Once again, we travel through Tanith's world of Paradys, and again three stories present themselves as sub-novels.

Part 1 - Raoulin has arrived in 'present-day' Paradys to begin a scholarly course at the University of the Sachrist. Mansion lodgings have already been arranged for him; it is these lodgings that start to fascinate our hero, as he discovers secrets about the d'Uscaret family that own the house. Who is the mysterious woman he spies on the stairs?

Part 2 - The thread takes us back to Roman times, when Paradys was overseen by a powerful Governor. A Mithrian by religion, his mismatched marriage to a devout Christian leaves him unhappy, and he seeks comfort in the arms of an enigmatic woman in the backstreets of Paradys. However, he later finds she hides some dark secrets, and she traps him into a fatal error...

Part 3 - We return to join Raoulin, whose fate has strayed from the path he originally planned. Events bring him in contact with a Jewish father and daughter, who seem to possess the knowledge to help him - will they be able to solve his problems?

My Thoughts

Unlike Tanith's The Book of the Damned, The Book of the Beast has a contiguous common theme throughout the three parts - The Beast itself. We first encounter it in Part 1, as Raoulin uncovers his secrets, and then we investigate the Beast's origins through the eyes of the Roman in Part 2. Finally, we see the saga to its conclusion in Part 3.

After reading The Book of the Damned, I found this book easier to get into, having become used to Tanith's fascinating writing style. Again, I enjoyed this style, and the stories themselves, immensely, and would recommend both books to anyone.