de Medici. But most of all, the emotions and pain of the protagonist, Vittorio. His anguish, love, and yearning for the wrongs to be right could all be felt by the reader. He had his own struggle with his intellect and mortal desires while becoming what he became, a vampire, and everything is done in the name of love.
Final Thoughts:
The church's majesty and magnificence. The people and the landscape's details. Such majesty and precision in the castles and churches. Everything was fantastic. As usual, I became enthralled in this epic narrative of young Vittorio, wishing I could join him in this wonderful world, to experience the architecture, paintings, landscapes, and rich life that surrounded what we now call the Golden Age with my own eyes.
This book explores the philosophical dilemma of whether it is appropriate to sacrifice a society's infirm and defenseless for the wealth and prosperity of others. People have sacrificed their children and their week in both Vittorio's family lands and the town of Santa Maddalena in order to flourish.
They had no crime, no ill, no epidemic, and none of the other problems that beset human civilization. Is wealth and peace, however, worth the exorbitant price? For a long time, philosophers and politicians have struggled with this subject.
This is a fast-paced book that is both amusing and educational in terms of trivia and history. I'd love to see this novel adapted into a film adaptation. I sincerely hope they do.
Synopsis:
“NATIONAL BESTSELLER • 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.”
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Rating: 90/100
Recommended: 100/100 Yes.
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