The God of Endings by Jacqueline Holland

Title: The God of Endings
Series: n/a
Author: Jacqueline Holland
Source/Format: Publisher; Paperback ARC
More Details: Fantasy; Historical Fiction; Horror
Publisher/Publication Date: Flatiron Books; March 7, 2023

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Synopsis from Goodreads...

By turns suspenseful and enchanting, this breathtaking first novel weaves a story of love, family, history, and myth as seen through the eyes of one immortal woman

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?

One of the books I had my eye on this year was Jacqueline Holland’s The God of Endings. It’s few and far in between that a vampire book catches my attention in the way this one did, but I was intrigued by everything I’d seen about. The synopsis reminded me of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue—a book I’ve still yet to read—with dual timelines and the exploration of character through the eyes of an immortal across a long period time. Rather than a Faustian bargain like Addie LaRue, The God of Endings has vampires.

This book is a blend of horror, fantasy, and historical fiction. There were many dark aspects of the story, including animal death. It also doesn’t shy from the darkness of history. It's main focus though was the myriad of struggles and all too brief moments of comfort/joy so closely tied into the life of Collette. As a vampire, she lived with the constant turmoil between what she’d been made into—contending with the hunger that comes with it—and her own sense of right and wrong in a reality that was difficult and full of tragedy. The story begins in much of the same manner, joy and sorrow, beginnings and endings. But, that was tied into the themes of the book, which played out in Collette’s present of 1984—as the owner and teacher of an art school for children—and her history beginning in the 1830s as the daughter of a gravestone carver. She didn’t always make the best decisions, reacted with her emotions or on assumptions, but that was the point of the story (where the best/logical/correct action isn't alway the one that's taken). Collette was fallible, but that added another layer of complexity. So, I appreciated the way Holland gradually built the story toward its inevitable conclusion. 

The God of Endings is a slow, contemplative, and meticulously detailed story. As a character study and exploration of the question posed by the synopsis, it worked. And, more often than not, I was anticipating the realizations long before Collette eventually made them. Her story was so haunting, and I was invested from the first page to the very last.

About the author....

Jacqueline Holland holds an MFA from the University of Kansas. Her work has appeared in Hotel Amerika and Big Fiction magazine, among others. She lives in the Twin Cities with her husband and two sons. The God of Endings is her first novel.

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Disclaimer: this copy of the book was provided by the publisher (Flatiron Books) in exchange for an honest review, thank you!