Book of Life
Book Three (and final) of the All Souls Trilogy
By Deborah Harkness
Published in 2014
Genre: Fantasy, Historical Fiction
My rating = 3 ½ - 4 stars
First off can I just mention that this book contains so many different types of relationships, even when they go back in time there are gay and lesbian relationships. As a historian herself, the author knows the hardships of what reality would be like for someone of the LGBTQ+ community to live in the past but ignored that to show that yes there have always been people like this and yes it has always been ok and yes you can be religious and still be this person. It really brings warmth to my heart to see this, it doesn’t just happen once or twice but all through the books. “Love is love” is the message of this series. With creatures being forbidden to love a different kind of creature, the characters fight for their right to love whoever they please. I’m just so glad that gender was irrelevant.
Ok so, I started this last book in the trilogy not really knowing what to expect. I loved what happened with Ashmole 782, for me it really strung the general story line all together. The problem is, I still don’t understand the book or why it’s made of the materials it’s made of. There’s no real exclamation as to the exact way her parents died although some light is shed on why they died. I still have no idea why they had to leave Diana to protect her. How did Matthews sister even die? I can’t remember if that’s even mentioned because there are soooo many characters.
It is a downside to this series that there are so many characters from past present, here, there and everywhere that every now and then a name pops up and you’re just like ‘urmmm who?’. In addition to sometimes forgetting who the characters are, you better be familiar with sciencey terms relating to DNA or you’re just going to glaze over in some pages! I do also have to say that I was expecting more action throughout this book although it kind of came through at the end.
I’m probably painting this last book in a bad light where in reality it’s the one I read the quickest out of the three and enjoyed the most. I was just a little let down as it wasn’t what I was hoping for after all the build up in the other books.
The BIGGEST thing that is nibbling away at me is that (and sorry because this may be a slight spoiler if you’ve not read it already) Gallowglass is a character I completely adored, and he did not find his own happy ending. We discover he loves Diana and she wants him to find someone who will love him back, so I’m thinking aw cute I can’t wait to see who he ends up with, urm NO ONE, he ends up with no one.
I just feel there’s a lot that could be taken out of this third book and replaced with things that are going to tie up more loose ends in the story.
Would I recommend? If you’re looking for a witchy story different to others out there then yes. I’m really excited to watch this as a TV series and put names to faces. This book has such a wild range of reviews, people to seem to love is or despise it, I’m somewhere in the middle.
Let me know what you thought in the comments or send me a dm on instagram.
Elle x
Comentaris