Reviews tagging 'Gore'

The Witching Hour by Anne Rice

7 reviews

cuteasamuntin's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

I’m not sure I particularly liked this book. It isn’t a particularly fun or nice read, but I can already tell that it’s going to really stick with me. While it’s slow enough that I was at times impatient for Rice to get on with it, the narrative was still very compelling.

I really enjoyed the family chronology and learning more about the Talamasca. My favorite parts were 1) the deep and pure expressions of familial and romantic love dappled throughout an otherwise grim and haunting story and 2) Michael

in a joyous frenzy over restoring the house, to the point that I was hanging onto every word about his historically accurate and thoughtful renovations

, but the latter is probably just a hazard of my day job.

Funnily enough, I just didn’t care at all about the spirit Lasher, to the point that I found myself actively bored when

he is finally present in the narrative and begins interacting directly with Rowan

. I think this may have been a stronger story without that aspect being so explicitly present. This may, of course, be in part to already knowing the general principles of how spirits/“demons” work in the Anne Rice universe due to being a dedicated admirer of Maharat and her Great Family™ from The Vampire Chronicles. 

For audiobook listeners, the talented Kate Reading really makes this heavy tome a lot less of a slog. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Blood, Death of parent, Ableism, Abandonment, Death, Incest, Bullying, Gore, Grief, Self harm, Emotional abuse, Rape, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Confinement, Body horror, Mental illness, Medical content, Pregnancy, Stalking, and Torture

Moderate: Classism, Confinement, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Dementia, Medical content, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, and Sexual content

Minor: Drug use, Abortion, Body shaming, Cultural appropriation, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Colonisation, Dementia, Kidnapping, and Car accident

lyfeistrip's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Violence, Stalking, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Infertility, Emotional abuse, Cursing, Alcoholism, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Medical trauma, Child abuse, Alcohol, Pregnancy, Murder, Medical content, Sexual assault, Rape, Gore, Death, Child death, Car accident, Grief, Incest, Infidelity, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Colonisation, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Racial slurs, Pedophilia, Miscarriage, Mental illness, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Classism, Death of parent, Infertility, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Racism, Toxic friendship, Violence, Chronic illness, Alcohol, Child abuse, Death, Gaslighting, Gore, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Rape, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Drug use, Medical content, Medical trauma, Abortion, Cancer, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Car accident, Cultural appropriation, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Infidelity, Fire/Fire injury, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Torture, Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Colonisation, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Murder, and Sexual violence

circe813's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, Suicide, Stalking, Alcohol, Body horror, Confinement, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Rape, Death, and Colonisation

Minor: Alcoholism, Chronic illness, and Child abuse

cinderrunner's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

Overly long. Convoluted and dull plot. I hate a pregnancy trope. Extremely boring for the first half and, even after it does start to get interesting, the story doesn't stay consistently engaging. This was such a struggle to get through. This is my first Anne Rice novel and I am extremely confused as to why she has so much hype around her. The obsession she has with relating sex in this book to r*pe is disgusting. Like Rowan will be having consensual sex and be like "oh god yes, r*pe me." Its genuinely nasty and so unnecessary. Also a lot of incest and undertones of racism from all the characters regardless of what time period the story is set in. Please don't waste your time with this series. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Slavery, Blood, Colonisation, Death of parent, Gore, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Classism, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Murder, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, and Violence

rumireads's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Medical content, Pedophilia, Rape, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Suicide, Miscarriage, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Torture, Murder, Excrement, Gaslighting, Incest, Death, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Gore, and Body horror

samthescorpio's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Wow this book is such a masterpiece, it’s very dark but very well crafted, I can’t believe it doesn’t have more of a cult following than it does. AMC has plans to make it into a show soon, so read it now before it’s spoiled for the world!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, and Incest

Moderate: Body horror and Blood

Minor: Gore, Sexual violence, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Alcoholism, Car accident, and Child abuse

fra_ci90's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Colonisation, Confinement, Cultural appropriation, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Incest, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Trafficking, Violence, Vomit, and Xenophobia