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The Witching Hour
- Narrated by: Kate Reading
- Length: 50 hrs and 1 min
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Summary
"[A] huge and sprawling tale of horror." (The New York Times Book Review)
Demonstrating once again her gift for spellbinding storytelling, Anne Rice makes real for us a great dynasty of four centuries of witches - a family given to poetry and incest, murder and philosophy, a family that over the ages is itself haunted by a powerful, dangerous, and seductive being called Lasher who haunts the Mayfair women.
Moving in time from today's New Orleans and San Francisco to long-ago Amsterdam and the France of Louis XIV, from the coffee plantations of Port-au-Prince to Civil War New Orleans and back to today, Anne Rice has spun a mesmerizing tale that challenges everything we believe in.
Critic reviews
"[A] huge and sprawling tale of horror." (The New York Times Book Review)
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What listeners say about The Witching Hour
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Jon
- 08-12-15
Simply stunning and exceptionally well read.
A really good book from start to finish. It can seem a little repetitive in parts, but not so bad, as to put you off the book. The narration was outstanding, a voice that is easy to listen to, and really pulls you into the storyline. I found I couldn't turn it off. Oftentimes listening into the early hours instead of getting my truly needed beauty sleep. Trust me, I need as much of that as I can get. But Kate managed to keep me rivited to my Earphones. Often to the annoyance of my family. Overall, a fantastic audio listen made all the better by the narration of Kate Reading. A highly recommended Audiol Book. Happy Audiobooking.
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32 people found this helpful
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- lorna
- 03-09-16
Anne Rice excels Again
This book is amazing totally drawing you into world of the Mayfair Witches....50 hrs well spent
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17 people found this helpful
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- sarahmoose2000
- 04-11-15
Whit a Belter!
This was a monster book at 50 hours, but I enjoyed every minute!
Strangely, for such a long listen, you didn't really have a huge story to digest and the space for a sequel is obvious.
A family of witches from their start in Scotland, typical of us(!), through to New Orleans and the French Quarter span four centuries. Like my family they are practically all women, maybe there's something I don't know!
Each member has a specific talent like ESP or healing, that will make a mysterious 13th witch all powerful. Who is this witch and why does the women's demonic familiar have so much control over them all?
A great listen, I only hope it doesn't take another ten years to record a sequel!
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15 people found this helpful
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- R McCrea
- 19-04-18
Repetitive, Dull.
What disappointed you about The Witching Hour?
Everything. At 30 hours in, I thought maybe soon something interesting would happen, that the endless descriptions of the same people and of the same house and then the same all over again from another point of view, with nothing new revealed and nothing to guess at or be excited about, would end. But nothing happened. It got even worse and more about lists and descriptions of the same things over and over, from different points of view but virtually the same thing. And maybe one small new thing was revealed, and on that was built another 12 hours of the same over and over, and the house the same, the same people... like that.
Which is fine in a book where you get to know the characters through these descriptions and grow to feel something for them or their fates, but even after hearing the minutiae of Michael's life for 89 chapters, he was still wooden and one dimensional. I mean we even get to hear what he likes about his course books at college for about 8 chapters, and this is before we cover another 20 years of his life. We get to know what type of doorknob he lusts over. Every job he ever had and what his employer's phone number was at that time, and then what it is now, oh, it's 20 years later did you know -- let's rehash what he used to do that we learned in the last chapter, all over again, and if his employer still likes two sugars in her coffee... etc... etc...
The main characters are all virtually perfect, in a late 1980s way, and they are so unrealistic it's like you're looking at them in their Aran jumpers in a catalogue and the author has written whatever comes into her mind while she's been drooling over the catalogue page on tranquillisers. There's not much exciting witch stuff goes on. Maybe in every hour you get 58 minutes of descriptions of the protagonists' jobs, and 2 minutes about witchcraft stuff that you already heard in the last chapter described by a different character.
Suspense does not exist except for in maybe two small parts of the book.
What could Anne Rice have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?
