I was truly surprised by how this book initially began as a supernatural tale and then transformed into a science fiction thriller. This was actually quite acceptable to me.

The author, Anne Rice, "explained" in an interesting way how the heroine witch, who happened to be a brilliant neurosurgeon, might manage to provide a disembodied spirit (perhaps a demon?) with a real human body. It had a sort of Frankenstein-like quality to it. However, instead of using cadaver parts, human fetuses were involved.

I would most definitely not desire to see this story unfold on the big screen. I highly doubt that, after all this time (considering it was published in 1991), anyone is even contemplating writing a screenplay. Anne Rice's popularity has indeed dwindled. She used to be a household name, but perhaps that is only still the case in New Orleans.

The love story within the book was a bit overly emotional for my liking. The hero smoked an excessive number of cigarettes and got drunk far too often. Additionally, Anne Rice included a significant amount of sex - in fact, it was a major element of the plot. The neurosurgeon seemed to be constantly occupied with her various partners.

Nevertheless, I managed to breeze through the almost 1000 pages and was entertained by a large portion of it. I do wish that Rice had been able to wrap up the story within just one book. The ending was somewhat tolerable, but I have no intention of reading the sequels.

The world is simply too beautiful for that.

Sometimes, this hefty book progresses at an excruciatingly slow pace. Giving up seems like the most appealing choice. However, then it reaches a high point, and you chide yourself for ever considering putting it down.

I'm aware that this book sits on many shelves, unread, due to its size and sluggish tempo. But let me assure you, you're truly missing out.

Anne possessed a remarkable mind, and an imagination that astonishes me every time I encounter a twist in her stories. It's never what you anticipate it to be... even when, in hindsight, it becomes quite evident that this is precisely what she had been planning all along. All the clues were there, if only you didn't overlook them.

I'm extremely glad that I finally dedicated the time and effort to persevere through this one; it was well worth all the trouble.

And, like all the outstanding books, I now have an urgent need to read the next one. I simply have to know!

“the world is simply too beautiful for that”

26 years ago, Anne Rice made a significant decision. She chose to step away from her beloved Vampire Chronicles for a time and explore another supernatural theme that had yet to grace her fiction - witchcraft. With the first installment in the Lives of the Mayfair Witches trilogy, she crafted the perfect family saga. This story is filled to the brim with history, intrigues, and detailed descriptions (oh, there are so many!). The characters are fully developed (and there are a plethora of them!), and there is dark magic, creepy scenes and details (that cemetery scene with the dead rising is truly spine-chilling!), plot twists, and more. All of this is spread across two continents and spans approximately 400 years for the main characters, and for some others, it goes back to a time beyond record. This makes for a very long read - nearly a thousand pages, in fact. On its own, this could have been a real chore to plod through, but not with Anne Rice. Indeed, she and Stephen King share a common trait - they both have the ability to write never-ending tales that rarely feel too long or drawn-out. They always manage to grab our attention from the very first line. As always in my reviews, I won't venture into spoiler territory. Suffice it to say that if you're interested in old (and immensely rich) family history, with dark origins that are lost and found in the mists of time and human/inhuman memories, then you won't be disappointed. Although it is part of a trilogy, it can easily be read as a standalone. It's a good read through and through.

OLIVIER DELAYE

Author of the SEBASTEN OF ATLANTIS series

  

At approximately page 200, I forcefully threw this book across the room.

I'm truly uncertain whether it's because I'm not in the appropriate mindset or some other factor, but the fact remains that I simply cannot immerse myself in this book.

Moreover, some of the writing within it really grated on my nerves.

I firmly believe that I'm not going to waste another 800 pages on it!

It seems that this book and I are not a good match, and I don't see any point in continuing to struggle through it when it fails to capture my interest and instead causes irritation.

I'd rather invest my time in something that can truly engage and captivate me.

Perhaps there are other books out there that will be a better fit for my reading preferences and will provide a more enjoyable and fulfilling reading experience.

