A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
This novel is about historian Diana Bishop, who finds a historical alchemical manuscript which turns out to be magical in nature. She meets a vampire, rediscovers her roots as a witch, learns to embrace her own magic, falls in love with the vampire she’s supposed to hate, and discovers that she’s being hunted by all three supernatural communities: witches, vampires, and daemons. Romance and sort-of adventure follows as they try to find the truth about that manuscript.
I really enjoyed reading this book while I was in the thick of it. It drew me in and I was rapidly engrossed. Then I spent some time thinking about it. Here’s the problem: the main character very suddenly changes about halfway through and no longer feels like the interesting person she started out as. She falls in love with this vampire scientist and suddenly starts being a witch and seems to stop being who she was before: which was a university professor who loves to spend her time running and rowing. Any responsibilities she had at the beginning of the book are suddenly forgotten and she devotes all her attention to her relationship with the vampire and to the weird magic book she found entirely by accident. I kept hoping she would come to her senses, break free of whatever weird spell her own magic had put her under, but it never happened. I read the sequel, hoping the same thing, but with no luck. I’ll probably read the third book, just to figure out what happens (it comes out next month, I think), but I won’t be recommending this unless you are looking for a book that combines Highlander with Twilight- so, um, no.
Links
Deborah Harkness Webside: http://deborahharkness.com/
Image source: http://deborahharkness.com/discovery-of-witches/a-discovery-of-witches-downloads/
Just A Thought 