Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

The Witching Hour by Anne Rice

15 reviews

willow1113's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Sexual harassment, Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, Rape, Racism, Mental illness, Infidelity, Murder, Death, Addiction, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Death of parent, Suicide, Stalking, Sexism, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, and Incest

aliennas's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

It honestly has no business being this long. The “Yes, rape me!” and the pedophilia, incest and other… uncomfortable aspects of the book were big yikes. That being said, the narrative and the plot in itself is really cool. Part 2 is a clear highlight. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Sexual assault, Violence, Religious bigotry, Child abuse, Infidelity, Blood, and Incest

Moderate: Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Pedophilia, Emotional abuse, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Murder, Grief, Religious bigotry, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Child abuse, Medical content, Gaslighting, Death, Confinement, Chronic illness, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Body horror, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pedophilia, Infidelity, Incest, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Terminal illness, Rape, Fire/Fire injury, and Pregnancy

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

allie_fawn's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Death, Death of parent, Sexual content, Alcohol, Pregnancy, Addiction, Alcoholism, Abortion, Sexual harassment, Incest, Infidelity, Medical content, Medical trauma, Sexual assault, and Rape

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

moreau's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.5

so. boring. i cant believe i finished this, it had some good bits. i really liked all the talamasca files on the history of the family. but the present day situation is just so dull. rowan isnt an interesting main character, her only character development is getting progressively more annoying. i do not care for the pro life rants, incest or atrociously written sex scenes. this could've been good if it was about petyr or stuart townsend, i love stuart townsend. michael is boring as hell too, at least he liked the invisible man though, which is more interesting than this shit. also jimmy barnes??? people outside of Australia know Barnsy? why? so far i way prefer the tv series to the book series because at least rowan isn't the most 2d character ever. love suzanne though, rest in peace suzanne mayfair you would've loved steeleye span. also i get why theyre rich but i hate that every character in every anne rice book has to be rich, like its not even just money isnt covered, theyre ALWAYS rich, attracted to men, annoying and white. every man is gay or bisexual and every woman is straight. i really like lasher though, i think he's really interesting so i'll try read the 2nd book and hope it's more interesting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Medical content, Incest, Body horror, Sexual content, Rape, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Cancer

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

dragonaion's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

This is my fourth book of Rice's that I've read, the first being the Beauty trilogy, and this was a very different pace than I was expecting. 
It is on the slower side, looping in years of history like a story-in-a-story that can be at times, hard to read. Half of the book is about the Mayfair history and I can't count the number of times I thought, "Is this really all necessary to the story?" 
This is a dark read, as Rice is known for, and while hard for some readers, it is filled with interesting complex thoughts and ideas. Heavily Christian, it adds a contrast to the questioned morals shown by the characters and their situations. It appears that the book is character driven, however the arching plot is revealed at the end and loops the entire story together, as if you're riding down the ribbon as you read to suddenly find yourself atop a perfectly wrapped present, bow and all, on the last page. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Grief, Forced institutionalization, Domestic abuse, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Incest, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Blood, Death, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, and Death of parent

Moderate: Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Terminal illness, Racial slurs, and Abortion

As Rice is known for, she is not shy with the sexual content and rough concepts, and she is going back in history, so there is some underage content, slavery, and "okay at the time" wording that may disturb some readers.

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

mafer1's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Miscarriage, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Incest, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Addiction, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, and Medical content