So, for now, I'm done with this particular book and ready to explore other literary options.

My witchathon reaches its conclusion with The Witching Hour, the eleventh novel penned by Anne Rice. Published in 1990, I had hoped it might be the author's thirteenth book, but this gothic epic of blood, sugar, sex, and black magic is a behemoth as it is. The word count stands at a staggering 327,360 words, just 10,000 shy of Stephen King's Under the Dome. Rice is a talented scenarist who sets the stage for adult horror, dripping with sensuality and dread, the kind that moviegoers had to envision in the 1940s with thrillers like Cat People or I Walked With a Zombie. While her atmosphere is combustible, her storytelling skills can sometimes be lackluster, and I reached a point where I simply wanted this to end.

The novel begins impressively. Chapters one through six alternate between three main characters and three citizens of New Orleans: a doctor, a priest, and a woman who marries into a family-owned funeral parlor. These locals are traumatized by their experiences with Deirdre Mayfair, a woman in her late 40s and heir to a family fortune. Deirdre has been in a catatonic state for thirty years since her child was taken away to be raised by a cousin in California. Cared for by her sister Carlotta, Deirdre wastes away in a grand but decaying house on First Street, which is the spook central for stories the nuns tell naughty children about witches in the Garden District.

The doctor, the priest, and the woman have all at one time wanted to help cure Deirdre or reunite her with her daughter, but they find the heir to the Mayfair fortune lost in her own world and controlled not only by the feared attorney Miss Carl but also by a strange man who has been seen near her for years. Each of our do-gooders has had an encounter with that man and unburdens themselves to the inquiring mind of Aaron Lightner, an Englishman who is part historian and part psychic detective for a transcontinental organization called the Talamasca. In addition to investigating vampires and ghosts, the Talamasca has kept tabs on the Mayfair family for generations.

Lightner proves to be an excellent listener, responding gently without ever interrupting. However, the doctor does not feel better. In fact, he feels foolish when it is over. As he watches Lightner gather up the little tape recorder and put it in his briefcase, he has half a mind to ask for the tape. It is Lightner who breaks the silence as he lays down several bills over the check. He tells the doctor that there is something he must explain to him, something that he thinks will ease his mind. The doctor is skeptical, but Lightner continues. He reminds the doctor that he collects ghost stories and that he knows of the old house in New Orleans. He has seen it and has recorded other stories of people who have seen the man the doctor described. The doctor is speechless. The words are spoken with such authority and assurance that he believes them without doubt. He studies Lightner in detail for the first time. The man is older than he seemed on first inspection, perhaps sixty-five or even seventy. The doctor finds himself captivated again by Lightner's expression, so affable and trusting, so inviting of trust in return.

Meanwhile, in San Francisco, forty-eight-year-old Michael Curry has been drowning his sorrows in beer and shutting himself indoors while the news media stake him out. Pulled from the bay and revived after drowning, the New Orleans native and restorer of old houses has discovered an unwanted talent for psychometry, picking up psychic visions from any object he touches. Donning leather gloves to blunt the effect, Michael received a vision while clinically dead of others instructing him that he has some purpose to fulfill, but he can't remember what it is he is supposed to do. He compels his doctor to track down his rescuer, hoping he might have spoken about his vision to them.

Michael's savior is Rowan Mayfair, a thirty-year-old board-certified Staff Attending in Neurosurgery. Rejecting a promising career in research, Rowan has found her calling in trauma surgery. Raised by wealthy adoptive parents in Tiburon and recently orphaned, she recharges her batteries after a fifteen-hour shift by taking her yacht, the Sweet Christine, into Richardson Bay and then the open sea. The cabin of the yacht has also been the location of Rowan's other favorite pastime, taking select cops, firemen, or first responders she picks up in neighborhood bars for recreational sex. Rowan has followed Michael's story in the tabloids and wants to contact him for far more than professional courtesy. There are three people Rowan knows of that she has killed by thought, most recently her philandering adoptive father who threatened to leave her terminally ill adoptive mother unless Rowan slept with him. Michael's experience with psychic phenomena makes him one of her people, and his rough and tumble build, blue eyes, and worker's hands cloaked in leather also have their allure for her. Rowan takes Michael to her home, and in addition to vividly describing the mystique of New Orleans and San Francisco, Rice demonstrates her facility for writing steamy sex scenes.

