Published: March 7, 2023
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Series: N/A
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 480 (Hardcover)
My Rating: 4 Stars
A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Synopsis:
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?
I’m not sure how many of my readers have read Interview with a Vampire, but this is somewhat like the modern, less angsty version of that book mixed with The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. I enjoyed this far more than that book and found The God of Endings to be an unputdownable read that really took me by surprise.
Collette LeSange has lived for far more years than her youthful visage would imply. The “present day” is 1984 and Collette runs a posh French pre-school where she teaches art and music. Being surrounded by the joy of the children keeps the existential crisis at bay. Things are going well enough, despite her loneliness, until she begins to feel a growing, insatiable hunger and a dark presence she calls Czernobog returns. The story alternates between 1984 and the years after her change to immortality. Though she is in New York in the present day, Collette travels widely from eastern Europe to France to Egypt in the years prior and experiences numerous moments of heartbreak.
The story is an emotional one, where our main character experiences years of peace and relative normalcy which are invariably shattered by violence and heartbreak. One of my favorite segments was when she lived in Chamonix, leading up to the German invasion during World War II. Collette had built a wonderful little life after years of wandering the forests alone only for it to be disrupted by German forces. She proceeded to lure them from their camps and drain them of blood, earning the moniker of Night Beast. The present day (1984) chapters were quite emotional for a different reason. Collette is ravenously hungry and keeps waking to find herself covered in blood or mud with no memory, which makes running a pre-school full of children somewhat dangerous. There’s a little boy named Leo, a budding artistic prodigy with dysfunctional parents, who Collette just loves. She never explicitly says it, but the boy is dear to her and dealing with his wreck of a home life only adds to the drama of the story.
Overall, I am pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book and delighted to find a vampire book that explores the drawbacks of immortality. I loved the ending though I would have killed for a proper epilogue set several years into the future. The God of Endings was a poignant debut novel that left me pondering the beauty in brevity.
Powder & Page 
I’m glad you loved this. I’m kicking myself for not requesting it, but I’ll definitely buy a copy now!
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