Hi ForeverBookers,
I haven’t posted here this year yet, but that’s because I was intensely reading book 3 of my favourite series EVER, The All Souls series for this review, like I’ve done for A Discovery of Witches and Shadow of Night (books 1 and 2 of the All Souls series).
I LOVE and ADORE this book (and the series as a whole). "The Book Of Life" wraps up the All Souls Trilogy. We’re still following the story of Diana and Matthew but this time it’s after they come back from 1590’s London, and the events of Shadow of Night. They have the task of taking down the Congregation and add to that destroying Matthew’s vampire son, Benjamin, who is trying to populate the earth with evil vampire children, something he requires Diana for. There are twists and turns throughout too as well as really sweet moments, like when Diana gives birth to Matthew’s twins, yes, he’s a vampire, but they can procreate with weavers, which is what Diana is. Think Twilight, Breaking Dawn but with a reason, and more adult! There are other sweet moments as well as heartbreaking moments of separation too. As I said, this was a reread so I was expecting the separations this time but it really hurt the first time I read it to see my favourite couple separated when all they wanted was to be together! We see Diana really grow into her weaver role that was passed down to her by her father, Stephen, too. She grows in many ways; magically, motherly and as Matthew’s wife. She even has a seat on the Congregation, a magical council in this novel. Diana and Matthew need to find the Book of Life, what the novel is named after. That will give them the answers they need. Can they? You’ll need to read to find out!
5 Stars!!!!!
"The Book of Life" is about Diana and Matthew primarily, but we still see glimpses from other characters, such as Ysabeau, Matthew’s vampire mother, Philippe, Matthew’s vampire father, Sarah, Diana’s aunt and Matthew’s research colleague Miriam and Diana’s best friend, Chris, as well as others just bought into this novel, like Janet Gowdie. I don’t want to spoil her role but let’s just say it’s very significant.
The novel is set in France, primarily but there are glimpses of London and America too, as well as a new setting Chelm, in Poland. With all the settings, it made the story interesting.
The Book of Life has third person chapters as well as Diana’s first person chapters. This made the book a little awkward to read. It’s not that I think the third person chapters were bad but they distanced me a little from the plot. Although, saying this, Matthew had a couple of chapters about him, which was nice to see.
I read the Book of Life for a few readathons. They were:
The Cardcaptor-a-thon - The Return Card - A favourite book you want to reread - “The Book of Life” 100% works for this prompt. I was reminded of how MUCH I loved this story reading this book!
Reading Rivalry - I could only submit this for page points in the end because it took me longer than the month of January to read and make my notes, but in January it would have worked for “A White Cover,” because the UK cover of “The Book of Life” is mainly white!
Popsugar 2022 Reading Challenge - A book with a constellation on the cover or in the title - The US hardcover (which is the version I read) has some of these on it.
Always Fully Booked 2022 Reading Challenge - A Book with a location you’d love to visit - I’d love to go back to France and go to Italy!
Always Fully Booked Genre Reading Challenge - Romance
Always Fully Booked “On The Cover” Reading Challenge - A Mode of Transportation - there are little boats on the US cover!
Always Fully Booked “Reading Rainbow Challenge” - GREEN - I read the US hardcover, which has a green cover!
Always Fully Booked “Around The World Reading Challenge” - Europe - "The Book of Life" is set mostly in France, but some parts are in England and a part is in Poland so Europe seemed to fit better!
Spoilers Below...
We start the novel with the characters that were in the present when Emily, Diana’s aunt and Sarah’s partner died, revealing that to Diana. Diana is heartbroken by this news and vows to get revenge on Peter Knox, a wizard that is on the Congregation, the magical council, who hates Diana and Matthew’s relationship as he was the one that killed Emily.
“I’m going to kill Peter Knox,” Diana said fiercely after she’d taken a sip of whiskey. The light around her grew brighter.
“Not today you’re not,” Matthew said firmly.”
