Reviews

The Witching Hour by Anne Rice

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allyreadsromance's review

3.0

Too Much! That is the best way I can describe this book. Too Much: non important description that does not move the plot forward, long drawn out details about architecture, incest (seriously any incest is too much but detailed generations of it), cell biology, and etc. I hear the sequel is full of a detailed Lolita problem which will probably keep me from reading it even though I am very curious as to what happens with Rowan, Michael, and Lasher. With that bit out of the way I will say I found a great deal of the story fascinating. I love stories about witches and history. The way that past and present (1980s) were woven together was amazing! Overall this book has me torn. There are many aspects I enjoyed, but then others were just "too much"...

nialexa's review against another edition

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mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

cazxxx's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-paced

4.0

vanessaedwards1882's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

2.5

Content Warnings

ifollowedthatrabbit's review against another edition

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4.0

This story has blown my mind! So many years had passed until I finally picked this book up. And during the very first pages I realised how much I'd missed Anne Rice's prose! It's so wonderful to read anything written by her.

I must say that some issues in the story have shocked me greatly. If you've ever read any book by Anne Rice, then you know there are lots of incredibly steamy scenes, which are thoroughly described, but that's not the problem here; the thing is that there were some of these kinds of scenes where children were secondary characters and even main characters (such as the case of a young male character who saves the daughter of a recently burned witch. This girl is 12 years old and he can't help thinking of her as if she were already a woman. He's constantly struggling with those thoughts and feelings). I see that this may help the reader understand the characters better, but still... It's too much for me. I think we could all see perfectly fine what kind of people those characters were without those scenes.

Anyway, I've enjoyed this book and want to read the second as soon as possible.

sugarpop's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

2.75

betseyboo's review against another edition

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1.0

Well, I remember while I was reading this book, at around page 530, that I'm committed so I finished off this 965 page whopper. So what can I say about this book? It could've used some editing. Stories kept repeating and there was a level of cheese that deserved a good eye roll. So, if you are craving some book candy, go ahead and pick up this book but just be aware that you might realize when you're half way through that this candy is just stale and is giving you a tummy ache.

mysaria's review

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dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

ketutar's review against another edition

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3.0

Another hard one to review...
I love her writing. It is poetic, yet not purple, easy to read, and interesting. I love her descriptions of the places, I get the feeling she truly loves New Orleans. But - it's such drivel. In certain parts, it feels like she's just writing down her own thoughts, feelings, and ideas, and I disagree with her strongly, so it feels like listening to some "idiot" yap about their stupid thoughts without the ability to inject my POV into the issue. I feel preached on.
And... the characters don't catch me. I really am not interested in these people or what happens to them.

So, I DNFd this. Maybe I'll finish it one day. Maybe not. There are plenty of good books to read.
I read about 250 pages, so I think I have a good enough idea of what this book is and what I think about it.

cuteasamuntin's review against another edition

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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.

Content Warnings

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