The Book of Life: A Novel

Diana and Matthew have timewalked back to the present. I do miss Elizabethan England. Since the series was originally planned to be a trilogy, I felt good with how the book concluded.

Recommended for fans of the series.

Finally resolves most things. Not fully satisfactory, but still good.

2.5 stars. There was way too much trying to happen here, and I don't think many of the threads were successfully pulled together in the end. This was the only book in the series I've read, which was my mistake. I didn't realize this was a series until I was too far into the book to quit. I think the characters were really promising, and the lore is interesting, but the pacing and side quests were just nonsense.

I enjoyed the trilogy--there's not much to say or it's all spoilers. The trilogy is definitely more cerebral than adventurous. I did find the switching between 3rd and 1st person jarring.

Enjoyable, but a bit too long. And possessiveness gets tiresome... But Diana at least is formidable. I had the feeling there were some loose ends left. I had expected Diana to visit Philippe, for instance.

Some parts of this really dragged for me (hence why it took me 10 days to read it) but I loved the story as a whole.

In the final book of the All Souls Trilogy, Diana and Matthew have returned to the present where they must face down the Congregation who will enforce the law banning relationships between vampires and witches. They also must finally procure the Ashmole 782 manuscript, which may hold the answers about Matthew and Diana's soon to be born twins. At the same time, one of Matthew's vampire children threatens to destroy everything they hold dear.

A really solid conclusion to the trilogy. While I remain not at all interested in Diana and Matthew's romance (Team Gallowglass!), the plot and world Harkness has created continue to be fascinating. Watching everything come together for the series' conclusion was satisfying and I really enjoyed the read.

Rating: Reflects my rating of the entire series as does the following review.

Disclaimer: I am currently going through a phase where I find the traditional path the media thinks most women follow in their twenties to be greatly annoying. Such an opinion thoroughly taints my interpretation of Diana's actions in the All Souls Trilogy.

Review: The first time I started reading A Discovery of Witches, it had just come out in paperback. I’d been intrigued by the title for some time, but the synopsis sounded vaguely Twilight-y and that I did not like. I started reading it, and my prejudices got the better of me and I quit after 30 pages. Almost a year later, I started it because I heard there would be a second one that involved time travel to Elizabethan England and Queen Elizabeth I has been my habitual woman crush Wednesday since I was 10 so sign me up! I read A Discovery of Witches solely so I could read Shadow of Night and have it make sense. I’m glad I approached it this way as it allowed me to make it through A Discovery of Witches, and enjoy it, because I was so looking forward to Diana and Matthew’s Elizabethan adventure in both London and on the continent (particularly Prague).

Diana thoroughly intrigued me and her attraction to Matthew just felt like every young woman going through a “bad boy phase.” I didn’t expect it to last, or to take over her entire life, but of course, it did. This was strike one. I’m all for an opposites-attract, star-crossed lovers romantic subplot but I like it when it is just that: a subplot. While traipsing about Renaissance Europe in Shadow of Night, Matthew and Diana are married by Matthew’s father (who is deceased in the present). The marriage was bound to happen, it happens in all books with a protagonist in her late twenties/early thirties. However, while the books were spaced out over the course of a year and a half, in the land of The All Souls Trilogy it’s been a few months. Immediate red flag, strike two. Our sharp and quippy Diana becomes an insipid and annoying newlywed who just wants babies. Or maybe she doesn’t and I’m projecting my annoyance at the fact that this attitude has thoroughly consumed my peers, onto innocent Diana. Point being, I’m so sick and tired of every woman’s story ending the same way: marriage, babies, now my life completely revolves around marriage and babies and I can’t seem to remember the fact that I was an awesome individual before my life became defined by my partner and offspring.

Yes, Diana becomes a kick ass witch, yes she thoroughly lays waste to all the big baddies in her way, yes she still is witty. But why couldn’t she have done all that without having to marry and have babies? Why did that have to become her new purpose in life? Why couldn’t she remain an academic? Why was she so okay with giving up her entire life to follow Matthew? And he may claim it’s all for her and the book, The Book of Life, but is it really? He’s controlling and manipulative and has an incurable RAGE disease! He warns Diana that he’s basically unstable and unsafe and does she listen? No. Does any female protagonist when faced with a hot vampire ever turn and run? No. Because that’s not the story line every woman my age supposedly wants to read.

