Picking up where book two of the All Souls trilogy (Shadow of Night) left off, Deborah Harkness's The Book of Life reunites readers with witch Diana Bishop, her vampire husband, Matthew Clairmont, and their many friends and enemies. After traveling through time in the previous novel, Diana and Matthew are back in the present at his ancestral home, Sept-Tours, where they are horrified to learn that Emily, Diana's aunt who was also a witch, has died.
The witch-vampire couple must also contend with Matthew's family, who distrust Diana. As their visit wears on, Diana learns more about her husband's past, that he is more than a "scientist, vampire, warrior, spy, and prince" and that his blood rage flows through the veins of others. Her in-laws, meanwhile, ponder the incredible and seemingly impossible fact that Diana is pregnant with Matthew's twins. If it's true, Baldwin claims, "they'll be the most hated--and the most hunted--children the world has ever known. Creatures will be baying for their blood."
Firedrakes, daemons, a tree that grows in the living room and a house that produces strange objects swirl around the couple as they travel to Connecticut, France and Italy in search of answers to the questions that have chased them through the centuries. Unfamiliarity with the preceding volumes may make this a confusing read for newcomers; start at book one, as the entire trilogy is a delightful plunge into the world of magic, witches and vampires, where love breaks all rules and happy endings are possible. --Lee E. Cart, freelance writer and book reviewer