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561 pages, Paperback
First published July 15, 2014
"If you truly love someone, you will cherish what they despise most about themselves."
"But you have become as vital to me as breath and blood. My heart no longer knows where I end and you begin. I knew that you were a powerful witch from the moment I saw you, but how could I have imagined that you would have so much power over me?" - Matthew de Clermont
"May the ranks of angels receive you,
and with Lazarus,once a poor man,
may you have eternal rest,"
Bet you never thought you'd see Jay-Z in a review for "The Book of Life"! Anyway...
3.5 Stars. I liked it (overall...I am pretty sure), but I am going to apologize in advance because this review will most likely end up being a disorganized collection of my thoughts on this book and series, but after finishing it, I don't think I can write it any other way.
First off, I would definitely recommend reading a wiki page about Book 2 in the trilogy before starting the third book. Let me explain - I started the first few pages and found myself asking "What?" "Who is that?" "Wait, who died when?" "Who's Cora?" "She's pregnant?" (totally forgot) and so on and so forth. The wiki definitely helped me remember a lot of the second book and it came back to me slowly as I read the third, but there were still times throughout the book that I could not remember events or characters for the first two (no joke, I still have no idea who one of the godparents is???). I generally like to read books in a series back-to-back if at all possible, but I am not sure if that would have worked for me in this case. I am afraid your brain would explode (at least mine would) or you would get so bogged down with the details you wouldn't be able to continue. THERE IS JUST SO MUCH! - so many "scenes" and SO, so, many characters. So, long story short - read the wiki first. It will help some.
Looking back, and again, I don't remember the first two books with clarity as I read them when they first came out, but still remember my impressions about them, I feel like I read three very different books. The first one was amazing, in my opinion. I liked the mystery and the building of the relationships between the characters. It set a great stage for the story. But then, the second book, while I liked it, didn't have the same feel. It was more about the characters adjusting to who they are and who they were together. And of course, a lot of it happend 100s of years in the past. Apparently, a lot of what happened in the second book was fairly important as it was referenced often in the third book, but I didn't feel that at the time I read the second book. (Side note - do you guys remember Diana absolutely LOVING her life when they went back to the past? I didn't and I remember her having a number of challenges, but throughout the third book, their time is the past is referenced like it was glorious?) Then the third book is the battle book. All the characters are constantly fighting for something. Fighting to find a cure, fighting Baldwin, fighting to keep it together while they are apart, fighting the congregation, and of course fighting Benjamin. Yes, the characters were generally the same (all 900 of them), but the feel of the books felt so different.
Speaking of Benjamin - did you see it coming that the was going to be the big villain of the series? PS - that is not really a spoiler at all. It is pretty clear that is the case very early in Book 3. I didn't - not really. But, alas, he is the big bad. Yeah, Peter Knox is around, so is Satu, but Benjamin is the real nemesis. I would never have guessed that the third book in the trilogy would feature him so much based on the first book, if you know what I mean.
I will say, I didn't love the mythology at the end. It wasn't horrible, but I expected more out of the "Book of Life" than the answer we got. I didn't anticipate blood rage and weavers being so important. I thought there was going to be some sort of bigger picture. And I guess there was, in the "we should all get along because...(read it to find out)" sense, but the whole part with the book was a bit of a let down.
In general, I will say I think the book got better as it went along. In the beginning the genetics "stuff" was just too much for me. I ended up really liking some of the side characters, namely Fernando, Chris, and Gallowglass. Speaking of Gallowglass - is the author planning a spin-off? That is the only thing I can think given the events of the book and the ending. If not, then what the heck?!?!
So what is the point of all this rambling - well, overall, I still liked the story. I am still glad I read it. I still think it's a good trilogy. Sadly, neither the second or third books will make it to my favorites shelf like the first book, but I was entertained and engaged in the story. So, if you have read the first two books, I recommend you read this one. You won't be too disappointed. I haven't read other reviews, but I can't imagine people hating the third book entirely. (However, of course people did, becuase someone always does.) Although it wasn't as strong as the first book, it was still entertaining and, generally, a good conclusion.