Book-It 'o15! Book #6
The Fifty Books Challenge, year six! ( 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014) This was a library request.
Title: The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness
Details: Copyright 2014, Penguin Books
Synopsis (By Way of Front Flap):
"The great adventure culminates here
Eagerly awaited by fans around the world, The Book of Life brings the magic and suspense of the All Souls Trilogy to a deeply satisfying conclusion. What did the witches once discover? Why was this secret encoded in a mysterious book called Ashmole 782 and then chased through the centuries by daemons, vampires, and the witches themselves? How can spellbound witch Diana Bishop and vampire scientist Matthew Clairmont fulfill their love and their mission, on contested ground and with the weight of their very different histories pulling them apart?
In The Book of Life Diana and Matthew time travel back from Elizabethan London to make a dramatic return to the present-- facing new crises and old enemies. At Matthew's ancestral home, Sept Tours, they reunite with the beloved 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 palatial homes and university laboratories, using ancient knowledge and modern science, from the hills of the Auvergne to Venice and beyond, the couple at last learns what the witches discovered so many centuries ago."
Why I Wanted to Read It: You may remember that I stepped into this series and reviewed the first book here and the second here.
How I Liked It: Knowing this was the last book in the series (at least, in this particular trilogy), this is set up for considerable questions to be answered, loose ends tied up, and finally, a complete ending, which neither of the past two books felt like they had.
Unfortunately, issues that dogged the past two books are still prevalent in the final volume. Overwritten scenes, a desperate need of an editor, telling-not-showing, and plenty of plot trip-ups (as well as factual/consistency errors that further stall the plot) keep the book middling for most of the action, no matter how packed the author makes it.
And makes it she does. She attempts to cram subplot on top of subplot but with less an "action-packed" feel and more a "but wait, what this now? We just..." tone.
A few key points in particular:
We haven't seen Diana's "best friend" since the first book, where he seemed far less best friend and far more "friendly acquaintance", particularly in light of the fact she hasn't spoken to him whatsoever in over a year and he apparently didn't know she was a (w)itch, and has to catch him up on getting married, time-traveling, and now being pregnant with twins.
A vampire Jack appears! Turns out her surrogate son from the 1590s (not to be confused with her vampire husband's many "children", ie people he turned vampires that think of/refer to him as "father"), the little boy street urchin that she rescued who turned out to be an insufferable ungrateful little shit mostly (but oh, look at how cute Matthew is with him!) apparently lived to twenty something before nearly dying of the plague and being turned a vampire to save his life by a man who was an enemy in the second book, but hey, he's back too and he's apparently Matthew's "grandson", as he was turned vampire by Matthew's bad seed "son" Benjamin, who by the way has been on a killing/raping (no, fucking seriously) rampage for several centuries and must be stopped. Also, while we're on that? Matthew still has the blood rage thingy! And so does Jack, since blood rage is something that can be "inherited" when you're made a vampire and it runs in the family.
Annoyed at the fact the only gay male character was a killing, misogynist, jealous queen that happened to be real life author Christopher Marlowe? Well, here's Fernando, the husband of Matthew's dead brother Hugh. Just in time, too, because he can helpfully pair up (no seriously, they become companions; I'm obviously not saying that lesbians/gay men/bisexual men/bisexual women are never friends or even close friends, but he pretty much doesn't serve a purpose) with Diana's grieving aunt (her wife was killed by one of the villains from the first book, Peter Knox, who also helped in killing Diana's parents).
The plot rumbles and jerks along until Diana gives birth to their twins and Matthew is lured and trapped by his murdering "son" Benjamin. While the various machinations that Diana and company employ to set about freeing him are as flawed as the rest of the book (and while I plan to get into this later, there's also a questionable bit of ethics in using a place of real atrocity like the Holocaust as a setting for your fictional characters), there's no doubt some true power and appeal to Diana's soul-searching that demonstrates the type of skill so apparent in bits of the first book, like the sentient house (which makes an appearance here, as well).
