A deeply unique take on the traditional vampire novel that feels like a more mature, literally version of the Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. Outside of the supernatural element, it is a touching tale about a lonely woman that spans generations and many significant world events. I especially loved the unexpected medications on motherhood and grief, Despite the main character being a vampire, I hesitate to even categorize this as fantasy, viewing it largely as an astonishing work of historical literature. I will say there are several graphically violent scenes of death and gore that may be upsetting to some readers, so proceed with caution and the knowledge that this does contain blood-sucking immortals and the resulting implications of that.

Anna, a young girl in nineteenth century America, is given the gift (curse?) of eternal life by her grandfather as she lays dying of tuberculosis. A decade and a half later, she is running a high-end French preschool as Collette LaSange in upstate New York, enjoying the innocence of the children while hiding away from the ugliness of humanity. Her peaceful day-to-day is suddenly disrupted by disturbing nightmares and a strange increase in her hunger, as well as a new student with a worrisome home life. Is something hunting her? Does she even care? Should she carve space in her heart for this little boy, knowing she will only be hurt again?

This book was NOT what I expected, and I must say that the length of it felt daunting at first. The pages absolutely flew by though, as I found myself quickly invested in Collette's past and present lives. There is a touch of Slavic mythology as well as several lines of beginner French, which really gave this book European vibes despite being set (in the present) in New York. I found the imagery compelling and could easily picture Chamonix, Alexandria, the ship, the school, and other places. The writing itself is excellent, handling an age-old topic without being too philosophical or blandly introspective.

Collette, for me, was easy to connect with, and I loved her relationship with the preschoolers. Even the many side characters, no matter their duration, were all effortlessly lodged in my heart. The material here is heavy and dark, and there is a touch of violence/gore, but nothing overly graphic. And, of course, where there is dark, there will be light to balance it. A beautiful book with beautiful messages!

Thank you to Jacqueline Holland, Flatiron Books, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC!

The concept of this book is excellent and intriguing. There was something about this that reminded me of Addie LaRue, in the concept as well as the writing. The sad and faintly nihilistic worldview of the main character, the timeline manipulation, and also the heartbreak and mystery. That is where the similarities end, but I think that readers who loved Addie would probably also find themselves loving this.

I am sorry to say that I only read the first 48% of this book. At that point I made the decision to stop reading because I just was not engaging with the story, I was dreading it a bit. I do think this is a book I could enjoy, and I have already recommended it to several friends and viewers, but I felt that forcing my way through the second half of this chunky book would leave me with bitter feelings, and for that reason this review will not be posted to my goodreads account.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Flatiron Books, for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for this honest review!!

It’s hard to rate a book that you didn’t particularly enjoy reading but can admit is an ambitious and thought-provoking read. It was just so continuously depressing. This whole books is basically “life sucks and then you die” except the main character is a vampire so she can’t die. It was exhausting being inside this character’s head.

I liked the dual timeline and think the author is talented but this book was not for me.

I read the blurb on NetGalley (thank you for the arc) and the gorgeous cover art sealed the deal. This is a very different vampire/immortal story -- and I'm here for it! The author's use of a split timeline, coupled with the chapters recounting Collett's past make for riveting storytelling. I was also introduced to new mythology and it reminds me of the Hindu God, Shiva, who destroys the Universe in order to re-create it; paving the way for a necessary and beneficial change. Love it!

"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, 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?"

I always find the concept of immortality one that needs to be read and explored in as many ways as is possible.

I really loved the writing in this, the only word I can think to describe it is vibrant. I felt like the middle dragged but was otherwise compelling.

The God of Endings is a stunning debut, a deftly woven tale of a vampire unlike others you may have read about before. Collette was born into her immortal life without choice and, through the centuries, has finally created an existence as a teacher at an elite preschool in a somewhat rural part of town. But her kindness toward one of her students, a young boy with a troubled mother, turns her peace upside down. The book sweeps you up in both of Collette's stories--her past and present. Underneath this breathtaking story is an exploration of humanity in all its goodness and evil. I'll be thinking of this book for a long time to come. Definitely can't wait for the next book Jacqueline Holland writes.

