The Witching Hour - Anne Rice

Until a few months ago, the only book I had ever read by Anne Rice was half of ‘Interview with a Vampire.’ The reason I never finished ‘Interview with a Vampire’ was because I started it when I was quite young and I found it a tough read. This has recently changed after my friend lent me this book and ‘The Vampire Lestat’ and ‘Queen of the Damned.’ Suffice it to say, I loved them. So much so that there is no possible way I could write a fair and unbiased review of them. So instead I am reviewing ‘The Witching Hour’ because while I enjoyed it I didn’t find it quite so time-consumingly addictive as the Vampire Chronicles. However, it is an interesting book to talk about.

** The Storyline **

Rowan Mayfair is the latest in a long line of witches. However, unlike all of her predecessors she has no knowledge of her family as she was adopted as a baby. She does possess certain supernatural powers including some telepathy and what she calls her ‘diagnostic sixth sense’, which she uses in her work as a neurosurgeon.

Michael Curry is a man who is saved from drowning by Rowan. His near death experience leaves him with a power in his hands to receive images connected to objects that he touches. He and Rowan are both drawn back to their native home in New Orleans where try to discover how and why they are connected and what consequences it will have for their lives.

Interwoven with this is the history of Rowan’s family, the Mayfair witches, which is written down by a member of the Talamasca. This is an organisation that seeks to gain knowledge by observing the strange and the occult. Aaron Lightner is the current member who is trying to discover more about the Mayfair witches, and he is also becomes inextricably linked to Rowan and Michael.

The Talamasca are studying how the power is passed on from witch to witch and what the connection is between the witches and their spirit named Lasher who is almost like a familiar for the witches. Lasher is a menacing and potent presence for the witches and his wishes are not known until the very end of the book, when it is also revealed the purpose for Rowan and Michael coming together.

It is incredibly difficult to succinctly and successfully describe all the elements of the plot, which weaves the story together. On one hand, it is seemingly simple but on the other there are many characters, sub plots, emotions, historical pieces that can become confusing and make it difficult to extract exactly where the story is leading to. And at 1206 pages long, it can sometimes feel as if you’re never going to find out the deeper story within the novel.

** The Characters **

Rowan Mayfair is the centre of attention for the book but I hesitate to give her the label of ‘main character’ purely because I didn’t get the sense that the book was really about her. This might have been because I didn’t particularly like her as a character. I found her quite cold and standoffish in some respects but also very sexually aggressive. I couldn’t quite believe her personality because of these pronounced differences within her so I found it difficult to understand how she could have these contrasting traits. The only redeeming thing about her was that instead of exploiting her powers, she used them as best as she could and when they went beyond her control she was suitable ashamed of the damage she had done. Though, saying this, she might have been a more interesting character if she had been as aggressive with her powers as she was in other areas. Her personality does change slightly towards the end and the finale left me feeling that maybe I hadn’t really understood her all that well, as I couldn’t correlate the final choice that she makes with her previous actions. I think that her character will be developed more fully in the sequels.

The most interesting character, and my favourite, was Michael Curry. This was a man who had charisma and appeal in bucket loads. He is good-looking yet rugged, artistic yet down-to-earth, impulsive and caring and I could fully understand why Rowan fell for him. He plays an important part in the story and within his interaction with Rowan and her family and it shows in how the character is described to every last detail. I get the impression that this is a character that will appear in the sequels and possibly has another important role to play within them.

The Mayfair family as a whole are described, though some more fully than others. I actually found the historical part of the book fascinating reading, though I notice that other reviewers on the site have commented that it was dull and too long. I think because I read the book aware that there are others to follow, it made sense to me to set out all of the history of the family as a basis for the books as a whole. I enjoyed reading about how all the members fit together, though I did find some of the incestuous relationships a little hard to stomach – it also made it difficult to follow through who was related to who in which way, but it does sort of make sense by the end.

Other characters such as Aaron Lightner of the Talamasca and Rita May Lonigan add context and more ‘normal’ human emotions in the story and, in the case of Rita May, human reactions to the antics of the Mayfair family. They were needed almost as a scientific control in which to contrast the Mayfairs with and they add another dimension to the story. I think if the book had left out these sorts of characters then the strange behaviour of the Mayfairs would have been too much. They needed some normality to keep the story believable.

** My opinion **

I anticipated absolutely loving this book as I enjoyed the Vampire Chronicles so much. However, I didn’t quite enjoy it as much as I thought I would. There were a number of reasons for this:

Firstly, the book was just slightly too long. It could have been edited slightly to cut it down and to make the action a bit sharper. At times it felt drawn out, especially the first half of the book and as the ending to the story was wound up within a few pages it felt a bit of an anticlimax.

Secondly, unlike the Vampire Chronicles, the more sexual elements to the book were graphically described. The Vampire Chronicles used less description and allowed your mind to wander about what happened between the characters. In The Witching Hour sex scenes are fully, explicitly and sometimes crudely described. As there was a large amount of sexual reference within the book that were necessary, such as the incest and the relationships between Rowan and her various men, graphic scenes weren’t necessary to emphasise how aggressive she was, or even how much certain characters wanted others.

Apart from these two reasons, the book was enjoyable. I found the history part fascinating, even the small pieces about the Talamasca. I would be very interested if Anne Rice has written about the Talamasca as the main subject for a novel as this organisation in itself is an interesting concept. I like reading about the supernatural, and within this book, the supernatural is mixed with the natural subtly, which makes it all the more appealing. The family could almost be any other family, if it wasn’t for the small paranormal elements that are present within their lives.

I will be reading the follow ups to this book as it is interesting enough to me to continue with. I think this book would appeal to women more than men, or people have an interest in the supernatural. It isn’t really suitable for people hoping for a romantic love story or an action packed thriller, but it rests somewhere in between.

** About the Author **

www.annerice.com

Anne Rice was born in New Orleans in 1941. She writes under three names, Anne Rice, Anne Rampling and A. N. Roquelare. Her first novel was ‘Interview with the Vampire’ published in 1973. Her novels include The Vampire Chronicles, New Tales of the Vampires, Lives of the Mayfair Witches and The Beauty Series. The sequels to ‘The Witching Hour’ are ‘Lasher’ and ‘Taltos.’

Her most recent novel ‘Blackwood Farm’ brings together the Vampires and the Mayfair witches. It was seeing this novel advertised that made me want to read the Mayfair Witches stories because I knew it wouldn’t have the same impact without reading those first.‘The Witching Hour’ was published May 1, 1993.
ISBN: 0345384466

Amazon.co.uk: From £2.40 used