Books are unique in all of art in that they allow us access to the thoughts of another. While reading, we are inside the head of another individual experiencing their life and their thoughts. While fictional characters don’t exist, fiction is as close as we can get to experiencing another person’s thoughts transferred directly into our brains. It’s amazing that we can find connection and a sense of community this way. It baffles me to no end. All books are entertainment, but some reach beyond that and strike me at the core of my being. I feel both bigger and smaller for having read them. The God of Endings by Jacqueline Holland is one of those books.
Disclaimer: The publisher provided a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Any and all opinions that follow are mine alone.
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TL;DR
The God of Endings by Jacqueline Holland is a unique take on vampire stories. It’s an existential novel pondering whether life is a blessing or a curse. This all too human portrait of Collette is wonderful. Highly recommended. I cannot recommend this book enough.
From the Publisher
Suspenseful and enchanting, this breathtaking debut spans history, weaving a story of love, family, history, and myth as seen through the eyes of one immortal woman.
Collette LeSange has been hiding a dark truth: She is immortal. In 1834, Collette’s grandfather granted her the gift of eternal life and since then, she has endured centuries of turmoil and heartache.
Now, almost 150 years later, Collette is a lonely artist running an elite fine art school for children in upstate New York. But her life is suddenly 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 for blood.
Combining brilliant prose with breathtaking suspense, Jacqueline Holland’s 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?
Review: The God of Endings by Jacqueline Holland
In 1984, Collette LeSange runs an elite school. She has built a quiet life for herself teaching children how to make art. She prefers younger children because they are so full of life that it distracts her from her existential woe. For Collette is a vampire; though, she’s unlike any other vampire I’ve read about. Collette remains human despite the gifts of eternal life. She struggles with depression, and her morals don’t let her feed from humans. She also doesn’t kill when she feeds. In fact, she’s collected a clowder of cats that she feeds from when needed. They are also the pets of the school, and in a way, the only family that Collette has nearby. Her immortal grandfather is only seen at the beginning of the book when she’s transformed; he remains a specter over the rest of the novel but not present on the page. His gift of immortal life weighs heavily on Collette and has throughout history. In 1834, Collette – then named Anna – was dying of cholera, following her brother and father. But her grandfather turned her because he saw a strength in her to live on. Collette spends the rest of the novel wishing she hadn’t been turned. But with the addition of little Leo Hardman to her school, Collette’s life is about to become a little less quiet. For with Leo’s arrival Collette suspects she feels the supernatural presence of Czernobog, the God of Endings. Hunger grips Collette in a way that it never has before, and she begins to wake up missing time. What does Czernobog’s sudden appearance in Collette’s life portend?
The God of Endings by Jacqueline Holland is a first person point of view novel that alternates between the present of 1984 and various other dates in Collette’s past. The pace is measured, and the book is less concerned with action than it is with observation. Collette seeks to protect her secret and twists herself up in many ways to remain among humans and live her own moral life. Holland uses Collette’s immortal existence to muse on whether life is a blessing or a curse. At the same time, Collette’s thoughts on art are wonderful. This is a slow, ponderous book that dwells, ruminates, and explores. It’s as engaging as any action packed blockbuster.
A New Kind of Vampire (At Least, to Me)
Holland’s take on the vampire mythos was a new, fresh take. At least, as far as my reading is concerned, that is. While Collette has certain traits to fit the archetype: a hunger for blood, super strength, super speed, healing, fangs for ingesting blood, and the inability to eat human food, Collette also deviates. She’s asexual; even so far as losing her human genitals and secondary sex traits. This makes sense, right? Vampires procreate asexually; so, why do they need human genitals? She’s not aromantic, though. Throughout her past, she falls for various men. She also doesn’t kill to feed and doesn’t feed off humans if she can help it. The exception to that rule is Nazis, and we can all agree that’s a good exception. Despite being powerful, she doesn’t seek to play hero or meddle in the affairs of humans. She simply wants to exist and make art. Her existence, however, weighs on her. For Collette immortality isn’t all its cracked up to be. She loses people over and over and over again. Her very nature always means she has to have one foot out the door, and this is a terrible thing when forging relationships with people. Collette wants connection so much, and that’s why she’s opened her school. She needs some sort of connection to people to survive. Holland gives readers a glimpse of various connections in her past, both romantic and platonic. But they all end in heartbreak for Collette, whether through death or the small-mindedness of humanity.
