Reviews with content warning for Pedophilia - The Witching Hour

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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leveledmouse's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

1.0

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comfycozytomes's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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? It's complicated

2.25

In all honesty this book may have been written/published in 1990 but how the characters were portrayed and how they behaved it felt like it was from the 50s. This book did not draw me in at all initially like I thought it would--I love witchy books, I love dark books. I didn't really like this book until I got to the actual history of the family shortly before the half-way mark (I don't think we needed a 45 paged chapter on Michael's entire backstory...I found Rita's backstory more interesting than his, my god). Only then things sped up for me.

That history was the most compelling aspect to me. I didn't even really like the characters until after the half-way mark and even then my like/dislike fluctuated; which may have also been the point that the characters are not supposed to be entirely likeable, idk. Also the Talamasca is an utterly useless organization. They bemoan the devastation wrought on women/those with supernatural gifts and they HAVE the wealth and influence to interfere yet they do nothing...? They KNEW what was happening in that house, to the legacies of the Mayfair powers, and they stood by and did nothing...? They suspected there was incest/rape/abuse under that roof/within that family...and just stood by and did NOTHING...? Disgusting imo.

I also think I would have liked this book more if it had been centered on breaking the generational trauma the Mayfair family had endured, as it seemed that was the path it was going, the total change/swerve away from that was utterly disappointing. Though I also understand breaking through that kind of trauma is difficult. Perhaps that is also addressed/a main aspect of the later books in the series.

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lilisilver's review against another edition

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I sniffed a pregnancy trope and decided to put it down. Definitely an interesting book with some hefty topics to consider. It was just a bit too heavy-handed for me.

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rumireads's review against another edition

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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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