The Book of Life

The Book of Life is the culmination of the All Souls Trilogy and thus thrusts the reader into the middle of the action. While most of the story uses Diana as a first-person narrator, the first two chapters use third-person narration. The first chapter alternates between several characters’ focalization, whereas the second focuses on Matthew, allowing the reader into the complex family dynamics at Sept-Tours and the characters’ emotional state.

While the group at Sept-Tours struggles against multiple external threats, troubles within the family dominate this section, illustrating the theme of Family as Both Comfort and Grief amongst the Bishops and the de Clermonts. First, the ghosts of Emily, Philippe, and Rebecca haunt Sept-Tours. These specters protectively watch over the living family, but they cannot interact with the living until they recover from their grief: “Of all the things Philippe disliked about being dead […] invisibility topped the list. It was a constant reminder of how inconsequential he had become” (1135). Grief shackles the living and, simultaneously, the ghosts who have no power to appear until the living let them go.

While the ghosts struggle with their loss of life and control, Diana and the rest of her family struggle with the loss of Emily. The loss challenges Sarah in particular, but her struggle inspires empathy in the other characters. Fernando, Hugh’s widower, provides solace and comfort to the newly widowed Sarah and serves as “her rock” (1142). Though Fernando is only family through marriage, he comforts Sarah in her most challenging time, thus demonstrating the theme of family as comfort while simultaneously navigating grief.

Emily—Diana’s former legal guardian and caretaker following the death of her parents—is also deeply missed by Diana, who has only just returned from timewalking. Diana struggles to accept her passing and even goes into shock upon learning of Emily’s death. Both Gallowglass and Matthew work to comfort her until she falls asleep. Corra, Diana’s firedrake familiar, often symbolizes Diana’s emotional state. While Diana sleeps, Corra wreaks physical havoc in the castle. However, both Gallowglass and Matthew seek only to minimize the damage rather than restrain the firedrake, as its energy release seems to calm Diana, thus highlighting a deep love for Diana and desire to protect her. Though Diana’s powers are not fully understood at this point in the novel, her powers seem to hold the key to locating Ashmole 782; ensuring that the lost book falls into the right hands is crucial to the survival of all magical creatures. Diana faces an enormous amount of responsibility, and Gallowglass and Matthew’s particular protection of her demonstrates that they seek to alleviate some of that pressure.

Though much of the family seeks to comfort each other, this section’s conflict is largely centered on family. While the characters struggle internally with grief, externally, the most significant conflicts are caused by Baldwin. Baldwin refuses to acknowledge Ysabeau or Matthew as his family and makes life difficult for them through his harsh condemnations, which often leads to physical danger. He allows Ysabeau to be taken hostage by an enemy vampire in order to maintain his position in the Congregation. Although Philippe adopted Diana as his blood daughter, Baldwin refuses to acknowledge the blood vow. After telling Verin not to acknowledge Diana’s blood vow, he says, “We must take comfort from the fact that the Congregation is already looking for Matthew and his mate […] who knows? They may both be dead before December” (1174). Despite Sept-Tours technically belonging to the Knights of Lazarus, Baldwin treats it as his domain, and, as he is the head of the de Clermont family, his presence sends Sept-Tours into chaos. Indeed, Baldwin is so hostile that Marcus recommends Matthew’s family branch off as a scion of the main family.

Baldwin’s complexity lies in his loyalty, furthering the theme of Family as Both Comfort and Grief. For example, while Baldwin does nothing to help Matthew and Diana hide from the Congregation, he does not reveal their whereabouts. When Baldwin admits to allowing the Congregation to search Sept-Tours, he immediately defends himself, stating that he was unaware that Matthew and Diana were at Sept-Tours. Further, though Baldwin states that Diana must leave, he has no desire to send her to the Congregation. Similarly, Baldwin refuses to send Ysabeau to the Congregation’s stronghold in Venice, insisting on Gerbert’s home instead. While Baldwin creates continued conflict throughout this section, he is not irredeemable, and his anger and need for control are driven by a desire to protect his family: Baldwin would sooner fight with his family than air his grievances publicly, particularly with regard to the Congregation.

Moreover, Baldwin’s hostile behavior is expected. Matthew’s treatment of Marcus, however, is entirely unexpected. Matthew is Marcus’s sire, yet he slaughtered Marcus’s vampire children in New Orleans. Philippe realized Marcus’s children inherited the blood rage and insisted Matthew kill Marcus and all of his children. Matthew saved the asymptomatic vampires and told Marcus he was “a failure—a disgrace to the family” to prevent him from siring more children (1203). Matthew never explained the blood rage, so Marcus felt the death of his children was his fault. The grief and guilt weighed heavily on Marcus in the previous two books, and it was magnified by ambiguity. While Marcus loves Matthew, he struggles to forgive him. Adding to the family complexity, Marcus says he will only forgive Matthew if he forms a scion. This Interaction plays into the Family as Both Comfort and Grief and The Impact of Secrets themes; the secret of the family blood-rage gene creates division between Marcus and Matthew, and their tense but loving relationship speaks to the multi-faceted nature of family.