Diana vows to kill Peter Knox. She’s still pregnant at this point with Matthew’s twins. He just wants to protect his wife. I really liked seeing this fierce, protective side of Matthew. Diana seems ready to go and fight whenever she needs to. This was believable because Diana is very matter-of-fact. When she says she’s going to do something, she does it, unless Matthew stops her, like above. That’s part of why they work so well together as a couple. Matthew is about the only person Diana actually listens to. This was nice to see—a couple working together. It was also nice to see some human interaction with the supernatural creatures. This happens a couple of times in the novel but one moment early on is when Diana learns that Matthew has been to see Smitty to get hand tools, as well as later on with Chris and his research colleagues.
“You’ve caught a good one there,” Smitty said, eyeing my wedding ring. “And he seems to be getting along with Miz Bishop, too.” This last was said in a slightly awed tone.
My mouth twitched. I picked up the stack of catalogs and bills that remained and put them in my bag. “You take care, Smitty.”
“Bye, Mrs Clairmont. Tell Mr. Clairmont to let me know when he decides about that roller for the driveway.”
It’s not Mrs. Clairmont. I still use—Oh, never mind,” I said, catching Smitty’s confused expression. I opened the door and stepped aside to let two children enter. The kids were in hot pursuit of lollipops, which Mrs Hutchinson kept on the counter. I was almost out the door when I heard Smitty whispering to the postmistress.
“Have you met Mr. Clairmont, Annie? Nice guy. I was beginning to think Diana was going to be a spinster like Miz Bishop, if you know what I mean,” Smitty said, giving Mrs. Hutchinson a meaningful wink.”
Smitty is a very minor character but I thought his adoration of Matthew was funny, as he doesn’t know WHO he is. He thinks that Matthew is just a normal, run of the mill guy, not a vampire! There were lots of funny moments in this book. Chris is one of the more mainstream funny characters. He comes into the novel at about the a third of the way through. He’s Diana’s best friend, who’s a scientist that wants to prove Matthew wrong at first.
“Who is this Diana?” Matthew asked quietly, coming to my side.
“Chris Roberts. Who the hell are you?” Chris demanded.
“This is Matthew Clairmont, fellow of All Souls College, Oxford University,” I hesitated. “My husband.”
Chris starts off as a bit standoffish, towards Matthew especially, but becomes a reliable aid to both him and Diana in the end. He’s clearly shocked about how Diana has married Matthew without even mentioning Matthew to him. He doesn’t know Diana is a witch and that Matthew is a vampire or that supernatural creatures even exist until Diana tells him. After she tells him, he just seems to accept that there are other creatures in the world. He asks about werewolves too, which Matthew says a firm no to.
“Vampires and witches. Wow.”
“There are daemons, too. But they don’t glow and they’re not evil. Well, no more so than any other species.”
“Other species?” Chris’s tone sharpened with interest. “Are there werewolves?”
“Absolutely not!” Matthew shouted in the distance.
“Touchy subject.” I gave Chris a tentative smile. “So you’re really fine with this?”
“Why wouldn’t I be? The government spends millions searching for aliens in outer space, and it turns out you’re right here. Think of all the grant money this could save up.” Chris was always looking for a way to diminish the physics department.
“You can’t tell anybody,” I said hastily. “Not many humans know about us, and we need to keep it that way.
“We’re bound to find out eventually,” Chris said. “Besides, most people would be thrilled.”
I loved reading Chris’s parts as he brought some funny moments, which broke up the more dramatic and serious moments. “Besides most people would be thrilled,” is pushing it a bit, I think. That’s what I loved most about Chris, though. He was always there to see the positive side in everything!
Ysabeau is a character that plays a bigger role in “The Book of Life” than in “A Discovery of Witches” and certainly “Shadow of Night.” She’s not as hostile to Diana now and more motherly to her, I think because she realises that Diana will forever be in Matthew’s life, quite literally. Also Diana met Philippe, Ysabeau’s husband in 1590‘s France and bonded with him so they’re closer because of Philippe’s blood vow that he gave to Diana in 1590, too.
