Il bacio delle tenebre by Deborah Harkness

4.07 AVERAGE

ameliagb's review against another edition

3.0
adventurous challenging informative mysterious reflective slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
An unforgettable ending for all of the wrong reasons. I can scarcely remember a time when I was as unsatisfied by the end of series as I was with this one and specifically this book. The story began with much potential. There were many moving parts and lines of the plot to be woven, sure to be fashioned into an epic finale that reveals all of the secrets that the story has been built upon. Unfortunately The Book of Life over-promised and under-delivered. Although I could not put this book down out of shear desperation to know what was going to happen, I can't really tell you what meaningfully happened in the story. There were many characters and they went many places and things happened but most of it felt as though it was essentially irrelevant to the story. The saving graces were the birth of the babies and being introduced to them and of course the dissolution of the covenant. I think the author wrote those parts well and made them interesting and capturing. As for everything else it felt like the author had many elements she wanted to include but not a strong plan as for how to implement them and it left me with many, many more questions at the end of the series than I think was intended. For example, the Book of Life. This mystical book that Diana and Matthew chase for 3 books, almost 2 years and go back more than 400 years in the past to learn about a retrieve and is made of the skin of literally people is just a record of ( an incredibly vague one I'll add) mixed-race creatures? That's basically it. Obviously there is more depth to it but the author just opts not to explain it in the story. Supposedly Diana knows everything the book has to offer but at no point does she really impart that information and no one really asks any questions about it. This MYTHIC book of which provides the literal name of THIS book and Diana just absorbs is, is covered in tattoos of it's words but simply says it explains the mixed-race creatures and that's it. I read some explanations online about what other readers think the book was intended for and what the reference to The Bright Ones meant but my issue with that is it is the AUTHOR's job to explain those things. It's one thing for readers to theorize based on things left open to interpretation in a book but in my opinion this series has not left things open-ended so broadly like this before so it's not consistent to do it here. Yes, things were presented often that seemed mysterious and left the reader wondering but they did all end up with explanations in the end. So for the author to just present the elements of the Book and then leave it completely open is incongruous with the entire rest of the story. So many other things went unanswered. Who wrote the book? Why did they use the skin of creatures? When was it written? Why was DIANA the one to absorb it. Why did it have Diana/Matthew/Rebecca/Phillip illustrated in it..? Why did the witches, daemons and vampires have connections to it but no one knows where it came from? For the author to present all of these questions multiple times in the series and then to not answer them is ludicrous. Aside from the Book of Life, what happens to Gallowglass? How could she just infer he was in love with Diana and then leave it at that? Also, what was the entire POINT of including the Yale part. To me it felt like the author just desperately wanted the characters to go to Yale but couldn't find a way for it to serve a real purpose. Diana was gifted the last 2 pages of the book so there was no reason she had to research at Yale for them. And the inclusion of Chris's class was so insane. They infer the book is a container but then leave it alone and never reference it again. They have an entire class of students study the book and it amounts to nothing.  That is a good way to summarize the book overall. It amounted to nothing. The only thing of note that happened that was different from the beginning of the book is that they had the twins and the covenant is broken. Everything in the middle was just not necessary. This deserved three stars because I really did like the series overall and I love the author's writing style but this finale was just not good and I wish the author would have gone about it so differently. Hopefully the subsequent installments she has planned are more thought-out.
 

niftytale's review against another edition

3.75
adventurous emotional tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
casperjograe's profile picture

casperjograe's review against another edition

4.0
Phenomenal. I love the happy ending, though it was a tad bit anticlimactic in my opinion. Diana has her happy ending, with her family and mate. Matthew took care of his problem child, solidified bonds with his brother, and they took down the evil covenant. Can’t wait to read the next two now that BBO was released!

ashykhaira's review against another edition

5.0
I loved that the book picked up exactly where it left off.We find out who killed emily and how matthew and jack along with marcus defies baldwins order and sets about starting their own scion along with the reason why.I loved how they consider jack their child even if he wasnt of their blood,or he was not made a vampire by matthew.

Also hate how and why benjamin keeps hurting the family and what he keeps doing to the witches.Diana has an inkling as to why vampires and witches were able to reproduce etc.And that helps chris and miriam with their research.We also learn the truth about Satu,the book of life and diana and matthew.loved the book and wish there was more to the story
franfranlostinhominum's profile picture

franfranlostinhominum's review against another edition

5.0
adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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: Complicated
connie34's profile picture

connie34's review against another edition

4.0
Derde deel in de Allerzielen trilogie. Het boek krijgt een 7 omdat ik de eerste helft een beetje moeizaam vond lezen. Te veel genetische zaken die ik niet echt kon volgen, de tweede helft maakt veel goed en het leest dan ook weer een stuk prettiger. Al met al een goede trilogie.

alecegg's review against another edition

3.0
adventurous dark fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
lilac_frog's profile picture

lilac_frog's review against another edition

5.0
emotional mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Loveable characters: Yes

mtaltos's review against another edition

4.25
adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-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

rivalrook's review against another edition

4.0
**Warning: this text may contain spoilers** This was a satisfying conclusion to this lovely trilogy. I enjoyed it thoroughly although I do have a few lingering questions.

With the return of a particular character, this book is more disturbing than the previous two. It added an urgency to the story and a new consideration of consequences of past and future actions. Diana and Matthew's relationship continues to evolve and Diana continues to grow in power and confidence. I love her character because while her overall identity eludes her, she guided by her strength of character and her desire to protect those she cares for. I really loved watching their relationship develop, even when my heart was wrenched painfully.

Some characters reappear, creating a whirlwind of emotions in their wake and valuable additions to the cast, although there were others I wished to see more of. There were a few places where the pace dragged a little and it seemed that lots of time went by with no significant developments. I lost track of character goals more than once but that could say more about my attention than the book.

Now for the spoilers section: Why did Peter Knox just stand there while Diana did her killing thing at the end? Do the twins have blood rage? How did they convince the Congregation to let Matthew and his children live even with the blood rage? Why didn't it revisit the idea of humans learning about creatures? Why does no one seem to comment on Diana's altered state after the initial absorbing of the book? Did her eyes ever revert to normal? And if not, why does it not alarm all humans she comes into contact with? And finally, why doesn't Gallowglass get to be happy?

This series truly blends history, science, romance, fantasy, and suspense nicely and it is both well-written and easy to read. The characters are so well built that there were times I couldn't put it done. Also, despite my questions, it does end well. Personally, I would love to see a series about Gallowglass. Just saying.