REVIEW: The God of Endings by Jacqueline Holland

Publisher: Flatiron Books

Date Published: Marcy 7, 2023

Genre: Fantasy, Historical Fiction

Rating: ★★★☆☆

REVIEW

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in return for an honest review. Going into this I had zero clue that I was about to read a vampire novel. I'm definitely glad that the synopsis didn't give that away too. Vampires have been overdone so if I would have known I probably wouldn't have requested this. However, this was a unique take on vampires, so it didn't feel like they typical vampire book.

SYNOPSIS

"Collette LeSange is a lonely artist who heads an elite fine arts school for children in upstate New York. Her youthful beauty masks the dark truth of her life: she has endured centuries of turmoil and heartache in the wake of her grandfather’s long-ago decision to make her immortal like himself. Now in 1984, Collette finds her life upended by the arrival of a gifted child from a troubled home, the return of a stalking presence from her past, and her own mysteriously growing hunger.

Combining brilliant prose with breathtaking suspense, The God of Endings serves as a larger exploration of the human condition in all its complexity, asking us the most fundamental question: is life in this world a gift or a curse?"

MY THOUGHTS

I thoroughly enjoyed the first 50% of this book. The present day plot was really intriguing and trying to figure out what was going on with Leo's parents definitely kept me turning the pages. While Collette's origin story was also good in terms of getting to know how she became a blood-sucking immortal (vampire), I do think that it may have started just a bit too far back in the past. We get these alternating chapters between present day and various moments from Collette's past. However, these seemed very disjointed and didn't further the present day plot at all. If anything they seemed randomly chosen from moments in time. The WWII subplot seemed to be out of character of who Collette was as a person.

This book was beautifully written, and for a debut, I can tell that Holland will create more great stories. This book felt just a tad bit too long and drawn out. The ending was was satisfying but not strong enough to garner the length. I do wish her growing thirst for blood was explored more, or perhaps even created more of a horror feeling rather than a minor point of conflict. One reason that it did take so long for me to read is that I felt little to no connection with Collette. It almost felt like she was a minor character in her own life because of how she was written.

Overall, I did enjoy reading this although it was perhaps a tad bit too long.