Hardcover/autographed

Rowan Mayfair, una bella neurocirujana consciente de sus poderes especiales, encuentra a un ahogado en la costa de California y consigue devolverlo a la vida. Ambos se enamoran ferozmente y establecen una apasionada alianza para desentrañar el misterio del pasado de ella y dominar un don maligno que le ha sido conferido a él tras su accidente. Rowan, aunque todavía no lo sabe, desciende de una dinastía de brujas que se remonta al siglo XVII y cuya historia empezó con una escocesa quemada en la hoguera...

Slow, plodding story of generations of a family with a demonic secret. I read exactly half of this circular, repetitive story, and decided that I didn't care. Anne Rice seriously needed a strong editor to help craft this. ( )

It took me two months, but I finally finished this behemoth. This was my first ever Anne Rice book, so of course I choose one that was 1,038 pages. To be fair, this and the two-sequels, were hand-me-downs, so I didn't have much choice in where to start. But where to start with this review? Wellll,let me start with the plot... or the plot structure. The characters, setting, and story are gradually introduced over the first third of the story, and a lot of it is filled with mood-setting scenes, or background characters filling in information, which feels a lot like gossip. Then as the main characters learn more about the family central to this book, the Mayfair family, we read along with one of the characters as he is given a history of this family by a mysterious group that has been watching the Mayfair Witches for centuries, The Talamasca. The middle third of the book is taken up by this history, where we learn about each generation of them, and how inbred they are, with fathers frequently fathering children with their daughters or even granddaughters. Its very disturbing and unpleasant. But also interesting. Why would they do these things? There's some level of intrigue here. Then after the history lesson is complete and the characters become up to date on what is happening now with the present generation, the actual plot of the book kicks in, nearly 2/3 of the way through. But there still seems to be no drive to this plot. It still meanders until the climax occurs near the very end of the book. At this point, the main characters who have been established over the course of 850-900 pages behave in very uncharacteristic ways. The main descendent of the Mayfair family, Rowan, doesn't put up much of a battle against the demon, spirit, mass of small cells - thing that has been manipulating this family for generations. She knows how bad this thing is, but still caves almost immediately to it in the most disgusting of ways. There were some very offensive parts about her seeming to want to be raped by this thing and enjoying it, but also hating it at the same time. She had developed a relationship with the other main character Michael, who is an innocent, super hot architect, who also knows all about this creature, Lasher, and has decided that Lasher must be stopped. Rowan believes Michael is her one true love, her soulmate, and loves him completely, but after they are married, and Rowan is pregnant with their child, she betrays Michael by accepting Lasher and gives up on the fight and uses their unborn baby's body to bring a physical version of Lasher into the world. It was nonsensical, and unbelievable based on the character that was built up the entire novel. That being said, Lasher does seem like an interesting villain and I am slightly curious to see how they could eventually defeat him. Does that mean I'll continue this series? I still haven't decided, but if its anything like this info-dump of a book, I'll have to set aside a large chunk of time to finish it. ( )

I enjoyed most of this book but I was disappointed with the ending. To be fair, I knew that this was a horror story and should have taken into account that such tales rarely end the way that we hope they will. ( )