Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.75 AVERAGE
3.75 AVERAGE
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
I really enjoyed learning more about Marcus’ origin and the little tidbits it provides about the rest of the family. I would love more books that delve into the past of the de Clermonts
adventurous
reflective
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:
Complicated
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This my least favorite of the All Souls books so far. Seemed shallow compared to the original trilogy. That said it still was nice to visit with familiar characters and get to know some of them better.
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I think I’m just thoroughly done with the series and made this a slog to get through. I’m glad there was a focus on a different couple, but the series could have ended with the last book. This feels more like fanfic or a Star Wars Christmas special as opposed to the actual movies.
For the first half of this I was really invested and interested. Harkness is great at showing the dynamics playing out in a particular scene with a lot of nuance, and she clearly has a lot of passion of historical narratives.
This go around Phoebe is being turned into a vampire, and her narrative follows her transition and it’s trials and tribulations. It’s pretty interesting, when at its best!
We also gets the backstory of her partner, Marcus, and his own struggle when turned.
Form time to time it pops into Matthew and Diana’s life, mostly focusing on the issues with their children, each of whom is displaying supernatural affinities already, at such an early age.
I think this mostly worked for me. But as I said, around halfway in and change it started dragging quite a bit. It sometimes feels like a short story, or a couple short stories, that have been puffed up and put together. But I really enjoyed the early years of Marcus and the more granular worldbuilding of vampirism with Phoebe.
What never quite hit home for me was the kids’ storyline, which feels like a massive power fantasy, even more so than the third book, and that book did not land the earning of powers angle at all for me. The stakes didn’t feel real, there was magic Deus ex machina happening. And now their kids are also incredible and amazing and powerful and life is hard, apparently. There’s no real stakes at play here either, yet again. We know what becomes of Marcus. The kids don’t feel like they’re actually in danger. Phoebe changing and maybe not being into Marcus anymore, initially twinged an emotion, but it became clear very quickly that this issue wasn’t at stake either.
It didn’t really feel like there was a plot happening, basically. And I usually don’t require one. I get buy plenty of books ascribed such a label. But this does feel like spinning wheels because, by contrast with the first two books especially, the components that made those so enticing, are the intrigue and mystery and danger. It feels strange. In the end, it delivers on its premise, Harkness, I’ve found, is a joy to read, and it does add world building though. So I think it’s a fair 3 stars, if barely.
p.s, the whole small box sequence where it was banned and controversial to get it hits home so much with what’s happening now with COVID.
This go around Phoebe is being turned into a vampire, and her narrative follows her transition and it’s trials and tribulations. It’s pretty interesting, when at its best!
We also gets the backstory of her partner, Marcus, and his own struggle when turned.
Form time to time it pops into Matthew and Diana’s life, mostly focusing on the issues with their children, each of whom is displaying supernatural affinities already, at such an early age.
I think this mostly worked for me. But as I said, around halfway in and change it started dragging quite a bit. It sometimes feels like a short story, or a couple short stories, that have been puffed up and put together. But I really enjoyed the early years of Marcus and the more granular worldbuilding of vampirism with Phoebe.
What never quite hit home for me was the kids’ storyline, which feels like a massive power fantasy, even more so than the third book, and that book did not land the earning of powers angle at all for me. The stakes didn’t feel real, there was magic Deus ex machina happening. And now their kids are also incredible and amazing and powerful and life is hard, apparently. There’s no real stakes at play here either, yet again. We know what becomes of Marcus. The kids don’t feel like they’re actually in danger. Phoebe changing and maybe not being into Marcus anymore, initially twinged an emotion, but it became clear very quickly that this issue wasn’t at stake either.
It didn’t really feel like there was a plot happening, basically. And I usually don’t require one. I get buy plenty of books ascribed such a label. But this does feel like spinning wheels because, by contrast with the first two books especially, the components that made those so enticing, are the intrigue and mystery and danger. It feels strange. In the end, it delivers on its premise, Harkness, I’ve found, is a joy to read, and it does add world building though. So I think it’s a fair 3 stars, if barely.
p.s, the whole small box sequence where it was banned and controversial to get it hits home so much with what’s happening now with COVID.
Not as great as the others. Marcus’ life in the revolutionary war and the French Revolution and New Orleans were interesting but I kept wanting more… maybe the book should have just been that.
adventurous
emotional
informative
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I really enjoyed this book not only because I got to meet characters again that I've really gotten to love but also because of how much Deborah Harkness's storytelling has improved. Her writing has gotten much more fluid and you can see that she knows when to leave things out more than before. I know some people commented on the sort of whiplash from encountering three different viewpoints in this book but I actually enjoyed bouncing from one character to another and learning more about them and what they were going through. The historical aspect was as usual a delight and I enjoyed learning more about the time period and the real people that lived in it. I had a blast on Google and Wikipedia looking up different things and learning more. I can see how they wouldn't be something that everyone would enjoy but if you don't mind jumping around between different characters and some historical tidbits I think you'll enjoy it. Seeing Diana, Matthew and the twins again is a huge bonus as well.