“I caught her hand. She was colder even than her son. I gently set her fingers on the skin between my eyebrows, giving her silent permission to examine the place where Philippe de Clermont had marked me. The pressure of Ysabeau’s fingers changed infinitesimally while she explored my forehead. When she stepped away, I could see her throat working.
“I do feel something. A presence, some hint of Philippe.” Ysabeau’s eyes were shining.
“I wish he were here,” I confessed. “He would know what to do about this mess: Baldwin, the blood vow, the Congregation, Knox, even Ashmole 782.
“My husband never did anything unless it was absolutely necessary,” Ysabeau replied.”
This is the bonding moment for Ysabeau and Diana as mother and daughter-in-law. This is when Ysabeau understands the blood vow that Philippe gave to Diana and why he did so. Philippe trusted her to be with Matthew forever. She says that Philippe never did something unless it was “absolutely necessary.” She knows he accepted Diana and feels that she should too. Although Philippe is never a main character in the series, he’s referenced throughout this book. After this moment in the novel Ysabeau becomes an definite ally to Diana.
Diana and Matthew separate for a small part of "The Book of Life," so that Matthew can form a scion - a small family of his own, that has nothing to do with the de Clermonts, or more specifically Baldwin de Clermont. He does this because Baldwin, the head of the de Clermont clan doesn’t want anything to do with Diana, as she’s a witch and Baldwin is a part of the covenant or Congregation, who believe that creatures mixing only leads to trouble. Does this change? Does he learn to accept Diana as his sister, through Philippe’s blood bond? You’ll need to read to find out.
One of my favourite parts of "The Book of Life" is when Diana gives birth to Matthew’s twins.
He stood, dumbstruck, cradling the tiny body in his large hands. There was something miraculous in the juxtaposition of a father’s strength with his daughter’s vulnerability. She stopped crying for a moment, yawned, and returned yelling at the cold indignity of her current situation.
“Hello, little stranger,” Matthew whispered. He looked at me in awe. “She’s beautiful,”
shows Matthew’s adoration of his daughter’s birth. He’s overwhelmed because he never thought he’d get to experience this moment as a vampire. The baby girl, that they call Rebecca, after Diana’s mother, is more vampire than witch, and their son, whom they call Philip, after Matthew’s father is more witch than vampire. I thought the juxtaposition of names was interesting. Diana’s mother was a witch, when baby Rebecca is more vampire and Matthew’s father was a vampire, when baby Philip is more witch.
“Suddenly aware that my job was only half way done, Matthew handed the baby into Marcus’s care. He then gave me a long look, a deep kiss and a nod.
“Ready, ma lionne?”
“As I’ll ever be,” I said, seized by another sharp pain.
Twenty minutes later, at 12:25., our son was born.”
These birth scenes were some of my favourite scenes because they show just how in love Matthew is with Diana and how devoted he is to her and their family. I love male characters who show this, because it shows that men can be soft but fierce and protective of those they love and cherish, too! Matthew calls Diana “ma lionne,” whenever he’s proud of her for how brave she is. This moment counts because she’s gone through hell, to give him something to cherish and hold dear, forever: children. Jack, a character from 1590’s London comes to see Diana and Matthew with Andrew Hubbard, as a vampire. At first Matthew is furious about Jack becoming a vampire but when Andrew explains why, he understands. Jack becomes like their adoptive son. He goes so far as calling Matthew, “Dad.”
“Don’t leave Philip out of the reunion, Dad.” Jack wedged Philip securely into the crook of Matthew’s other arm.
Matthew’s eyes flickered with surprise at the greeting. It was such a small word—Dad—but Jack had never called Matthew anything except Master Roydon and Matthew. Though Andrew Hubbard had insisted that Matthew was Jack’s true father, and Jack had been quick to call me “Mother,” he had been strangely reluctant to bestow a similar honor on the man he worshipped.”
