The Book of Life: All Souls, Book 3

Slightly pretentious Twilight-spawn, actually, as if all of this highbrow attention to history and science and art could obscure the fact that we're still talking about two stories where an obscenely wealthy and dangerous old vamp falls in love with a mousy, not-very interesting human and their love is obsessive and forbidden, and over the course of the series Mousy Girl gets her groove back and becomes Queen of the Mary Sues, and when the couples breed the Powers That Be are disgusted and afraid of the unknown dangers that these rare forbidden vampire-hybrid babies represent, and vow to wipe out the whole Cullen/de Clermont clan.That said, there's a reason Twilight made Stephanie Meyer rich, and there's a reason all of these books are bestsellers. Mock all you want, with good reason (and even Harkness mocks, when her vampires haughtily insist they don't sparkle), but the fact is, these books are entertaining. Twilight lets you shut off your brain and get carried away in the fantasy of forbidden attraction; All Souls takes you on the same journey without shutting off your brain.I read A Discovery of Witches in February 2011, with no idea it was the start of a trilogy, and when I got to the cliffhanger ending, I was so gobsmacked it took me several days before I could sleep again. When Shadow of Night came out in 2012, I got an ARC copy and took a week's vacation so I could savor it properly. But since then, I've moved house, had a second baby, weathered a lot of changes at work, and I'm generally a lot busier, and so when the long-awaited final book in the All Souls Trilogy showed up on my Kindle, while I was excited to see it, I didn't have time to drop everything and devour it. Moreover, I didn't have time to re-read the first two books to refresh my memory, which in retrospect would have been very helpful. Consequently, I spent the first quarter of The Book of Life catching up on vaguely remembered details from the complicated world Harkness developed in the previous books.The Book of Life picks up more or less where Shadow of Night leaves off: time-traveling supernatural power couple Diana Bishop (a witch) and Matthew Clairmont (a vampire) have returned to the present day from 1590, where Diana was learning how to use her rare spell-weaving powers from the more powerful witches of that age. (One of the overarching plot issues is that the magical world is weakening in the modern age: witches cast less effective spells, vampires are less able to make new vampires, and daemons are more prone to insanity than genius.) Diana is pregnant with twins, a secret which will get them in very hot water with the Congregation (the governing council of the magical creatures), because witches, daemons, and vampires aren't allowed to marry outside their own kind, much less reproduce.Book of Life ties up the convoluted strands of the series-wide plot: the search for the ancient manuscript, Ashmole 782, that all of the creatures believes holds the key to their survival; the long-anticipated confrontation with the Congregation over Diana and Matthew's forbidden relationship; the explanation (and solution) to the problem of weakening magic. In reaching these conclusions, the book delves deeply into a lot of less central subplots: there is a lot of time devoted to the gordian knot of political and familial loyalties and obligations in the de Clermont vampire clan, a lot of time devoted to the analysis of genetic material in the pages from Ashmole 782 and DNA-testing of various magical creatures, and a lot of time devoted to traveling and describing the many settings of this book, including various locations in France, upstate New York, New Haven, London, New Orleans, Oxford, Venice, and Chelm, Poland.The entire series has been plagued by pacing problems. Deborah Harkness's attention to detail is at once the series' greatest strength and also its greatest weakness. The extensive descriptions of places, people, history, furniture, art, and so on make the reader feel like s/he is right there in the story, but sometimes Harkness gives us more detail than we could possibly need. In A Discovery of Witches, the never-ending descriptions of Diana's clothes and meals made me crazy. In Shadow of Night, Harkness told us more about arcane alchemical processes than any reader (except perhaps a Ph.D. candidate) could possibly care to know. -And here in Book of Life, perhaps more than ever, the details get in the way of the story.Let me explain: As the capstone of the trilogy, Book of Life is the climax the whole series (all 1800 pages of it) has been building to. The reader therefore has a sense of urgency in seeing how certain plots resolve that the detailed narrative often frustrates. Some examples: Matthew's mother, Ysabeau, gets held prisoner early on by the Congregation. Despite expressing some concern about it (and after learning why imprisonment might be especially traumatic to Ysabeau given her history), Matthew and Diana hie off to the States and spend several months gardening and cleaning the Bishop homestead in New York rather than working on a plan to free her. Later, they learn that the Book of Life's main villain is holding a witch hostage and repeatedly raping her, trying to breed with her. Matthew and Diana express horror and outrage... and then go to Yale and spend several more weeks futzing around in labs and libraries. Then, Diana has a pregnancy complication and gets put on bed rest while she and Matthew are on separate continents. Rather than rushing to her side, Matthew spends a week carving infant cradles. Later still, Matthew himself is a hostage of the Big Baddie, and Diana hurries to France... to feed her babies. Now, as a relatively new mom myself, I get that babies need to be fed, but surely not even the most hard-core breastfeeding enthusiasts would object to the sitter offering a little bit of formula so that Mom can go save Daddy from Mortal Peril.The baby plot was almost as ridiculous and cringeworthy in Book of Life as it was in Breaking Dawn. The birthing scene was less horrifying, thank God, and the Bishop-de Clermont babies have reasonably normal names and growth patterns, but they still prefer blood to milk, and there's a ridiculous scene in which Diana tells her husband that their daughter is "not a vampire. She's a vampitch. Or a wimpire." (p. 424). Seriously?!Book of Life has a point of view problem (as does Breaking Dawn, now that I think of it). Some of the book is written in first-person POV, as narrated by Diana. Some of the book is in third-person POV, usually limited to Matthew or other characters, but sometimes almost omniscient. Whatever rhyme or reason there may have been to the POV changes, I found them jarring and unnecessary.One plot I wish the series had developed more fully (and I say that with some hesitation, when there were so many plots that could and maybe should have been pared down), is the issue of Diana's mortality. Unlike Twilight's Bella, Harkness's protagonist has no intention of becoming a vampire. That means this is a story of a timeless, all-consuming love between a woman who will live a mere handful of decades compared to her husband's millennia. Perhaps the most empowering aspect of this love affair (especially contrasted with Twilight) is that both Diana and Matthew are happy with Diana the way she is, and don't wish to change her... but I still think they need to confront the issues in a more meaningful way. At one point, Matthew tells Diana that his greatest wish is to grow old with her, which of course can't happen -- Diana's response is to conjure him a few grey hairs for Christmas, a wholly unsatisfactory answer to a real and pressing problem.Reading over my review, it all sounds more negative than my actual reading experience reflects. I have a lot of nitpicky complaints, but overall, this book, and this series, is great entertainment. It's long and complicated and full of delicious (and sometimes maddening) detail, and the romance is compelling and the stakes are sky-high, and for a lot of people (including me) the All Souls trilogy is total reading catnip. I envy newcomers to the series who have the time to dive into all three books and read them in one epic 1,800 page binge, all at once, because I bet the story would be all the more transporting and satisfying that way, rather than interrupted by the long wait between book releases.