I received a copy of this from NetGalley in return for my honest review.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first 50% of this book. The present day plot was really intriguing and trying to figure out what was going on with Leo's parents definitely kept me turning the pages. While Collette's origin story was also good in terms of getting to know how she became a blood-sucking immortal (vampire), I do think that it may have started just a bit too far back in the past. We get these alternating chapters between present day and various moments from Collette's past. However, these seemed very disjointed and didn't further the present day plot at all. If anything they seemed randomly chosen from moments in time. The WWII subplot seemed to be out of character of who Colette was as a person.

This book was beautifully written, and for a debut, I can tell that Holland will create more great stories. This book felt just a tad bit too long and drawn out. The ending was was satisfying but not strong enough to garner the length. I do wish her growing thirst for blood was explored more, or perhaps even created more of a horror feeling rather than a minor point of conflict. One reason that it did take so long for me to read is that I felt little to no connection with Collette. It almost felt like she was a minor character in her own life because of how she was written.

Overall, I did enjoy reading this although it was perhaps a tad bit too long.

First of all, I want to thank you for allowing me to read this book! It took awhile for me to start this book, just due to the holidays and daily life. The cover of this book is what caught my eye, the book itself was amazing.

3.5 stars!

Thank you Flatiron Books and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I went into this novel not realizing it was a vampire novel, but was utterly delighted to find out it was. This tells the story of Anna (or Anya, or Collette, depending on who's asking) and her life from just before she was turned into a vampire up and spans the course of a couple of centuries up through the 1980s. Her past life is recounted to us while she—in the present timeline—works as a schoolteacher at an elite French preschool in upstate New York and she begins suffering some good old fashioned hunger pains.

The novel is split into dual timelines, and the past parts almost read like a memoir. I found these to be well done and generally engaging, and this novel certainly has a more literary quality to it. The writing itself is lovely, I generally speaking liked Anna/Anya/Collette's character arc, and I actually really liked the ending, though I did find that the first third of this novel was ultimately the strongest for me. I found the middle to drag a bit and the last third felt a little too drawn out for me, and there were a couple of major questions I had that have been left unanswered. I also felt like a lot of side characters were left to the wayside a little too much for my personal tastes and I wanted just a little more of the vampire lore, although honestly I just think the scope of this novel was a little too broad and Holland bit off a little more than she could chew. I found that a build up of little qualms were what ultimately bogged me down, but I think Holland shows a lot of promise and I'm definitely interested in seeing what other novels she produces.

The God of Endings is a good debut and I liked it, and in many ways it reminded me of the Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. Though there was a bit of a mismatch in what I wanted and what the book provided, I'd be happy to recommend it.

The God of Endings was an interesting read. I liked the premise and the writing- it was hauntingly beautiful and timeless. Which is why I was so sad that I had to DNF this book at around 50%.
I felt like I was reading this novel for 3 years- it was so long! This book needs to be heavily edited for me to attempt to read this book. At the minimum 50-100 pages should be edited out.
Once again, this review does break my heart a little bit because I was so excited for this release and truly enjoyed the author’s writing, but it was a slog to get through.
I don’t tend to rate books I do not finish, but for the circumstances of reviewing I would set it at 2 stars.

The God of Endings is a multi-timeline story that follows an immortal main character as she lives multiple lives as Anya, Anna, and Collette. This has an interesting take on a vampire story as it leans toward literary fiction. I requested to read this on NetGalley because of the description… oh, and the gorgeous cover, too!

This book did not have lots of vampire mythology to remember, which I appreciated because it gave me more time to focus on the character’s life. I often forgot that the main character was a vampire… except for the tense moments when her hunger was at the forefront of her mind during her time as a preschool teacher. Overall, I felt like I was reading a story about a woman who’s dealt with a lot of grief and loss, and I was rooting for her the entire time.