I did mention that The Witching Hour is 327,360 words long, so if you like the supernatural and erotica, Anne Rice has more to offer. A lot more. After three rounds of world-class sex, Michael takes leave of Rowan to catch a flight to New Orleans (he had booked his passage before they officially met). Michael feels drawn to his hometown, and after picking up no clues from Rowan or her boat, he believes the riddle behind his vision lies in the Big Easy. Michael has many memories of the city, particularly a house on First Street in the Garden District that his mother would take him past on walks, and where a strange man watched him from the porch. Drunk, Michael heads straight for that house and sees the man again. He passes out.

When Michael recovers, he finds himself at the Pontchartrain Hotel with Aaron Lightner. The Englishman attempted to make contact with Michael in San Francisco, intrigued by his psychometric talents, and is operating under the impression that Rowan Mayfair hired Michael to do some work for her in New Orleans. Through much exposition, Lightner reveals that Rowan is heir to a vast family fortune in the Crescent City and that the house Michael has been obsessed with—and everything in it—belongs to her. He convinces Michael to come with him to a motherhouse the Talamasca has in Metairie, where he is given a file to read on the Mayfair Witches.

Back in San Francisco, Rowan is awakened by a presence. She finds a man standing on the dock who dims away. In the morning, Rowan receives a call from Carlotta Mayfair. Miss Carl is unaware that Rowan's adoptive mother is deceased and has to notify her niece that her birth mother Deirdre passed away that morning. She warns Rowan to avoid New Orleans at all costs. The doctor ignores her. Michael makes progress on the file of the Mayfair Witches, which goes back twelve generations and spans Scotland, France, and New Orleans in a tale of persecution, personal fortune, and madness, with "that man," who goes by the name Lasher, lurking in the background.

The strengths of The Witching Hour and part of what has propelled Anne Rice up the bestseller charts over the years is her command of prose while dealing with the supernatural and the sensual. Her attention to detail, whether it's describing a witch burning in the 17th century or a crumbling Irish Catholic church in the present, is remarkable. Rather than simply following a marketable genre to its predictable and dull conclusions, Rice paints vivid pictures of places and people. She knows cities, and she knows Catholicism. I liked how a family-owned funeral parlor in New Orleans knows where all the bodies are buried and keeps quiet about more than they'll ever reveal, and this is just one minor character.

I also loved how Rice's characters who have come in close contact with the Mayfair witches are suffering from the same trauma as a motorist buzzed by a UFO; they have experienced something they can't explain and are desperate for answers. In another excellent touch, Rice stumbles upon the concept of renovating a haunted house, confident enough to reference novels about great houses like Great Expectations or Rebecca by name and, in addition to creating home design porn that rivals her steamy sex scenes, raises compelling questions about whether new tenants and new fixtures are sufficient to drive out the bad energy that may be lingering around an old house.

However, the problem with The Witching Hour is that it feels like two stories: a backstory about witches that is exciting and a front story about modern lovers that is lackluster. Rice doesn't seem to have much affection for Rowan Mayfair—the author's sympathies seem to lie with her tragic male characters, while her female characters often seem to be asking for whatever misfortune befalls them—and the neurosurgeon has a calculating nature that felt robotic to me. Rowan and Michael do spend a lot of time crying, but the mechanics of their romance made me eager to return to the more engaging story of the witches. And at 327,360 words, the novel is simply too long. Rosemary's Baby, for example, had a far more compelling story and characters trapped in a web of black magic and deceit, and at just 79,360 words, it can be read in a quarter of the time.