A great resolution to the mystery if The Book of life. I live the dynamic the author has created with these two characters. I keep rereading because I can so clearly imagine their bond. I am rereading to find easter eggs for the next book. Their could be a lot. .

Deborah you have given me so much joy reading your book. I hope there are more that inspire me to loose sleep to continue reading.😊😊😊😊😊😊😊

This book is the 3rd book in the All Souls Trilogy. Enjoyed it, I love stories about witches and or vampires. This book is much better than the second book of the series. The second book was VERY SLOW moving and introduced too many characters.This book finishes the tale of Dianna and Matthew. Escapist fun!

This book and the other is the series capture the imagination and heart of the reader from the first page to the last. Recommend it to everyone. No one ever disappointed

Deborah Harkness has masterfully spun an unforgettable fantasy tale with compelling characters and a life-lesson about acceptance and embracing change. This is the second time I’ve read these books and it won’t be the last.

Should not have been a trilogy- Should’ve been a very long series.I say this with the upmost respect and admiration. If you go back to my Discovery of Witches (book 1) review), I had a couple of complaint. Book 2, I rated 5 stars but left no review for a variety of (I shall not speak) reasons. But I WILL say, the trilogy got better with each book (which rarely happens) and I’m sad to see it end (though I will read book 4). Deborah Harkness, if you happen to read this, I want you to know that I hope your book becomes infamous. And that historians 500 years from now savor your craft.**I LOVE, I mean LOVE him, Jack. The character development here cannot be touched. I want him as my child!While my grievances are nothing, really, I have to state them because that’s what I do when I leave reviews.1). I wish the BIG (and final for the book) council meeting was actually written. Many will probably disagree but I truly wish it was.2). I wish there was an epilogue.That’s it. Wonderful writing. Deborah’s stories grew and grew. And I’m utterly satisfied. Except for the fact that it’s the end. But, alas, it was probably for the best in the age of dragging things through the dirt just to make a buck. Much respect to the author.

