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3.55 AVERAGE
3.55 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
slow-paced
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
This one didn't have as much of a plot and wasn't as exciting as the first 2 books but it was very satisfying finally having the mystery unraveled and how the story ended.
mysterious
slow-paced
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I think that if Anne hadn't written this book, this would have been fine as a duology. This expands the lore of the Taltos creatures.... yet it goes no where since this is it for the Mayfair series. And, more pedophilia.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Pregnancy
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The first book in this series is excellent, the second is good but not great and unfortunately the third follows the trend and is the worst in my opinion. While it’s still an interesting read it isn’t nearly as addictive as the first one or even as interesting as the second. If you have read the first two, you will of course want to finish with this one but be warned you will most likely be slightly disappointed.
well, it was better than lasher. thank god.
i think what really, truly doesn’t work for me is just the whole concept of the taltos; the alternative history introduced is frankly laughable and it really feels like rice lost the plot on her own story. once again this isn’t a story of witches but a story of an alien-esque species (almost like elves) replacing the spirits that the witching hour originally made them out to be. i think i would like them better if they were a separate concept entirely; the idea of the taltos existing in the same general universe as the mayfair witches and my beloved vampires is odd and strange to me and i’m less excited to start the crossovers for this reason.
i will say that the characters felt a lot more real in this book - thank GOD lasher is gone, i feel like he was single-handedly ruining the voice of everyone. and we didn’t hear even more about julien! this is huge!! rowan seemed to return to her old self, with new knowledge and trauma but still the powerful witch with a dream and a fierce capacity for love that we had seen in TWH. michael (i still hate him) was at least more in-character, and mona was the surprise of the book. i think rice hadn’t exactly met a 13-year-old girl when writing lasher, because mona didn’t come off as being young; this book remedied that, writing mona as the precocious but limited and young girl that she is. i also adored mary jane and her friendship with mona; i think it humanized both of them and it added an element of frenzied chaos that i really enjoyed.
as for ashlar, the taltos and principal character, i didn’t have extremely strong feelings either way. he was an extremely welcome reprieve from lasher, to be certain, but i just thought he was rather one-note and the obligatory extreme religious theming of his backstory was just purely anne rice’s self-inserted religious crisis (AGAIN). the care with which he treated “his witches”, samuel, yuri, and especially tessa was rather touching, though.
a few more thoughts: the… weirdness… is somewhat toned down from lasher, which made this more readable, but i still cannot get over the milk thing. i’m so sorry but it was giving me the creeps throughout the entire book. i appreciated the in-depth look at the talamasca a lot, although i still miss david talbot, and i was devastated by the fate of aaron (my favorite character! ugh). the whole book is just so frankly *meh* and lacking the charm of TWH, though, that i really can’t be bothered to rate it higher than this. that, and it’s somehow worse than memnoch in ways i can’t articulate, so it doesn’t deserve the same rating.
i think what really, truly doesn’t work for me is just the whole concept of the taltos; the alternative history introduced is frankly laughable and it really feels like rice lost the plot on her own story. once again this isn’t a story of witches but a story of an alien-esque species (almost like elves) replacing the spirits that the witching hour originally made them out to be. i think i would like them better if they were a separate concept entirely; the idea of the taltos existing in the same general universe as the mayfair witches and my beloved vampires is odd and strange to me and i’m less excited to start the crossovers for this reason.
i will say that the characters felt a lot more real in this book - thank GOD lasher is gone, i feel like he was single-handedly ruining the voice of everyone. and we didn’t hear even more about julien! this is huge!! rowan seemed to return to her old self, with new knowledge and trauma but still the powerful witch with a dream and a fierce capacity for love that we had seen in TWH. michael (i still hate him) was at least more in-character, and mona was the surprise of the book. i think rice hadn’t exactly met a 13-year-old girl when writing lasher, because mona didn’t come off as being young; this book remedied that, writing mona as the precocious but limited and young girl that she is. i also adored mary jane and her friendship with mona; i think it humanized both of them and it added an element of frenzied chaos that i really enjoyed.
as for ashlar, the taltos and principal character, i didn’t have extremely strong feelings either way. he was an extremely welcome reprieve from lasher, to be certain, but i just thought he was rather one-note and the obligatory extreme religious theming of his backstory was just purely anne rice’s self-inserted religious crisis (AGAIN). the care with which he treated “his witches”, samuel, yuri, and especially tessa was rather touching, though.
a few more thoughts: the… weirdness… is somewhat toned down from lasher, which made this more readable, but i still cannot get over the milk thing. i’m so sorry but it was giving me the creeps throughout the entire book. i appreciated the in-depth look at the talamasca a lot, although i still miss david talbot, and i was devastated by the fate of aaron (my favorite character! ugh). the whole book is just so frankly *meh* and lacking the charm of TWH, though, that i really can’t be bothered to rate it higher than this. that, and it’s somehow worse than memnoch in ways i can’t articulate, so it doesn’t deserve the same rating.
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Starts off interesting, gets icky with underage (13) sex and then it just jumps onto the weird Jesus crazy train
The trilogy? 5/5 stars. This book? 4/5 stars. I truly enjoyed it as it was a good mix of a few genres in one book but the ending was interesting and sort of cynical, if you will, but that’s show biz, baby