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stacylaughs's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
Graphic: Incest, Rape, and Sexual content
Moderate: Violence, Kidnapping, and Pregnancy
skeptic_hecate's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
I will start with t he good:
The book is beautifully written, you can tell the author has a great imagination and good story telling. The lore is really well built, quite deep and interesting. The story has a lot of potential.
Now, what I didn't like:
The lore is so interesting, the life and family tree of the Mayfair witches is what kept me reading, too bad is so little and only dealt deeply for a few select chapters. The rest of the book we follow 2 very unlikable protagonists. Rowan, who is so not like other girls with a large pick me energy. Reading Rowan's thoughts only made me dislike her even more. She has this holier-than-thou attitude, she thinks she is smarter and better than everyone in the room, doesn't respect anyone, not even her (supposed) love of her life. She only thinks about sex, how everyone else is beneath her, and how smart she is. She is also very misogynistic, for absolutely no reason too, and towards every woman she encounters, dead or alive.
I can get behind a character like that, if the plot showed us that she is in the wrong. But she never is shown that, she never learns, and she is so boring to read. The second most boring character to read, the most boring character to read is Michael Curry.
I think the author was aiming for the lovable Himbo but forgot the lovable part. Not only is he widly inconsistent (a complete idiot at one point, then smarter the next page and then even more of an idiot the following chapter, only to be again somewhat smart), he is also very boring to read. We are told that he is this brave old-fashioned man who carves his own path, and shown over and over again how cowardly he acts. I wanted to skip all his parts because he is so unbelievably boring.
Aron Lightner is the best character, I love him, I wish there was more of him.
This book drags, this book is so slow, everything happens so slowly and is repeated constantly. I do not need to be spoon fed the same irrelevant information over and over again. There is so much in depth description of the house (which I actually enjoyed the first 2 or 3 times), but it gets stale after the eleventh time.
The book ending is an obvious sequel bait, too rushed, little effort and detail put, Rowan does a complete 180 personality wise. Also, the entire book reeks of the author's internalizedf misogyny. I mean the amount of hat thrown towards women who *gasp* are child free. I only wish she treated incest and rape (prominently present in her book) with the same level of disgust as a woman deciding to be child free (abortion scene and birth scene are so ironic, I cannot believe the author couldn't put two and two together).
Unless you are a die hard Anne Rice fan, don't bother with this book, read the Wikipedia summary and maybe look up a Mayfair witches family tree online and you'll be missing very little.
Graphic: Death, Incest, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Violence
silversparkles50's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Death, Incest, Mental illness, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Alcohol
Moderate: Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Rape, and Pregnancy
alicecider's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Violence and Medical trauma
Moderate: Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual content, and Slavery
lyfeistrip's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Car accident, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Classism
booklover_17's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Incest, Rape, and Violence
dragonaion's review against another edition
- 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
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.
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 against another edition
- 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
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
leveledmouse's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Violence and Abortion
mafer1's review against another edition
- 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
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