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mariakureads 's review for:
The Book of Life
by Deborah Harkness
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I am so sad to finish this one after all this time to be left feeling disappointed.
Whereas book one was all setup, book two was so much historical details that it took over the plot, book three was a train crash. And I wish it was different but after re-reading books one and two, book three is the author's attempt to wrap everything up without having to go deep into anything anymore.
There's an excess of details and wandering that was unecessary and dragged the story throughout the book. The re-introduction of characters from book two were hastingly added in, with little plot devices or enrichment and the biggest of them being the Book. The book that is the star of this whole thing which the cast is after is taking a backseat which I'm sorry is the dumbest thing. The big book that started this, the drive the two leads to work together, fall in love, eventually leading them to go back in time takes a backseat and when is reintroduced is an attempt of a big heist, has a brief moment to shine before being swallowed up by Diana!!!
No reason or rhyme for it, and now that she literally is the book, we get the drop that there's nothing special about anyone as we all come from one race, human.
There's other things that bother me like Gallowglass' character arc, the introduction and small arc of Benjamin which always was weird, the inclusion and almost dismissal of the DNA info dump and it going nowhere here, the haphazard pacing and Harkness' cute wrap of the arcs without doing them proper justice. I am glad to finally have gotten to finish this series as I was for a long time not wanting to admit to myself it was over but after what I read, yeah, I'm glad to put this in the rearview.
I seriously give this 1 star for the overall book, and another for the writing style itself as the author has been able to keep continuity between that many characters, places, and arcs together across three books.
Whereas book one was all setup, book two was so much historical details that it took over the plot, book three was a train crash. And I wish it was different but after re-reading books one and two, book three is the author's attempt to wrap everything up without having to go deep into anything anymore.
There's an excess of details and wandering that was unecessary and dragged the story throughout the book. The re-introduction of characters from book two were hastingly added in, with little plot devices or enrichment and the biggest of them being the Book. The book that is the star of this whole thing which the cast is after is taking a backseat which I'm sorry is the dumbest thing. The big book that started this, the drive the two leads to work together, fall in love, eventually leading them to go back in time takes a backseat and when is reintroduced is an attempt of a big heist, has a brief moment to shine before being swallowed up by Diana!!!
No reason or rhyme for it, and now that she literally is the book, we get the drop that there's nothing special about anyone as we all come from one race, human.
There's other things that bother me like Gallowglass' character arc, the introduction and small arc of Benjamin which always was weird, the inclusion and almost dismissal of the DNA info dump and it going nowhere here, the haphazard pacing and Harkness' cute wrap of the arcs without doing them proper justice. I am glad to finally have gotten to finish this series as I was for a long time not wanting to admit to myself it was over but after what I read, yeah, I'm glad to put this in the rearview.
I seriously give this 1 star for the overall book, and another for the writing style itself as the author has been able to keep continuity between that many characters, places, and arcs together across three books.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence
Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Death