Anne Rice wasn"t the first writer to show vampires as sexy--there are powerfully perverse sexual undercurrents in Bram Stoker"s Dracula, granddaddy of all modern vampire novels. But Rice"s 1976 Interview With the Vampire made vampirism lusher and more explicitly attractive. Though there"s still a dark and messy side (as with sex), non-vampires are irresistibly tempted by perks like immortality and great good looks. Pandora, one of many follow-ups, is the partial autobiography of a heroine born human in Augustan Rome and still undead today. Much of it reads like historical romance, but involvement with the cult of Isis makes Pandora dream about blood-drinking ... Characteristically for Rice, the romantic climax--foreshadowed from paragraph one--means finding not true love but true vampirism with Mr Right. Indeed the horror aspect has almost vanished and draining people of their blood is considered acceptable since Pandora and friends kill only bad guys. (Compare the morality of Terry Pratchett"s on-the-wagon vampires, who make do with animal blood from kosher butchers.) Sensuality alternates with dollops of historical research and references to previous novels such as The Vampire Lestat-- referred to by title--whose events readers are expected to remember. Pandora is written for, and will satisfy, Rice"s many established addicts. --David Langford