Vintage Ann Rice - I simply can't believe that I have never read this one before!

If you have a passion for New Orleans, San Francisco, and Victorian architecture, and also enjoy a sensual family saga intertwined with witches, then you are certain to love this book. However, it is extremely long.

Previous comments:

I am currently on chapter 17 out of 61.

I find myself enjoying the Audible version more than the book version. The narrator has an excellent command of accents and sounds convincingly as either a man or a woman.

Otherwise, this is a VERY wordy book. I think the concept of the Talamasca is extremely interesting, but I don't require chapter after chapter of the very serious "history" lessons. I know that if I were just reading this, I would skim a great deal.

Overall, despite its length and wordiness, there is still much to appreciate in this Ann Rice novel.

I truly had an interest in the history of Mayfair. However, when it came to Rowan, Michael, and their rather senseless and idiotic relationship, I held nothing but contempt.

It was as if they were characters that just didn't click with me, and I found myself wishing that Lasher would have taken matters into his own hands and bound them to an anvil before casting them into the sea.

Moreover, just like many other reviewers had pointed out, this story felt way too long. The pacing seemed to drag on at times, making it a bit of a chore to get through.

I must admit that I was extremely glad when I finally reached the end. In fact, I couldn't wait until I turned that last page and was done with this particular narrative.

Overall, while the Mayfair history had its moments of intrigue, the combination of the unappealing characters and the overly long storyline left me with a somewhat lackluster impression.

The best thing about reading this behemoth in my youth was that I was able to get the reference when I eventually got around to watching Star Trek: TNG. It was truly a remarkable experience.

That's also the only thing that made "Sub Rosa" worth watching.

What is this?

I mean, were editors not a thing, back in the 90s?

Because I learned more about The Witching Hour through an hour of TV than 150 pages of this book.

So far, I've read over 10% of the book and the main character still hasn't even been introduced, for Christ's sake!

Digging so deeply into the boring lives of all these side characters, I can't help but wonder.

If not for the huge success of her Interview With the Vampire series, would this 1200-page monstrosity ever have made it to print in its current form?

Who's to say.

Her skill at writing about exciting subjects like witchcraft and devilry in such a dull and boring way is quite remarkable.

Kudos for that Mrs. Rice.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I've had quite enough of your tedious descriptions and endless digressions.

So regretfully, or gleefully perhaps, this is where I get off!

Because I honestly couldn't care less where your story goes from here.

So feel free to keep the rest of your words to yourself.

Toodles.

Here goes another teenage favorite that I just had to revisit, just to see how my tastes have evolved over time. Why do I do this to myself?

This book is a hot mess. Perhaps that’s why I loved it so much when I was sixteen. Now, I really see it as a multi-generational, historical soap opera, with weird (not always coherent) occult elements, and lots of (often weird) sex. That is not a bad thing: a good, juicy, trashy read is fun every once in a while.

This complicated, massive novel is the story of the Mayfair family. For thirteen generations, they have been protected and manipulated by a strange spirit familiar named Lasher. Lasher has made them wealthy and powerful, but has also driven many of them to madness. This strange and seductive entity has his own endgame. He serves the Mayfair dynasty because he wants them to eventually give birth to a witch powerful enough to give him a physical body. That witch is Dr. Rowan Mayfair, a neurosurgeon with terrifying telekinetic powers. After learning all about her family history with the help of the Talamasca (a secret order that studies paranormal phenomenon), she decides to move back to the family house in New Orleans with Michael Curry – a man who acquired strange powers following a near-death experience - with the intent of making it their home and outwitting Lasher and freeing the Mayfairs from his influence. Obviously, things don’t work out quite as Rowan had planned.

The historical research Anne Rice did to turn her Mayfair saga into this intimidating door-stopper is very impressive. The way the Talamasca’s file on the Mayfair Witches is integrated into the narrative was wonderful. As you discover all this massive saga along with Michael, the descriptions of Renaissance Amsterdam, the Saint-Domingue plantation and the New Orleans of the early twentieth century are so vivid that it is difficult to put the book down. I could picture the streets, houses, clothes and everything absolutely perfectly. That being said, the characterization features a lot of clichés, which is something I have apparently lost all patience for. The weird personality hiccup that hits Rowan in the final section is honestly infuriating. After everything she has gone through, she just suddenly decides to do the exact opposite of her plan? What? Pfff! And if Michael Curry is not some sort of stereotypical middle-aged women fantasy-fulfillment, I don’t know what is. He is so sweet, so caring, so sensitive, so appreciative of baroque music, architecture and Dickens… but he looks like a hunky Irish fireman. Again: what? The interesting and more complicated characters get very little space to bloom (having read the sequel, I know Mary Beth and Julien get a lot more page time later on, but still...), and the “witches” themselves are all variants on a theme: beautiful, ruthless and sexually insatiable. Oh, except the “weak ones”, whom everyone just hates. Sigh.

