“Make a note: Build a series of towers which have no function except to be parks in the sky for the people. Use all the beautiful marbles which you so love. Maybe he would do that this year. Very likely, he would do it.”
After more than 1,500 pages over the course of two books which feature extensive biographical information on countless members of the Mayfair family, this third entry in the trilogy about the Mayfair witches opens with an extensive introduction to a brand-new character. Not only is he not a member of the Mayfair family or a witch, he turns out to be a member of a prehistoric race of giants known as the Taltos. This, despite the first two books positing the idea that a character named Lasher was the only living example of this race of beings. The first penetration into the mind of Ash is the opening paragraphs when he is perched high in a penthouse above New York City and enjoying a spectacular view that he wishes others could enjoy. The fact that he makes a mental note to himself to act upon this benevolent inspiration is not surprising given that even thinking it means he is presenting himself to the rest of the world not as a Taltos, but another otherworldly species: billionaire businessman. The fact that he actually then seems to commit to the idea of acting upon the inspiration is very surprising considering that he presents himself to the world not as a Taltos, but as a billionaire businessman.
“Of course, you know that our circle became Stonehenge. Because it and many others of our sacred rings are standing even today. But let me explain what may be obvious only to scholars of Stonehenge. We did not build the whole thing that is there now, or is believed to have been there at one time…It was later peoples who built the circle of blue stones, and many other formations at Stonehenge. At one time, all of our beloved open-air temple was enclosed into some sort of wooden edifice by savage human tribes.”
After becoming involved in the ongoing story of the trilogy involving Rowan and Michael, establishing a deep friendship, and proving to not to be an evil billionaire just because he happens to be a Taltos, Ash settles in for the structural mainstay of a Rice novel, relating every detail of his backstory down to the most precise details. It is a backstory about the construction of a purpose for what came to be called Stonehenge. This was back when members of the Taltos roamed the tropical islands to the north of Britain with the bravery of hordes of buffalo on the American range before it became the land of the free. The key part of this particular recollection of Stonehenge comes at the end with the implications of the negative impact of the arrival of humans. The reason that the Taltos had to move their home is that the climate of tropical islands in the North Sea became too hot and so the search for more clement weather inevitably brought them into contact and then conflict with humans. The circle that became known as Stonehenge thus becomes a metaphor for the Taltos which became subject to change and alteration and assimilation as a result of not being able to get away from the savage tribes.
"What race can live with any other? What religion with any other? War is worldwide; and the wars are tribal, no matter what men say they are! They are tribal, and they are wars of extermination, whether it be the Arabs against the Kurds, or the Turks and the Europeans, or the Russian fighting the Oriental. It's never going to stop. People dream that it will, but it can't, as long as there are people.”
As indicated by the title, this final entry in the trilogy positions Ash Templeton as the central figure of interest. That is not to suggest that the characters upon whom the first two novels were constructed fade into the shadows, but the philosophical perspective of this narrative is one that sees the world primarily through the lens of its title character. And that means it is a philosophy steeped in the long history of one who had long considered himself to be the last living survivor of his race. A race that at one time ruled and which, if it could be resurrected, would rule again. Ash even goes on to suggest that if the Taltos were ever to return they could regain the peace they lost through a genocidal elimination of humanity. Then he pauses to admit that this is the belief of every tribe. With the introduction of Ash standing high above the city and looking down everything, the natural assumption is to jump to the conclusion that he will turn out to be villainous. Certainly, the information conveyed about his current living status situates him as an iconic representative of the successful businessman capable of only of thinking in the immediate present and seeing where profits lie rather than the long-term consequences capable of bringing an end to the very industry which earned them their billions. This quote is significant in illuminating that Ash is actually a Taltos who is merely adopting the person of CEO until it no longer suits his needs. Experience has brought him wisdom rather than bitterness and though what is being expressed here hardly qualifies as brilliant insight, the difference is that Ash is not merely paying lip service. He is rejecting not merely a theory about resurrecting his race, but the ability. He is not just accepting that war is here for as long as people are here, but rejecting genocide as the pathway to peace.
