Wednesday, April 6, 2011

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

4 STARS

All Souls Trilogy - Book 1

I bought this on a guts feeling. I kept seeing the book whenever I walked into our local Chapters store and it always caught my eye - then, when perusing the offerings of Kobo e-books, again, it kept catching my eye. I'm not big on the current trend of paranormal novels and romances, but this one's cover illustration didn't have the ubiquitous woman in leathers and all the shadowy stuff going on behind her, so finally I caved and bought the ebook.

Oddly, it was almost like reading two different books. The first half felt like a mystery that was taking its own sweet time about getting formed, and I have to admit that it took me a long while to warm up to the heroine, Diana. I'm still not entirely sold on her. One reviewer that I saw likened her to a Mary Sue and it's possible that this is one reason why. Honestly, she's my least favorite character in the book.

The other characters, however... :) 

The hero is scrumptious and the secondary characters are intriguing and fun and quirky and there had better be more of them to come.

The second half of the book reads like a romance, and that's okay. I like romances. And Matthew, the hero, is one sexy vampire, let me tell you. I think I would have liked a little more conflict between him and Diana vis-a-vis his vampiric past. Yeah, yeah, love and all that, but, I still wanted it to be a little more difficult for her. Now, I have to admit that this book hits a lot of my reading kinks. I love the cast of diverse characters that reluctantly come together in pursuit of a common goal, despite mutual distrust etc... I love the historical aspects of the book, all the incidents from Matthew's past delighted me no end. I also have a thing for secret councils and the like. And I loved the idea that so many incredible people from the past were what the author terms "creatures", ie: witches, vampires and daemons. (I'm loving the daemons, BTW.) 

You know what the second half of the book feels like to me? A good Nora Roberts. And I'm very fond of Nora Roberts. :) 

I had no idea when I bought the book that it was the first of a trilogy - I actually discovered that only yesterday! No wonder certain things are taking so long to resolve. In the end, would I recommend "A Discovery of Witches"? Yes, it's a good read and I ended up really enjoying it. (Maybe having no expectations when I started helped with that?) And will I purchase the second book in the trilogy? You betcha! My only hope is that I come to like Diana a little more.


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