Rating: Summary: Don't waste your time Review: This is one of the worst books I have ever read.
Rating: Summary: Good, but slow..... Review: I enjoyed this book, but it's rather slow reading. i found that i could sit and read and i'd feel like I'd read like half an hour's worth of information, but I'd been reading for 2 hours. It's a really good book, though.
Rating: Summary: An Exquisitely "Witch"-ly Woven Tapestry... Review: Arguably the best of the Mayfair Witches trilogy, it is also my personal favorite. Besides laying the groundwork for the future sequels, "Witching Hour" invites us into the shadowy world of the Mayfair Family, and the organization that is "always there, and always watching," the Talamasca. Told in non-linear, yet fluid narrative flashbacks (signature Rice) we travel from the 17th century British Isles and Europe to the early days of colonial Louisiana. The mysterious entity known as Lasher attaches itself to a matriarchal dynasty of very special women, possessing of moderate to powerful witchcraft strength. As the centuries progress, disaster seems to follow these Mayfair daughters, and for all their wealth and opulent lifestyles, Lasher is the cloud that hovers ominously over their lives. In order to spare the last-born Mayfair daughter, Rowan, a tragic fate, her immediate family forces young Deirdre Mayfair to give her up to a distant cousin. Rowan seems destined to meet Michael Curry, a handsome architect who she saves from drowning. Fresh from his brush with death, Michael gains the ability to touch objects and know intimate details about who handled them. When Rowan's birth mother dies, she finds her way back to New Orleans, Michael in tow, and she comes face to face with the Mayfair history through an intervention from the Talamasca (enter Aaron Lightner.) Much of the rest of the novel is devoted to fleshing out these storylines in glorious detail. A definite must-read for any true Anne Rice fan, and for those of you out there up for the over-thousand page challenge, curl up and read!
Rating: Summary: Enriching and wonderful experience! Review: I must say that I have read all the Vampire Chronicles and I never really gave the Mayfair Witches a try, but a friend loan me this book and WOW! I must say she did it again! Her wonderful way to describe everything and how she ultimately makes you love each and every one of her characters. Although it was quite a lengthy book (1000 pages & more), it kept me intranced all together. A wonderful read and a must for any Rice fan out there!
Rating: Summary: 'Perseverence is the Key...... Review: Be prepared to 'wade' through a few patches of stagnant prose and you will be rewarded by completing the richest, most intelligent and detailed horror novel ever written in the 20th centuary. I have often regarded S.King as the best horror writer of recent times but after completing this I was so impressed I am going to have to revise that thought entirely. This book has everything, hard sex, engrossing character development, lavish & sensual descriptions, murder, witchcraft and a constant theme of 'spookynes' that runs throughout. Not to mention the 400 page + intensly detailed and believably accurate history of the mayfairs which spans from the 16th centuary and although may seem 'too long' in parts does serve its purpose and could almost be viewed as the novel within the novel. I will definitly pick up the sequels to this classic masterpiece!!
Rating: Summary: Amazing Review: This is an amazing epic tale. I adored the section on the Talamasca file. The only reason it didn't recieve five stars from me is because the ending was a little to sci-fi for me. Absolutly worth the time taken to read.
Rating: Summary: Not for everyone ! Review: Overall I have to admit that I was greatly dissapointed by this Novel. While not a bad read, it's not exactly my cup of tea either. Anne Rice's decription of her characters and her vivid details, as always, are as descriptive as ever. Probably even more so in this 1000+ page epic. Which IMO is not always a good thing. The story is broken up into past, present, and hints of the future. But not exactly in that order. The entire middle of the story is the almost exclusively devoted to the HISTORY of the witches. Which could have been givin' a book of it's own. After about 500 pages I just couldn't get into it anymore. I no longer cared, but somehow I still managed to finish the story. And was treated to a mediocre yet unexpected ending. If you have read other works by Anne Rice and enjoyed those, then give this book a try. Otherwise stay away.
Rating: Summary: HORRID! Loved it and hated it... Review: You feel like you've been beaten up and thrown around a room while reading The Witching Hour. Anne Rice gives the reader exactly what you hope for, then you are desperately sorry to have it. The author enthralls us with magical powers and romantic history and dreams that all erupt in tragic terror. A horrid and tragic book that I thoroughly enjoyed reading. Now I will close my mind for awhile and pretend I never read it to recover.
Rating: Summary: Rice's King Lear Review: The mute, debilitated woman sits in her rocking chair on the porch of a once grand, now decrepit Greek Revival mansion in New Orleans. Around the woman's neck is a large necklace that nobody is allowed to touch. There are three old aunts taking care of her. In the backyard is an old tree with the cryptic word, "Lasher" inscribed into it. Nearby is a decaying swimming pool, left over from the grandeur of the twenties when it was once filled with champagne. And above all, there is a brown haired man who appears and disappears at random. These images form the most powerful opening chapter of any of Rice's novels. How can one NOT be hooked with the level of writing and eerie atmosphere that saturate these opening pages? Welcome to the witching hour. It's been said that "King Lear" is Shakespeare's GREATEST work, but not his BEST. The same can be said of The Witching Hour. This book is a 1000 page plus magnum opus of witches, sex, ghosts and scandal...in other words, "As the Witch Turns". In the end, it delivers a little less than I had hoped it would, but this is by no means dismissing this novel. It is the writing style that distinguishes this novel. T This book has any number of richly written, satisfying moments. The 17th century burning of a witch at the stake in a French town, the deadly Christmas Eve birth, the history of the ghost in the house... these are all some of the best scenes Rice has ever written. There are some complaints that the story takes too much time to develop, and the over 400 page family history is a distraction, but it is essential to the plot. There are two sequels (so far) to this novel, but neither one comes close to the hypnotic charm of this novel. It will keep you awake long into the night wondering what will happen next...probably even into the witching hour itself. Enjoy.
Rating: Summary: Good, but not THAT good. Review: Although this book, in typical Anne Rice style, is good in a creepy way, it's not as good as some of her other work. While I enjoyed it, it could have been better -- its length and the fact that it tells an entire story that should have been spread more evenly throughout the story or the series are some downpoints.
|