Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Witching Hour by Anne Rice

24 reviews

moreau's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

so. boring. i cant believe i finished this, it had some good bits. i really liked all the talamasca files on the history of the family. but the present day situation is just so dull. rowan isnt an interesting main character, her only character development is getting progressively more annoying. i do not care for the pro life rants, incest or atrociously written sex scenes. this could've been good if it was about petyr or stuart townsend, i love stuart townsend. michael is boring as hell too, at least he liked the invisible man though, which is more interesting than this shit. also jimmy barnes??? people outside of Australia know Barnsy? why? so far i way prefer the tv series to the book series because at least rowan isn't the most 2d character ever. love suzanne though, rest in peace suzanne mayfair you would've loved steeleye span. also i get why theyre rich but i hate that every character in every anne rice book has to be rich, like its not even just money isnt covered, theyre ALWAYS rich, attracted to men, annoying and white. every man is gay or bisexual and every woman is straight. i really like lasher though, i think he's really interesting so i'll try read the 2nd book and hope it's more interesting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Incest, Rape, Sexual content, Medical content, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Cancer

licisalsa2's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

If you can get past the incest misogyny and rape it has a compelling story. I was already hundreds of pages in before it starts so i felt committed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Pregnancy

dragonaion's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This is my fourth book of Rice's that I've read, the first being the Beauty trilogy, and this was a very different pace than I was expecting. 
It is on the slower side, looping in years of history like a story-in-a-story that can be at times, hard to read. Half of the book is about the Mayfair history and I can't count the number of times I thought, "Is this really all necessary to the story?" 
This is a dark read, as Rice is known for, and while hard for some readers, it is filled with interesting complex thoughts and ideas. Heavily Christian, it adds a contrast to the questioned morals shown by the characters and their situations. It appears that the book is character driven, however the arching plot is revealed at the end and loops the entire story together, as if you're riding down the ribbon as you read to suddenly find yourself atop a perfectly wrapped present, bow and all, on the last page. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Self harm, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pregnancy

Minor: Racial slurs, Terminal illness, and Abortion

As Rice is known for, she is not shy with the sexual content and rough concepts, and she is going back in history, so there is some underage content, slavery, and "okay at the time" wording that may disturb some readers.

cinderrunner's review

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

Overly long. Convoluted and dull plot. I hate a pregnancy trope. Extremely boring for the first half and, even after it does start to get interesting, the story doesn't stay consistently engaging. This was such a struggle to get through. This is my first Anne Rice novel and I am extremely confused as to why she has so much hype around her. The obsession she has with relating sex in this book to r*pe is disgusting. Like Rowan will be having consensual sex and be like "oh god yes, r*pe me." Its genuinely nasty and so unnecessary. Also a lot of incest and undertones of racism from all the characters regardless of what time period the story is set in. Please don't waste your time with this series. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

mafer1's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Colonisation

bri_birdie17's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Rape, Murder, and Pregnancy

mlucero's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I love the family history section of the book but the plot in the present day is less interesting, and I still struggle a little with the ending. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Incest, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Medical content, Grief, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy

Minor: Slavery and Abortion

rumireads's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

bpjacks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Incest, Rape, Murder, and Gaslighting

mispaintedlady's review against another edition

I was enjoying this story until I got to the double whammy of romanticized  slavery and erotic  incest between father and daughter. I was truly disgusted at how Anne Rice wrote about slavery. Using the excuse of a character in the past and their journals, Rice glorified  slave owners simply because they  were Mayfair Witches and white washed the traumatic history of an enslaved person’s kidnapped life. 

The incest just kept going even up until the end of the book. Glad I just skipped ahead to find out the ending wasn’t worth reading the whole book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Incest, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Murder, and Colonisation

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Infidelity, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Medical content, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail