Emerjas

Diana and Matthew have returned to the present with a few surprises for everyone. But there are a few surprises for them as well that happened while they were gone, including the death of one of Diana's aunts. As their enemies work to separate Diana and Matthew, the search for Ashmole 782 becomes even more important, and the consequences of their search will affect more than just their family.

Starting this book, I found that I hardly remembered anyone or anything from the last book. There were so many people that played a role in this book that I simply did not remember or, if I did, I didn't remember what happened to them at the end of the last book. I had to look up what happened in the last book and still didn't remember most of it happening. Because of that, it was very difficult to get into this book. I found myself not caring about most of the characters in the beginning, including ones that I previously really liked. They tended to either grate on me or bore me. Things got better after a while, but I seriously considered dropping the book during the first third or so.

The characters I cared most about were side characters who didn't get a lot of focus in the book, and my favorite character actually disappeared for a decent chunk of the book.

The Book of Life really dragged for me for a lot of the book until the end where it suddenly felt very rushed. The big plots that had been the focus of the series seemed to take a backseat to a new problem for this book. The pacing of the whole book just felt very off and didn't help my interest in the series.

It was basically a handful of side characters that made this a somewhat enjoyable conclusion to the series. If it weren't for them, I doubt I would have been able to get through it.