Reviews with content warning for Murder - The Witching Hour

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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licisalsa2's review against another edition

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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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dragonaion's review against another edition

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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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cinderrunner's review against another edition

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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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