Review: The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness

I wanted to write a really great review of this book, because it deserves one.  And I wanted to be able to say something other than, "OMG, I loved it!" because you know, that isn't especially intelligent.  And yet.

OMG, I loved it!

I read Discovery of Witches, the first book in the All Souls Trilogy, a few years ago.  I knew nothing about the book.  My library had just gotten the ability to loan kindle books, so I was looking at what was available.  Witches, I like stories about witches, I'll give it a try.

Immediately, I was lost in this world.  A witch and a vampire in Oxford.  Smart and sexy.  Romantic and intelligent.  I loved this book so much.  It's all I could talk about.  Anyone who would listen got lured into, "So, I'm reading this amazing book..."

But I didn't love Shadow of Night, the second book in the series, all that much.  Not a huge fan of time travel, though I've since read much more of it since reading this book, and I was bothered by some of the actions of the characters.  These characters that I loved so much in the first book seemed out of their element in the second book.  Diana busy keeping house and obsessing about getting pregnant and Matthew being a jerk, letting his friends treat Diana horribly.  I didn't understand what was happening.  They didn't feel like the characters I'd loved so much in the first book.  And yet, I knew they were the same, and I still cared about them.  It's a credit to the author to have created characters that can evoke this much emotion - I wouldn't get so upset about characters who didn't matter to me.  I might have been overly harsh about the second book, and I may have read it too quickly.  Though on my attempts to re-read it in preparation for the new book, I kept setting the book aside, getting upset all over again with the characters.  I ended up getting a copy of the audio book, and felt I liked it more that way.

And regardless of whether I liked or loved Shadow of Night, I was so anxious for the third book.  This was going to be the highlight of my summer.  I cheered and danced when I found out I'd been approved for a review copy via NetGalley.  (And I am not the cheering and dancing sort, not at all.  But I was that excited.)

You know how sometimes you want something so bad, and then you get it and it doesn't live up to all your expectations?  Not a problem here!  I loved this book.  Loved it!

For two days, I cut off all ties with the world, crawled in bed and read.  I was immersed in this world with these characters I loved so much, and all was right in the Universe.

Pretty much everything that bothered me about the second book was all gone.  Matthew and Diana are back in present time, he's back in the lab, she's back in the library.  These are the people I fell in love with in the beginning.  They're back to being equals, being two people in love, trying to make their relationship work under very difficult circumstances.  Besides being married and starting a family, they've got all kinds of family issues, and then we've got the congregation that doesn't approve of a relationship between a witch and a vampire.  It's all a mess, but they figure it out, together.  That's what I enjoy so much about this book.  They way they work together.  Nothing is easy for them.  There's all kinds of tough choices and heartbreak, but wow, when they get through all of that, it's pretty great.

I especially enjoyed reading about Diana embracing her powers.  She's full-on witch, unstoppable once she starts to get the hang of all the magic she possesses.  The best part is that she does this, while still maintaining the person she was originally.  This was my biggest worry, that's she set aside her career to be a vampire wife/den mother to Matthew's brood of vampire children, as well as their own children.  I wanted to see her still be her own person.  Plus, I love that Matthew, despite his excessive need to protect her and shield her from all harm, understands that she needs to be her own person, that she can't be his kept doll.  He also fully realizes that he loves her because of her independence and her strength.  Have I mentioned how very much I love this couple?

There were a few moments when I was bothered, when Diana goes on about how with children she'll have to give up her job.  Seriously?  What year is this?  I know they're vampire/witch babies, but you have like 500 immediate family members hovering around you willing to help out all the time if you're not comfortable with the idea of daycare.  (I would, however, like to point out that I liked the way the pregnancy was handled in this book, it was not the main focus of the story, which was a concern of mine before reading this story.  I wouldn't have been able to handle that.)

All the family members start to annoy me after a while also.  Part of me really wishes Diana and Matthew could just go off and have their own life, without dealing with twenty other people every single day.  But that's a personal issues, I'm not a big family person.  There was also a moment in the book when a choice was made that upset me quite a bit, but - no spoilers - in the end, I understood why the decision had been made.

