The Vampire Armand by
Anne Rice
pbk out October 99
(Arrow)
at £5.99
On the cover the face of the beautiful Armand , one of his eyes covered by a hummingbird whose beak drips blood not nectar - dressed in a rich Renaissance costume - stained glass windows in the background - a deep red rose in the bottom corner with its colour glowing and radiating upwards - a picture which conveys very well the flavour of the story between the covers. The story of Armand takes the reader through time and space, over hundreds of years, in times well known in history, to places famous in history. The author's evocation of the scenes and atmosphere, the beauty and luxury and the decadence of Renaissance Italy, the miraculous works of art, the people of Venice and Florence, are particularly powerful.
The vampires that Anne Rice writes about are far removed from the crude inhuman creatures, the undead, portrayed in earlier writings and films based on their breed. Armand and his Master, Marius De Romanus, are tragic figures with all the vampiric skills that are part of their nature but still a human heart in the core of their beings which survives and gives them the ability to feel human emotions. Armand is an "apprentice" of the great Master, a favourite, a lover, selected from all the young boys who are part of the household. When Armand is finally transformed by his Master into an immortal the metamorphosis is skilfully and convincingly described. He is taught that he must learn to seek out evildoers and feed on them only and not to touch the innocent.
The dark underbelly of the city of Venice, the taverns and vice, prostitutes, thieves and murderers provide the hunting ground and opportunities for the initiation of young Armand, in the company and under the tutelage of The Master, the greatest vampire of them all. From there the story of Armand moves on to nineteenth century Paris and finally to present day New Orleans, where it had started. Armand, the vulnerable and romantic hero, in the end must choose between his twilight immortality and the salvation of his immortal soul.
This is a novel in which fantasy mingles with historical fact, written in language which is appropriate for the tone and the mood of this entertaining addition to the Rice chronicles of Vampire lore. Perhaps we will come across Armand and his Master in the cinema soon. The book seems potentially a worthy successor to the successful "Diary of a Vampire".
