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A Discovery of Witches

- mackenzie 2 Comments
A Discovery of WitchesA Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
Series: The All Souls Trilogy #1
Published by Viking Penguin on February 1, 2011
Genres: fantasy, romance
Pages: 579
Goodreads

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.

This was my second read-through of A Discovery of Witches, spurred on by my lovely friend Sarah’s love for the show. My first review, shared on Goodreads in 2016 reads:

I wanted to love this book more than I did. I really enjoyed the story and most of the characters, but I hard a hard time with the main character. I found her incredibly whiny and at times her actions/reactions ridiculous. If I could have liked her more I think I would have really enjoyed this book.

I’m still unsure whether or not I will grab the second one.

The second and third one are currently sitting on my shelf, all checked out from my local library. I’ve been determined to finish the series since I read the first one, but I never got around to it. Both times, I was torn between wanting to love the book and it ultimately falling a little flat for me.

The premise, interesting. The atmosphere, oxygenated. The vibes, immaculate. The witches, witching. The daemons, tripping. The vampires…brooding and a little too over possessive for my tastes. Which is saying something, since I can normally cast aside the internal bristle that happens when it comes to vampires and their less than stellar ability to let a human, human. I get being protective because humans are fragile, but maybe also let them make their own decisions?

I found Diana less whiny this time around. I actually really loved her in the first half of the book. Where she starts to fall apart for me actually has more to do with the vampires than it does her. The moment she admits she’s in love with Matthew, she moves from independent woman to a side character in her own narrative being swept along. I understand she knows very little about the supernatural world. But she could still have opinions on it.

I’ll probably read the second one. Since it’s in my grasp already. And I will hope, against all odds since we’ve gone back in time, I won’t have to read “Listen to Matthew, he’s our leader” more than once.

I’m also going to hope that Diana stops referring to Matthew as “my vampire” when narrating, and instead can just refer to him by name.

Update: I’m, like, 150 pages into the second book now.

The Rake and The Recluse

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Okay, sooooo, I haven’t enjoyed a book quite like The Rake and The Recluse in a very long time. So much so that I’m debating purchasing the paperback since I snagged the Kindle version through Kindle Unlimited.

I’ve known about this book for years. I used to interact with Jenn LeBlanc on Twitter (I’m pretty sure I even won a contest she ran), but that was back in the day before I fully admitted that I enjoyed romance novels. So when I came across it again, I jumped at the chance to read it.

If you like Outlander, but you just more of the sexual tension and sex, then this is definitely what you should pick up next. I mean, it doesn’t have a scotsman, but it does have a reclusive Duke and his rakish brother. Both of them are SO charming in their own ways, and I loved them both.

I had a little bit of a harder time liking Francine, but she grew on me. I mean, if I woke up in her situation, I’d also probably be very confused, so I had to cut her some slack. I loved her fire when she got comfortable enough to show it.

The tension was wonderful, both in the Duke’s relationship and his brother’s. I found it a bit odd that it transferred points of view half way through, but once I got into it, I was sold. I found myself very heavily invested in all the relationships that were going on. They were all cute and definitely satisfied that romantic-illusion I find gets left out of some books in exchange for more sex.

All in all, you can bet your booty I’ll be picking up the next novel in this series.