The Town Herald

The netpaper about Elftowners, by Elftowners, for Elftowners.

Lasher

featured review guest submission by [Chrysilla]



Lasher
by Anne Rice

The second book of the "Witches’ Chronicles", Lasher is a fascinating book that catches your attention until the last page.
In the middle of the action there is Rowan Mayfair, the queen of the thirteen witches, and Lasher, the dark demon from whose spell she must escape with their child-- which has been conscious since her conception and capable of walking and speaking from the first day. The transcontinental story takes the reader back and forth in time, between the world of humans and the one of demons, creating a hypnotic, captivating book that blends witches from the past and the present, a Talamasca getting more and more curious, a thirteen-year-old girl with adult mind, mysterious deaths, weird genetic analyses (Lasher has 92 chromosomes and a likeness to humans of only 40%, although his exterior is completely human), vanities of an old, filthy rich family, lots of untold stories about the Mayfairs’ past, love stories, horror stories, ghost and voodoo rituals, reincarnation experiences, and more...
With every page you read, more elements come to add another dose of mystery, without giving clues or explanations before the last chapter. Who is Lasher? Where does he come from? Why is the Talamasca member who inspects the Mayfair Witches file fired without warning? Why does Talamasca get involved, when their motto describes them as observers? Where is Rowan and why doesn’t she give a sign of life to her family? Why do so many Mayfair women die the same way?
Anne Rice’s talent makes you forget everything else, keeping you stuck to the book until the end, making you love and hate Lasher at the same time. When I finished it, I didn’t know if I should pity him or blame him.



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