The Book of Life

The Book of Life (#417) is the third and concluding book of Deborah Harkness's All Souls Trilogy.  It's a satisfying conclusion to the story begun in A Discovery of Witches, and continued in Shadow of Night, but therein lies the rub: it's not a stand-alone book.  Even I, who devoured A Discovery of Witches when it came out in 2011, had difficulty remembering all the minor characters and plot points which filled the first two volumes.  It took me about a hundred pages to reacclimatize myself to the story, and I do have a good memory for these things.  With all that being said, if you're looking for a well-written novel that contains a soupcon of all kinds of genres; science fiction (which is where my library shelves it, to the consternation of its most ardent fans!), paranormal, vampires, witches, time-travel, and above all, romance, then this is the book for you.

It all started when a witch and a vampire meet in the Bodleian Library in Oxford and clash over a rare manuscript.  Both are academics, strong-willed and intelligent.  It doesn't take long for attraction to blossom.  In the second book Diana Bishop and Matthew Clairmont must use Diana's ability to time-walk to pursue clues to the whereabouts of the mysterious manuscript which holds the key to the fate of all witches, vampires and daemons.  They find themselves in the London of 1591 in Shadow of Night.  The Book of Life picks up with Diana and Matthew's return from the past to the Clairmont stronghold of Sept-Tours in France.  The pair is now married, and Diana is expecting twins.  To the Congregation, which governs the affairs of witches, vampires and daemons, this state of affairs is an abomination; Congregation rules (and it is widely believed, biology) forbid such cross-breeding.  Diana and Matthew are in deadly peril from their foes as they race to discover the whereabouts of the elusive Book of Life which holds the key to freeing them and others like them.  Genetic ideograms and ideology clash as one of Matthew's own sons seeks to destroy them and claim the knowledge for himself in horrifying fashion.

My advice if you have the time: line up all three books and read them one right after the other.  You'll have an easier time remembering all the details, or you can go back to a previous volume and find the answer you're looking for.  Just don't miss this exceptional series.