Title: The Book of Life
Author: Deborah Harkness
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Headline
Published: July 15th 2014
Page Number: 592
Summary:
After traveling through time in Shadow of Night, the second book in Deborah Harkness’s enchanting series, historian and witch Diana Bishop and vampire scientist Matthew Clairmont return to the present to face new crises and old enemies. At Matthew’s ancestral home at Sept-Tours, they reunite with the cast of characters from A Discovery of Witches—with one significant exception. But the real threat to their future has yet to be revealed, and when it is, the search for Ashmole 782 and its missing pages takes on even more urgency. In the trilogy’s final volume, Harkness deepens her themes of power and passion, family and caring, past deeds and their present consequences. In ancestral homes and university laboratories, using ancient knowledge and modern science, from the hills of the Auvergne to the palaces of Venice and beyond, the couple at last learn what the witches discovered so many centuries ago.
I met Deborah:
The lovely, Caitlin from Headline Publicity was nice enough to invite me to attend the Publication event for The Book of Life. It was on the 4th July. I had such a great time at the even. I fangirled with other bloggers about the book and we all got a bit tipsy (Some didn't.) Then we had a Q&A with Deborah where she answered some great questions and to end the night there was a raffle with some awesome prizes. Everyone that attended took home a Glamour gift bag and a signed copy of The Book of Life.
Review:
I must say this is going to be one of the hardest reviews to write, because this is the conclusion to the trilogy. However, there will be spoilers in the spoilers section.
Now if anyone knows me, A Discovery of Witches, which is the first book in this trilogy is one of my all time favourite books. This is one of my all time favourite series. It's addictive. However, this one wasn't my favourite of all three books. And that's why my star rating is undecided because I can't decide between a 4 Stars or a 5 Stars.
Like always, I loved most things about this book. The characters are some of my favourite and there was also some characters who appeared and shocked me. It gave me nostalgia feelings, like I was meeting them all over again. Which I kind of was, only they were older. Diana and Mathew are so perfect for each other, but I wanted a bit more Marcus and Phoebe in this book. We got a little, but not enough.
As a conclusion, I thought it was done very well. Not every trilogy can end as good as this one. Look at The Hunger Games, that ending was a hot mess. However, Deborah really gave the readers what they wanted and I feel like I can place it away and feel happy with it. But I still want something more from this series. It can't end just yet. I'd like some novellas or something in other characters POV's. Talking about POV's those were very annoying in this book. It constantly changed and I got confused who I was actually reading from until a two of three pages of their POV starting.
Another thing I didn't like about this book was the action. Some of the fighting scenes were great and kept my attention. Not all of them did. Especially the last action scene. I kind of got bored with it and felt like Deborah killed specific people off, just because.....
However, I still loved it.
