For the For the 2012 Chills and Spills read-and-release challenge: Month of May - Witches

I originally started to read this book for the 2011 Challenge, but it took me f-o-r-e-v-e-r to finish it. One comment from the back cover reads, "A wonderfully gothic writer whose talents far outshine those of Stephen King and others in the field", and another one reads, "[A] huge and sprawling tale of horror". Here is my opinion - Anne Rice's writing does not outshine the writing of Stephen King. Sure S.K.books are huge, and he often writes long descriptive paragraphs to create a mood, or to develop his characters, but his books are not sprawling. Sprawling definitely describes Ms. Rice's books (at least this one)..too much filler, not enough substance. King's characters are far more 'real' to me, than those Ms. Rice creates. I found Rowen to be totally unlikeable, and Michael was boring! I didn't really care what happened to either of them. And, Lasher was annoying. I liked Aaron; he seemed like a decent guy. My favorite parts of the book were those that took place in the past, with Rowen's ancestors. Those sections of the book were far more interesting to me than anything that had to do with Rowen directly.
Plenty of people don't share my opinion (Anne Rice IS a bestselling author)and maybe the next person who reads this book won't share my opinion either. No worries...I'm just glad I have FINALLY finished this book.

Happy Reading!