20/40: A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

A Discovery Of Witches by Deborah Harkness
My rating: 3 of 5 stars


From Goodreads:
 In this tale of passion and obsession, Diana Bishop, a young scholar and the descendant of witches, discovers a long-lost and enchanted alchemical manuscript deep in Oxford's Bodleian Library. Its reappearance summons a fantastical underworld, which she navigates with her leading man, vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont. Harkness has created a universe to rival those of Anne Rice, Diana Gabaldon, and Elizabeth Kostova, and she adds a scholar's depth to this riveting story of magic and suspense.


This was a so-so book for me. I liked the premise of it. I liked the different creatures and I loved the mystery and intrigue. I felt it was far too long. I found myself skipping over parts that seemed unimportant. Skimming a book is never a good sign.


The characters were great, but I had a sad realization that the relationship between vampire and woman was eerily like that of the possessive one in Twilight. I just couldn't get that out of my head. The good thing is, Diana is a witch and incredibly strong. Or at least she appears strong. For a character that is stubborn and has so much power inside her, she was rather "woe is me, I can't do this" for the majority of the book. Even when she discovered her power and started to train, she was still weak as a witch. I'm not sure if it was her love or if she was just pretending to be strong at the beginning. 


Matthew was close to being my new book boyfriend. At the beginning I was all "Oh Matthew, you are so amazing". But then he lost his luster. Sorry Matthew Clairmont, you didn't make the cut. 


I don't have a desire to pick up the next one. It ended on quite a cliffhanger and I can see how a lot of people would pick up the next one right away. The length of the end of the story was too much for me to pick up the next one. Feeling like I'll never finish a book and just want to get it down and over with is never a good sign.


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