The Witching Hour (Lives of the Mayfair Witches)
by Anne Rice
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Book Summary Information
Author: Anne RiceEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1993-03-22
ISBN: 0345384466
Number of pages: 1056
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780345384461
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of The Witching Hour (Lives of the Mayfair Witches)
Book Review: Series should've ended with 'Witching Hour' *some spoilers*
Summary: 5 Stars
...of course, that's just my opinion.
:)
I've been a long-time reader of Rice's books...since I was 14 and 'interview with the vampire' came out, in fact. (the movie)
Anne Rice is a masterful storyteller. This is a lovely, twisted, haunting and at times romantic tale of a family who discovered power, wealth, pain and death through their association w/a 'nature spirit' called LASHER.
The story really kicked off for me when we traveled back to the beginning of the tale. The year 1689. We learn of the first of the so-called 'witches': the well-meaning and kind-hearted but simple and naive Suzanne who conjured Lasher in the fields of Donnelaith with her young daughter Deborah -- only to burn from her inability to understand that the being had the ability to develop a will and purpose almost independent of her.
Deborah never used Lasher with evil intent; she simply did NOT understand the being she dealt with (to wield and control him properly).
Although he loved her -- loved all the Mayfair women -- he was not mindless. His actions were sometimes the result of what *HE thought* the witch desired in her heart and this led to Suzanne's demise at the hands of the townsfolk. Later generations (her granddaughter to be exact) would have a better grasp of this concept. Yet, the fam's methods vfor dealing with Lasher varied as some witches were inherently weaker than others.
Overall...this was the crux of the entire problem. The fact that Lasher could 'learn'. The fact that he developed intent, knowledge of himSELF and -- later -- used his newly found knowledge and self-awareness to plot, manipulate and steer the family to suit *HIS* purpose.
But--
Rice provides GREAT insight into the character of Lasher through his talks with Rowan (present day) although his motives for attaching himself to the family are still somewhat obscure. We learn how the Lasher came to service the family. How he came into being -- or actually, that he always 'was'.
"The newly emerging intelligences of man, locked in matter, nevertheless perceived us, and thereby caused us to perceive ourselves. ...For millenia, these human spiritual intelligences developed; they grew stronger and stronger; they developed telepathic powers; they sensed our existence; they named us and talked to use and seduced us; if we took notice, we were changed; we thought of ourselves.
...(we learned) all things from you (humans). Self-consciousness, desire, ambition. You are dangerous teachers. And we are discontent."
THEN-->
"...Who am I? I am the one who wept for Suzanne when no one wept. I am the one who felt agony without end, when even Deborah stood numb, staring at the body of her mother's twisting in the fire. I am the one who saw the spirit of Suzanne leave the pain-wracked body. I saw it rise upwards, freed, and without care.
Do I have a soul that it could know such joy -- that Suzanne would suffer no more?
I reached out for her spirit, shaped still in the form of her body, for she did not know yet that such a form was not required of her, and I tried to penetrate and to gather, to take unto myself what was now like unto me.
But the spirit of Suzanne went past me. It took no more notice of me than the burning husk in the fire.
Upwards it went away from me and beyond me, and there was no more Suzanne...
...Who am I? I am Lasher, who came down to sit at the feet of Deborah and learn how to have purpose, to obtain ends, to do the will of Deborah in perfection so that Deborah would never suffer; Lasher, who tried and failed."
He was the most interesting character in the book, imo. Rowan...Michael? Meh. I don't care about them. They're main characters but they might as well be in the background. Anyway, I'm a 'who/what/when/where/why' type person and I appreciate details. Insight...so I've no issue with the time flipflopping back in forth. Some posters are writing as though this was a time-travel book. LOL
C'mon -- it's not THAT confusing.
In honesty, it didn't flip that much. Goes something like this:
-- Present day
-- 1600's and beyond.(you review the history as depicted in the files by a secret order called the Talamasca who make it their business to keep watch over what they consider to be supernatural matters). Here you chronicle the journey of the Mayfairs through the centuries from a first-hand source, outsider perspective and witness accounts
-- Present day.
That's all.
I suppose some folks were bored with the long drawn out story, started skipping ahead to get to the 'good part' and just plumb got lost in the blizzard of words and imagery. LOL
I did the same in the beginning. So I understand. LOL I do it with most books. Yet, with a story like this -- you HAVE to backtrack. There must be a basis and you have to tell that history.
Anyway, you can always count on Rice to provide plenty of rich details and depth.
I read the rest of the books in the MayFair Witches' series and was really disappointed with the direction the story decided to take.
The whole Morrigan-Talto's thing was pretty...anti-climactic. Just didn't like them.
But I did like THIS book.
Summary of The Witching Hour (Lives of the Mayfair Witches)
Demonstrating once again her gift for spellbinding stoyrtelling, Anne Rice makes real a family of witches--a family given to poetry and incest, to murder and philsophy, a family that is itself haunted by a powerful, dangerous and seductive being."Unfolds like a poisonous lotus blossom redolent with luxurious evil."
THE LOS ANGELES TIMES
In this engrossing and hypnotic tale of witchcraft and the occult spanning four centuries, we meet a great dynasty of witches--a family given to poetry and incest, to murder and philosophy, a family that over the ages is haunted by a powerful, dangerous and seductive being.
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