Reviews with content warning for Stalking - The Book of Life

Reviews tagging 'Stalking'

The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness

10 reviews

zoenelson's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

The trilogy, overall, was entertaining. The romance was convincing and thoughtful; the supporting cast was mostly wonderful and I enjoyed the character progression. I remain impressed by Harkness' ability to ground this fantasy in our historical and scientific knowledge.

This particular book did a few things well: it left enough open at the end for the reader to interpret as they please; it solidified Matthew and Diana's love story; and gave us more time with the supporting cast. I did not like that Harkness introduced

another existential conflict in the form of Benjamin raping witches to create a superior creature race. It's related to the main conflict but felt manufactured and was really dark without warning; it also distracted from the main conflict, so the resolution there felt unsatisfying even though it was desirable. I felt that the final battle scene was anticlimactic because there were no real trials or tribulations. Additionally, Matthew's refusal to form a scion was merely a plot tool and thus felt superficial and drew the story out. Speaking of which, this book, to me, felt very choppy trying to tie so many loose ends together which impacted the plot and pacing.

I wanted to rate this a 4.75 because I loved the first book and parts of the second, but choices to add so many elements in the second and third books diminished what the first book set up so well.

Content Warnings

joey_paige's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

redheadsuperpowers's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

I stick by my description of this series as Twilight for adults, but it's so well written, and I enjoyed this close to the series so much. It tied up all the major plot points, and the minor ones left open are likely to close with the next series set in this universe. (The first of those books is out!) The relationship between the main characters, Diana and Matthew, settles some, easing how annoyed I was with male lead in the second book. The family moments were many, and one scene made me cry. I was disappointed with one major plot point though. It's a spoiler, so I won't share it, but I was like 'wait, what? Why? Who?' and the book did not answer that point.

Content Warnings

balancethebooks's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark hopeful tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Content Warnings

cassandrareads_'s review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

laura_mcloughlin's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

My 2nd time reading this one. I did enjoy it more this time and it is a pretty solid finish to the trilogy.

I would love to see Gallowglass get his own book though

Content Warnings

onestephatatime's review

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I read this concurrently with season 3 (it aired once a week where I’m from) and I felt burnt out and over the story by the end of it. Now that some time has passed, I think I can give my opinion on it.

I found that too much and not enough happened in this book. Despite it being 700+ pages, the ending still felt rushed and still, there were a lot of loose ends still untied.

The things I did like were that Matthew was significantly less of a prick (but that's a low bar to begin with lol), and fluffy domestic feels with Diana and the fam. I also liked that

Matthew’s recovery process took time, and it showed the effects it had not only on him, but the people around him as well - the one thing I wished the show had adapted, rather than his one and done recovery (because I know he would have ATE that scene)

. My other favourite thing about this book was that I can pretend that Baldwin was never recasted (iykyk).

And my favourite line of the entire book: “Answer your FUCKING email!”

TLDR; entertaining, fun. What I would have expected for a book that was Twilight for Adults™️. The first two books were *chefs kiss* the finale just felt rushed like the author was writing like she was running out of time.

Content Warnings