Book Synopsis
Genre: Fantasy fiction
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.
Review
Okay, so if we go back to my reading a few months ago of The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong and Nightshade by Andrea Cremer, I vowed never to pick up a fantasy novel ever again for a long time. The reason was because I was so SICK of the predictable story lines. No matter what different species across these different fantasy novels, you could tell the plot line from the first few pages: a love triangle, a curse, a forbidden love, a hybrid baby or some other juju shit. Now, when I picked up A Discovery of Witches, I was hoping for something more sophisticated and worthwhile given it was over 600 pages long. I was not disappointed!
What I loved about this book was that it wasn’t based solely on the love between Diana and Matthew. Though it was a typical forbidden love, the way the story revolves around more than just a few people kept me interested. There wasn’t a few lives at stake but basically an entire world’s. Although it was a bit long, the book was incredibly well written in my opinion. I love history and the idea of discovering what once was and the way history is used in this book is wonderful; the characters had so much depth to them which works really well in this book. There’s just so much more to this story than a simple forbidden love; it’s about magic and mystery, challenging the conventions that dictate how you’ve lived.
Perhaps the only thing I didn’t like was the possessiveness of Matthew. Seriously, clingy, over-protective boyfriends are a TURN OFF. I don’t know if it appeals more to younger girls or lonely girls who like the idea of a macho man always being there for them… but seriously, women are capable of standing on their own two feet. Vampires need to respect that. Kudos to Diana who is her own woman in this book.