by
3.98 of 5 stars
On the veranda of a great New Orleans house, now faded, a mute and fragile woman sits rocking. And the witching hour begins ... Demonstrating o... read full description

reviews

Jan 29, 2012
RunForTheRoses rated it: 5 of 5 stars
I got this book for Christmas that year. This was my first ever Anne Rice book, and it was about a year after Interview With A Vampire came out as a movie with Brad Pitt, Christian Slater and Tom Cruise. I was blown away people. If you like a story, like Gone With the Wind on crack, no seriously, epic like that, except VERY ADULT (don't let your tweens get their hands on this one Mom's and Dad's!), but such an addicting read that you may just get fired for calling in sick over it.

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4 comments like (9 people liked it)
Feb 09, 2008
Elise rated it: 2 of 5 stars
I actually quite enjoyed this book up until the very end, when I felt like the main female character just had some sort of weird personality seizure and did something that the character as you've come to know her just wouldn't have done. It just made it seem poorly written to me, like Ms. Rice 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.
4 comments like (20 people liked it)
Jan 21, 2009
Liisa rated it: 1 of 5 stars
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here
8 comments like (9 people liked it)
Jun 21, 2007
Needleroozer rated it: 1 of 5 stars
When I got to the end of this thick book, after having read hundreds of lukewarm pages, and found that it basically said "to be continued," I was pretty pissed off. If the book had been mine and not one I had borrowed from a friend, I would have tossed it across the room. That was when I decided that I would never again buy an Anne Rice book. I haven't.
0 comments like (8 people liked it)
Dec 19, 2007
Meredith rated it: 2 of 5 stars
I FINALLY finished this. Good Lord, what a long winded mess this was. All the wordy history was boring but I stuck it out then ended up hating the ending! Why in the world to I keep reading Anne Rice?
2 comments like (8 people liked it)
Aug 12, 2008
Zach rated it: 5 of 5 stars
This is one of the best books that I have read. With her Dickensian writing, Anne Rice weaves a wonderfully dark and historically fascinating tale about a spirit attached to a family of witches. Although this book is almost 1000 pages, it goes by so quickly! The historical description of the family's travels from places such as Scotland and Port-au-Prince, Haiti is detailed in a way that made me swoon! (Yes, swoon.)
0 comments like (12 people liked it)
Jan 10, 2011
Geek rated it: 4 of 5 stars
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2 comments like (2 people liked it)
Jun 11, 2008
Sarah rated it: 4 of 5 stars
This is one of my favorite summer trash reads. It's like a soap opera with witches and sex. Good fun.
0 comments like (12 people liked it)
Feb 07, 2008
Erin rated it: 4 of 5 stars
I read this book back in High School. I loved the whole Mayfair witches series. The first in the Mayfair Witches series, The Witching Hour introduces the fictional Mayfair family of New Orleans, generations of male and female witches. This tight-knit and deeply connected family, where a death of one strengthens the others with his/her knowledge. One Mayfair witch per generation is also designated to receive the powers of "the man," known as Lasher. Lasher gives the witches gifts, exc More...
0 comments like (3 people liked it)
Nov 24, 2007
Samantha Rose rated it: 2 of 5 stars
Note: Just a short comment on the book, no summary – possibly spoilers.

