Review: The Witching Hour

Witching

  • Author: Anne Rice
  • ISBN: 9780345384461

I bought my copy of The Witching Hour well over a decade ago, and though I thought it was incredible back then, I wasn’t as thrilled by it the second read through.

Why?  It’s too long, and huge chunks of pages could have been cut.  It was repetitive.  Worst of all, quite a bit of the dialogue between the main characters, Rowan and Michael, felt contrived, forced, and unrealistic.  Sometimes it went as far as to make me think I was reading the script for a soap opera.  I didn’t feel their deep, unending love for each other.  Instead, I felt like gagging and rolling my eyes.  Hot, passionate sex after just meeting doesn’t equal true love forever.

While the rest of the story is classic Anne Rice, I think she got a bit out of her depth with the romance.  It would have been better if she stuck to what she knows: Horror, the supernatural and paranormal, and steamy sexual encounters.  I’m going to continue with the Lives of the Mayfair Witches trilogy since it becomes more about Lasher and an interesting twist on some Pagan mythology, but, had this been the first time I had read The Witching Hour, I would probably just stick with her Vampire Chronicles.

The Never-Ending Anne Rice Reading Challenge

I recently found out about the Never-Ending Anne Rice Reading Challenge and decided to join in.  However, I’m only challenging myself to re-read the “Vampire Chronicles”, including Anne Rice’s latest book, Prince Lestat, and “The Lives of the Mayfair Witches” trilogy.  I’ve already finished Interview with the Vampire, but the Boyfriend is currently reading The Vampire Lestat.  So, I’ll have to wait until he’s done.  He takes awhile to finish the books I loan him, mostly because he’s busy reading other books, and that’s ok.  I just won’t be able to set a time goal, but while I wait, I’ll be reading The Witching Hour.  I’ll update this post as I finish each book, and link the titles to my reviews.

The Vampire Chronicles

  • Interview with the Vampire
  • The Vampire Lestat
  • Queen of the Damned
  • The Tale of the Body Thief
  • Memnock the Devil
  • The Vampire Armand
  • Merrick
  • Blood and Gold
  • Blackwood Farm
  • Blood Canticle
  • Prince Lestat

The Lives of the Mayfair Witches