Taltos is the third of three novels in acclaimed author Anne Rice's Lives of the Mayfair Witches trilogy. Published in 1993, the novel is a continuation of the story and themes of The Witching Hour, which was the first novel in the series, and Lasher, the second novel in the series.
Rice, of course, is best known for her hit novel Interview with a Vampire, which was published in 1976 and was made into a hugely successful film in 1994 starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. That novel made her an immensely popular author in the horror/fantasy genre, perhaps rivaling only horror maestro Stephen King. Because of the success of Interview with a Vampire, Rice wrote mainly about vampires. The Witching Hour, Lasher, and Taltos represent her first forays into witches.
Taltos once again follows Dr. Rowan Mayfair, who at the end of the second novel was forced to kill the child she made with Lasher. After that incident, Dr. Mayfair had been reduced to a catatonic state, which she quickly exits at the start of Taltos as a result of Aaron Mayfair's murder.
Dr. Mayfair and her husband, Michael, travel to London to meet up with a man who claims to be the last remaining Taltos on Earth - Ashlar. Ashlar is a billionaire from his family's toy venture and has vast resources. Ashlar, Dr. Mayfair, and Michael become determined to figure out who killed Aaron. They settle on the name of two men: Anton Marcus and Stuart Gordon. Chaos ensues, but the group kills Stuart, avenging Aaron's death and making them feel as good as they could given the circumstances.
Fundamentally, Taltos was written to entertain readers and titillate readers' senses. And though the novel is thematically rich, it is not an academic novel. Speaking about the ethos of how she writes her novels, Anne Rice said that "Pedestrian, realistic novelists can get bitter and angry that they are outsold by the entertainers [or authors]."
Religion played a massive part in Rice's life. Until she was 18, Rice was devoutly religious thanks mostly to her mother, who imposed her harsh and sometimes nonsensical beliefs on her family. But Rice eventually went away from religion and the Catholic church, which she felt was oppressive. Later in her life, however, Rice once again found God and religion, and much of her later work (including Taltos) shows it.
