The Witching Hour

Rating:
Summary: Great novel, but way too long.
Review: I think this book is potentially great if it was about half as long. Now I love a good long read, but there was too much detail in the history of the Mayfair witches and I found it to become quite boring at times. I feel she should have expanded the storyline of the characters in the present--Rowan, Michael, Aaron, Lasher, etc. It took forever to get to the climax of those characters and then the ending just leaves you hanging. I was sooo disappointed in the ending--it took so long to get to it and then what a let down! I guess there is a sequel to this, but I just don't know if I can put myself through this again. I give this book a 7--but somewhere in all the pages and pages of words there's a great story that could have been a 10++!

Rating:
Summary: it's worth it!
Review: This was a great book! definately one of her best. at times there was a little too much sex but the rest was captivating. i liked the way she had the history of the witches along with the present. but i think it would have been better if it was not a series. although i have to say that lasher and taltos were pretty good.

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Predictable
Review: from the start to the finish, I read, earnestly hoping that the book wouldn't turn out the way it seemed destined to. I was disappointed by the bland turns of plot blatantly spelled out chapters before any real action happened. The only thing I was surprised about was Mrs. Rice's lack of integrity in dealing with the character of Rowan Mayfair. Throughout the book, she kept it alive in spite of the bland world she was moving through, then at the end, betrayed everything it seemed she was and had been fighting for. Perhaps I just didn't get it, but it seems the whole series could have ended at book one quite plausibly. Dragging through another novel, simply to see if Mrs. Rice had enough sense to allow Rowan the completion she should have had in book one, is too masochistic for my tastes, I don't care if I'm missing out, count me out.

Rating:
Summary: Scared me!
Review: Wonderful characters to hate, love, and fear. I was scared for weeks after reading this. The detail of the Witching Hour makes you feel involved in the story and unable to put the book down.

Rating:
Summary: Deliciously frightening
Review: As someone who was less than impressed with the Vampire Chronicles, I picked up "The Witching Hour" with more than a little skepticism. I was immediately drawn into a world so frightening, so compelling, it made my skin crawl and kept me glued to the pages. This is one of the few books that I have ever read into the deep dark hours of the night. I was torn between the terror of reading on in the story, and the terror of not knowing what would happen next. It is definitely Anne Rice's best book. I gave it an 8 instead of a 10, however, because of a large section in the middle discussing Rowan's ancestry. Fairly long and tedious, and not entirely necessary. The mood was cast with Dierdre. Pieter's plight very nearly broke the spell.

Rating:
Summary: OMIGOD...Does this thing ever end?
Review: I am one of the few people who did not finish Interview becasue it was too long and I could see where it was going. However, someone recommend that I try The Witching Hour. I would have liked it more if it wasn't so darn long. It has taken me literally months to finish this book. The Stand only took me 3 days. I still haven't finished. But I haven't put it down yet. I only recently learned that this is the first of a trilogy. Maybe I'll get the book on tape. I don't think I want to invest any more time in reading another long accounting and losing track of the characters. If you like gothic novels you'll love this. Otherwise, don't even try it!

Rating:
Summary: completely absorbing
Review: Once again, as in the Vampire Chronicles, Rice creates a world in which the characters and their supernatural history cause the reader to suspend disbelief and become totally absorbed in the tale. In this ability to create an entire mythology, Rice is not unlike Tolkein. I can't wait to read the other two volumes in the series!

Rating:
Summary: One of the best
Review: I just bought another copy of this book to read again after I read her latest Violin. This was the book that made me an Anne Rice fan. The characters are richly developed and I find myself reading faster and faster to learn their fate. I highly recommend this series.

Rating:
Summary: The play of evil and innocence leaves the reader in awe.
Review: It is the main character, Rowan Mayfair, the reader wishes to meet in Anne Rice's "The Witching Hour", but instead becomes flooded by images of Rowan's ancient heritage, images of incest, hate, ignorant bliss, and a demon dressed in brown who seems to control this novel entirely. If the reader has any romantic notions of witches and their demons, they will simply vanish. "The Witching Hour"is an imperitive for any person who may have ever enjoyed a story interluding with the occult. The tale casts a spell on the reader dulling the black and white colors of morals until grays and rational only exist. The innocence and evil will leave any reader curious, outraged, and passive, always turning the page. Anne Rice's "The Witching Hour" is a literary mystery. It is beautiful, shocking, and genius. It is what you would expect from Anne Rice. Read it.

Rating:
Summary: Anne Rice at her very best!
Review: This was the first book by Anne Rice that I read. It is also my favorite. It's one of those few books that one finds oneself reading at 2AM -- just to finish a few more pages.