Reviews

Lasher by Anne Rice

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2.5 ⭐️
Deciding to read the entire Immortal Universe series in publication order is the closest thing to making a true Faustian bargain that exists in this world. You get to read some stunning works of gothic literature, but then you also have to read stuff like Lasher. The first half of this book was extremely disturbing and violent, and the second half was just pure nonsense. The main character, Rowan Mayfair, was hardly in this book in favor of Mona Mayfair, who is an absolute abomination of a character. Unfortunately for me, I’m too invested in the world itself, especially the through plot with the Talamasca that carries between the 3 separate branches of this series, to quit now.

thisandthatwithkaren's review

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5.0

Lasher is the sequel to The Witching Hour, Anne Rice’s grand tale of the Mayfair family. It is both “Seductive magic…Spellbinding” (San Francisco Chronicle) and “Compelling…Wickedly irresistible” (The Washington Post.)

The witching Hour was the first book I ever read of Anne Rice and I totally loved it, but this one did not immediately grab me, but I did soon fall under its spell and could not put it down. The book is full of vivid characters (Lasher, Julien along with Emaleth and Mona).

Lasher gets in to the religious wars in ancient Europe between Pagans, Little People and races of non-human beings, Catholics and Protestants. We travel around the world from the West Indies, to New Orleans, California, New York, and on to Scotland, Ireland and Amsterdam.

This is a chilling, terrifying and at times erotic tale of the lust for revenge, power, and above all - love.

I highly recommend this trilogy!

etana_80's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

novelesque_life's review against another edition

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1.0

1 STARS

"The Talamasca, documenters of paranormal activity, is on the hunt for the newly born Lasher. Mayfair women are dying from hemorrhages and a strange genetic anomaly has been found in Rowan and Michael. Lasher, born from Rowan, is another species altogether and now in the corporeal body, represents an incalcuable threat to the Mayfairs. Rowan and Lasher travel together to Houston and she becomes pregnant with another creature like him, a Taltos. Lasher seeks to reproduce his race in other women, but they cannot withstand it. Rowan escapes and becomes comatose as her fully-grown Taltos daughter is born. The Mayfairs declare all-out war on Lasher and try to nurse Rowan back to heatlth.

Michael remains entwined in the Mayfair family and learns how he comes by his strange powers. Michael's ghostly visiting from a long-dead Mayfair reveals the importance of destroying Lasher. In the investigation, Lasher's origins are revealed, the new Taltos Emaleth returns, and the climax of death and life engulfs the family." (From Amazon)

Yep, despite not liking the first novel I read the 2nd in hopes it gets better...alas it does not.

erinmcd87's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

cjblandford's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

This book is not for the faint of heart. There is so much questionable content here, which is really just a continuation from the first book, but at least we have answers now as to why the incest and the pedophilia was normalized. Anne Rice, you had one messed up mind. I mean, just look at my content warnings, lol.

Content Warnings

rebeccatc's review against another edition

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4.0

A good follow-up to The Witching Hour. The book was suspenseful and at times horrifying. Lasher was somewhat less frightening once he was in physical form, but once you find out what he's trying to do it's pretty scary. I liked the continued role of the Mayfair clan and the development of new characters. I noticed one of Anne Rice's continuing themes appearing in this book: whether certain creatures are born evil, or if they choose to be evil by their actions.