Book Review: ‘The Book of Eternity’ by Jacqueline Pennewill

The Book of Eternity is a young adult fantasy novel by Jacqueline Pennewill.

The story’s protagonist is sixteen year old Grey. She, along with her twin brother Michael and their mother, travel to the island town of Sleepy Key to house sit for the summer holidays. The trip is seen as a break for the family who have recently suffered the loss of the father and a chance to reconnect with each other. Only Sleepy Key is no ordinary town. It is also home to two groups of angels: the good Surge and the bad Fallen. Grey becomes attracted to the Fallen’s leader Zale who in turn believes Grey may be the human sacrifice needed to start the Celestial War.

At approximately 250 pages long, The Book of Eternity manages to pack a lot into what I found to be quite a quick and easy read. There is a good build up where the story spends a decent amount of time at the beginning with Grey and her family before introducing us to the Surge and the Fallen. This was time well spent as it helped me get to know Grey as a character and made me invested in her well-being.

The absolute strongest part of the novel for me for was the depiction of grief within the story. We see Grey’s anger at her father’s loss, moments of depression and a need to be alone, her lack of understanding that her mother and brother are experiencing grief in a different form to her, and her guilt at feeling moments of happiness amidst her sadness. These sections of the story contained some amazing imagery such as Grey describing her emotional state as akin to being inside a constantly shaken snow globe. Grey trying to work out her new identity in a world that no longer contains her father felt both incredibly powerful and very realistic. I honestly could have read an entire novel just focused on this family’s process through the stages of grief.

The Book of Eternity is essentially as classic American high school summer vacation drama (that well known sub-genre) just with angels and magic rather than typical teenagers. The actual Book of Eternity within the story is much less prominent than I was expecting. Grey picks up the book without knowing what it is. The first human to ever do so, this is what suggests to the angels that she might be the one prophesised. The novel clearly ends with the promise of a sequel, so perhaps the Book’s secrets will be explored more in the future.

Pennewill deliberately includes parallels in her novel to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. There is the obvious link with Grey reading the book as her summer homework. Grey and Zale’s forbidden love places them in the role of the titular characters and the Surge and the Fallen are inputs for the Houses of Capulet and Montague. Something that I didn’t find believable in the novel was the immediacy of Grey and Zale’s love for each other. Grey’s overwhelming desires and Zale’s essentially stalkerish behaviour are portrayed as very romantic in the book but I wonder if this was also a link to Romeo and Juliet who were similarly struck with an all-consuming love for each other.

Despite the success of Grey as a character, I think the other characters in the book suffer from The Book of Eternity’s shorter length. We are introduced to a lot of angelic characters from both sides of the divide and it felt as though there wasn’t enough space to fully flesh them all out into three-dimensional entities; with the exception of Zale and antagonist Minna. This was a shame since the Surge and the Fallen are such a key part of the story.

I felt as though the novel had some technical issues in places which did pull me out of the story. On a few occasions pieces of extraneous details were repeated in very quick succession, for example Michael teasing Grey for packing too much only for Grey to chastise herself in the next paragraph for packing too much. These moments of immediate repetition were unnecessary to my understanding of the story. Then there was the meeting between Zale and the Surge’s leader Breel. The pair frequently reference each other by their rather long titles throughout the conversation which unfortunately had the effect of the dialogue in this key scene feel stiff and unnatural.

The Book of Eternity fits well into the young adult fantasy genre. There is a strong coming of age plotline as Grey navigates her grief, learns to adjust to a new family dynamic, and comes to terms with understanding that sometimes there are no answers to difficult questions. In contrast the fantasy elements and the conflict with the Surge and the Fallen had a diamond-in-the-rough quality. While I didn’t feel it was as strong as the family-centred plotline I could certainty see its potential to grow and develop. We’ll just have to wait and see what Pennewill comes up with in future instalments.

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An Advanced Reader Copy of ‘The Book of Eternity’ were kindly provided by Wunderkind PR. For more information check out their website. For more information about author Jacqueline Pennewill check out her website.

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