I guess this is why I don’t read books like 50 Shades of Grey and Twilight. I’m just so annoyed and disenchanted with the protagonist and for me, if I can’t identify with them, there’s no way I’ll love the book.

Like the first two in this trilogy, I thought it was just okay.

Pretty riveting climax. My imagination ran wild!

This trilogy is a funny thing. When I read the first book, I wasn't that into it. The story was all over the place, there were so many plot lines, and it seemed like things were left unresolved. Like, really unresolved, not trilogy unresolved. Then the second book came along, and it was a completely different story. Now, instead of talking about history, we were in history. The second book had similar issues to the first one (wandering story, weird side plots), but I was so drawn in to the historical accuracy of the world that I was there.

Well, this third book has well and truly just forced me to shut up, get over myself, and just enjoy it. I like it. I like the romance and the drama and the fact that the story wanders all over the map. I like that it has gone from paranormal romance to historical fiction to historical fantasy to all-out, magical phantasmagoria. So, at this point, I don't really care about the story's technical problems. The characters feel real, the settings feel real, and the world that Harkness creates feels real. Who am I to ask for more?

This was a beautiful book. Very engaging.

Ugh -- glad to finally finish plowing through...Ok, probably my own fault for not re-reading #2, but keeping up and catching up with all the characters was exhausting, not to mention trying to make sense of all the vampire protocol (sire vs. father and all the tangled "family" connections) AND all the DNA mumbo jumbo. And where was her editor? the jump around from place to place and third person narrrator to first without warning made this book seem hurried (to publish) and amateurish compared to the first 2. But my biggest complaint was how contrived the plot was. Of course the villain shows up just when things seem peachy (cue the evil music) and continues to pop up when the characters least expect it, and the reader most. If it weren't the last in a trilogy, I would have added this to my "bailed" list. But the ending is less than satisfying and almost begs for #4,(which I won't read)

The third book in the All Souls Trilogy is by far the most entertaining—full of humor and intrigue. Matthew and Diana, who is now pregnant with twins, time-walk back to present-day Step-Tours where tragedy awaits. But that's just the beginning. As the search for the Book of Life and a cure of the vampire's blood rage ramps up, a brilliant scientist named Chris Roberts, an old friend and colleague of Diana's, turns up and offers his help. Chris's lab is full of scientific advancements. I almost felt like I needed to take a molecular biology class to keep up. Then, when Matthew leaves on a quest to form a new scion, the loyal Gallowglass is left to protect Diana. I love Gallowglass. He's such a hunk—he can carry my books anytime. And it's so cute how he calls Diana Auntie, even though he's hopelessly in love with her. The action is non-stop as the babies are born, the Congregation is dealt with, and the monster, Benjamin Fox, if finally subdued. In the end, the discovery that all creatures are a mix—some even part human—is something that relates to modern times where, even now, tensions over racial inequality runs high.

I was sorry to read the last page but will take away many things from the All Souls Trilogy. Amount them, a higher respect for ancient history, old books and manuscripts, and the study of science. But since the books are primarily an epic love story between the vampire, Matthew de Clermont, and the witch, Diana Bishop, I will also consider the notion that love—no matter how dangerous and difficult to obtain—is always worth the struggle.

Finally did my reread of the first and second books so I could read the final one. Such an amazing story! Dense, yes -- but so, so worth it.

I really enjoyed this series, though it is not for children: gruesome violence and sexual overtones, It is one of my first breakouts from YA. It is slower than most, and honestly, in some parts, really really slow, you have to press on to get to the exciting demonic and freaky witches and vampire parts. The historical aspects of the story are none to be compared to. Mrs. Harkness truly takes you on a ride packed with sex, intertwined stories, historical accounts and how witches and vampires played their part in society, all the way up to contemporary today.
My Brother in law recommended this book to me and I fell in love with it instantly!

