anieva's Reviews > The Book of Life

While this book was engrossing despite itself, it was a frustrating book, at least for me. I am not sure why I feel the need to discuss this book, since there are so many frustrating books out there, but here goes...

It read as if less attention had been given it by the author than the first two in her trilogy. So frustrating when that kind of thing happens. It was like, in some ways, an outline of what it could have been, despite its 560 or so pages. There were so many times when I had to try to figure out what Harkness was making the character say. Then it would be explained a couple of paragraphs later. This happens often enough in books, but in this one I never felt confident that the explanation was coming. In most books, I can sense it, so I don't worry and get stuck rereading lines thinking I've missed something I haven't.

And I get that characters have good and bad in them. This often creates depth, but here it seemed unplanned, unexplained, purposeless, and gratuitous. There seemed to be no integrity to the character of the players; they were cruel and villainous and warm and cuddly, with no underlying integrity to ground what could have been complexity.

It seemed like Harkness was making things up as she went along, as though she hadn't realized in the first two books that she'd need to set things up, so she just popped them in as she went along in book 3. And then there were minor plot points with no purpose. Gallowglass's feelings for Diana? What was the point?

Things weren't settled, either. As someone else here on Goodreads asked, does Diana still have a tree growing out of her neck? And why is she teaching again when she made a point to say she wouldn't be. It seems like the book was written so quickly that revisions weren't made that should have been made to address such questions.

There were loopholes so big you could drive a train through. Given the fact that some characters were witches, there were things that were inexplicably difficult for them to accomplish.

And all the Christianity stuff...It would have been interesting, but it made no sense in the world of the book, and the fact that it was so alien and did not fit was never addressed. It was odd for it to be there when the author didn't deal with obvious questions.

The first two books had a depth of tone that was intriguing. Even though I never really cared for this romantic pair the way I do others, I wanted to know more about them. But, not in this book. They annoyed me here, as did their lovemaking. And there was something hollow about the way the book was put together that affected the way their relationship came off. It was uninteresting and empty.

Finally, there were moments of near-cornball that would have been lovely if handled with care. But, the wording failed the opportunity and made those parts stand out soppily in contrast to the tone of the series in general.

I know lots of people thought two years was too long to wait for this book, but, frankly, I don't think that is long at all. Maybe Harkness needed a rest before writing this one? Authors should have that opportunity.