The Book of Life

The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness              Audio Book: 23 hours, 52 minutes       Paperback:  576 pages               

Excellent book.   I didn’t realize it was part of a series, but, trust me, it stands alone as a great story.   Powerful (Spell) Weaver Witch, Diana Bishop and Vampire Matthew Clairmont fall in love and marry against the wishes of the Council of Witches, Daemons and Vampires, and honestly against the recommendation of their families and friends.   It seems in magical society it has been thought down through time that each species, witch, daemon, vampire must keep their blood lines pure and marry only others like themselves.    But as Blaise Pascal said, “La coeur a ses raison que la raisnon nes connait pas.”  (The heart has reasons that reason doesn’t understand.)   A perfect match these two each loves the other completely.    After getting around all the nay sayers, turns out not only do they make a lovely married couple, they also make a couple of lovely babies – twins!   This is unheard of!  How can two different species/creatures procreate?   None of the magical set can figure that one out but apparently mother nature has reasons that reason doesn’t understand or can’t calculate the DNA on.   The mystery of how this becomes possible is revealed in the book as are many other mysteries.   There are very graphically brutal scenes described during battles and kidnappings so be warned.     There are monsters in this realm that are of the raging serial killer variety causing an intense climax.    The story will keep you guessing as to who the informant might be.   So many possibilities.      Really good reading here for vampire, witch, demon fans and gothic novel fans.   I would love to see this book made into a film or a t.v. series.   Enjoy, I did.