Customer Reviews

Witching Hour

5 star:		(241)
4 star:		(96)
3 star:		(32)
2 star:		(32)
1 star:		(36)

 

 

"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.

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!

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.

I don't normally do a review for a book that already has so many, but thought it might be helpful if I post one specifically for the Kindle ebook edition. I'm rating the novel with 5 stars. The Kindle edition only gets 3.5 stars though. (See below)

Since I'm writing anyway I will mention that I think The Witching Hour is Anne Rice's masterpiece. Her vampire books seem to get a lot more attention, but I think this book is her best work.

It's a bit of a slow starter and doesn't really take off until about 25% into it, but the reader's patience is well-rewarded. The Witching Hour is atmospheric, moody, enthralling, and at times creepy. The story is complex and I love seeing how Rice weaves all the threads together.

I hadn't read the book since it was originally published and enjoyed it as much this time as I did the first time. It's been a long time since I've read a book that affected me so much as this one. I found myself thinking about it quite a bit while doing other things and it even intruded on my dreams a couple times. That's the mark of an exceptional book to me.

Kindle Note: The ebook edition is obviously created from an OCR scan, which is typical since it was first published in 1990. The resulting text file has been cleaned up and isn't nearly as bad as some ebooks I've purchased that looked like no human ever looked them over. But there are still quite a few mistakes (wrong words or letters) remaining in the ebook edition of The Witching Hour. They are not numerous enough that it ruined the reading experience or made me want a refund, but they may be enough to bother those who are hypersensitive to that sort of thing. The individual chapters don't have marks on the progress bar, but each Part of the novel does.

I enjoyed the book and found the writing to be engrossing.... that is until words beginning with TH were appearing with an M instead. THE became ME. THERE became MERE. ETC. I eventually got past it because it became so frequent but it pulled me from the story nearly every time it happened. I give it four stars but honestly would have to give the Kindle translators work a two.

After reading the Vampire Chronicles I couldn't wait to read another of Anne Rice's series. After reading this book I doubt I will pick up rest of the Mayfair series. This is mostly due to the ending. The storyline is well written (as always with Rice) and though slow near the middle you won't put it down. An excellent build up to the ending and then a huge let down. Not so much for the end result, though that also was very disapointing, but for the way she gets there. The strong characters do not go kicking and screaming or with even one confrontation, no turning point. Instead they slide right to the end with no real explanation or reason. I'm not sure I can say more without giving away the storyline. Suffice it to say the writing is exceptional. The development of the characters great. There is no climax though. There is a build up of "good v. evil", and then no confrontation, no payoff. That for me was the most disapointing. Rice gets you to believe in Rowan, and then the character just folds. Rowan goes from this incredibly powerful strong, confident figure to a naive, easily manipulated weak figure, and the worst part is she just slides from one to the other. I could live with the ending if it was arrived at in a different way.

Reading this book was an act of faith on my part. That faith was very poorly placed. First, you get maybe 300 pages of actual plot and current-day character development. Then (@!*%#), you are subjected to another 300+ pages of a historical narrative that *never seems to end.* When the story resumes, you are dragged along as characters act in a "most unseemly" way. Finally, the ending is the worst I have ever seen in a book this long. After having read (and suffered) so long, to make the ending essentially a "stay-tuned-for-our-next-book" finish is like pouring acid in the already festering reading wounds of those who somehow managed to make it that far to the end of the book. Ann Rice? Never again.

This is probably not a book for everyone, as it is long in detail and long on developing the plot. If you love novels like these, you will love this.If not, do not even pick this up.

The story of the Mayfair witches starts in the present, moves to the past and back to the present with some loops thrown in.

Anne Rice made beautiful usage of the language and description. I felt half the time that I was there in New Orleans (and it being over 90 degrees here helped =) watching a ghost story unfold.

The ending is definitely a shocker, however, if you take the time to read the second and third book it all makes sense. This was not written to be a one book novel.

Anne spent a lot of time developing the characters in this novel, which explained why certain characters do and react the way they do. It also made me feel that I knew each individual character very well. I almost cried at points, and got very angry in others.

To me it was well worth the read (it grabbed my attention immediately, I didn't put it down for 2 days thank god it was the weekend!) and then I had to run out and by the next two books, which I will not go into details on here.

In San Francisco, a young man could not stop himself from drawing nearer the rocky shore; the ocean called to him, to his soul. Then he was swept into the sea. Rescue seems impossible, yet he is saved; saved by a Mayfair witch for reasons even she knows nothing about. Just as seaweed wraps around the legs and arms of unwary divers trapping them until only the blade of a knife will set them free, love entangles these two people. They travel to New Orleans, where a ancient mansion is alive with the secrets of the past. Shadows and Spanish Lace that hangs from the old trees were a barrier to passersby who would peek through the gates--that and ghosts.

In a powerful opening sequence, Anne Rice develops an intriguing story with rich characters that drew me into the story of the Mayfair Witches. The tale moves along well through the historical journals of past witches, who they were and how they came to power; a history that crosses the centuries and reveals a sense of their destiny and the corruption that binds this lineage.

Then the problem begins. Anne Rice retells the journal story from a new witch as she learns about her ancestors. Had this section been her reaction rather than a rehashing of the same material, then it might have added more than pages to the book, but it did not. This is a significant detriment to the book, but it was woven into events that were occurring in the same timeline, which made it difficult to skip.

Lasher, a Taltos, is ancient yet newborn. He is seductive and demanding as the Mayfair ghost. He is also brutal, cunning, and demonic, but this side of his character is not revealed until he gains the ultimate prize.

It has been several years since I read The Withching Hour, yet it stays with me as great storytelling always does. But I still cannot figure out why such a talented writer fell into trap of duplicating information; all it did was add a hundred or so pages. For that reason I give it 4 stars.

Victoria Tarrani

Well, having read the Vampire Chronicles I just had to read this book and I wasn't disappointed.
I found that it was one of those books that starts lasciviously slowly and then builds and builds until you don't want to put it down. As is rare these days you actually care and believe about these characters and you even feel some measure of sympathy for the spirit Lasher when really we should despise him.
I run the risk of giving the whole story away and typing a review almost as long as this novel itself and long it is but you don't notice that after the first 200 pages or so. With settings flung far and wide the story is wholly believable and you just know this family really exists in the Garden District somewhere still!!!
If you've never read Anne Rice then this is the ideal starting point, it does take a while to "get going" but please persevere with it as it is well worth it!