Title: A Discovery of Witches (All Souls Trilogy #1)
Author: Deborah Harkness
Published: September 29, 2011
Publisher: Headline
ISBN: 978-0755374045
Genre: Fantasy
A richly inventive novel about a centuries-old vampire, a spellbound witch, and the mysterious manuscript that draws them together.
Deep in the stacks of Oxford's Bodleian Library, young scholar Diana Bishop unwittingly calls up a bewitched alchemical manuscript in the course of her research. Descended from an old and distinguished line of witches, Diana wants nothing to do with sorcery; so after a furtive glance and a few notes, she banishes the book to the stacks. But her discovery sets a fantastical underworld stirring, and a horde of daemons, witches, and vampires soon descends upon the library. Diana has stumbled upon a coveted treasure lost for centuries-and she is the only creature who can break its spell.
Debut novelist Deborah Harkness has crafted a mesmerizing and addictive read, equal parts history and magic, romance and suspense. Diana is a bold heroine who meets her equal in vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont, and gradually warms up to him as their alliance deepens into an intimacy that violates age-old taboos. This smart, sophisticated story harks back to the novels of Anne Rice, but it is as contemporary and sensual as the Twilight series-with an extra serving of historical realism.
Rating: ★☆☆☆☆
DNF at 40%...
This book made me very, very angry.
The Good.
- Well written (albeit she does like the sound of her own voice).
- Deborah Harkness is well researched.
The Bad
- Diana Bishop - She tries too hard to be an "independent woman" to the point where she comes across as rude and immature. It's okay to let a man open a door for you. In fact, Diana's insistence that she's capable of opening doors (or in fact, doing anything) on her own is invalidating Matthew's attempts at being a nice person.
This is a massive issue for me in books with "strong women". I'm all for being an independent woman who doesn't need a man in her life. Yes, women are more than capable of doing the same things as men. Yes, I fully approve of a character which demonstrates this fact. When that character makes a habit of pointing this fact out, I start to get annoyed. Allowing men to do things for you doesn't make you any less capable, nor does it make you any less of a feminist. Throwing their attempts back in their face does make you an arsehole, however.
Diana Bishop has to be the most repugnant character I have ever come across.
- Matthew Clairmont - Insta-love? Good Lord ... I can't really make much comment on the possessive/obsessive/needy nature of his feelings for Diana because it's a by-product of his vampiricism, but urgh. Most women like an Alpha male. Most women like the idea of their man being that eensy bit possessive, because they like to think that their man cares about them enough to want to protect them. Matthew takes possessive to the limit, and it's bad. It comes across as needy and clingy and it's just all
- Irrelevant Information Overload - I don't care that Matthew writes with a Montblanc Meisterstuck Mechanical pencil. I don't care what wines he likes to drink; I really do not need Harkness to give me a name and vintage every single time. I don't care how often Diana goes running/rowing. This book reads like a journal of her naps. Irrelevant, boring scenes that add nothing to the story because they don't advance the plot in any way. Repetitive, conceited inner-monologues that make me wish Diana Bishop was a real person so I could hunt her down and burn her at the stake.
- Pretentious - Deborah Harkness tries so hard to prove to us just how very clever she is. She tries far, far too hard. I am far from impressed by her mensa-candidate characters, fact-dumps, use of multiple languages for her characters, obscure medieval poetry quotes. She spends pages and pages explaining how Diana conducts her research and how she documents her observations and findings on manuscripts she's looking at in the Oxford Bodleian Library, and yes, we're all very impressed that you're an Historian, Deborah, but, apparently, not as much as you are.
- Wishful Thinking - I don't even want to start on the obvious wish fulfillment that is the character Diana Bishop who is an historian of science with blond hair. And, oh, look! So is Deborah Harkness. Isn't that amazing? She made herself the main character/mary-sue/heroine/love interest of the extremely hunky vampire.
- Length of book - The book is unnecessarily long. I mean, on the romance side of things, the pacing is ok - a bit fast for my tastes, but it wasn't an insta-relationship (even if it was insta-love-on-first sight). But as far as plot goes? Everything we learn in the 40% I read could have easily been condensed into the first 15%.
I got to the point with this book that I didn't even care about the plot anymore. Harkness had successfully bored and annoyed me to the point where I completely forgot there was a plot and that I should care about what was happening.
Okay, okay, I need to stop now and sort out my blood pressure.
Like I said, this book made me angry. I do not recommend.
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