I finished my Merrick re-read yesterday!

I started with the idea of reading again the crossover books now that I have finally read the Mayfair Witches whole saga, so this is my thoghts on revisiting this book:

- This book should not have been a Vampire Chronicles book. It should have been a Mayfair Witches book, about the black Mayfairs and the alternate branches of the Mayfair family. It would have been a much better book imo because there’s so much story not told there?

- Like I found quite amazing how many powerful witches in the same generations we have here. It’s not the norm with the main Mayfair family, but it seems to be here. Merrick is a remarkable powerful witch; her mother Sandra and her sister Honey seems to have been powerful witches as well. Great Nannane was feared because of her powerful she was, and Oncle Vervain as well.

- Oncle Vervain takes me to another point; this branch of the Mayfair family seems to have powerful male witches all around. In the main branch, the only notorious male witch is Julien Mayfair; but here, Oncle Vervain is presented as a real powerhouse. His father and grandfather appears to have been powerful witches as well, and I found this bit so interesting.

- Other interesting thing I wish we had learned more is the relationship between Merrick and her sister, Honey in the Sunshine. The Vampire Chronicles don’t have a lot of sibling relationships, especially between two sisters (with the exception of the Twins, i think), so this one caught my attention. Some mutual envy and antagonism, but a powerful connection as well. Honey always haunting Merrick, Merrick making the murderer of her sister and mother go mad and kill himself in revenge… her methods here actually reminded me a lot of when Lasher made Lionel kill himself for the murder of Stella.

- You know, I don’t hate David Talbot with the passion that most Vampire Chronicles fans do, but he is such a boring narrator, it drags the book down several times. It was worst in my first time reading, but even now I knew what to expect, it is still bad. I do think he cares deeply for both Louis and Merrick and his love is genuine, but he’s also kinda of the worst. He’s very condescending both to Merrick and Louis and he’s so oblivious to so many things it becomes annoying. Tho it is fun to see Merrick getting the better of him again and again and again

- I love the Claudia bits in this book very very much, especially her diary. I do believe the spirit that appeared was Claudia; I think it was coherent to what we know of her. I love the bits in her diary where she talks about loving and hating both Louis and Lestat in equal measures, but wanting to drag them to the level of misery that is her constant company. And she knowing that she could not get Lestat to be conivent in a plan to murder Louis, but that Louis could be convinced, even if it would kill his soul even further… I bet it hurt Louis a lot to read that.

- I’m sorry I can’t take the ~love story~ between Merrick and Louis seriously, spell or not spell. Even before the show, I guess it was always my headcanon that Louis is gay. That part where she says he has three big loves, one being Lestat, the other Claudia, and he blushes without saying the last one… lmao. Anyways in my head it is Armand.

- Love the part that Lestat comes back all Deus ex machina to save the day and Louis’ life. The book being narrated by David is a tragedy since we can’t hear Lestat and Louis’ thoughts, but Lestat love for Louis being so powerful to drag him back from his coma by shee force of will is a lot.

- I like Merrick Mayfair. A lot. I think she’s amazing. I hate the ending that Anne choose to her in Blackwood Farm so, so much. If the show includes her, I hope she’s given a different ending.

- I think it’s such a shame that the Talamasca x Vampire feud teased in the end of this book never came to anything. Come on it would have been such an interesting plot! (Or not since you know, Anne was known to drop storylines at a whim but. Still.)

I kept forgetting to make a post about it, but I finished the novel Taltos - and therefore The Lives of the Mayfair Witches series - last week.

I’ve been meaning to post it, so, full comment under the cut for spoilers for this book and for the whole series.

Keep reading

According to google books I’ve read about 27% of the novel Taltos so far, so here are some thoughts so far. I’ll put it under a cut, since there’s spoilers for the whole series by now.

Keep reading

I deleted my previous post because I wanted to put it all under a single review post lmao

So! I finished the novel Lasher, second novel of the The Lives of the Mayfair Witches saga. The ending was underwhelming but overall I liked it better than I thought I would

Full spoilers for the book under the cut, and mentions of rape

Keep reading

I have to say that one of my favorite moments of the novel Lasher so far is Julien inviting Lasher to possess him as some sort of bargain chip.

You know, like it’s no big deal.

He gives such a strong opening to Lasher, too. He dreads it and thinks it’s gonna suck big time but he also makes the offer in the sluttiest possible way to entice Lasher, like:

And Lasher is soooo wary of him that Julien has to keep laying thick on it

Also big fan of how Lasher’s notions of gender are so backwards even for a man born in 1828

And him going like “You suck so much and this is gonna be awful but you can always make me come so hard I go blind like usual”? Big fan as well

v-e-l-v-e-t-g-o-l-d-m-i-n-e:

One of the things Anne Rice was very good at was when she introduced a character in a book who was seen in a certain manner, only to introduce their POV in a later book that would either turn the previous characterization in its head or would give it more depth (or maybe both).

The most famous case is, of course, Lestat, and also Armand, I would say. These are the best ones, and the ones most talked about.

I wasn’t expecting this in the books about the Mayfairs but it was a nice surprise to see she did it with Julien. We only knew him by the Talamasca archive and outside sources, so it was very entertaining to read him narrate his life.

It added more depth to him, even if I think he mostly downplayed his most monstrous acts (with the exception of Katherine’s rape, this was truly atrocious and even more so in his own words) but it was ver interesting to see how he saw himself.