The climax of Diana's journey and ultimate saving of her husband is blunted considerably by the fact that's not technically the end of the book. I was actually somewhat surprised to keep finding more chapters/sections afterwards, when a very small epilogue would've done so much better (Matthew heals slows but does heal and they begin the rest of their lives). Instead, the bogged-down ending left more loose ends in what seems like a set-up for a future series (the Gallowglass character in particular) rather than a satisfying ending.
It's undeniable that Harkness possesses skill as a writer and storyteller. It's also likely that this series will continue. If Harkness were to employ a better editor (or a team of them), she might even produce something truly amazing. But so much of her writing and story gets bogged down, it's like sifting through to find the gems. Were you to boil down all three books to their "all-thriller/no-filler" capacities, you'd have something approximately half as long and far more satisfying.
Notable: There are several inconsistencies that stand out in this novel particularly, from the moment where Matthew and Diana and shocked to be barged in upon, post-coitus, by Matthew's asshole brother, because apparently the thousand pages we've read before of Matthew being protective, predatory, and constantly on guard needed to stop applying for a second.
When Diana is catching up her "best friend" and fellow tenured professor Chris on her life in the past year, we get what may be the only distinction the author apparently draws between real (Witchcraft) and pretend (witchcraft) and it doesn't help the situation:
“"I'm a witch." My words were barely audible.
"Okay." Chris waited. "And?"
"And what?"
"That's it? That's what you've been afraid to tell me?"
"I'm not talking about neo-pagan, Chris-- though I am pagan of course. I'm talking an abracadabra, spell-casting, potion-making witch." In this case Chris's love of prime-time TV might actually prove useful.” (pg 162 and 163)
Never mind that neo-Pagan Witches can also be spell-casting and potion-making (abracadabra is usually associated with stage magic).
And while we're on the subject of Chris, the fellow tenured professor who is making groundbreaking strides in biology? When comforting Diana's adopted son Jack, he quotes the old "two wolves inside you" long-debunked woo bullshit that he claims is "Cherokee" (it isn't, nor is it Native American in origin), as is he, partially.
A tenured professor that reveres sciences as much as this character does should not be spouting woo stereotype nonsense.
Matthew is slightly less predatory/possessive in this book, but apparently not so much he can't refrain from resorting to threatening Diana's best friend, because another man close to her? Not happening.
Title: The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness
Details: Copyright 2014, Penguin Books
Synopsis (By Way of Front Flap):
"The great adventure culminates here
Eagerly awaited by fans around the world, The Book of Life brings the magic and suspense of the All Souls Trilogy to a deeply satisfying conclusion. What did the witches once discover? Why was this secret encoded in a mysterious book called Ashmole 782 and then chased through the centuries by daemons, vampires, and the witches themselves? How can spellbound witch Diana Bishop and vampire scientist Matthew Clairmont fulfill their love and their mission, on contested ground and with the weight of their very different histories pulling them apart?
In The Book of Life Diana and Matthew time travel back from Elizabethan London to make a dramatic return to the present-- facing new crises and old enemies. At Matthew's ancestral home, Sept Tours, they reunite with the beloved 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 palatial homes and university laboratories, using ancient knowledge and modern science, from the hills of the Auvergne to Venice and beyond, the couple at last learns what the witches discovered so many centuries ago."
Why I Wanted to Read It: You may remember that I stepped into this series and reviewed the first book here and the second here.
How I Liked It: Knowing this was the last book in the series (at least, in this particular trilogy), this is set up for considerable questions to be answered, loose ends tied up, and finally, a complete ending, which neither of the past two books felt like they had.
Unfortunately, issues that dogged the past two books are still prevalent in the final volume. Overwritten scenes, a desperate need of an editor, telling-not-showing, and plenty of plot trip-ups (as well as factual/consistency errors that further stall the plot) keep the book middling for most of the action, no matter how packed the author makes it.
And makes it she does. She attempts to cram subplot on top of subplot but with less an "action-packed" feel and more a "but wait, what this now? We just..." tone.
A few key points in particular:
We haven't seen Diana's "best friend" since the first book, where he seemed far less best friend and far more "friendly acquaintance", particularly in light of the fact she hasn't spoken to him whatsoever in over a year and he apparently didn't know she was a (w)itch, and has to catch him up on getting married, time-traveling, and now being pregnant with twins.
