Trish's Reviews > The Book of Life

This marks the conclusion of the All Souls trilogy and I couldn't be happier. From the first book on, this had become my new favourite story about witches and other supernatural creatures.

In this third volume, Diana and Matthew are home from their timewalk in the past. They had to leave loved ones behind, which is never easy, and had to discover that disaster had struck in their original timeline as well.
Not to mention that Diana is pregnant (with twins no less!) and the enemies are closing in from all sides, some even remaining in the shadows until the second half of this book, with some astonishing twists that I hadn't expected.
We also get to meet more of the family (kept in the dark until now thanks to Philippe's meticulous planning so as not to create a time paradox) as well as the history of creatures.

What I still adore about this author's style is the vividness of places she conjures up. Especially whenever witches are gathered to work magic, I felt this coziness! However, it was also the life and uniqueness she gave every single character that drew me in - not only the secondary characters were fantastic, but the tertiary ones as well!
Ysabeau will probably always be my favourite but I've come to appreciate the entire ensemble (except for Baldwin, no matter how much he developed throughout this third book).

Add to that some pretty exciting locations, this time in the present, as well as the on-going but never boring mystery of Ashmole 782 that combines history/mystery with solid pieces of science, and the mad dash to keep everyone save from mad vampires and closed-minded witches.

Speaking of closed-mindedness: the author touched on some really big topics, too. From the homosexual couples throughout the trilogy (Sarah and Em, Hugh and Fernando, ...) to "interracial" relationships that the congregation wanted to prohibit, women being introduced into certain circles - there were a lot of social topics cleverly interwoven into the fabric of a classic fantasy story that included drakes and ghosts and magic and lively pets (especially a certain dog in this volume). Usually when authors do this, it throws me off, because whenever bad-ass females are introduced gentlemanly manners must be sacrificed for some reason (which is utterly stupid and ridiculous) - not here though! The author managed to perfectly combine the old-fashioned with the modern.

The entire trilogy is done perfectly, with the author showing her skills as a researcher and scholar (the only criticism I can utter is about the linguistic errors and especially some pronuncitations in this latest audiobook) and I think this really helped transporting the reader to several university campuses, libraries, laboratories, castles, a former KZ, several countries of 1590/1591 as well as modern-day Venice.

Last, but certainly not least, this is a love story. A love story done right.
Matthew and Diana are flawed creatures that know about their shortcomings, even fear to expose their imperfect sides to one another, but love the other unconditionally. They are full of devotion for one another while letting others into their hearts and lives nevertheless.
But it's not only about Matthew and Diana, although those two are the center (without beginning or end) of course. It's a love story about family; the families we make for ourselves (which often means people we aren't related to by blood); the friends we keep close; of always being faithful, no matter how hard it may be. Honour as well as integrity and sacrifice play big parts, too, and that definitely speaks to me.