"Taltos" by Anne Rice

Final part of the trilogy about Mayfair witches, "Taltos" kills off some old characters and introduces several new ones, including the oldest and the most powerful demon so far - as always, we get life stories told in flashbacks, lots of cruelty, murders, rape, incest, infanticide and so on but my impression is that this time around Rice treats them all with just a bit more of gentleness and affection. The story is still dark and could best be described as supernatural thriller but authoress obviously cares for her characters and tries to soften up the blows that ended previous volume so brutally. "Lasher" was exciting read but it did end up in lots of blood that was perhaps not necessary as we were never truly convinced that bad guys were really bad - once you know them and understand their motives, they were just a lonely outcasts, more like some kind of Frankenstein. Here, being demon is not really bad enough - as Rice explains, it is not necessary a bad thing in itself because perhaps its simply another race, older than humans, in fact humans might be far more cruel and dangerous and she makes a point by explaining our shared history that goes far before Stonehenge. 

The whole focus of this novel - besides obvious thriller plot - is the difference between them and us, something that Rice has explored previously in her famous Vampire novels. She toys with the idea of good humans and evil demons, just to switch the roles and point how humans can be immensely more sadistic for the sheer thrill of it. Because the previous novel had such a nasty ending, Rice shows more care for her demons this time around and now they are more to be pitied than feared, after all they are lonely survivors and very much alone of their race in the whole world. This sudden change of perspective kind of confused me a bit, as previously we were led into thinking that Lasher was dangerous and evil, now we understand that he actually was not completely alone and could have friends (or wife) if he only knew, from his own kin. I mulled it all over in my head after the last page and thought how Lasher didn't have to spend centuries obsessively hovering above Mayfair family, because unknown to him, there were other similar demons around the world who could be his company and help him get the human body. Where previously he was dangerous and scary, now he seems just lonely and desperate - although Lasher does not even show up in this volume, his memory still lingers on trough character of far more powerful Taltos who is lonely monster himself. This time Rice does not brutally kills the monster but out of compassion gives him a girlfriend, a willing bride to her Frankenstein.

Another interesting thing is how Rice smoothly and craftily breezes over potentially explosive subject of underage sex and teenage pregnancy: her young witch Mona is not exactly a nymphomaniac (more a wild, untamed young thing, focused on sexual adventures and seduction) but hellbent on conquering every man in her sight (from young boys to eighty year old cousins) and when she eventually gets pregnant, the whole Mayfair family behave like its the most natural thing in the world that thirteen year old girl have sex (with some unknown person) and will give a birth to a baby. Rice is too busy with description of Mona's physical beauty and sex appeal to even stop and think for a moment about that child bearing a child - probably nothing unusual in terms if human history and what used to happen trough centuries, but I never was convinced that it doesn't matter. Mona's story eventually turns into Rosemary's baby but this time around Rowan and Michael are powerless to destroy it (unlike in previous novel, for which I never forgave them).