****The following paragraphs may have SPOILERS!****

This book focuses on the character development of many characters, and I found their tragic stories (like Halla’s story) compelling and beautiful. Specifically, I wanted to know the outcome of what happens in the present (1980’s) with little Leo and his mother, Katherine. And I was hoping that Collette would have an encounter with her grandfather or Ehru—people who were present during her beginning years as a vampire.

The attention to detail during WW2 France was done really well, and what really stuck with me after finishing this book was the parallel between the main character’s vigilante acts during WW2 and her decision to help Leo at the end.

****End of SPOILERS!****

If you enjoy fantasy and historical fiction, Jacqueline Holland is a brilliant debut author and an absolute expert at prose. I’m looking forward to reading her future books.

Beautiful book about a woman turned immortal at a young age. The story follows a "young" vampire woman through a dual timeline between when she was first turned by her grandfather and in the current time period in a preschool ran in her grandfather's old house. The story deals with immortality being something someone may not want, and how it is handled by a vampire who just wants to be a regular woman. It really spoke to me, the writing was beautiful and i absolutely had a blast reading the book

I loved this book so much. Thank you netgalley and flatiron for letting me read it. ❤️

The god of endings follows the eternal life of anna, from 1830s rural new york into the german forests, mountains of france, beaches of egypt and back to new york in the 1980s. Eternity unasked for, the novel follows Annas struggles with both change and stasis, while being always shadowed by memories and dreams of czernobog, the slavic god of endings, who has taken from so much from her over her two centuries.

I loved holland's style- it never felt stilted and you could really feel anna's struggle, as well a her love for the children in her school, and her horror with her own predicament. I fell in love with her, and leo, and while im a little conflicted with the ending.....i cant help but love it anyway. Highly recommend, great read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a great fantasy novel and was very gripping. This was an enjoyable and great read.

Loved this novel! The prose is simply dazzling. I have not read anything even remotely like this since I first started reading Anne Rice so many years ago. The main character is so wonderfully complex and human and her struggles to cope with grief from the standpoint of an immortal being were so insightful. The settings are so evocative and the story so complex, I had a very hard time putting this down. A truly outstanding effort from this author and I look forward to recommending it to all my library patrons. Just an absolute treat that I was sorry to see end.

I do not like historical fiction, I don't know why I picked this up -- it was very much not for me. But I can see why folks would enjoy it! It is written very well.

This is a very interesting, maybe more traditional take in vampire lore. I was very interested for the first third of the book. I particularly liked the shift back and forth in time as a way of pacing the story and shedding light on the more current timeline. About 150 pages in it really began to drag for me. I found myself not caring at all about the timeline of the past. It felt like there was only the main character Anya/Anna/Collette and very little interaction with anyone else consistently which made it hard to connect to anyone. I don’t know if these characters were meant to be like able but I didn’t like any of them. Getting through a book when you don’t like any of the characters is hard. Even when a character is meant to be an antihero you still find yourself enjoying their story or their journey. This one was not so much.

Lovely, sad and strange this has to be one of the most unique vampire novels I've ever had the pleasure to read. Its so rare to encounter an author who takes the trouble to examine what immortality would really look like. How days might pass, how priorities might shift, desires, hopes for the future. Collette LeSange's strange, melancholy journey through time called to mind another meditation on immortal life, Jim Jarmusch's equally beautiful "The Last Lovers Left Alive" with its art loving, literary minded vampire couple forever fighting the malaise of unending days. One doesn't often think of the desperation that would inevitably come if you were given unending time. Time to do everything, see everything, experience every sensation. The longing for rest, an escape, even for a little while, from the constant struggle that is just daily life might be enough to drive you mad.

Beautifully written, steeped in the kind of loneliness that can only come from being a unique creature in a world of ignorant savages this was one that will stay with me for awhile.