Oooooh, another book review! As I said in my last post and book review I am currently obsessed with reading books on my Kindle.On Tuesday I tweeted asking for some book recommendations and Elf Store Cardiff tweeted me with some books which had been recommended on their Facebook page, A Discovery of Witches was one of those books.
A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness is the first book in the All Souls Trilogy, this book is used to set the scene and develop relationships between characters, along with capturing our attention so that we can’t finish the book without wanting to read more.
Diana Bishop is a witch who doesn’t want to use magic and wishes she was human, however one day when conducting some research she calls upon a book ‘Ashmole 782’ which doesn’t go unnoticed. ‘Ashmole 782’ has been lost for years and no one has known where it was, witches have been after the book, as have daemons, and vampires, now that they know Diana has seen the book they want her to hand it over to them. Witches, daemons, and vampire believe that this book contains information about their existence and all want to get their hands on it.
Diana isn’t aware of the significance of the book and has no idea that she is the reason why Oxford is suddenly becoming full of witches, daemons, and vampires. She develops a friendship with Professor Matthew De Clairmont who helps to protect her as she is trying to work in the library which is becoming increasingly occupied with witches, and daemons who want to see ‘Ashmole 782’, which Diana no longer has. The friendship between Diana and Matthew soon develops into a relationship after she ‘cooks’ him a meal which a vampire can stomach.
Diana is descended from the famous Bridget Bishop of Salem, Massachusetts and comes from a long line of powerful witches. She has grown up living with her Aunt Sarah after her parents were killed in Nigeria when she was 7. Diana is believed to be a very powerful witch due to being a Bishop however she hates to use her magic and prides herself on the fact she has only used magic 6 times this year and of those times was to stop the washing machine from flooding her home.
I really loved this book, and have already downloaded the second in the trilogy Shadow of Night and will be getting stuck into. I just know that the story is going to develop so much more and I can imagine the All Souls Trilogy being worthy of many more books, though the third and final book The Book of Life isn’t released until 15th July but I will be pre-ordering it to be instantly downloaded to my kindle!
I’ve seen a lot of Goodreads reviews compare this to Twilight and it is nothing of the sort! A Discovery of Witches is a well written novel which mixes science, history, romance, and weaves them together in a fantastic novel. Twilight doesn’t have a good romance story but this does, Diana and Matthew make such a lovely couple and they are equalish partners in their relationship, she doesn’t do things to defy him because she doesn’t need to! In the beginning of their relationship he does try to be controlling because as a vampire born in the 500’s that’s how most of his relationships worked until the modern one he has with Diana.
Anyway, I have just one last thing to say which is go and buy it and read it! I am so glad that Elf Store Cardiff recommended it too me, it would have been a long time before I found it without their help.
Tink x
Ps. I am organising a book swap so why don’t you take a look at it here.
