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The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness

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Susan
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The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness

Post by Susan » Thu July 24th, 2014, 9:00 pm

I read the first two books in the trilogy back to back exactly two years ago, absolutely loved them, and gave both 5 stars, so I had high hopes for this last book. Quotes from my reviews of the other two books... #1 "I loved the witch-vampire-daemon world and its intersection with the human world. I loved the little bits of history and found myself researching the historical people mentioned" and #2 "Yes, conflicts are not resolved, and the plot of the trilogy needs to continue, but the characters are in a place where this reader felt a breather could be taken. Some readers noted that there were too many historical details. Not for me; I like historical details and when the characters were in 1590 London, I felt I was there with them."

I had an issue right away with #3 with all the characters thrown at the reader in the beginning. A character list would have been helpful. A better intertwining of previous action would have helped me also. The reader was expected to remember too much from the previous two books. I did not feel the other-worldliness with #3 except with Diana. (Things do get a bit weird for her!) For most of the other characters, the fact that they were vampires or daemons did not seem to matter that much. I'm not sure that the plot, from the first page of book 1 to the last page of book 3, was completely thought out from beginning to end. The characters were barreling down the road (sometimes literally, other times flying in private jets) to the resolution which was somewhat anti-climatic.

Having said all that, the good news is that by the end of the book, the story is tied up although I have some questions. I would recommend that anyone who read the first two books read this one even if there is some disappointment.
Last edited by Susan on Thu July 24th, 2014, 9:16 pm, edited 2 times in total.
~Susan~
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