Holland’s take on the vampire myth allows her to philosophize more. Through Collette, she ponders whether life is a blessing or a curse. Rightly so, she doesn’t give an answer; Holland leaves it up to the reader. This worked for me. Ultimately, the purpose of life is an individual thing we must all figure out for ourselves. Holland presented arguments for and against life as a blessing. Even though Collette wasn’t aware of some of those arguments, Holland put them in there for the reader to see.
Art as Purpose
Collette paints. She’s an artist, and that’s what her school is about. The reason she takes to Leo so strongly is his abnormal ability to create art. He’s a prodigy who’s skill level is way above where it should be for his age. Readers see Collette give him instruction, and through her instruction, we see the joy that art brings her. Holland muses on art throughout the book, and though it’s not the main purpose of the book, I can’t help but see it as a love letter to creativity. Art give Collette purpose at various points throughout her life, both high and low points. It keeps her human because it allows her to express emotion. And Collette is full of repressed emotion. How could she not be? She has a huge secret to keep, and it weighs on her. But when she’s creating, she’s in the moment. She’s being. She’s observing nature. She’s focused. These are good things that art can bring to a person. Creativity is an excellent form of mental healthcare. For Collette, though, art is so much more than that, so much more than a coping mechanism. It’s a way to connect with other people.
It seems as if art and the humanities are always under attack, and right now as the U.S. careens towards totalitarianism, having art be the purpose of your life brings about ridicule or disdain. To say you’re an artist takes courage. People will nod at you but wonder what you ‘really do.’ If you’re not getting paid for it, then people question whether that really makes you an artist or not. When the answer is simple. Ask yourself, do you create art? If the answer is yes, you’re an artist. There’s no other qualifier necessary. Art can be life saving, and Holland shows that to be the case with Collette. Though Collette is immortal, there is a small portion of the book where she’s existing but not living. It’s her art that differentiates living from existence. This is true for many of us.
Czernobog and the Supernatural
Holland never indicates whether there are other supernatural entities in her world. Other vampires exist, but as for werewolves and other myths, Holland doesn’t say. It doesn’t matter to this novel whether they do or not except for Czernobog. I liked this because Collette is attempting to be human throughout her long life. She’s not trying to integrate into the supernatural community. By keeping her exclusively in the ‘human’ world, Holland shows that Collette doesn’t suddenly become part of a new world. She retains the same sort of life many of us have. Through this, she attempts to remain human, just with a few caveats.
Czernobog may exist or may just be Collette attempting to make purpose of changing events. The fact that Collette doesn’t know is fantastic. By putting The God of Endings in first person, Holland lets the reader decide. Collette’s belief in Czernobog is another way of expressing her humanity. Readers don’t see religious vampires; in fact, religion is often a weapon against them. But Collette learns of this ancient Slavic god and sees his effects in various traumatic moments in her life. Czernobog is not a comfort to her. In a way, though, he is an old friend. He connects her to a long lost love. I don’t know if Czernobog is in the novel or not, and I love that. To me, that’s more powerful and meaningful than if he had appeared directly on the page taking responsibility.
Conclusion
Jacqueline Holland’s The God of Endings blew me away. It works as a character study, as a philosophical rumination on life, as a vampire story, and as an acceptance story. Holland’s Collette is a unique vampire in a genre suffused with vampires. But it’s not the supernatural that makes The God of Endings wonderful, it’s Collette’s humanity underneath the weight of history, of loss, and of pain.
Highly recommended.
The God of Endings by Jacqueline Holland is available from Flatiron Books on March 7th, 2023.
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