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i-want-my-iwtv:

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.