Anne Rice – Taltos

Taltos
Author: Anne Rice
Series: Lives of the Mayfair Witches #3
Publishing date: 19 September 1994
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Status: to-read

In the third chronicle of the Mayfair Witches, the Talamasca seek to preserve the nearly extinct Taltos race by bringing together a male and female. Their searching catches the attention of an ancient Taltos named Ashlar entwined with Lasher’s identity. Ashlar reveals the taltos mythology and lineage and enlists the help of Michael and Rowan in his battle againsst evil. Ashlar longs to make right the sufferings of his people. To help Ashlar, Michael must keep his coupling with Mona Mayfair (a precocious teenager who loves sex and computers equally) a secret, for it has produced a new female Taltos. Rowan attempts to assist him, but the task is difficult given that Morrigan, the Taltos, has been named the heir to the Mayfair fortune. Morrigan becomes the new monster of the Mayfair family.

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Anne Rice – Lasher

Lasher
Author: Anne Rice
Series: Lives of the Mayfair Witches #2
Publishing date: 12 September 1993
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Status: to-read

The Talamasca, documenters of paranormal activity, is on the hunt for the newly born Lasher. Mayfair women are dying from hemorrhages and a strange genetic anomaly has been found in Rowan and Michael. Lasher, born from Rowan, is another species altogether and now in the corporeal body, represents an incalcuable threat to the Mayfairs. Rowan and Lasher travel together to Houston and she becomes pregnant with another creature like him, a Taltos. Lasher seeks to reproduce his race in other women, but they cannot withstand it. Rowan escapes and becomes comatose as her fully-grown Taltos daughter is born. The Mayfairs declare all-out war on Lasher and try to nurse Rowan back to health.

Michael remains entwined in the Mayfair family and learns how he comes by his strange powers. Michael’s ghostly visiting from a long-dead Mayfair reveals the importance of destroying Lasher. In the investigation, Lasher’s origins are revealed, the new Taltos Emaleth returns, and the climax of death and life engulfs the family.

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Anne Rice – The Witching Hour

The Witching Hour
Author: Anne Rice
Series: Lives of the Mayfair Witches #1
Publishing date: 16 October 1990
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Status: to-read

The first in the Mayfair Witches series, The Witching Hour introduces the fictional Mayfair family of New Orleans, generations of male and female witches. This tight-knit and deeply connected family, where a death of one strengthens the others with his/her knowledge. One Mayfair witch per generation is also designated to receive the powers of “the man,” known as Lasher. Lasher gives the witches gifts, excites them, and protects them. Unsure as to exactly what this spirit is, the Mayfair clan knows him variously as a protector, a god-like figure, a sexual being, and the image of death. Lasher’s current witch is Deirdre, who lies catatonic from psycological shock treatments.

Deirdre’s daughter, Rowan, has been spirited away from this “evil” and has happily become a neurosurgeon and has an uncanny gift to see the intent behind the facade. Rowan also has a gift few doctors possess – she can heal cells. Yet, though she uses it to save lives, she also fears that she has caused several deaths. She rescues Michael from drowning. Michael then develops some extraordinary powers that compel him to seek New Orleans and to seek Rowan. He finds both, and pulls the tale closer together by meeting people connected to the Mayfair family who now fear Rowan because she is the first Mayfair who can kill without Lasher’s help.

Michael dives into learning the history of the Mayfair witches: Deborah, Charlotte, Mary Beth, Stella, Antha, and many others across hundreds of years and three continents. When Michael looks up from his reading, he learns that Rowan has come to New Orleans to attend her mother’s funeral. Rowan learns of her family history, her ancestral home in shambles, and Lasher waiting for the next one. Rowan dedicates herself to stopping Lasher’s reign. Michael too has his own mission, but it is foggy and unclear to him. But Lasher is seductively powerful and Rowan’s gifts offer him the opportunity to achieve his ultimate goal.

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