Sunday, October 5, 2014

The Beginning of an Adventure


A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Don't you just love it when reviewers seem to be so divided? Made me wonder so I listened to the snippet. I liked the narrator's voice. I liked the summary of the book. I had to find out what the fuss was all about!

I love libraries! I've experienced wandering around and had a book title just sort of leap out at me. So when the story starts out in the Oxford tombs with a manuscript appearing to young scholar Diana Bishop, I'm hooked. Diana is the last in the line of distinguished witches. Unlike her predecessors, she wants NOTHING to do with witchcraft. But her bloodline will win out over her desires. She makes notes about the manuscript and returns it. Soon the tombs are filled with witches, vampires, demons. One vampire, Matthew Clairmont, sticks out to become our hero.

As in all romances, the course of true love is not smooth. Is he, like all the other creatures after her for her ability to summon the manuscript? Is he really her protector? Can he help her deal with her blossoming sorcery abilities? Can he protect her from all the other witches, demons, and vampires who are after her? Most of all, can a witch of her family line and a vampire from an equally distinguish family be allowed to have any kind of relationship?

I liked the way Deborah Harkness moved these characters along in their relationship as the tension about Diana and manuscript escalated. Thing develop smoothly and logically. Some might say "predictable". I wonder if some of that judgement came after the book was finished.

While I liked all the characters, I especially loved the house and its ghosts. I won't tell you why. You'll have to read/listen to find out for yourself!

I wanted to give Jennifer Ikeda 5 stars but couldn't as couple of times accents changed inappropriately that distracted me. (i.e., I gave her 4 stars.)

This was a well used credit! I would highly recommend this book. If the following books are as good as this one, I would recommend the series!Don't you just love it when reviewers seem to be so divided? Made me wonder so I listened to the snippet. I liked the narrator's voice. I liked the summary of the book. I had to find out what the fuss was all about!

I love libraries! I've experienced wandering around and had a book title just sort of leap out at me. So when the story starts out in the Oxford tombs with a manuscript appearing to young scholar Diana Bishop, I'm hooked. Diana is the last in the line of distinguished witches. Unlike her predecessors, she wants NOTHING to do with witchcraft. But her bloodline will win out over her desires. She makes notes about the manuscript and returns it. Soon the tombs are filled with witches, vampires, demons. One vampire, Matthew Clairmont, sticks out to become our hero.

As in all romances, the course of true love is not smooth. Is he, like all the other creatures after her for her ability to summon the manuscript? Is he really her protector? Can he help her deal with her blossoming sorcery abilities? Can he protect her from all the other witches, demons, and vampires who are after her? Most of all, can a witch of her family line and a vampire from an equally distinguish family be allowed to have any kind of relationship?

I liked the way Deborah Harkness moved these characters along in their relationship as the tension about Diana and manuscript escalated. Thing develop smoothly and logically. Some might say "predictable". I wonder if some of that judgement came after the book was finished.

While I liked all the characters, I especially loved the house and its ghosts. I won't tell you why. You'll have to read/listen to find out for yourself!

I wanted to give Jennifer Ikeda 5 stars but couldn't as couple of times accents changed inappropriately that distracted me. (i.e., I gave her 4 stars.)

This was a well used credit! I would highly recommend this book. If the following books are as good as this one, I would recommend the series!

View all my reviews