The Book of Life

This conclusion to Deborah Harkness' "All Souls Trilogy" is totally satisfying, although the complex cast of characters and plot machinations did make me want to go back and re-read the first two books, A Discovery of Witches and Shadow of Night. Now fully empowered, witch and weaver Diana Bishop and her vampire scientist husband, Matthew Clairmont, are back in the present and seeking to dodge the wrath of the Covenant for having married across species and, worse yet, conceiving twins. Vampires are not supposed to be able to conceive and Matthew's "son," Benjamin, crazy with the Blood Rage that Matthew keeps under tight control, is determined to find out why this has happened. He has been capturing, impregnating, and torturing witches in his single-minded quest, and Diana is next on his list. Add to that, the scion of the Clairmont clan, Baldwin, seems determined to put a stop to his "sire's" acknowledgement of Diana as a Clairmont. Facing opposition and outright danger on multiple fronts, Diana and Matthew head back to America, where an unlikely alliance with Diana's geneticist colleague may provide the answers they are so desperately seeking regarding the genetic inheritance of witches, vampires and daemons. Diana continues to seek the missing pages of The Book of Life, racing against those who would use it for ill, and when she finally finds it, the outcome is totally unexpected. If you love the paranormal, a bit of science, a great mystery, and historical fiction, this is the series for you.