The writing is gorgeous and lush, in that Southern Gothic way, and Rice certainly knows how to create creepy atmospheres. But at the same time, some elements of this book are pure shlock. The thirteen witches, the incest, the doctor who can kill people with her mind, the family secrets everyone knows about but won’t speak of: it’s all so over the top that you’d expect the book to be sponsored by Hammer Horror movies. Let’s be clear: I love Hammer Horror-type stories, but the camp factor is what keeps a book like this from being a really great novel and keeps it firmly in the trashy-fun section of my library. The pacing didn’t bother me, but I can see how this would not be everyone’s cup of tea: there are bucket-loads of exposition and backstory to go through before actual stuff happens. While it can be a challenge to keep all the information straight (but same could be said of “Vampire Lestat” and other Rice novels where she uses the stories-within-the-main-story trope) it is still very readable and intriguing.

Pick it up for you are looking for a gloriously trashy work of historical and occult fiction; just don’t go in expecting it to be much more than a creepy, very well-written soap opera.

The entire time I was perusing this 1,000+ page epic, a thought persistently coursed through my mind: “This is Anne Rice’s IT.”

The themes of The Witching Hour and Stephen King’s horror novel could not be more disparate, yet the writing style – its grandeur – is strikingly similar. In this, undoubtedly the New Orleans author’s magnum opus, a time frame of three centuries is encompassed; this is the quintessential generational saga.

The Mayfair family harbors a sordid, macabre past, and at the heart of it all is the sprawling plantation home in New Orleans that has been handed down within the witch clan over the years. The largest portion – and the most captivating section – of this novel pertains to the Mayfair history, which Rice elaborates on in rich, evocative detail. Set against this is a forward-propelling narrative situated in the present day, revolving around Rowan Mayfair, the most potent witch thus far, returning home to New Orleans. I adored Rowan wholeheartedly. Michael – the man with whom she develops an intriguing relationship – as well. Their story arc is an erotic and enlightening odyssey into the mysterious.

The first book in the Mayfair Witches trilogy, this is currently my favorite Anne Rice novel, and I anticipate reading the sequel shortly. Highly recommended!

Well, it's quite evident that Anne Rice has a certain stance when it comes to working with an editor.

There is simply no justifiable reason for this book to be of such excessive length. It is astonishingly repetitive, to the point where I found myself actually skimming through large portions of it, which is an extremely rare occurrence for me. By the time I reached the 400-page mark, my determination to finish the book was more out of sheer stubbornness than anything else.

However, it's not all bad. There are indeed some beautifully crafted prose and some viscerally disturbing gothic and freaky moments. So, in that regard, it's somewhat good, I suppose. She does manage to create really vivid settings that give the reader a nice sense of place, and the characters are mildly interesting. In fact, I feel like I got a rather nice tour of New Orleans through her descriptions.

But, overall, I have to say that this will likely be the one and only Anne Rice novel that I subject myself to. It's just not something that I would be eager to experience again.

It feels like a slow seduction.

You initially sense the foreboding, a noxious blend of viciousness, poison, and catastrophe, a darkness as black and profound as the deepest abyss.

The dizziness袭来. A history transports you to diverse locations: New Orleans, Amsterdam, France, Port-au-Prince. A history that is a mystery in itself, rife with incest, greed, lust, revenge, murder, and jealousy, so morbid and complex that it both frightens and thrills you.

This is one of the most astonishing books I've ever perused. It harks back to my teenage reading days when I would read incessantly, anywhere and at any time, completely immersed in the story without a hint of distraction. It took me nearly three weeks to complete, but I relished every moment of this tale. Anne Rice is truly a remarkable storyteller.

