I loved every minute I spent reading Anne Rice's "The Witching Hour," and therefore looked forward to reading the book's sequel, "Lasher." I am certainly not disappointed now that I have finished the novel. I do want to mention here that although "Lasher" is part of a trilogy, it stands very well on its own as an independent work. I was almost as spellbound by this second book in "The Lives Of The Mayfair Witches Trilogy" as I was by the first. The author continues spinning this seductive story in a manner that captures the reader's interest and imagination until the very last page. The characters introduced to us in "The Witching Hour," geneticist Rowan Mayfair, her husband, Michael Curry, their friend Aaron Lightner, along with a huge cast of ghosts, witches and Mayfair clan members, return to delight and chill, depending on your perspective. And some new folks, (not all human), come on board also. As the novel begins, the author summarizes the storyline and takes up the narrative at almost the same spot where the prior novel left us.
Lasher, the former otherworldly spirit who haunted the Mayfairs, is now a flesh and blood supernatural being. He chose to leave the world of specters to join us humans in three-dimensional space on earth - New Orleans' steamy Garden District to be precise. He made this transfer through Rowan's birth canal. You have to read it to believe it. So Rowan and Michael, along with their many other roles, are also Lasher's parents. And you thought Rosemary and her baby had problems! Lasher, a very sensual, mesmerizing, manipulative entity, longs for love, yet doesn't really understand the human concept of the word. Therefore his motives are constantly misconstrued. And why not? He hasn't the faintest idea of how his actions impact others - a psychopathic supernatural entity? Or just your everyday misunderstood demon? You decide.
Lasher is one of Ms. Rice's more complex characters. He has had a love affair with every Mayfair witch, down through history. Interfamily relations, as a consequence, are not what they could be. Talk about dysfunctional families! Also, Lasher's affection is all consuming - he tends to drain those whom he loves - an emotional vampire, in other words. And he is draining in the more literal sense too. Baby Lasher almost sucks the life out of Rowan as she breast feeds him. Rowan, as the reigning Mayfair Witch, and his Mom, is now center screen on Lasher's radar. He grows to maturity within days of his birth, (Taltos - what Lasher is - mature very quickly), and then he kidnaps Rowan. Obsessed with having a child by her so that his race, the Taltos line, will continue, Lasher rapes her. The only females capable of carrying Lasher's child are witches, who have the required double length strand of DNA. If this strand of DNA is absent, the pregnant woman has a spontaneous miscarriage and usually dies. Yep! Rowan has the special strand. Lasher and Rowan have a daughter together, Emaleth. And this is not the first time Lasher has attempted to impregnate Mayfair women - with disastrous consequences. As Rowan lies in a coma, as a result of Lasher's attentions, he moves on to search for other Mayfair lovelies to impregnate. He really wants a son bad!! Much of this saga centers on Rowan's attempt to escape Lasher, and his pursuit of her and their child.
The author delves more deeply into the Mayfair family members' characters and their histories here, especially Julian's, the only Mayfair Warlock. This tremendous Mayfair dynasty, made up of so many individuals over so many centuries, is the crux of what makes this novel tick. Ms. Rice gives them depth, fleshes them out more in "Lasher," and their voices, as well as those of ghosts, angels, demons, witches, warlocks and ordinary men and women, contribute their points of view to the narrative. The plot is complex but not confusing. Much more family history is revealed than in the first book, and history is interwoven with fiction so that subplots become quite realistic. For example, it is discovered that Rowan is descended from a long line of witches who were exterminated by Protestants during the reign of King Henry VIII. They managed to keep some power in the family by moving to North America and intermarrying with their brothers and male cousin.
The Mayfair family, with the help of the Talamasca, a group of scholars who have studied and chronicled occult happenings for centuries, eventually track down Lasher. They are then faced with a dilemma. Do they kill this entity whom they do not understand? He is otherworldly, but not necessarily evil. What would you decide?
This is a magnetic, riveting read! I have read some negative reviews, and, as with everything else, people have different and definite tastes in fiction. As far as I am concerned, however, this is a real winner!!
JANA