Was the final book in the trilogy completely written by Deborah Harkness? It seems to have lost the plot. The first book was different; magical, full of details about her life as a scholar, her past, evoked feelings based on her descriptions and had the makings of leading up to an awesome conclusion.The second book fell into the historical fiction genre and I loved it. Because the setting was so different to the first book it didn't feel like I was reading more of the same stuff and it kept the trilogy fresh. It was interesting reading about Victorian London and imagining how life may have been then and we got another perspective on how creatures were different/similar back then.But the third book........Wth happened?! Yeah, it wasn't terrible. I think I was just expecting more based on the first two books and ended up slightly (very?) disappointed.By the end it had morphed into a sickly romance book with the perfect wife and perfect husband with two perfect children. Diana could simply do no wrong as the perfect wife and mother, the best witch and most brilliant and clever scholar ever. Eurghhhhhh! This really started doing my head in. It was just tooooooo much. We got how great she was and didn't need to be reminded of this every chapter. Then Matthew kind of lost his vampireness and became this big snugglebum, who now and then we were reminded of his blood rage and "terrible temper" because his eyes turned black.Then the writing.....It kept changing madly on the pov. One minute it was written in the first person, then bam, into the third person. There were sooooo many characters and every single last one of them was reintroduced into the final book. Why? Some of them being brought back was totally pointless. I think it must have been confusing tying up all the story threads throughout the books into a logical conclusion, but there were so many unfinished other storylines - I just wanted to scream. I mean what about Gallowglass? One of the major characters who had meant to be watching over Diana her entire life, and then nothing. I'm starting to think there may be a fourth book in the waiting. There were just too many loose ends and questions left unanswered. Due to the lengths of the books this surely could have been achievable, instead we got indepth descriptions of how every single character smelt and other lame irrelevant things, that could have been edited out to make space for proper conclusions.This book also took me ages to read which was a sign I wasn't anywhere near as into it as the previous two. Sure I've been mad busy with work and going home for 6 weeks, but it still took me a looong time. I was too easily distracted and when I'm really lost in a book, it would near enough take a meteor crashing through my roof for get me out of my book trance. Would I read a fourth book or a spin off? Yes, probably. But my expectations won't be so high this time.

I didn’t really like this book. I loved the fact that we saw more of some of the characters from the second book, and I liked the ending. But, there was just so much science detail (fake details) in it that it just went in one ear and straight out the other. I didn’t get it, the story didn’t really need all the long technical ramblings.Diana annoyed the hell out of me as well. She just complained all the time, demanding everyone listen to her and that she’s always right. God, she obviously wasn’t as it just kept going wrong for her!!The book itself was just too long. I think that the whole trilogy should have just been a duology. It would have saved a lot of rambling, and a lot of unnecessary side storylines. I don’t think some of them really had a point to them.Benjamin was a completely evil character, but at the same time it was a nice change of pace (this does not mean I liked him) Everyone in the book is nice, polite, good. He was just evil, completely and utterly evil. His actions in the book were just revolting and I wish they were not as… disturbing? I get that’s him as a character but it was too much for the tone of the book.

This book grabbed me very early on concerning a witch with no powers. She falls in love with a vampire, who has very dark and demanding intrinsic powers. The secret society was set up to prevent this type of relationship in the way distant past, believing incorrectly that it was done so by vampires to protect their racial purity (we all know how much vampires love their bloodlines and genealogy) to prevent warmbloods. Demons largely get ignored in the story, but it boils down to the way that these two progress and what they have to do to protect firstly themselves, then the ones they love and eventually their own children. What they discover shakes the secret society to their core and recorders the future for all four races of human forever.P.S. I am not interested in The next book which appears to focus solely on Marcus and Phoebe, but I would be interested in future books about Jack and the other Bishop-Clairmont children.10 out of 10 to the writer for a well imagined and well presented engaging story!I'm

I feel as if I’ve been reading this book FOREVER! I’m halfway through and am losing the will to live! I loved the first two books in the trilogy which makes me wonder if this turgid, dull piece of padded-out nonsense was written by the same author!!! It’s unbearable!! The only way through now is to start scanning the pages until I get to a bit relevant to the story: I live in hope!

I stumbled onto this book series by chance after someone mentioned the TV series based on it.In cases like this I prefer to give the books a chance first - and this time it was a major discovery. I was hooked from the start and couldn’t put them down until I had read them all.There is nothing I didn’t like about any of the three books which make up the series.The story is beautifully written, with plenty of action and packed full of information which help readers immerse themselves in all the worlds and times visited by the characters. There are mesmerising descriptions of Elizabethan London, which is where I live, and felt very special to me. It is a nice balance between fast paced scenes and some more personal, private ones, introspective in nature.The characters all inspire pretty strong emotions, and are very well developed, almost in a 3D way.The story is captivating because it is difficult to predict, until the very end.The hero and heroine are just what one expects them to be, but I personally fell in love with Gallowglass and Jack and would ABSOLUTELY ADORE if they were given space and their own stories - obviously, as long as the both get their HEA. Pretty please, with a cherry on top!Off to read Marcus’ and Phoebe’s story now.