As usual Rice's ability to allow the reader to feel they're reliving the events in a first hand account delivers. That's the one thing I enjoy about her writing, it flows so easily, while you're reading, it's like watching a movie. She's able to be so detailed and vivid, you see the scenes just play out in your mind. Many years ago, I was a huge fan of her vampire chronicles, for the reason – everything just com More...
0 comments like (4 people liked it)
May 25, 2007
Israel rated it: 5 of 5 stars
Rowan Mayfair, una joven neurocirujana poseedora de unos extraños poderes psíquicos, encuentra a un ahogado, y tras devolverle la vida se enamoran apasionadamente. Al recuperar la consciencia, Michael descubre que le ha sido conferido un extraño don, y lo único que sabe es que tiene relación con una misión que le ha sido encomendada, con una entrada y con un número. Aaron Ligthner, miembro de la Talamasca, les ayudará a desentrañar el misterio, al mismo tiempo que le informa a Rowan que pertenec More...
1 comment like (2 people liked it)
Aug 24, 2007
Jennifer rated it: 5 of 5 stars
after reading most of the vampire chronicles, i decide to try Rice's Witches' trilogy... i know that for a lot of people, this book was hard to get through... there's a lot of information in it that seems like, "well who the hell cares????"... but it's all relevant in one way or another, and it SOOOOOOOOOOO sets you up for the subsequent novels, Lasher, and Taltos. (there's also Merrick, Blackwood Farm, and Blood Canticle, which came later.) if you can bear with a somewhat slow read More...
0 comments like (3 people liked it)
Jan 07, 2009
Ashley rated it: 4 of 5 stars
Anne Rice is quite the interesting lady. Sometimes the book was a bit much for me, but she does a fantastic job of making you feel like you are really there and a part of what she is developing.
0 comments like (2 people liked it)
Dec 13, 2007
Abbey rated it: 5 of 5 stars
I always hated vampire/witch stories but my honors English teacher in high school recommended this book to me for our final paper. Its about 1000 pages long so I used the first 500 hundred and literally fell in love. Since then I have read the book about five times. I LOVE IT. It centers around a wealthy family living in New Orleans, there is a spirit that follows one woman in every generation and the story follows the spirit from its conception. It is a really interesting, complex novel with ma More...
0 comments like (4 people liked it)
Dec 30, 2008
Missy rated it: 5 of 5 stars
My favorite Anne Rice book of all time, anyone who reads this book will fall in love with New Orleans and Anne's writing. Not a vampire book, and I do love her vampires, but this is the best.
1 comment like (4 people liked it)
Dec 09, 2008
Lesli rated it: 5 of 5 stars
Knowing my love of vampires and witches, my sister, upon hearing a review of this book sent it to me for my Birthday and I cold not put it down. This book connects the spirit world, with old world interest, new world love for anything gothic and just plain good writing. I followed the witches, spirits and vampires in every book by Anne Rice. This by far was the best!
0 comments like (3 people liked it)
Sep 23, 2011
Kim rated it: 5 of 5 stars
Awesome.....awesome.....awesome!!!
0 comments like (2 people liked it)
May 20, 2009
Gibson1984 rated it: 4 of 5 stars
What a great book ! Enjoyed the chronicals and relationships of the Mayfair Family.
1 comment like (1 person liked it)
Dec 17, 2008
Monique rated it: 4 of 5 stars
Okay so starting sagas now and to give me a larger challenge and this was 1026 page monster was my first endeavor..what can I say it is an engrossing and absorbing read that will take you away to a whole confusing, strange but entirely new place...Okay so its a saga of witches, women who call upon magic to conjure up spirits--in the family this story revolves around the Mayfairs witches from the beginning of about the sixteenth century to basically nineties present. It is a tough book to get thr More...
0 comments like (3 people liked it)
Dec 19, 2011
Amy rated it: 5 of 5 stars
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Dec 02, 2011
Rhi rated it: 5 of 5 stars
Somewhere along the way in the rest of the "Mayfair Witch" series, Rice manages to destroy what this was. Or something.

But this first epic tome of a novel--this one stands alone as an amazing piece of work. I am not a fan of all Rice's works by any stretch, but this isn't a rating of all her writing, just this one. And in this one, I found the best of everything Rice has to offer. The horror and mystery, the magic and tension, the rich culture of New Orleans and the voodoo re More...
Aug 27, 2011
Jude rated it: 4 of 5 stars
Whew! Made it!
I mean I managed to remain mostly sane while taking over 2 weeks to read this book.
I slept, ate and worked. When I first started Anne Rice's, The Witching Hour, I recognized the danger I faced to do nothing but read this 1200 page book from cover to cover in one sitting! I would have hurt myself!