Oh, and one other thing that bothered me so very much, I wanted to pause my reading and dash off a letter to the author or publisher.  When Diana reveals that she's married to a vampire and she's pregnant, her friend says something along the lines of, "That never happened on Buffy the Vampire Slayer." Then a comment is made about Joss Whedon.  Don't throw in these references if you haven't done your research!  There was indeed a vampire pregnancy on Angel, the Buffy spin-off (a Joss Whedon show).  And it was shocking and "oh my god, how is this possible? Vampires can't make babies!" sort of like Diana's pregnancy, oh and sort of like in Twilight and again in the new CW show, The Originals.  A shocking vampire pregnancy that no one thought was possible - not that original.  That's okay, it doesn't have to be, but don't try to act like it is.  Sort of like in Shadow of Night, when Matthew and Diana are talking about vampire fiction - like it's so different from their story, and really, it isn't.  Diana's telling him about the books, and she's pretty much describing him.  Oh well, not a big deal, but I'm a big Buffy fan, so that irked me a bit.

Anyway, I loved the book.  Those are minor issues, but I felt I should mention them to prove I'm not a blindly loving fan girl.  Over the past few weeks, after finishing, I'm almost jealous of those who haven't read it yet.  I think I may just read it again, at the same time as everyone else so I can join in the discussions.  I'm sure that like before, I read it too quickly.  Or maybe I'll wait until October and re-read the entire trilogy again.  Or listen to it.  That might be a nice way to spend the daily commute.

I most certainly recommend this book, especially to anyone who has read the first two books in the series.  This was well worth the wait.  If you haven't read the series and you're a fan of stories about vampires and witches, then you should, especially now that all three books are available.

Part of me hopes there will be more books about these characters, but at the same time, I think I'd be bothered by a story in which Diana and Matthew weren't the central characters.  I think of the Outlander series and how much I dislike the addition of all the extra story lines that take away time from Jamie and Claire.  I don't want to see that happen with these characters.  But I have enough trust in Deborah Harkness that I'll read whatever novel she writes next.

Review: Demon's Daughter by Paula Altenburg

I almost skipped over this book because, despite the hot guy on the cover, it made me think “cowboy” and, in general, I don’t like cowboys. But the title intrigued me because I do like demon stories. (That’s right, I don’t like cowboys, but I do like demons.) I decided to give it a try and I’m glad I did.

This isn’t a typical old west setting. This is set way into the future, long after civilization as we know it has ended, every once in a while they stumble upon ruins left over from our current world. Goddesses came to this world, followed by demons, and then the goddesses left and somewhere along the way, the world devolved, returning back to its “old west” like ways. Now the people in Freetown live on the edge of the desert, following the orders of a former priestess, in hopes of having some protection from the demons that remained after the goddesses departed.

Hunter is the demon slayer, who possesses an amulet that protects him against demons. He’s hired by the priestess to capture a woman the priestess claims is demon spawn. He doesn’t trust the priestess, knowing of her hatred for women, but he knows if he doesn’t take the job, someone else will. He can’t handle the idea of an innocent woman handed over to the priestess.

But once he meets Airie, his ideas of innocent and guilty become muddled.

Hunter’s instinct is to kill demons, but he can’t bring himself to kill Airie. Even though the fire in her eyes reveals she’s part demon, he’s also seen that she has the ability to heal, cares about people and has a deep respect for life. He’s with her when the priestess who raised her dies, and the mountain she called home is destroyed. He feels obligated to watch over her, at least until he can figure out a better solution.

He isn’t sure what to do, and he’s afraid that his feelings toward her are nothing more than the lure of a demon. The romance between the two takes a while to build. The attraction is instant, but Hunter goes back and forth between wanting her and hating that she’s a demon. At times I found this a bit frustrating, but because they took a while to figure out their feelings for each other, their relationship felt more believable.

I liked that Airie was such a strong character. She’s always ready to fight when necessary to protect herself and those she cares about, and is never content to stand back and let others defend her. She’s a bit naïve, but not at all stupid. She’s aware of her limitations and understands there is much about the world she doesn’t know.

A few things did bother me about this book. There are so many people telling lies and keeping secrets, I had moments when I couldn’t even remember what the truth was. It was late at night/early in the morning and maybe I was having reading comprehension problems, but I recall one paragraph saying Airie’s birth caused the fire on the mountain and about two sentences later, it says the Demon Lord caused the fire and he was completely unaware of Airie’s birth. So how did her birth cause the fire? And near the end, when Airie has to make a choice about who she wants to be – goddess or demon – I wasn’t entirely certain I understood her options. I re-read one page a few times and then decided to just move forward and accept that it was complicated.

Also, I felt like there was a very intense love story there between the Demon Lord and the Goddess and as I was reading the book, I kept hoping more would be revealed about them. Maybe a prequel? I would really like a Goddess/Demon love story.

Overall though, I enjoyed this book. It’s a different take on the ideas of demons and goddesses.  This is the first book in a series called Demon Outlaws and I’m looking forward to the next book.