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Type of bind: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN num: 9780345384461
ISBN number: 0345384466
Label: Ballantine Books
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 1056
Printing Date: March 22, 1993
Publishing house: Ballantine Books
Release Date: March 22, 1993
Sale Popularity Level: 8242
Studio: Ballantine Books
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
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
Amazon.com Review:
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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Rated by buyers 
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I have a love/hate relationship with Anne Rice's books. This one falls into the latter category.
Where to begin? Well, to start with, it took me over a week to read. Granted, it's over 1000 pages long, but that normally doesn't happen. It should have taken 3 days, maybe 4. Too bad I'm unable to put a book down once I've started reading it.
It's the start of the Witches of Mayfair series, about a family of witches, and the main story, to the extent there is one, is about the most recent descendant coming into her inheritance, but it's nothing as straightforward as that. Not even close.
I'll try to synopsize. Rowan Mayfair is a brilliant neurosurgeon, with a magic sense that, combined with her medical experience, allows her to know which seemingly hopeless cases can be cured. She was adopted at birth and knows nothing at all about her birth family. A man who restores old houses, Michael Curry, drowns while Rowan's on her boat. She rescues and revives him, and they fall in love.
Then there's Deirdre Mayfair, who's in a sort of vegatative state, and it turns out she's Rowan's mother, and the whole family are witches.
Enter Aaron Lightner, a member of the Talamasca, a group that studies supernatural phenomena, and has a big long file--mostly in the form of letters--on the Mayfair family.
Problem #1: Dr. Rowan believes that stem cell research is Coma with fetuses. This one happened early on, well before I was irritated with the book, and when I still expected to enjoy it. And every time I'd gotten over it, up it pops again, making my nutshell impression of the book a 1000+ page diatribe about the evils of stem cell research. It's perfectly fine to use magic to kill people who irritate you, but you're going to hell if you take some cells from an aborted fetus. Whoops. Sorry about that. As you can tell, it pushed my buttons. Particularly since Dr. Rowan is pointedly pro-choice.
Problem #2: The book starts with the POV of a doctor who's suspicious of Deirdre's care. It gives his whole life history (another problem--I'll be getting to it). Then nothing at all comes of it. Nothing. Ever. The doctor never shows up again. The plot thread is just completely dropped. It's bad enough when this happens in the middle of the book, but when it's what starts the book?
Problem #3: We get detailed life histories about every single person introduced in the book, whether it has anything to do with the plot or not. Some of them are interesting, but they're huge tangents, and I lost track of the plot for hundreds of pages at a time.
Problem #4: The book jumps back and forth in time. Part of this is caused by #3, but even within an individual character's story, there's jumping back and forth in time. It's disorienting, and not in a way that serves the story.
Problem #5: There's very little discussion, explanation, or demonstration of the witches' magical powers. Rowan has a little healing power, and other than that, their main magical power seems to be that they can see "The Man," Lasher. Oh, and when they die, it storms. That's pretty much it, except that they're very good at intrigue, manipulation, and shady business dealings. I'm quite possibly more demanding on this score because I've read an awful lot of fantasy, but I expect more than just "they're scary witches"--I'm not going to believe it unless you show me.
Problem #6: The History of the Mayfair Witches--the epistolary file introduced by Aaron Lightner. It's dull, dull, dull. Not only that, but it's prefaced with a note basically saying "I don't care what you think, it's not anachronistic!" accompanied by, in my head, the sound of a foot stomping. And the "letters" are really unconvincing as letters. At one point, someone's running for his life, and he stops to write a letter. Okay, I can buy that he wants to get the word back to the Talamasca. But you cannot convince me that he would take the time to describe the foliage or any of the other things that are depicted in excruciating detail that have nothing to do with the plot.
Problem #7: I did not buy the romance between Rowan and Michael Curry. You'd think that, in over 1000 pages, there'd be space to develop it convincingly, but no. She saves him, they reunite, then they have hawt secks and voila. They're in lurrrvve. Not buying it. I'm particularly not buying that they've instantly got a relationship that's stable enough to weather everything that'll get thrown at them.
Problem #8: Michael's psychic ability. It's quite cool, actually, that it showed up without warning, but that's when I expected it to be explained eventually. It wasn't.
Problem #9: Too much just wasn't explained. And some things that were huge problems just disappeared without being solved.
Problem #10: Rowan ends up being too stupid to live. Well, I guess that could ... Read More
Rated by buyers -
This book grabs you at the beginning and pulls you in. Your left on the edge of your seat waiting to see how to puzzle goes together.
There is a section of history, which is necessary, but long. Dont lose patience it is well worth the ending.
The ending is perfect, you put the book down only to reach for the subsequent unable to stop yourself.
Anne Rice always finds the perfect tale. This one is full of love, mystery, seduction, incest, and family. Anne Rice never disappoints her audience.
Rated by buyers 
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I loved this book. Anne Rice is a master at weaving an interesting paranormal tale.
Rated by buyers -
This book, and the others in the series are fabulous. With the exception of the 400 page history of the Mayfair family, which i personally found boring, the rest of this book is a spell-binding page turner that you can't resist. The protagonistis are so easy to like, the villains are so easy to hate. As this series progresses there is more and more detail which has revealed to me what an accomplished novelist Anne Rice is. Her historial scope of actions between generations (and between chapters) is masterful. if you like books about witches, ghosts, the supernatural and even a book that makes you think about life a little, this is for you. Try out the witching hour and if you like it, pick up Lasher, the second book. I dont think you'll be disappointed. Seriously, its like Harry Potter, but with adult prose and plenty of sex scenes!
Rated by buyers -
I loved this delicious book. This book is definately not for everyone. It is tedious reading, there is no question, the language is lush, detailed, lengthy yet exquisite. If you love the art of writing, you will devour it, if you are an under-the-covers-fly-by-night quick books reader it may test your patience. Early on this book becomes almost a bible of sorts in the mayfair history, generations are recalled, so-and-s begat so-and-so, once you weed through the early generational tree, a beautifully written and interesting tale unfolds. I found myself re-reading some paragraphs because they were so delicious in description, I was in that house, ever nook and cranny is opened to the reader, these people are revealed; every aspect these characters are real, strong and flawed, weak and becoming. The story is incredibly enjoyable and it is a great read once you get through generational leap. But I would encourage you to read the history and not skip over it, while it may be a bit tedious in length at times, its a rich tapestry this book and all the pieces fit together in the end.
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