Books › Blood and Gold
Blood and Gold
784 pages
A lush, centuries-spanning gothic reverie that drowns you in the opulent sorrow and intoxicating beauty of immortal life.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like wandering through a dimly lit, velvet-draped museum after hours, guided by a deeply melancholic and philosophical narrator. The pace is deliberately leisurely, allowing you to sink into the opulent sensory details of Ancient Rome and Renaissance Italy. It is a deeply atmospheric, gothic experience, dripping with existential angst and a profound obsession with art, beauty, and the crushing weight of immortality. The prose is famously lush and ornate, wrapping you in a brooding, sensual mood that feels both grandiose and intimately sorrowful. It will utterly delight readers who want their vampires to be tragic, romantic scholars rather than mere monsters, offering a sweeping, emotionally resonant journey through centuries of loneliness and enduring love.
- Mood
- lush
- gothic
- opulent
- brooding
- sensual
- Tone
- melancholic
- philosophical
- grandiose
- romantic
- Pace
- leisurely
- Themes
- the burden of immortality · obsession with art and beauty · enduring love · existential loneliness · the weight of history
- The writing
- Lush, ornate, and deeply sensory, filled with rich historical detail and philosophical musings.
- The arc
- A sweeping journey from ancient sorrow and profound loneliness to a bittersweet acceptance of eternity and the enduring power of art.
- Who it's for
- Readers who crave immersive, gothic historical fiction dripping with romance, existential angst, and opulent world-building.
Content notes
- blood and gore
- violence
- sexual content
- existential dread
About the book
The latest mesmerising and exotic Vampire Chronicle from the mistress of the genre - a must for all readers of The Vampire Armand.Here is the gorgeous and sinister story of Marius, patrician by birth, scholar by choice, one of the oldest vampires of them all, which sweeps from his genesis in ancient Rome, in the time of the Emperor Augustus, to his meeting in the present day with a creature of snow and ice. Thorne is a Northern vampire in search of Maharet, his 'maker', the ancient Egyptian vampire queen who holds him and others in thrall with chains made of her red hair, 'bound with steel and with her blood and gold'. When the Visigoths sack his city, Marius is there; with the resurgence of the glory that was Rome, he is there, still searching for his lost love Pandora, but bewitched in turn by Botticelli, the Renaissance beauty Bianca, with her sordid secrets, and the boy he calls Amadeo (otherwise known as the Vampire Armand). Criss-crossing through the stories of other vampires from Rice's glorious Pantheon of the undead, haunted by Pandora and by his alter ego Mael, tracked by the Talamasca, the tale of Marius, the self-styled guardian of 'those who must be kept' is the most wondrous and mind-blowing of them all.
Description from Open Library.
Books like Blood and Gold
See why they match
The Vampire ArmandAnne RiceA lush, velvet-draped confession of obsessive love, religious trauma, and the heavy burden of eternity.
PandoraAnne RiceA lush, centuries-spanning gothic reverie that drowns you in the passionate, sorrowful memories of an immortal.
Dark GoldChristine FeehanA fog-drenched, high-stakes plunge into ancient darkness and the all-consuming, fated love that cures it.
Narcissus in chainsLaurell K. HamiltonA gritty, leather-clad descent into supernatural politics where desire is a weapon and love is a blood-soaked battlefield.
Club deadCharlaine HarrisA steamy, neon-lit descent into supernatural nightlife where Southern charm meets bloody betrayal.
A Discovery of WitchesDeborah HarknessA cozy, autumnal plunge into hidden magical societies, ancient manuscripts, and a slow-burn romance steeped in history and fine wine.