Claudia smiled at the compliment, weighing her head to the side slightly. “Merci beacoup, cheri. I wont wear just anything you know.” Thinking to her wardrobe, for a moment she glanced off into space. “My favorite color is royal blue. All those deep colors are really beautiful. Red, purple, even gold although I like gold more for accessorize than a clothing color.”
“Of course I adore lace. You can’t go wrong with floral patterns…..then again it depends on the floral. I don’t like to over do it.” Which was funny because Claudia was the queen of ‘over doing it’, next to Lestat of course. “There are so many crazy prints out there…” She had a look on her face that was a mixture of confusion and disgust as she shook her head. “Je ne sais pas…”
“Satin, silk, cotton, velvet, cashmere.” She listed. “Wool is good for warm but I hate that rough texture.”
“I’d like to think my taste has changed at least a little bit with time. Fashion has changed so much and new things come out all the time. The things people wear now is very different from what we use to wear. Less layers, then more layers again, then less material. I can’t wear my big thick gowns in 2018, I would stand out. You have to adapt and learn to accept change. Childrens clothes are one thing…” Claudia rolled her eyes. “It’s becoming worse and worse in my opinion but I have a personal seamstress, thank god.”
Personally, I would always recommend reading them in order of publication, bc that’s the order AR explored the characters and their stories. And some things may be mentioned in B&G that would spoil TVA.
TVA has a lot more of the problematic stuff re: Amadeo/Marius as a ship, so if you’re not interested in that, you might want to avoid it entirely.
I admit that I like Armand more as a character than Marius, I enjoy his voice, the framing of that story in terms of what’s happening with the other characters at that point in canon, and TVA obvs has more focus on Armand, and, I think, TVA is a better story overall, so I prefer that book entirely, but that’s just me!
Anyone can add their thoughts on this, too 😀
I’m just gonna hop in here real quick as someone who really enjoyed Blood&Gold, and say that it depends on what you’re looking for.
TVA has a rather contained narrative, and focuses mainly on Venice, everything else gets wrapped up quickly. And that’s totally fine if that’s what you’re interested in. And TVA is definitely written in a more enticing manner than B&G.
B&G does not go into as much detail about the same events as TVA of course so it is a bit like zooming in on one specific detail in a very large picture. B&G offers the picture, and that can get a bit tedious to work through. But it also brings with it a whole array of characters you didn’t see much of until then, or didn’t know anything about before. You learn more about the history of the covens and the druidic cults, about the Talamasca and just “vampire history” in general. It was very satisfying, for me at least.
That being said, I would also suggest reading TVA first because what is hinted or implied in that book, gets explained in B&G, so you get a nice “Ohh!” moment out of it. It gives you the perspective that TVA didn’t get, since it was written from Amadeo’s limited point of view.
Personally, I would always recommend reading them in order of publication, bc that’s the order AR explored the characters and their stories. And some things may be mentioned in B&G that would spoil TVA.
TVA has a lot more of the problematic stuff re: Amadeo/Marius as a ship, so if you’re not interested in that, you might want to avoid it entirely.
I admit that I like Armand more as a character than Marius, I enjoy his voice, the framing of that story in terms of what’s happening with the other characters at that point in canon, and TVA obvs has more focus on Armand, and, I think, TVA is a better story overall, so I prefer that book entirely, but that’s just me!
“And then he came forward out of the chair and took hold of me and held tight to me, and, despite myself, I took his hand. He bent down, pressing his head against my chest and holding my hand so tight that he caused me pain.” Interview With The Vampire, 1994
I-want-my-IWTV 