Lasher (Lives of Mayfair Witches, #2)

by Anne Rice

[jesstheaudiobookworm]

3.75★ Audiobook⎮ This series is so weird, but I can't deny that I'm into it. That's the scary part- I'm in too deep and there's no going back. I can't tell you the number of times I thought "This is so f---ed up". I even said it out loud a few times. And it truly is. Parts of it made me really uncomfortable, especially the pedophilia. It's a Lolita type situation. But like, why? Why is that even necessary? I would love to hear Anne Rice's explanation of that. I know she's given a lot of interviews, but I wonder if any of them touch on that situation, specifically.

And yet, here I am, about to start the third book. The funny thing is, until I finished it, I thought Lasher was the final book. It felt final and I was okay with that. Relieved, actually. I can't remember the last time I was relieved at the thought of finishing a series. And when I discovered that there was a third installment, I felt both excitement and trepidation. I'm telling you, this series does weird things to your mind.

Lasher wasn't nearly as good as The Witching Hour. It started off okay, though. I heard about 25 hours straight (over a few days) until it got to the part where Lasher tells his tale. You wouldn't think it, since his origins are at the heart of the mystery, but Lasher's origin story nearly bored me to death. It went on and on and on and on and it wasn't a particularly interesting. Only the last bit seemed relevant.

That's when I decided to take a break from Lasher for a while. I put it down for several months before committing to finishing it. I pushed through the rest of Lasher's story and the narrative finally came back to the present. That's when I started enjoying it again. After that, I was easily able to speed right to the end of book.

As I said, the ending felt very final. Things seemed to tie up nicely, with almost a "happily ever after". And from the few reviews of the third book that I've scanned, I'll probably end up wishing that I had stopped at the end of this book. But, I feel compelled to finish the trilogy/series. I'm not really sure if it's a true trilogy. After the third book, the series seems to merge with another of Rice's series. I was looking forward to beginning The Mummy after this, because I've recently seen that movie, but it looks like The Mummy will have to wait until after I complete Taltos. Only time will tell if I decide to dive into The Vampire Chronicles.

Narration review: I want Kate Reading to read me to sleep each night. She has one of my favorite voices. And the things she can do with it! I've heard for narrate several different titles from different authors at this point, but this series is my favorite from her. I feel like she goes just a little bit further with it than with the others. The characterization she provides is magical. I seriously doubt I would be this captivated by the series if she weren't reading it. Even if you've already read this series in book form, I still recommend picking it up on audio to see what you've been missing. It's an entirely different experience thanks to Kate Reading. ♣︎