海角大神

Deborah Harkness鈥檚 novel 鈥淭he Book of Life,鈥� the third book in her planned trilogy about supernatural creatures, is topping bestseller lists.

鈥淭he Book of Life鈥� was released on July 15 and debuted at number one for the Hardcover Fiction list on the Indiebound bestseller list for the week of July 24. 鈥淏ook鈥� also topped the bestseller list compiled by Reuters on July 25 and is at number one on the USA Today bestseller list for July 24.聽

Harkness鈥檚 trilogy centers on historian Diana Bishop, who is also a witch, and her love interest scientist Matthew Clairmont, who is a vampire, as they look for an old manuscript that may be able to tell the reader where supernatural creatures came from. The first book in the series, 鈥淎 Discovery of Witches,鈥� came out in 2011 and the second book, 鈥淪hadow of Night,鈥� came out in 2012.聽

However, reviews so far have been mixed. NPR writer Genevieve Valentine found that 鈥淗arkness' style feels strained here, perhaps as a result of trying to scale a mountain of plot. Her love for alchemy and the details of spellcraft make Diana's witchy moments some of the book's most vibrant, standing out from the cavalcade of heavily populated subplots whose payoffs are rarely equal to the previous novels' escalating stakes.鈥�

Washington Post critic Elizabeth Hand agreed, writing that 鈥淲here Harkness excels is with her charmingly offbeat details of witches and witchcraft鈥� Harkness also does a deft job of weaving in details relating to alchemy, herb lore, and a few tongue-in-cheek references to Elizabethan historical figures鈥� [but] newcomers to this saga would do best to start with the first volume, 鈥楢 Discovery of Witches鈥欌�� I鈥檝e read both previous books and still found myself frantically trying to remember who was who.鈥� She also said that 鈥渢he plot is equally crowded鈥� Harkness鈥檚 overly complicated plot scuppers some of the suspense in 鈥楾he Book of Life,鈥� which suffers from the narrative fatigue that plagues so many massive, multi-volume supernatural family sagas. And can we please have a moratorium on vampire-non-vampire romances?鈥�

Kirkus Reviews noted that there are 鈥渇ew surprises鈥� but was otherwise more pleased with the book, writing that 鈥渢here are healthy doses of action, colorful magic, angst-y romance and emotional epiphany, plus mansion-hopping across the globe, historical tidbits and name-dropping of famous artworks and manuscripts鈥� it's still satisfying to travel with these characters toward their more-than-well-earned happy ending.鈥�

And Library Journal writer Crystal Renfro of the Georgia Institute of Technology Library and Information Center found that 鈥渉istory, science, and the unpredictable actions of paranormal characters with hidden agendas all swirl together to create a not-to-be-missed finale to a stellar paranormal series,鈥� though she also added that readers should really start with 鈥淒iscovery.鈥