I found the first half of the book a bit slow, then it picked up and I had to finish it all in 1 night. I really enjoyed all the characters and the family dynamics.

BOTTOM-LINE:
An action-packed but not completely satisfying ending
.
PLOT OR PREMISE:
After falling in love (book 1), and hiding in the past (book 2), Diana and Matthew return to the present to start a family and figure out what is in the Book of Life.
.
WHAT I LIKED:
This third book recaptures some of the mystery from the first book and tackles head-on the issue of the lineage of demons, vampires and witches. Gone are the long, loving descriptions of places, and instead, there are multiple action scenes, broad moving parts across multiple continents, confrontations with the Congregation, and a reckoning for some wayward players. More importantly, you get to see Matthew and Diana weave all of it into a family. It even rectifies one of the glaring gaps from book 2 regarding a young boy named Jack.
.
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
The true villain of the trilogy is revealed as is a hidden hero. But while the villain is vanquished, the hidden hero who is around for most of book 2 and is revealed in book 3 ends up disappearing near the end. It left a feeling of incompleteness, as did two other villains who are not really dealt with at all, except politically.
.
DISCLOSURE:
I received no compensation, not even a free copy, in exchange for this review. I am not personal friends with the author, nor do I follow her on social media.

Really frivolous ending, but yet I wanted more depth, more information, less blah blah blah.

I liked it but got left with a few details like, why was the book of life made in the 1st place? And I think I'll have to re-read it to understand why the races were seperated?

Icing on the cake with this reread was the author visit with Deborah Harkness at a local bookstore.

While I firmly believe that this would be a VERY different story if it was only the two main characters I always enjoy my time in the All Souls universe. And this visit did not disappoint.

This was an excellent third volume for the trilogy. Very satisfying. Some serious angst for the main characters but in the end, the evil people (most of them) got what was coming to them. There were a couple of characters who I wished had more grief. No regrets about purchasing the book. I may want to reread in the future, it was that good.

Somewhat disappointed in this final edition of the All Soul's Trilogy. For whatever reason, I found Diana very annoying in this one, and the love triangle thing at end was rather ridiculous. I think I have to go back and read all three together. That will probably change my mind....

A rich and satisfying conclusion to the "All Souls Trilogy".

Harkness has woven a rich and complex world here, which occasionally is in danger of collapsing under its own weight, and all three books should probably be read fairly close together. As with most trilogies, the center volume "Shadow of Night" is the weakest of the three.

The titular Book, which more or less set the whole thing in motion, carries an appropriately large portion of the action, as Diana attempts to locate missing portions and restore them to the original volume, which then sets off an action totally unexpected (and, so far as I know, original in the annals of vampires, witches, and assorted supernatural critters).

Taking on this trilogy is not a casual task -- it's going to weigh in at over 1500 pages, but it pays off bigtime.

I read the first two books in 2013, and either my tastes have changed a whole lot since, or this book was just not as good as the other two. The book was way too long, there was so much annoying superfluous detail, and major issues turned out to be no big deal, while the main villain came out of nowhere. Diana and Matthew even annoyed me with all of their perfection. Not sorry I finished, but glad it's over.

In some parts I found this book less satisfactory than the first two -- It did pick up again at the ending!! I really would love to see the Gallowglass "history" book.

I am not a fan of vampires and zombies and witches, so reading this series was quite a departure for me. I liked the heroine in the first book, her independence and scholarship, but that independent spirit was eaten away and this, the climax of the series, struck me as predictable and not very interesting. Plus, too many words - far, far too many words. Lots of plot angles and switchbacks and tricksy maneuvers to keep things interesting. Nah.

It took me a while to get back into the series, but about a third of the way into this third instalment, I was completely engrossed in the story. Great ending to the series!

Great end to the trilogy.

I absolutely adore this book and the trilogy as a whole. It has all the elements that I love so much in a good novel - magic, history (and well-known historical figures), a tad bit of time travel that's actually done well (I'm looking at you Time Traveler's Wife!!), a bit of a romantic entanglement, and a protagonist that is a strong, independent, intelligent woman. I highly recommend this trilogy to anyone who loves those sorts of elements. It's a favorite!