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redheadsuperpowers's review against another edition
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
Graphic: Violence, Gore, Hate crime, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Death, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Murder, Stalking, Torture, Body horror, and Forced institutionalization
euphemiajo's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Pregnancy, Blood, Confinement, and Miscarriage
Minor: Alcohol, Bullying, Murder, Physical abuse, Torture, Rape, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Child death, Deportation, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Medical content, Miscarriage, Abandonment, and Chronic illness
maggies's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
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? Yes
4.0
A great end to the trilogy! The pace flagged a bit in the middle there, but overall, the story was just what I wanted it to be.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Torture, and Blood
Moderate: Confinement, Pregnancy, Medical content, Grief, Death, Vomit, Rape, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Death of parent
katvou's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Child death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Medical content, Physical abuse, Torture, and Violence
Minor: Drug abuse, Miscarriage, Child abuse, Drug use, Infertility, Rape, Sexual content, and Sexual violence
yggie's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and Murder
laura_mcloughlin's review against another edition
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
I would love to see Gallowglass get his own book though
Content Warnings
Moderate: Pregnancy, Rape, Stalking, Sexual violence, Murder, Torture, Sexual content, and Kidnapping
Minor: Body horror
onestephatatime's review
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.
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
Graphic: Pregnancy and Torture
Moderate: Kidnapping, Rape, Sexual violence, Stalking, and Murder
Minor: Injury/Injury detail
theespressoedition's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Reading The Book of Life was such an interesting experience. My opinions about it went up and down, inside out, and backward before I came to the end.
Going into it, my mind was so open because I was looking forward to learning more about Matthew and Diana, now that they were back in the present day. So much had happened in Shadow of Night and knowing that this was the trilogy's finale, I figured it would begin to wrap things up relatively early on.
Instead, we were met with a ton of crazy twists, character additions, and new storylines right at the beginning, which totally threw me off. Opening the book with Em's death made me feel completely blindsided. I loved Diana's special relationship with her, and it broke my heart that right after Diana came home and was hoping for some normalcy, she's instead met with news of her aunt's death. That's just awful! From that point on, I held everything much more loosely.
I'm a quick reader. I know that about myself. It takes me an average of about three days to finish a book - even relatively long ones. However, The Book of Life took me well over a week to complete! When I reached the 30% mark, I looked at my progress and felt winded. So much had happened and yet there was still so much book to get through. Because of the slow pacing of these novels, I began to feel bored. I wanted more action, less description.
I messaged a friend of mine who just adores this series and began to talk with her about my feelings. It wound up being incredibly helpful, talking with her, because I was able to uncover the elements I really enjoyed - like the character development for Gallowglass, Marcus, Sarah, and Diana. Diana especially came into her own in this book, after learning so much about her magic in Shadow of Night. It was really neat to see that incredible growth in her, not only when it came to her skills, but even in the way she began to relate with Matthew.
Additionally, one of the things I learned is that these are the kind of books you need to set aside time to read. Instead of trying to squeeze them in, you need to really dwell on them and let yourself just be absorbed in the story. Allow it to take you to all of the places it's trying to go and you'll appreciate it much more. Don't attempt to rush through it like I originally did. After chatting with my friend, I found myself excited to get back into the world, and over the next couple of days, I really focused on my reading. It made the ending so much more satisfying than I could possibly express.
There are a lot of really gruesome moments in this particular installment in the trilogy. I've been sitting here, trying to figure out how to talk about them without giving away spoilers, because they include characters that simultaneously are and aren't a major focus in the other books. That sounds confusing, but once you begin reading, you'll understand what I mean. The vampire killer in London is a large part of this book. And their story is incredibly saddening and even a bit angering. It's also very bloody. In addition to that, you'll learn about another member of Matthew's family, who happens to be an incredibly graphic torturer and sexually abusive individual. This subject matter was really challenging for me to read, and I did skim parts of it because of the really gory nature. Please be aware of this going into the book. I do wish there had been content warnings for these things and unfortunately, there were not.
If I had to give the entire series a rating, I would probably say it receives 4 stars. It's a wonderfully-written trilogy with well-rounded characters and tons of world-building. If you ever wanted to feel like "creatures" were real, this book will accomplish that. The research that went into it made it feel so much more realistic than any other supernatural/paranormal series I've ever read. The ending was great but did leave me wanting to learn more about certain characters. I hope Deborah Harkness continues to write about them as the years go on.
Going into it, my mind was so open because I was looking forward to learning more about Matthew and Diana, now that they were back in the present day. So much had happened in Shadow of Night and knowing that this was the trilogy's finale, I figured it would begin to wrap things up relatively early on.
Instead, we were met with a ton of crazy twists, character additions, and new storylines right at the beginning, which totally threw me off.
I'm a quick reader. I know that about myself. It takes me an average of about three days to finish a book - even relatively long ones. However, The Book of Life took me well over a week to complete! When I reached the 30% mark, I looked at my progress and felt winded. So much had happened and yet there was still so much book to get through. Because of the slow pacing of these novels, I began to feel bored. I wanted more action, less description.
I messaged a friend of mine who just adores this series and began to talk with her about my feelings. It wound up being incredibly helpful, talking with her, because I was able to uncover the elements I really enjoyed - like the character development for Gallowglass, Marcus, Sarah, and Diana. Diana especially came into her own in this book, after learning so much about her magic in Shadow of Night. It was really neat to see that incredible growth in her, not only when it came to her skills, but even in the way she began to relate with Matthew.
Additionally, one of the things I learned is that these are the kind of books you need to set aside time to read. Instead of trying to squeeze them in, you need to really dwell on them and let yourself just be absorbed in the story. Allow it to take you to all of the places it's trying to go and you'll appreciate it much more. Don't attempt to rush through it like I originally did. After chatting with my friend, I found myself excited to get back into the world, and over the next couple of days, I really focused on my reading. It made the ending so much more satisfying than I could possibly express.
There are a lot of really gruesome moments in this particular installment in the trilogy. I've been sitting here, trying to figure out how to talk about them without giving away spoilers, because they include characters that simultaneously are and aren't a major focus in the other books. That sounds confusing, but once you begin reading, you'll understand what I mean. The vampire killer in London is a large part of this book. And their story is incredibly saddening and even a bit angering. It's also very bloody. In addition to that, you'll learn about another member of Matthew's family, who happens to be an incredibly graphic torturer and sexually abusive individual. This subject matter was really challenging for me to read, and I did skim parts of it because of the really gory nature. Please be aware of this going into the book. I do wish there had been content warnings for these things and unfortunately, there were not.
If I had to give the entire series a rating, I would probably say it receives 4 stars. It's a wonderfully-written trilogy with well-rounded characters and tons of world-building. If you ever wanted to feel like "creatures" were real, this book will accomplish that. The research that went into it made it feel so much more realistic than any other supernatural/paranormal series I've ever read. The ending was great but did leave me wanting to learn more about certain characters. I hope Deborah Harkness continues to write about them as the years go on.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Murder, Rape, Torture, Gore, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Pregnancy, Death of parent, and Grief
Minor: Sexual content
beaudoindani17's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-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? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Grief, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Stalking, Sexual violence, Rape, and Pregnancy
missdrmuffin's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Murder
Minor: Rape, Child abuse, and Miscarriage