Publisher: Penguin Books
Series: All Souls Trilogy, book 3
Format Read: ebook
Source: purchased by reviewer
Release Date: July 15,2014
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Blurb from goodreads:
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.
This was a great ending to a wonderful series. I will say that you need the first two books to understand this one, and to be honest, it had been so long since I'd read the first two that it took a bit of time to get acclimated to this one. Harkness created quite the complex world, and did an excellent job bringing an amazing number of threads together and tying up the loose ends.
Like the previous books, Book of Life mixes past and present, magic and science in a nice balance for a story that is thought provoking and entertaining. The main characters are Matthew and Diana, but the supporting cast are just as interesting and necessary to the revelations through out the story. They each contribute to the tale in a way that I couldn't imagine losing one, even though it can be a bit dizzying to keep track of them all. I would love to see short stories for some characters!
There are some series that leave me feeling as if the story is not entirely told, but not this one. Certainly, the characters continue on past the end, however, there's a satisfying contentment to this last book. Like I know their future will be mostly happy and drama free. It was a long wait for this last installment, but worth it.
Oh I know, it's this series I've wanted to read for a long time, patiently waited until it was all released (no cliffhanger, ha !) and spotted at my library, ain't life great ? Thanks for sharing, Bea :)
ReplyDeleteI love this series so much. It is my favourite series of all time. I just love it.
ReplyDeleteMegan @ http://readingawaythedays.blogspot.co.uk
Nice review!
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about wanting short stories (or even whole books) for some characters. I want more Gallowglass - and more Miriam and Chris. And I want to see more of Sophie and Nathan.
ReplyDeleteDarn, now you've made me want to re-read the whole series, and I don't have time!