The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness

Narrated by Jennifer Ikeda

There aren’t many series that can compete for my attention and affection against Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series. However, the All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness comes very close. It is remarkable, then, that (as much as I love the audio versions of my favorite books) I had not listened to the first and second volumes in the series (The Discovery of Witches and The Shadow of Night). I was looking for a longer listen to keep me company during my daily commute when I came across The Book of Life audio. Jennifer Ikeda is a new-to-me narrator as well. Wow. Just wow.

I had purchased and read this, the third and last book in the series, the moment it was published, so listening was my second time through. The experience just enriched my enjoyment of the story and I was able to glean a great many more details. I strongly recommend listening or reading the series in order; I can not imagine trying to catch up to the details without having experienced the journey through the first two. In fact, the remainder of this review will have a few spoilers; I can summarize by saying now, the writing is wonderful, the narration matches the writing and I highly recommend the series. You can stop now and start with the first, A Discovery of Witches.

In the third book of the trilogy, we find Diana Bishop, an American Oxford scholar returning from a time-traveling journey to Elizabethan England with her vampire-scientist husband, Matthew de Clairmont. As a result of their experiences in the past they are forever changed and now face the sanctions and even death, at the hands of the supernatural council. A witch and a vampire are not supposed to marry; a vampire with blood-rage is not supposed to live; and the union of a witch and vampire is not supposed to produce children.

All of those interesting plot twists are exposed in the first and second of the trilogy, and are present in the first few minutes of The Book of Life. The challenges that Diana and Matthew face, and the development of their relationship with their extended family (and the way the author skillfully enriches our understanding of the secondary characters) pulls you into another world and leaves you asking Deborah Harkness to please. Write. More. Quickly. (Especially about Gallowglass, Matthew’s cousin and Diana’s protector).

Many of us enjoy longer volumes in audiobooks. They enable us to more completely submerge into the story and the characters – even more so when there are multiple volumes. This is why you will often read online recommendations that Outlander audiobooks enthusiasts would love The All Souls trilogy – each book is between 23-24 hours, and the worlds are wonderfully detailed.

I had not listened to Jennifer Ikeda previously, and I fell into her rhythm very quickly. She has a haunting, wistful tone that seems perfect for Diana. There are a lot of characters in the book, with different accents, and she handles them well (she has French, British, different regions of America, various regions of Europe, cultured and uneducated). I especially enjoyed the fact that her male voices are pitched lower, without sounding like the narrator has an artificial tone. I also enjoyed the speed of her delivery; in a book this lengthy, it is frustrating when a narrator moves too slowly. I was pleased that her pace remained steady, without being labored.

When I finished, I immediately felt sadness that the trilogy was complete, happiness at the resolution of many tense moments and a sense of that peace that comes when you say to yourself, “That …was a great adventure”.

Victoria

Narration: A

Book Content: A+

Steam Factor: Glad I had my earbuds in

Violence: Graphic

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: Penguin Audio

The Book of Life was provided to AudioGals by Penguin Audio for review.