I read this entire series several years ago and vividly remembered adoring the books. Thus, I decided to revisit and reread at least the Mayfair Witches trilogy to contrast it with the Netflix series. While watching the series, I constantly thought - hold on, isn't this aspect entirely different? However, it had been such a long time that I wasn't entirely certain.

For those who had a rather indifferent attitude towards the Netflix series, please don't let that deter you from exploring these books. After just a few chapters, I indeed confirmed my suspicions. Yes, the books are truly far more diverse, far more thought-provoking, and far better structured than their television counterpart. I actually have a deep affection for all the characters in the books as readers uncover more about their backgrounds and motives. Many of the television portrayals of these characters irritated me. There are numerous other comparisons I could draw here, but you get the general idea.

I did take pleasure in seeing some of the visual interpretations in the TV series. Nevertheless, overall, I believe the TV series' shortcomings stem from the fact that the writers were hasty. These are rather lengthy books, and the dynamics they explore are complex. Lasher is far more likable (for a demon

On and on and on..... geez.

This phrase seems to express a sense of exasperation or weariness. It implies that something has been going on for a long time without any end in sight.

Perhaps it could be used to describe a tedious task that seems never-ending, like doing the same repetitive work day after day. Or maybe it refers to a conversation that just keeps dragging on and on, without getting to the point.

It could also be used in a more general sense to convey a feeling of frustration or annoyance with a situation that is not changing or improving.

Overall, "On and on and on..... geez" is a simple yet effective way to express a sense of being tired or fed up with something that is going on for too long.

Anne Rice novels often have a captivating plot synopsis and great potential.

However, they are quickly marred by excessive description and a rather disturbing sexual mentality.

Take, for example, a mysterious family with secrets that are supposed to be shockingly revealed. But instead of building tension, we are bombarded with 400 pages of their entire family history, lacking any real excitement or shock value.

Micheal was, unfortunately, the most interesting character, which made me disappointed that Rowan's potential was squandered due to her naivety. Her constant念叨 about being the thirteenth generation and the mystery behind the number 13 became tiresome.

If the book were cut in half, it would无疑 be more engaging. The beginning starts off well, with non-essential point-of-view characters providing an outside perspective of the family. But then it rapidly devolves into a shallow romance, a house-building fantasy, and a chaotic mess.

The sexual events in the book are truly令人咋舌. The incest is shocking, but there are even worse sexual actions described! The way Anne Rice portrays young, almost adults is simply inappropriate. Describing 14/15-year-olds as both "childlike" and "sensual" is unacceptable.

And my goodness, Rowan's sex scenes with the spirit lasher were极其令人反感. Screaming "Rape me!" during a sex scene is truly revolting and something I never thought I'd read.

I'm taking a much-needed break between this trilogy to read something easier. After plowing through 1000 pages, I think I deserve it.

I actually quite enjoyed this book up until the very end.

It had been engaging and had held my interest throughout most of the narrative. The story had developed in a way that made me invested in the characters and their journey.

However, when I reached the final pages, I felt like the main female character just had some sort of weird personality seizure. She did something that the character, as I had come to know her throughout the book, just wouldn't have done.

This sudden change in her behavior made the ending seem poorly written to me. It was as if Ms. Rice had decided in the last 10 pages or so that it was going to have a sequel after all, when she had been intending from the beginning for it to be a one-book story.

This last-minute attempt to set up a sequel felt forced and didn't sit well with the established character arc. It left me with a sense of dissatisfaction and a feeling that the book could have ended much more strongly had the character's actions been more in line with what had come before.

Overall, while I had enjoyed the majority of the book, the ending really let it down for me.

Okay, this 50-hour audiobook took a full 7 days of listening.

Re-read August 2001.

It's quite interesting to go back and re-read this piece from August 2001. I fully understand that some might consider it as trash. However, there are times when you just can't help but have a strange kind of love for what others might deem as trash.

Maybe it's the nostalgia that it evokes, or perhaps there's something hidden within its pages that speaks to a part of us that we don't often acknowledge.