I liked to read that he and Lasher had a more tense relationship since Julien had the (rightful) suspicion that if Lasher ever realized his desire of being flesh it would be his family’s ruin. But tbh I don’t believe Julien when he says he never loved Lasher. I think he didn’t want to love him since he knew how dangerous he was, but I don’t think he could help it. Lasher was his lifelong companion, lover, confident, a being who could read his thoughts and that gave Julien everything he wanted, and even if he downplayed it in his own narrative, in the Talamasca file it was clear the had a lot of fun together.

And also, Lasher is the kind of being who enjoys being adored by his witches, so if fear and hatred where the only things he got from him I don’t think Lasher would have let him live such a long, fullfiling and happy life and I don’t think he would have remained so close until the end if this were the case.

Adding to the point of Julien minimizing his bad deeds, I love how he goes “I was a little drunk with power” when he started to give names of people for Lasher to kill because like,

This is sooo petty, this is a Hannibal-like kind of pettiness in reasons to commit murder

One of the things Anne Rice was very good at was when she introduced a character in a book who was seen in a certain manner, only to introduce their POV in a later book that would either turn the previous characterization in its head or would give it more depth (or maybe both).

The most famous case is, of course, Lestat, and also Armand, I would say. These are the best ones, and the ones most talked about.

I wasn’t expecting this in the books about the Mayfairs but it was a nice surprise to see she did it with Julien. We only knew him by the Talamasca archive and outside sources, so it was very entertaining to read him narrate his life.

It added more depth to him, even if I think he mostly downplayed his most monstrous acts (with the exception of Katherine’s rape, this was truly atrocious and even more so in his own words) but it was ver interesting to see how he saw himself.

I liked to read that he and Lasher had a more tense relationship since Julien had the (rightful) suspicion that if Lasher ever realized his desire of being flesh it would be his family’s ruin. But tbh I don’t believe Julien when he says he never loved Lasher. I think he didn’t want to love him since he knew how dangerous he was, but I don’t think he could help it. Lasher was his lifelong companion, lover, confident, a being who could read his thoughts and that gave Julien everything he wanted, and even if he downplayed it in his own narrative, in the Talamasca file it was clear the had a lot of fun together.

And also, Lasher is the kind of being who enjoys being adored by his witches, so if fear and hatred where the only things he got from him I don’t think Lasher would have let him live such a long, fullfiling and happy life and I don’t think he would have remained so close until the end if this were the case.

v-e-l-v-e-t-g-o-l-d-m-i-n-e:

I’ve been thinking about Cortland today (in the books tho I guess this maybe could apply for the show maybe) but, was Cortland envious of the relationship his father Julien shared with Lasher?

From Julien’s pov, my understanding is that he didn’t want his children from his legitimate marriage to get involved with the witchy bussiness, even sending them to study far away. Yet Cortland was very involved, to the point he was the one stealing bones from coffins to make the cursed Mayfair dolls, and the one who went around poisoning people to protect the secret of the family, which tells me these things were very important to him. I wonder even who told him about those things, Mary Beth or Julien, but i’m more inclined to think it was Mary Beth.

But my point is, all the Mayfair witches from all generation were women, with the exception of Julien, the only man Lasher ever showed his favor, and Cortland was his son, splitting image of him, but Lasher never showed him any care.

I mean, if Julien wanted someone dead, all he had to do was whisper the name and Lasher would do it. Cortland had to go through all that trouble of poisoning people. And even dying, bedridden in his last days, Julien’s lover claimed he saw Lasher and Julien having sex. In his last days, Lasher threw Cortland down the stairs and hit his head. The difference is very notable lmao maybe it did stung that even after years protecting the legacy he was never shown any special favor.

Forgot to post this one part yesterday:

That settles it, then, it was definitely Mary Beth the one who taught Cortland about the witchy stuff. Also, Julien really saw his children with some very intense rose-tinted glasses lmao

it’s actually a crime that neither the Interview with the Vampire show or the Mayfair Witches show is going to give me a scene of Julien Mayfair (plus Lasher) and his legion of lovers crossing paths with Lestat and Louis in Storyville tbh

I’ve been thinking about Cortland today (in the books tho I guess this maybe could apply for the show maybe) but, was Cortland envious of the relationship his father Julien shared with Lasher?

From Julien’s pov, my understanding is that he didn’t want his children from his legitimate marriage to get involved with the witchy bussiness, even sending them to study far away. Yet Cortland was very involved, to the point he was the one stealing bones from coffins to make the cursed Mayfair dolls, and the one who went around poisoning people to protect the secret of the family, which tells me these things were very important to him. I wonder even who told him about those things, Mary Beth or Julien, but i’m more inclined to think it was Mary Beth.

But my point is, all the Mayfair witches from all generation were women, with the exception of Julien, the only man Lasher ever showed his favor, and Cortland was his son, splitting image of him, but Lasher never showed him any care.

I mean, if Julien wanted someone dead, all he had to do was whisper the name and Lasher would do it. Cortland had to go through all that trouble of poisoning people. And even dying, bedridden in his last days, Julien’s lover claimed he saw Lasher and Julien having sex. In his last days, Lasher threw Cortland down the stairs and hit his head. The difference is very notable lmao maybe it did stung that even after years protecting the legacy he was never shown any special favor.