Anything. I don't know how this book passed her best freind let alone any editor. How was it published at this length? Why did no one point out that nothing of about 10,000 pages was worth anything to the story and could be cut out and no one would miss it?
How could the performance have been better?
The odd way the narrator says almost everything as if it's a mystery, or a question. Forget that horrid rising tone, this has its own bizarre final tone to everything. Weird as the reader can do voices with emotion when she feels like it, usually when she's in character.
What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?
I think it was the most boring book I ever listened to, or could have read.
Any additional comments?
I usually ignore bad reviews like this if there are some good reviews nearby. If I feel like a certain kind of book, I'll listen to/read it. But don't waste your time on this, please. It's outdated, boring, far too long for what it is (and I Like long books), and even with all those pages and allat time, not one character is fleshed out or believable.
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12 people found this helpful
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- tootelm
- 10-02-16
Loved this book
I read a lot of reviews on this book but I'm glad I got it. I couldn't put my phone down fir 3 days. I do have to say though this was my first Anne Rice book and wasn't what I was expecting
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9 people found this helpful
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- robert
- 07-01-16
10 hours too long
Any additional comments?
at the moment I am 27 hours into the story, the first 17 hours were fine with the story and characters slowly coming together pulling you deeper into the world the author is attempting to create then it drags on and on for hours and hours into a monologue on the history of 3 centuries of the Mayfair family, some of which are engrossing and help with the narrative of the story line but there are simply hours of dry and dusty figures on family members that once spoken are instantly forgotten, I haven't given up on the book because I feel I have connected with the main characters of the story and want to find out how the story progresses also I love Kate reading after first listening to her in the wheel of time series(14 books) in which she is outstanding, but after reading the reviews before purchasing the book I found great reviews of the series but not one mention of this 10 hour(minimum) monologue that I have felt really detracts from the story and I've felt I've had to slog through in order to get back to the story, so in order to highlight this omission from the reviews I felt it necessary to inform you (viewers,readers,listeners) of this so you are able to get a more accurate picture of what you are potentially purchasing
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4 people found this helpful
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- Nanci
- 26-04-17
Very Original...
Where does The Witching Hour rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
Easily in the 7.5 area. I didn't love it, as I have come to love some of the other audiobooks over the last 3 years, but it was not a copy of any Anne Rice I'd read before and I applaud that.
Who was your favorite character and why?
No one in particular, but I really liked they way their lives became more and more entwined. I also liked the narrative slipping into the past and having a variety of stories to tell.
Have you listened to any of Kate Reading’s other performances? How does this one compare?
Oops, not sure.
Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
No, but it often made me think, and that's far more what I'm looking for from a book.
Any additional comments?
Travels new ground in Ms. Rice's exploration of how the light and dark are experienced by different characters and in different eras.
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3 people found this helpful
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- David Partridge
- 09-09-16
Love the Narator
And the story is pretty good too. I didnt expect the ending. It made a change from usually being able to predict how things would pan out.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Christina
- 20-05-23
Dragged, sadly, literally archaic
I wanted to love this as I love fantasy stories. I didn't think the reader was great. The language used in the book was quite archaic.
5 chapters in, and I was trying not to sleep. I always give books a chance, but this one made me sad, i could not stomach it after a while.
I tried to 'breeze' through this era racism.
Particularly how dated and unnecessary mention how passion can be as exciting as rape, seriously?! I switched off at that point.
I'm not sure how a woman can write about rape as a .fantasy. massively disappointing.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Alim
- 22-03-17
Not for me
What would have made The Witching Hour better?
To be a shorter book
Has The Witching Hour put you off other books in this genre?
No, I have read many books of this genre
What three words best describe Kate Reading’s voice?
Deep, clear, ok
You didn’t love this book--but did it have any redeeming qualities?
no. I would like to have known how it ended but couldn't continue
Any additional comments?
I don't enjoy leaving poor reviews but the book was too drawn out with inconsequential details.
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2 people found this helpful