Even though it might not meet the standards of what is typically considered great literature, there's a certain charm to it that keeps pulling us back.

It's like that guilty pleasure that we can't quite let go of, no matter how hard we try.

So, despite its flaws, we continue to re-read it, finding something new and interesting each time.

Who knows, maybe one day we'll discover that what we thought was trash was actually a hidden gem all along.

Be Warned. Thar be major SPOILERS ahead!

Overall, I adored this narrative about a family of witches spanning generations. The witches are captivating and alluring. Their "spirit", Lasher, is a mystery who performs both good and bad deeds to the Mayfair witches. Anne Rice provided just enough details to keep me in a state of uncertainty, yet I always had the sense that he was pulling the strings with the witches, dating back to Deborah. The Mayfair witches are free-spirited individuals who seldom conform to the norms of their era. The current witch, Dr Rowan Mayfair, is a neurosurgeon at the forefront of genetic experimentation, a highly controversial topic for many.

We view a significant portion of the story from the Talamasca’s perspective, so I'm undecided about whether the witches truly had powers beyond the ability to see Lasher. There's a great deal of commotion regarding one witch's capacity to amass millions of dollars, but Lasher tells Rowan that he was the one who informed ALL the witches about where and when to invest. I'm still unclear about what these witches can do – this aspect is very underdeveloped – and I can't help but think it would have been extremely beneficial to hear some stories directly from the witches themselves.

As it transpires, Lasher was manipulating the witches to achieve his goal. We're never informed about whether they realized he was lying and controlling them, so I assume they were unaware. Lasher turns out to be far more powerful than I anticipated. I mean, he was omniscient! He killed and engaged in sexual activities without the slightest hint of remorse in order to become human. I suspect he frequently possessed the witches to create the incestuous relationships that formed the genes he needed from the Mayfair babies, and that they didn't do this of their own free will. Again, I can only make this assumption.

Carlotta is a horribly warped character. I initially thought her bitter cruelty stemmed from jealousy of not being a witch, so I was surprised to learn that she was one. It's an interesting dichotomy that she uses her power to keep Lasher away from her while all the others use their power to keep him with them. While I think she is the only truly "evil" witch, I have to admit, she had the right approach when it came to handling Lasher. And it's interesting to note that although Lasher is very powerful, he is the first to admit he has made mistakes, and we see one or two instances where Carlotta has outwitted "the trickster".

The second drowning scene of Michael Curry, Rowan’s husband, was astonishing. I could picture it so vividly, and it seemed so morbidly fascinating that I wished it would have lasted much longer. All the Mayfair witches running around -- "frozen" to look as they did at the time of their death. All waiting for Lasher to bring them back to life and arguing over who goes first. I loved it!!! I wanted this to be the reality and not that Lasher was once again deceiving Michael with another mind game. (Although I really like the concept of hell being your worst fears and not the generic "brimstone and fire") Anyway, this was a great scene for me.

I found the ending anti-climactic. In fact, the climax for me seems to be when Michael nearly drowns for the second time, and while I loved the scene, it didn't feel as though that should be such a powerful scene while the real climax - the showdown between Rowan and Lasher - was so feeble. With Lasher's birth occurring "off screen" and Rowan's attempt to trick him to kill him being so completely underdeveloped, I found this to be a weak conclusion to the centuries-old story. By the time of his birth on Christmas day (ridiculously cheesy, in my humble opinion), Rowan has transformed from a strong, angry witch into a spineless, frightened girl. And she is the only one I'm certain actually had "powers". Very unsatisfying.

The ending was too soft and predictable. I desired a stronger impact. Rowan leaves with Lasher – seemingly of her own free will – after being completely seduced and deceived by him. He told her she would have to choose between him and Michael, and it appears as if she has. Michael is recovering from his near drowning at the house on First Street, and the other Mayfairs are all convinced that everything is as it was meant to be. In fact, Michael wonders if witches are even real in the last pages of the book. Honestly, there's no real incentive to read the sequels. Although I'm still curious about those "witches".