86 of 97 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Rice's journey through myth, legend and the supernatural, April 15, 2003
"The Witching Hour," Anne Rice's 1990 foray into witchcraft and the occult, is not really a change of pace for the uniquely gifted author more than it is a better realized creation emphasizing her strengths and obsessions. As most readers know, Rice cut her teeth with the enormously successful Vampire Chronicles including "Interview with the Vampire" and "The Vampire Lestat." With "The Witching Hour," Rice has taken a well-deserved break from the immortal lives of her witty vampire clan, creating a fascinating legend of a family of witches stretching back four centuries and two continents.
The witches, known as the Mayfairs, are connected by the haunting thread of the mysterious spirit Lasher, appearing ghost-like to a selected few, standing within the shadows of ominous trees and forming within mirrors, tears streaking his pale face. Lasher forms an eerie, if not erotic bond with the women of the Mayfair clan, providing untold riches and eventually amorous damnation. But Lasher, much like the legacy of the Mayfair family, is an exotic mystery waiting to be solved, and this intimidating responsiblity falls into the modern-day hands of Michael Curry and Rowan Mayfair. This appealing, love-struck couple, set out for New Orleans to solve the mystery and reclaim the souls of the Mayfair family.
"The Witching Hour" was eventually followed by two sequels, but it stands alone as one of Rice's greatest novels, an enthralling, complex epic filled with gothic mystery, dancing ghosts and heartbreaking irony. Her descriptions of the decayed mansion on First Street, situated in the Garden District of New Orleans, a moody, ancient home owned by the Mayfairs for over 100 years, provides some of this novels most sensual and memorable passages. This house is indeed haunted by spirits and the hovering mysteries of past tragedies, but like Shirley Jackson's classic "The Haunting of Hill House," what is lurking within the home is much more than just crying spirits of the dead.
Rice's body of work has always had an old fashioned taste for the finer things in life, from exquisite bottles of wine to antique furnishings and dusty historic paintings. She caresses these lush trappings, much like a lover embraces an old flame. And her descriptions of these tasteful adornments - clothes, artwork, china, food and even New Orleans culture, all glowing within the flame of yellow candlelight, are examples of her sensual writing style. Granted, the passages leading up to the novel's final conflict, in which Michael and Rowan begin renovating the ancient Mayfair home, move slowly, perhaps providing more architectural detail than the reader is interested in. But Rice is strategically building a growing sense of dread. Horror is going to pay a visit to this young couple, and when it eventually does, the reader's mouth will be agape.
"The Witching Hour" is a mesmerizing novel, combining comfortable elements of the English ghost story with a feather-touch dash of erotica, witchcraft and the occult. As in all Anne Rice novels, the dead will simply not go away. They lurk in the shadows of history, as they have for centuries. Time may have passed these pseudo banshees by, but their power is far reaching. Even within the shadows of skyscrapers, automobiles and computers, these timeless supernatural fears are hiding. In Anne Rice's fascinating worlds, ancient legends live and wait, and our imagination is entranced.
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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent, and disturbing in a good way..., April 20, 2001
Though I am twelve years old, (if you have read this book than you know that I should not have read it) I enjoy the quality of Anne Rice's novels. The scenes in which her charcters live are wonderfully described, and they become real. I bought this book at the mall with a friend who said ever so rudely to me that I was insane for trying to read a book that size, and it would take me a least a year, but I assured her that the critics were always right, at least about Anne Rice, and I devoured this book in an impressive amount of time. I deeply adore this book now, and am very excited to start Lasher, the next book. The suprise ending hurt me, because it was most definately not what I was expecting! This is now one of my favorite books, and I will most likely purchase the others in the very near future. It's sad romance was a little more than I could endure. I found it sadistic and romantic. If you believe nothing else, believe me when I say this. Anne Rice will not dissapoint you!
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastically Dark and Gorgerously Written, April 24, 2000
If I can sum up this books in a few words I would, but I cannot. It would not do this book any justice to give you a few simple descriptive words on how much I loved this book. Mrs. Rice has out done herself once again, by creating an entire world for us to dwell in and stretch our imaginations even further. Her mastery of the unknown, description, and the undead is a tremendous gift. The Witching Hour kept me glued from the very first page to the very last. She has weaved an entire family history with so many "magikal-skeletons", a prime time televison mini-series would be the perfect display of the magnificence of this novel. The Witching Hour in short, is one big history book. It details the past and current adventures of the family Mayfair, that through the years have amassed great wealth, magic, and influence from an entity known as Lasher to their kin. However, in the old tradition of witch covens - there can only be one who sits at the head of the family - and she is Deidre Mayfair and she is about to die. Her daugher, Rowan Mayfair,whom was taken away at the moment of her birth, never to know her family, has come back to claim what's rightfully hers. However, unbeknownst to Rowan, there's more to this family that meets the eye. We come to find that only women can inherit the role of the head witch of the family, but all is not as it seems because there is a power at work that is claiming this family into it's insestous ways to make the most powerful family. Through a mystical and magikal journey into the dark beginings of this family's history, you come to know the most powerful witches of the clan. In a word-Julien..mesmerizing. When you read this you will know what i mean. Rowan and her family give a stellar performance, as they jump off the pages and you being to take the trip into this dark world with them. Fans of the Vampire Chronicles will have a certain kinship to these books, because our friends from the Talamasca are all over this book. This book is a pure triumph and something that needs to be read carefully, for there is a lot of history and names to know. What I suggest, which is a very fun and interactive way to get involved with the book, is make your own timeline of the Mayfair family and follow along with it during the course of the story as it unfolds and as you are introduced to more of the clan. See if you can figure out the secrets of the mayfair family before you even finish the series. Happy Reading.
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