A Book of Life review

Review from 2020

The Book of Life. Crazy to think that just two months ago it had been over two years since I read a book from start to finish and now I’m down three.

Thank you iBooks for giving me little kudos for every 20 minutes spent reading. I felt like a gold star student. It was a nice little reward that I didn’t know I needed.

Back to the review. Non-spoiler opinion, The Book of Life has a better pace and is a more likeable novel than A Shadow of Night. It gets back to the science and the modern appeal of A Discovery of Witches. I personally would have liked the third book of the series as the sequel. That way we could have had more time to enjoy the true antagonist of the series (more on that later).

I must get into the meat of the story that I’m eager to talk about. So if you don’t want any spoilers to leave now and come back when you are ready.

I’ll wait……

If you made it this far I’m assuming you're ready to get into it.

The Book of Life finally got back to the search for the missing alchemy manuscript that started off the whole series. The series also returned to its science roots leaving the Twilight vibes behind. Hats off to Darkness’s for Matthew’s line “ I have never sparkled.”

With this return to the modern age, we got to enjoy the much-missed de Clairmont's and Bishop's characters. We also got an introduction to Diana’s best friend Chris. Chris is hilarious with his spot-on nicknames for his undergrads. Moulder, Xbox - who wouldn’t want those nicknames. He also doesn’t care that vampires have superman's strength. If they are being idiots he’ll let them know. It was a nice change in characterization.

Our lovely couple, Diana and Matthew have returned to the present with added luggage. Well if being pregnant with twins can be considered luggage that is. The pregnancy added a sense of urgency to the story. They needed to find that manuscript and stop the evil supernatural government from destroying their families. We saw them struggle with their wants and responsibilities which brought a much-needed maturity to the over-the-top eternal lovers' cliche.

My biggest complaint would be the addition of Matthew’s psychotic offspring Benjamin. Not that Ben wasn’t a worthy villain that needed to be stopped by any means, but that was the thing he was a serious threat. More so than the supernatural government. Benjamin was officially introduced in the last third of the book. Most of the search for him happened off-screen.

With the need to stop Benjamin, the discovery of the manuscript and the power it gave Diana felt rushed as did the hunting of Ben. This could have been a whole book on its own. We could have gotten some more back story to how Ben had been pulling strings behind the scenes for centuries. But we had to get to the happily ever after so none of that was truly revealed.

I will say the villains of the series did get a fitting and magical end by Diana. Can’t wait to see her in god mode in the tv series. It was a nice change that the male protagonist wasn’t the one saving the day. Diana was the powerhouse. Matthew was the damsel. Witches are awesome!

After the final showdown, the novel had to be cleaned up quickly. I felt like the readers deserved another hundred pages or an epilogue to know what became of all the characters. I guess the ending was left open in case Deborah Harkness wants to return t the world she built.

I enjoyed The Book of Life the most out of the series and not just because I love endings. There were more intense moments with more humour and emotions displayed in the characters than the previous books. This edition would make for an entertaining adaption if given enough time. The Book of Life brought a sense of community to a genre that is normally solitary and brooding. Almost reminiscent of Kelly Armstrong’s Otherworld series.

I give the Book of Life four out of five Xbox's.