P.S. Rowan Mayfair is one of the most perturbing female protagonists I've ever come across. There is an undeniable masculinity about her, and the malice within her sent shivers down my spine from the very outset.

Key Words: Haunted House | witchcraft | multi-generational family dramas | dysfunctional family

One of my top 3 favorite novels of all time is this remarkable work by Anne Rice.

Anne Rice often gets a bad rap for being pure shlock, but those who haven't read her fail to realize her deep obsession with history. She painstakingly studies a particular time period, delving into every possible detail, and then crafts characters and immerses them within that context. Her efforts rarely disappoint me, and her prose is truly beautiful. You can easily lose track of time while reading, realizing that two hours have passed without even noticing.

This book centers around a woman named Rowan Mayfair, who was given up for adoption at birth. She has led a very normal and successful life, becoming a doctor, completely unaware of her birth family or the circumstances surrounding her adoption.

...And then her birth mother in New Orleans passes away. Suddenly, Rowan finds herself haunted by an apparition that she cannot explain. She is approached by an old man named Aaron Lightner, who reveals that he is associated with an organization called the Talamasca. He explains that they exist to observe and study paranormal and supernatural events without interfering. They have been monitoring the Mayfair family for hundreds of years. (After this book, the Talamasca was integrated into Rice's primary ongoing serial, "The Vampire Chronicles.")

Aaron presents her with the file on her family, and the narrative then diverges for a good 300 pages to tell the tale of an ancient coven of witches, dating back as far as the 1600s. The familiar of the Mayfair family is a very powerful spirit named Lasher, who is passed down to the first-born daughter of each generation. Now that her mother is dead, Lasher has moved on to Rowan.

Rowan decides to travel to New Orleans to attend her mother's funeral and meet the family. What follows is an extremely thrilling, exciting, and white-knuckled reading experience.

This is the first book in "The Lives of the Mayfair Witches," a series that originally consisted of only 3 books. However, when Rice decided it was time to conclude all of her ongoing serials, she merged these characters with those from the Vampire Chronicles and brought both storylines to an end together.

Wowwww!

I haven't read a long book like that in a long time.

It must have taken her years to write and do all the research.

This is a classic Anne Rice novel, and it's one of her best.

The story is so engaging and the characters are so well-developed.

Anne Rice has a real talent for creating a world that draws you in and makes you want to keep reading.

I love how she weaves together elements of horror, romance, and history to create a truly unique and unforgettable story.

If you're a fan of Anne Rice or just looking for a great read, this book is definitely worth checking out.

You won't be disappointed!

My favorite book by Anne is undoubtedly this one.

The aura of mysticism that surrounds this family and all that they have had to endure is narrated in a splendid way, with touches of terror, suspense, and magic that immediately envelop us.

What can be said about the characters, endearing and enigmatic. Journeys between the past and the present that will guide us to unravel the mystery and the legend that being a Mayfair means.

Anne's writing is so captivating that it draws the reader in from the very first page. The detailed descriptions of the settings and the emotions of the characters make it easy to imagine oneself in their shoes.

The story unfolds slowly, revealing new secrets and surprises along the way. It keeps you on the edge of your seat, eager to find out what will happen next.

This book is not just a simple story; it is a journey into a world of mystery and magic. It makes you think about the power of family, the meaning of love, and the importance of believing in the impossible.

If you are a fan of mystery and magic, then this book is definitely for you. It will transport you to a world that you will never forget.

Kate Reading's performance is truly 5 stars. She is amazing! It's extremely difficult for me to find narrators that I really like, and she definitely makes it onto my short list. Her accents are simply fantastic. She managed to make a long story, which is 50 hours on Audible, so entertaining. It was a great choice to have her as the narrator.

However, the story itself gets a 3-star rating. There were many aspects that I liked and some that I didn't. Michael and Aaron were both excellent characters. I adored the history of the Mayfair dynasty. The author did a great job of really delving deep and intertwining the history with the present. I enjoyed learning about each "witch", but I was particularly intrigued by Julian. I would have been more interested in hearing his story. As for my dislikes, I was not a fan of Rowan. She was so cold and full of herself. Her arrogance was really her downfall. I'm not sure what attracted Michael to her. I also wasn't a fan of Lasher for obvious reasons. Additionally, the incestuous aspect was a bit excessive. I understand that it had to do with getting the right witch for everything to work out, and well, it did.

Overall, it's a solid story.