Lasher (Lives of the Mayfair Witches, #2)
Lasher (Lives of the Mayfair Witches, #2)
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1993
Book Brief
Beta896
Novel • Fiction
•
Fantasy•
Horror & SuspenseNew Orleans and Houston, United States, present day.
1993
Arrow Books
Paperback • 2004
Adult
18+ years
Super Short Summary
Rowan Mayfair, leader of a powerful witch family, has vanished after bearing the demon spirit Lasher’s child. As Lasher preys on Mayfair women in hopes of reproducing, mysterious fatal hemorrhages throw the clan into crisis. Rowan’s husband Michael survives in a fog, while the family and the paranormal investigators of the Talamasca begin hunting for Rowan and Lasher.
Unnerving
Dark
Suspenseful
Fantastical
Challenging
Reviews & Readership
69,471 ratings
Loved it
Mixed feelings
Not a fan
Review Roundup
Reviewers divide sharply over Rice’s execution. Admirers call the novel fast-moving, addictive, beautifully dark, emotionally intense, and strengthened by multiple perspectives, vivid imagery, and continuity with its predecessor. They also praise its poetic language and ambitious religious metaphor. Critics find the narrative bloated and erratic: tension repeatedly dissolves into tangents, flashbacks, excessive description, and long stretches of undramatic exposition. Several reviewers are particularly troubled by the novel’s sexual material involving a child and its broader treatment of coercion and abuse.
Who Should Read Lasher (Lives of the Mayfair Witches, #2)?
Best for readers who have already read The Witching Hour and want an expansive continuation steeped in witchcraft, demonism, and Gothic melodrama. It may also suit those drawn to opulent prose, sprawling histories, and large casts more than tightly focused storytelling. Approach with caution if depictions of incest and family abuse are deal-breakers. Although newcomers receive substantial recap, this is explicitly a sequel, so beginning with the previous novel should make its returning family and ongoing conflict easier to follow.
69,471 ratings
Loved it
Mixed feelings
Not a fan
The Mayfair family’s missing matriarch, a physician who has disappeared after bearing Lasher and sending genetic samples from overseas.
Rowan’s husband, recovering after a violent Christmas Eve incident and receiving visions from the long-dead Mayfair witch Julien.
A highly powerful, intelligent thirteen-year-old Mayfair witch who becomes involved with Michael while Rowan is missing and the family faces upheaval.
A powerful, long-dead Mayfair patriarch who appears in visions, influencing Michael and interacting with the young witch Mona.
A Talamasca member living and working alongside the Mayfairs who learns that his secretive order may be withholding its actual plans.
Aaron Lightner’s mentee, who defies the Talamasca’s orders and joins Aaron in New Orleans to investigate the threat facing Rowan.
A genetic researcher examining files Rowan sent from overseas, whose findings draw him into the Mayfairs’ investigation of Lasher.
896
Novel • Fiction
•
Fantasy•
Horror & SuspenseNew Orleans and Houston, United States, present day.
1993
Arrow Books
Paperback • 2004
Adult
18+ years
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