Taltos (1994) by Anne Rice is the third installment in The Lives of the Mayfair Witches trilogy, intertwining gothic horror with supernatural intrigue. The novel expands the saga’s mythology by introducing Ashlar, a mysterious, ancient Taltos—a towering, near-immortal being with ties to both the Mayfair family and the secretive Talamasca order. When Rowan Mayfair gives birth to a Taltos child, triggering a chain of violence and revelation, the narrative shifts between modern New York and the Celtic past, unraveling the origins of the Taltos and their bloody history with witches.
Rice’s lush, sensual prose delves into themes of creation, extinction, and the moral ambiguities of power, though some fans find the pacing uneven compared to The Witching Hour.
A divisive but pivotal chapter in Rice’s occult universe, Taltos blends mythic grandeur with operatic tragedy.