A vampire Jack appears! Turns out her surrogate son from the 1590s (not to be confused with her vampire husband's many "children", ie people he turned vampires that think of/refer to him as "father"), the little boy street urchin that she rescued who turned out to be an insufferable ungrateful little shit mostly (but oh, look at how cute Matthew is with him!) apparently lived to twenty something before nearly dying of the plague and being turned a vampire to save his life by a man who was an enemy in the second book, but hey, he's back too and he's apparently Matthew's "grandson", as he was turned vampire by Matthew's bad seed "son" Benjamin, who by the way has been on a killing/raping (no, fucking seriously) rampage for several centuries and must be stopped. Also, while we're on that? Matthew still has the blood rage thingy! And so does Jack, since blood rage is something that can be "inherited" when you're made a vampire and it runs in the family.
Annoyed at the fact the only gay male character was a killing, misogynist, jealous queen that happened to be real life author Christopher Marlowe? Well, here's Fernando, the husband of Matthew's dead brother Hugh. Just in time, too, because he can helpfully pair up (no seriously, they become companions; I'm obviously not saying that lesbians/gay men/bisexual men/bisexual women are never friends or even close friends, but he pretty much doesn't serve a purpose) with Diana's grieving aunt (her wife was killed by one of the villains from the first book, Peter Knox, who also helped in killing Diana's parents).
The plot rumbles and jerks along until Diana gives birth to their twins and Matthew is lured and trapped by his murdering "son" Benjamin. While the various machinations that Diana and company employ to set about freeing him are as flawed as the rest of the book (and while I plan to get into this later, there's also a questionable bit of ethics in using a place of real atrocity like the Holocaust as a setting for your fictional characters), there's no doubt some true power and appeal to Diana's soul-searching that demonstrates the type of skill so apparent in bits of the first book, like the sentient house (which makes an appearance here, as well).
The climax of Diana's journey and ultimate saving of her husband is blunted considerably by the fact that's not technically the end of the book. I was actually somewhat surprised to keep finding more chapters/sections afterwards, when a very small epilogue would've done so much better (Matthew heals slows but does heal and they begin the rest of their lives). Instead, the bogged-down ending left more loose ends in what seems like a set-up for a future series (the Gallowglass character in particular) rather than a satisfying ending.
It's undeniable that Harkness possesses skill as a writer and storyteller. It's also likely that this series will continue. If Harkness were to employ a better editor (or a team of them), she might even produce something truly amazing. But so much of her writing and story gets bogged down, it's like sifting through to find the gems. Were you to boil down all three books to their "all-thriller/no-filler" capacities, you'd have something approximately half as long and far more satisfying.
Notable: There are several inconsistencies that stand out in this novel particularly, from the moment where Matthew and Diana and shocked to be barged in upon, post-coitus, by Matthew's asshole brother, because apparently the thousand pages we've read before of Matthew being protective, predatory, and constantly on guard needed to stop applying for a second.
When Diana is catching up her "best friend" and fellow tenured professor Chris on her life in the past year, we get what may be the only distinction the author apparently draws between real (Witchcraft) and pretend (witchcraft) and it doesn't help the situation:
“"I'm a witch." My words were barely audible.
"Okay." Chris waited. "And?"
"And what?"
"That's it? That's what you've been afraid to tell me?"
"I'm not talking about neo-pagan, Chris-- though I am pagan of course. I'm talking an abracadabra, spell-casting, potion-making witch." In this case Chris's love of prime-time TV might actually prove useful.” (pg 162 and 163)
Never mind that neo-Pagan Witches can also be spell-casting and potion-making (abracadabra is usually associated with stage magic).
And while we're on the subject of Chris, the fellow tenured professor who is making groundbreaking strides in biology? When comforting Diana's adopted son Jack, he quotes the old "two wolves inside you" long-debunked woo bullshit that he claims is "Cherokee" (it isn't, nor is it Native American in origin), as is he, partially.
A tenured professor that reveres sciences as much as this character does should not be spouting woo stereotype nonsense.
Matthew is slightly less predatory/possessive in this book, but apparently not so much he can't refrain from resorting to threatening Diana's best friend, because another man close to her? Not happening.