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3.55 AVERAGE
3.55 AVERAGE
3.5
girl, so weird
anyway, this wasn't as good as the two other books but it's def not as bad as people say it is?? it's exactly what i expected from how lasher ended. it's essentially a book that tries to tie up all the loose ends from the last book, but it kind of gets lost halfway through and then it ends. the witching hour is still the best book in this series!!
girl, so weird
anyway, this wasn't as good as the two other books but it's def not as bad as people say it is?? it's exactly what i expected from how lasher ended. it's essentially a book that tries to tie up all the loose ends from the last book, but it kind of gets lost halfway through and then it ends. the witching hour is still the best book in this series!!
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
First off, I’m not a “fan” of [a:Anne Rice|7577|Anne Rice|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1383250078p2/7577.jpg], though I enjoyed [b:Cry to Heaven|31335|Cry to Heaven|Anne Rice|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1385216547l/31335._SX50_.jpg|2925856] and [b:The Feast of All Saints|43798|The Feast of All Saints|Anne Rice|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1385216547l/43798._SY75_.jpg|2926011] when I read them many years ago. For some reason, I decided to delve into the [b:Mayfair Witches Collection|43815|Mayfair Witches Collection|Anne Rice|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1205638615l/43815._SX50_.jpg|6760241] about a year ago, remembering vaguely that I liked those two other novels as well as the universe of [b:Interview with the Vampire|43763|Interview with the Vampire (The Vampire Chronicles, #1)|Anne Rice|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1380631642l/43763._SY75_.jpg|873132] (which I didn’t read but only experienced on the big screen). So, I apologize in advance to anyone who might be a big Mayfair fan, but in my opinion, this is simply NOT a good book.
Even as the shortest (I think) of the trilogy, this was a real slog. As I mentioned above, I read the trilogy over the course of a year, with long pauses between each book, so perhaps my lack of appreciation is colored by that, but it seems to me that Rice’s storytelling noticeably declined from the beginning to the end of the trilogy, taking a pronounced nosedive in this third volume. Some of the plot lines go nowhere or don’t end up fully developed and the dialogue is often painfully awkward or absolutely risible. Then, there’s the long chapter towards the end where Rice felt the need to just vomit out a long-winded — and frankly ridiculous — backstory about the origin of the Taltos to get us all on the same page. It was wearisome.
I came to the[b:Mayfair Witches Collection|43815|Mayfair Witches Collection|Anne Rice|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1205638615l/43815._SX50_.jpg|6760241] with moderately high hopes, but it was a real mixed bag: [b:The Witching Hour|11901|The Witching Hour (Lives of the Mayfair Witches, #1)|Anne Rice|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327289387l/11901._SY75_.jpg|2926133] left me truly intrigued, [b:Lasher|31340|Lasher (Lives of the Mayfair Witches, #2)|Anne Rice|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1386924775l/31340._SY75_.jpg|2926033] left me fairly dubious, and [b:Taltos|9804779|Taltos (Lives of the Mayfair Witches, #3)|Anne Rice|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328364916l/9804779._SY75_.jpg|2926089] left me utterly disappointed. If I hadn’t already invested hours upon hours in the trilogy before getting to this point, I probably wouldn’t have bothered picking up the last volume. By the halfway point, I just wanted the story to come to a close so I could move it off of my “currently reading” bookshelf. To take a quotation from the book out of context: “it was best not to wait till she finished her stories, because she didn’t.” The irony wasn’t lost on me.
Even as the shortest (I think) of the trilogy, this was a real slog. As I mentioned above, I read the trilogy over the course of a year, with long pauses between each book, so perhaps my lack of appreciation is colored by that, but it seems to me that Rice’s storytelling noticeably declined from the beginning to the end of the trilogy, taking a pronounced nosedive in this third volume. Some of the plot lines go nowhere or don’t end up fully developed and the dialogue is often painfully awkward or absolutely risible. Then, there’s the long chapter towards the end where Rice felt the need to just vomit out a long-winded — and frankly ridiculous — backstory about the origin of the Taltos to get us all on the same page. It was wearisome.
I came to the[b:Mayfair Witches Collection|43815|Mayfair Witches Collection|Anne Rice|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1205638615l/43815._SX50_.jpg|6760241] with moderately high hopes, but it was a real mixed bag: [b:The Witching Hour|11901|The Witching Hour (Lives of the Mayfair Witches, #1)|Anne Rice|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327289387l/11901._SY75_.jpg|2926133] left me truly intrigued, [b:Lasher|31340|Lasher (Lives of the Mayfair Witches, #2)|Anne Rice|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1386924775l/31340._SY75_.jpg|2926033] left me fairly dubious, and [b:Taltos|9804779|Taltos (Lives of the Mayfair Witches, #3)|Anne Rice|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328364916l/9804779._SY75_.jpg|2926089] left me utterly disappointed. If I hadn’t already invested hours upon hours in the trilogy before getting to this point, I probably wouldn’t have bothered picking up the last volume. By the halfway point, I just wanted the story to come to a close so I could move it off of my “currently reading” bookshelf. To take a quotation from the book out of context: “it was best not to wait till she finished her stories, because she didn’t.” The irony wasn’t lost on me.
adventurous
dark
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Loveable characters:
Complicated
I'm not sure how I feel about this book. It was interesting to learn more about the Taltos and their history (which was, at times, so historically inaccurate that it was hard to ignore - ogham is Irish... not Pictish..) but at the end of the day, I don't feel like this book added much to the series as a whole.
I would have made the series two books, and have it end with Michael and Rowan burying Emaleth. The background on the Taltos was kind of cool, but you could absolutely live without it. And the Morrigan and Ash story line was not as satisfying as I think Rice wanted it to be.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Pregnancy
Moderate: Violence, War
Minor: Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Slavery
emotional
slow-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
The Taltos storyline is strange, but it dies get explained more and it's interesting. Still prefer Rice's vampire series.
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No