In my humble opinion, Anne Rice is the greatest living author of good and evil. OK, I know she and I both are a little bit old fashioned now!

Rowan, the lead More...
0 comments like (2 people liked it)
Aug 13, 2011
Shabby Girl rated it: 5 of 5 stars
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Aug 01, 2011
Mallory rated it: 5 of 5 stars
Review is tainted by romance.

When my man and I first moved into the Garden District last summer (while I was still a bartender) we moved into a pristine apartment with a gallery balcony which overlooked Chestnut street. Left in our room in an otherwise pristine apartment was a box of clutter left by the previous tenant. She left spoons, a rubber ducky, a hideous vase and five Anne Rice novels.

I spent most of the summer mornings on the balcony reading the Mayfair witches seri More...
0 comments like (5 people liked it)
Jun 09, 2011
Laura rated it: 1 of 5 stars
I tried to pick this up about early high school time. Anne Rice was and is a hard sell for me, I am in that minority of people who never cared at all about vampires. However, she wrote a couple other books that I read so I figured with this one being about witches I would stand to enjoy it. Witches and magic were much more of a draw for me even in a book of mammoth size. So I started this book and delved into the history of the Mayfair family/women. And holy hell. I couldn't get past the famil More...
Mar 22, 2011
AstrogirlM42 rated it: 5 of 5 stars
Actual Rating: 4.5

This is my second reading of the book (the first time I read it was about 14 years ago). Nothing has changed. I still love it! I still adore Anne Rice. This book is very long (nearly 1000 pages long) and full of detail, but then that is Anne Rice - thorough to the very end! However, even though it is a long book, it does not drag and the telling of each witches stories (within the overarching story of the 13th witch Rowan and her partner Michael) is spellbinding. More...
0 comments like (1 person liked it)
Jan 14, 2011
Vicky rated it: 1 of 5 stars
I stopped reading more than halfway done. They (what ever imaginary big shot who wrote the recommendation on the cover) likend Rice's literary ability for this fictional piece to Dickens. DICKENS!!! Are they raving mad or just opened one of the greats novels and saw "wow many words to a page" and than gave their comparison. I admit that is what intrigued me and motivated me to read this one. When you read Dickens we all know that setting is greatly written for pages on end. Yes, it More...
Dec 05, 2010
Nicole rated it: 1 of 5 stars
This I guess is the first book of 3 for the Mayfair Witches story.

Honesty I am so unimpressed by this one there would be no point in reading

the others. This book went from extremely boring to extremely detailed on

items and ideas that have nothing to do with the main story. It seemed like she

just wanted to fill pages. The whole story goes over 13 generations of Mayfaor

witches and all their random stories all leading up to the birth of More...
0 comments like (1 person liked it)
May 30, 2010
Surreysmum rated it: 3 of 5 stars
[These notes were made in 1992:]. I have written nothing (as far as I can remember) about this woman's writing, and yet I have read so much of it! Of all the novels she has written under the name "Anne Rice," however, this is the one (along with, perhaps, Cry to Heaven) that I have enjoyed most. True, it is overlong and undisciplined in its proliferation of multi-generational stories, just as the vampire tales are. True, also, that the metaphysics of touch telepathy (which her male More...
0 comments like (2 people liked it)
Mar 21, 2010
Jennifer rated it: 1 of 5 stars
Did not like this book. Her description skills are beautiful, which drew me in initially (plus I was looking for a book that would take me longer than a day to read, and at over a thousand pages...) You can SEE and FEEL what she says, like your in the room with her looking and touching her characters and environments. So I gave it a star for that.
However. How do you write over six hundred pages without touching on a story plot? I was kind of entranced by the huge history she gave the famil More...
0 comments like (2 people liked it)