Book Review: Anne Rice – 'Taltos'

ANNE RICE
'Taltos'
ALFRED A. KNOPF

It is a strange thing when you reach the end of the book. Even more stranger when that is also the end of the series. To be done with Taltos, by Anne Rice, the third and supposed final instalment of the Lives of the Mayfair Witches series, was bittersweet in more than one sense.

Despite the fact that this is the last book, it has a major difference when compared with the past two, mostly in terms of genre. This time, Rice doesn’t present a lot of horror content, but more of a reflexive, philosophical narration that deals with the race of the Taltos. That was an initial shock I had to overcome, since I expected this to be a heavier, more gruesome reading than The Witching Hour and Lasher.

However, when I got used to the main idea, the Taltos’ history, I started to enjoy this book even more. Rice filled it with countless details that, despite made it a reading hard to follow, enriched it.

At this point, I knew I wouldn’t get an explosive battle between the witches and some hidden enemy, yet I still feel it would have been a good addition given the “conspiracy” or sort of that is presented.

Each of the characters felt the same as in the previous books, I couldn’t see a real development on them, maybe only on Mona Mayfair, who acquires a more protagonistic role on this novel, but Rowan, Michael, and the rest of the cast feel just the way they did before, which is a shame.

It is also said that you have to respect the author’s end for the story, but this time Anne Rice take a safe bet for it. It was like she was in a hurry to finish it, fixed whatever was going on with each characters, solved the problems in more time than I expected and took the emergency exit in order to be done with Taltos.

Her followers will tell me that this is not the last time I will see the Mayfair witches, as their universe merges with The Vampire Chronicles’, and I even started with this series before getting to meet Lestat since several blogs said that Interview with the Vampire would tell me what will happen with the witches, but I do find them disappointing when I think about the last chapters of this novel.

I would lie if I said I won’t give Lestat a chance, in order to recover the joy these women gave me, or so I hope, but that won’t be now, maybe not even this year. It will take six books before the stories entangle, and I’m not particularly interested in waiting this much in this moment.

Despite that ending scene ruined the story, I’m sure many will like to dwell on it for a while. I certainly find it pleasurable to have a refuge of daily life in such an interesting universe. There were some unanswered questions that also bothered me, and yet Rice managed to entertain  me for a long while. It is just a matter of time before I return to her. In the meantime, I’ll get some fresh air and a more light, softer reading.

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Book Review: Anne Rice – 'Lasher'

ANNE RICE 

'Lasher' 

ALFRED A. KNOPF 

Once upon a time, there was a woman who blew my brains out.

Readers expect that a book series gets better with each book they read, that the universe reinvents itself buts keeps the magic that made them fall in love in the first place, making it a new trip in an bigger travel through the story. And it happened in 'Lasher', by Anne Rice, the second instalment in Lives of the Mayfair Witches.

One may think that horror books could only be gruesome, creepy and send shivers down the spine. Rice proves to do much more than that by creating a dark, seductive world where souls never truly die and where passion never truly burns out, and mixes it all with the classic elements we want to find a good horror novel.

Each of the characters presented in 'Lasher' has a voice on its own, a different personality and add their unique enchant to the overall plot, which, I have to say it, I’m not sure if I love it or hate it. There were so many emotions at the same time, all of them so intensive that the whole reading process becomes organic, very natural.

To see many of the different loose threads the first book left being tied up and having a meaning and purpose in this one is perhaps the best thing about it, but the promise of new discoveries in the third one could be even better. Risky thing to do, but if two books have already been this good, I’ll keep my own doubts under control before saying anything else.

However, it bothered me more than once the large amount of pages and endlessly long scenes that cross this book that focus on insignificant details, challenging the reader to keep on the pages. It took me out of the story and made it hard for me to keep an eye on it, but the plot’s complexity made it worth it.

The lack of actual horror, besides the general decadent, dark idea that filled even the most insignificant of scenes, started to become and issue until a certain chapter, where all religion, all faith and all belief was corrupted. Short, quick, but intense, not counting with the later murdering of certain character I couldn’t stand any longer. Rice knows how to make the reader feel what she wants them to.

I’ll lie if I said I’m not scared and afraid of what could happen next, but also eager to see what happens next in such an interesting world Rice has created.

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'The Witching Hour', by Anne Rice, and it’s Gothic enchant

Way back in 1990, Anne Rice was publishing 'The Witching Hour', the first book in her 'Lives of the Mayfair Witches' series, of the stories that showed the kind of stories this woman had in mind and wanted to write.

I had the chance to buy this emblematic book not long ago, just because of the curiosity I felt towards Rice’s work, praised as one of the best ones in the Gothic vein of literature, knowing practically nothing about it, just that it was better to start with this series and then go for her 'Vampire Chronicles'.

Some of my obsessions in books are magic and witches, which are the topics I always try to include in my To-read lists, and in the stories I write as well. Since this is one of the most worshipped authors among readers, I thought there was nothing to lose to give her a try.

Little did I suspect that Rowan Mayfair and Michael Curry, main characters of 'The Witching Hour', will become close friends of mine during my trips in my comings and goings from college. What used to be an empty time that I spent doing nothing became a very precious reading time I felt too short.

The beginning was strange, as it starts directly with the accident’s consequences in Curry, detailing everything that happened and the subsequent encounter with Rowan Mayfair, a woman who knows nothing about her family history, her roots, her past and surrounded by a halo of fame and mystery as a neurosurgeon.

From there, 'The Witching Hour' will let us discover the many secrets that Rowan has dealt over the years and the hard time Michael has been living since the accident. Their romance, a secondary plot in the overall plot, will serve as a guide and their motive to travel and discover the lives of the Mayfair family.

To describe it as tempting the idea of telling you what this family is in reality, besides witches, is not enough. I almost need it, but I’m sure it is going to spoil the whole book for you, which I strongly recommend you to read.

You will find many heavy topics and uncensored stories for each member of this peculiar family, each of them weirder than the past one, and, strangely, they are all presented in an elegant way, so you don’t realize what you’re reading until you need to stop for any reason, that’s when you realize how twisted The Witching Hour really is.

Many classical elements of Gothic literature are presented in a mean way, creating a sinister and dark atmosphere. It’s like getting immersed in a different world, a new side of this very same Earth we think we know and discovering its macabre secrets, although I can hardly think about anyone who will like to have this kind of familiars.

I cannot deny that 'The Witching Hour' has its own enchant. Every phrase is so graphic and poetic at the same time it casts a spell, making us read as much as we can, despite the heavy content and style.

Because of this, I would tell you read many more books before getting into this one in particular. It’s not the reading you could describe as fast, easy, light or kind, but it won’t either make you suffer, scream or get traumatized, or not before the end, at least.

Many bloggers have criticized just that, the end. I’ve see a lot of reviews on 'The Witching Hour' complaining about it and how they felt that Rice should have changed it in order to make it better and more “readable,” and if any asks me, that’s a complete nonsense.

People makes the mistake of comparing this with other books, mostly those that fall in Young Adult or Teenager category, which have a different style in every sense, including the ending. If it wasn’t enough to get out of their comfort zone, to expect the same for this than in other light novels is what they needed to hate such an interesting story. I’m begging you not to do this if you want to fully discover 'The Witching Hour’s' enchant.

I can only recommend it for mature reader, but, considering these times, some will agree with me saying that a seventeen years old will feel comfortable enough to enjoy and learn a little bit with 'The Witching Hour'. 

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