This was sweet, I thought. This comes after the trauma of the end of the book, that I really don’t want to spoil, but I’ll say that Matthew is hurt physically. He’s being reunited with his children—blood and adopted. Matthew clearly loves Jack like he’s his own, just as Becca and Phillip are.
Diana finds the Book of Life and even becomes it. Below is one of my favourite moments from the book, where Matthew realises that Diana is still his even if she holds the secrets of all the creatures within her.
“The price of power.” Matthew’s hand circled my forearm, his thumb stroking the words as they appeared. The movement was rough and irregular at first, but it grew smoother and steadier with every pass over my skin. He had observed the changes in me since I’d become the Book of Life but never mentioned them until now.
“So much to say,” he murmured, his lips brushing my neck. His fingers delved, parted my flesh, touched my core.
I gasped. It had been so long, but his touch was still familiar. Matthew’s fingers went unerringly to the places that bought me the most pleasure.
“But you don’t need words to tell me what you feel,” Matthew said. “I see you, even when you hide from rest of the world. I hear you, even when your silent.
It was a pure definition of love. Like magic, the letters amassing on my forearms disappeared as Matthew stripped my soul bare and guided my body to a place where words were indeed unnecessary. I trembled through my release, and though Matthew’s touch became as light as a feather, his fingers never stopped moving.
“Again,” he said, when my pulse quickened once more.
“It’s not possible,” I said. Then he did something that made me gasp.
“Impossible n’est pas français,” Matthew replied, giving me a nip on the ear. “And next time your brother comes to call, tell him not to worry. I’m perfectly capable of taking care of my wife.”
This is a tender, heartfelt moment after the events at the end of the book that I don’t want to spoil. Matthew who gets hurt heals, even though it takes a while. This moment is when he shows Diana how much he loves her. Earlier in the novel, Ysabeau says that “Impossible n’est pas français,” which means that impossible isn’t French in French about Matthew forming a scion—his own branch of de Clermonts. She has confidence in him, just as Diana does. This first utterance of the phrase became character building for both Matthew and Ysabeau, who became a lot nicer in “The Book of Life,” though still just as fierce! Here, Matthew is using the phrase as he makes love to Diana. The brother is Baldwin, who thanks to Philippe’s blood vow is Diana’s brother, even though she’d prefer him not to be.
At the end of the "The Book of Life" Baldwin goes so far as to give Diana the job of the de Clermont family representative on the covenant. He does this, I believe, to make up for being so negative and hostile towards her and Matthew. This is her proper acceptance into the de Clermont family. This means, however that she’ll need to attend meetings with two of her enemies, Domenico and Gerbert, who both hate her as much as she hates them. They don’t believe she’s needed or worthy of the position. Of course, Matthew, Baldwin, Ysabeau, Sarah etc think differently. Even Janet, another witch on the Congregation, one that accepts Diana for who she is because she’s in actual fact a descendant of Benjamin because he had an affair with her great-grandmother.
“My grandmother was the child of a weaver and a vampire.” Janet’s gray eyes latched on to mine. “Everyone in the Highlands called him Nickie-Ben.”
“Benjamin.”
Janet therefore knows that not all mixed raced creatures are evil, like Benjamin, because she’s not. She’s just like Diana in that she’s a ‘normal’ witch. This proves that Diana and Matthew’s twins won’t necessarily be evil either, as the members of the Congregation are scared of that more than anything else because it’s an unknown. “This will shake the Congregation to its foundations,” I said.
“It does more than that. The science makes the covenant completely irrelevant,” Matthew said. “We’re not separate species.” It’s revealed at the end that all creatures come from ONE set of DNA. They’re all somewhat daemons, especially Diana and Matthew, a weaver and a blood-rage vampire.
Overall then, I ABSOLUTELY LOVED rereading "The Book of Life," hence the 5 Stars! I NEED MORE... but there are potential leads from this book that the author could delve into one day, hopefully!!! And there’s Time’s Convert too, which I’ll reread soon.
Polarthon, hosted by Jadeyraereads on Youtube starts today, so my next few reads will be for that!
Comments
Post a Comment