The Black Bird Oracle
By: Deborah Harkness
Published Year: 2024
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Pages: 464
Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Deborah Harkness first introduced the world to Diana Bishop, Oxford scholar and witch, and vampire geneticist Matthew de Clairmont in A Discovery of Witches. Drawn to each other despite long-standing taboos, these two otherworldly beings found themselves at the center of a battle for a lost, enchanted manuscript known as Ashmole 782. Since then, they have fallen in love, traveled to Elizabethan England, dissolved the Covenant between the three species, and awoken the dark powers within Diana’s family line.
Now, Diana and Matthew receive a formal demand from the Congregation: They must test the magic of their seven-year-old twins, Pip and Rebecca. Concerned with their safety and desperate to avoid the same fate that led her parents to spellbind her, Diana decides to forge a different path for her family’s future and answers a message from a great-aunt she never knew existed, Gwyneth Proctor, whose invitation simply reads: It’s time you came home, Diana.
On the hallowed ground of Ravenswood, the Proctor family home, and under the tutelage of Gwyneth, a talented witch grounded in higher magic, a new era begins for Diana: a confrontation with her family’s dark past, and a reckoning for her own desire for even greater power—if she can let go, finally, of her fear of wielding it.
First Impressions
I was so excited to see that there was a 5th book coming out in the Book of Life Series. Once I found out, I re-read the first 3 and read the 4th one for the first time. Re-reading the books got me hyped for this one and I love the cover.
What I thought
This book was definitely different than the first 3, which were also different than the 4th. I think it held the magic the original 3 books do (no pun intended) but a different vibe. I will warn, if you haven’t read the original trilogy and you intend to, don’t read this review.
Diana freaks out when she learns that her and Matthew’s twin, Pip and Becca are to be tested by the Congregation. Shortly after she receives the letter, she also receives a letter inviting her to come home from an aunt she didn’t know existed. She goes to meet her aunt who turns out to be her dad’s aunt and learns about her father’s side of the family as well as a new side of magic.
While this book did move slowly, I found myself invested the entire time. I loved getting to see Diana come into her own with magic. In books 1 and 3 she denies a lot of her magic and only uses it when necessary. In book 2 and now in book 5, she learns from her elders and it’s a fascinating thing to read and learn about.
I also really liked getting to know Becca and Pip. I do wish they had been in the book more since the beginning of the story made it seem like they were going to be a larger part. I sort of felt the same way about Matthew as well. While this has always been Diana’s story, he felt like more of a side character in this book than in the others. Conveniently brought into a scene just for Diana’s usage.
This was a great addition to the series. It does seem like it ends in a way that implies Harkness is going to be writing ore in these characters. I’m intrigued to see where it goes! I will say, you can just read the original 3 books and be good, but if you are a fan of these characters and don’t want to let them go, I would recommend continuing the series with book 5.