Taltos (Mayfair Witches Series #3) FROM OUR EDITORS
The lone member of an ancient species called the Taltos believes he is the last of his kind. When he hears rumors that another Taltos has been seen, he is propelled into the world of the Mayfair witches, a New Orleans dynasty besieged by ghosts, spirits, & their own dizzying powers.
ANNOTATION
Book Three in the spellbinding and seductive saga of the Mayfair dynasty of witches, by the bestselling author of The Vampire Chronicles and Memnoch the Devil. In a swirling universe filled with death and life, corruption and innocence, this mesmerizing novel takes readers on a wondrous journey back through the centuries to a civilization half-human, wholly mysterious, and at odds with mortality and immortality.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
Meet Mr. Ash, quiet-spoken, tall, unfailingly kind - sole survivor of an ancient species, the Taltos - thriving among humankind as he has always done, now the head of a great corporate empire. As the novel opens, he is stunned to learn from an old and mysterious friend that another Taltos has been seen - in the very same Scottish glen where centuries ago, long before the coming of the Romans, Ash ruled his clan. At once he is propelled into the world of Rowan Mayfair, and into the mysteries of the Mayfair family - the New Orleans dynasty of witches forever besieged by ghosts, spirits, and the dizzying powers of his own species - a family intimately involved with the heritage of the Taltos, a family of unique, brilliant, and troubled souls struggling as they have for centuries to use both science and magic in their battle for greatness, even survival. At the heart of the novel is the Talamasca, a secular order of psychic scholars, the only organization in existence which may understand Ash, his Taltos past, and the dilemma of the Mayfair witches. The story of the Mayfair family continues, moving from London to Donnelaith, Scotland, to New Orleans, back and forth through time - from the origins of the Taltos and their mythic Lost Land to the moral crises of the present day.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
Cutting-edge gene mapping intertwines with ancient mysteries in this continuation of Rice's series of novels about witches and the supernatural. A ``taltos'' is the superhuman result of the crossbreeding of two human witches who possess an extra chromosome; almost a monster, the creature is capable of beastly behavior fuelled by an extraordinary sex drive. In Lasher , the eponymous offspring of Michael Curry and Rowan Mayfair of the New Orleans Mayfair witch clan proved to be just such a mutant; before he was slain, he repeatedly raped his own mother, siring a little ``goblin'' daughter, Emaleth. This new novel features a second taltos, also fathered by Curry, but mothered by a 13-year-old sexpot niece of Rowan's named Mona, who is herself the most powerful witch of the Mayfair clan. Other plot elements involve renegade members of the secret order of Talamasca, who want to kidnap and crossbreed two taltoses; a 200-year-old taltos from New York named Ashlar, who is posing as a toy-industry magnate specializing in dolls; and a dwarf called Samuel from the witches' holy glen in Donnelaith, Scotland. Pulsing with a persisent sense of foreboding, the novel is soggy with meandering, atmospheric prose that verges on softcore porn. And, as usual, what happens in the book is clearly less important to the author than the number of chills she can send down readers' spines. She has not lost her touch.
Library Journal
Just when we thought we had seen the last of the Taltos in The Witching Hour (LJ 10/15/90) and Lasher (Knopf, 1993), this third book in the Mayfair Witches series tells the story of Ash, a centuries-old Taltos who resides in New York City. The Taltos grow to a height of seven feet, carry an extra set of chromosomes, and have a superior intelligence that enables them to digest dictionaries and encyclopedias in moments. There is something rotten in the state of the Talamasca, an order of scholars who study the supernatural and keep records of the Mayfair witches. When one such scholar is murdered, Rowan Mayfair, the mother of the two late Taltos in Lasher, and husband Michael Curry investigate. Ash meets with them, shows them that he's harmless, and, like Lasher, has his own story to tell. Although this novel is a suspenseful and sometimes thought-provoking page-turner, it does not stand on its own; the first two books in the series must be read first. Recommended wherever Rice's books are popular. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 5/1/94; Literary Guild main selection.]-Laura Cole, New Jersey
Library Journal
Just when we thought we had seen the last of the Taltos in The Witching Hour (LJ 10/15/90) and Lasher (Knopf, 1993), this third book in the Mayfair Witches series tells the story of Ash, a centuries-old Taltos who resides in New York City. The Taltos grow to a height of seven feet, carry an extra set of chromosomes, and have a superior intelligence that enables them to digest dictionaries and encyclopedias in moments. There is something rotten in the state of the Talamasca, an order of scholars who study the supernatural and keep records of the Mayfair witches. When one such scholar is murdered, Rowan Mayfair, the mother of the two late Taltos in Lasher, and husband Michael Curry investigate. Ash meets with them, shows them that he's harmless, and, like Lasher, has his own story to tell. Although this novel is a suspenseful and sometimes thought-provoking page-turner, it does not stand on its own; the first two books in the series must be read first. Recommended wherever Rice's books are popular. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 5/1/94; Literary Guild main selection.]-Laura Cole, New Jersey
BookList - Donna Seaman
Rice has now completed a trilogy that began with The Witching Hour (1990) and continued with Lasher. This saga, which could easily keep Rice busy for years to come, is about a race of giants, the Taltos, that grow to their full size within hours after their births. In this installment, Rice has lightened up a bit, leaving all the bloody eroticism of her earlier books for more inventive, less wrenching situations and more amusing and sympathetic characters. Rice fans will still find lots of faked arcane history, sex, hocus-pocus, conspiracy, and weirdness, but there's tenderness here, even thoughtful allegory, and a comprehensible plot. Unlike Lasher, this novel's Taltos is ancient and kindly. Calling himself Mr. Ash, he poses as a reclusive billionaire, an immensely tall and romantically handsome genius who mass-produces dolls and toys and lives chastely within the cocoon of great wealth. But Ash, actually Ashlar, is haunted by centuries-old memories of the brutal abuse of his race by humans. He wonders if he's the only survivor and barely acknowledges the faint hope of finding a female Taltos. Meanwhile, all kinds of violent events have taken place among the witchy Mayfairs of New Orleans. Rowan has survived Lasher's siege only to learn that her pretty but naughty, redheaded 13-year-old cousin Mona is pregnant with Rowan's husband's child. Ashlar and the Mayfair witches end up joining forces to thwart whoever is murdering their mutual friends, only to discover that Mona has a surprise for everyone. Rice's loyal disciples will be pleased.
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