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3.83 AVERAGE
3.83 AVERAGE
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I got it recommended from an friend. It took some time to get into but it was worth it. To be honest the story feels long, but due to this you get to know the characters more and more, cant wait what will happen in the next book
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Diana Bishop is a historian of science and also, incidentally, the daughter of two of the most powerful witches of their generation. Matthew Clairmont is a leading geneticist and also, incidentally, a vampire. Their chance encounter at the Bodleian Library turns out to be much more than it first seems when a mysterious manuscript has all the magical beings of England descending upon Oxford.
This is sort of a hot mess of a book: there's just way too much going on for any of it be done particularly well. There are witches, daemons, vampires; academia and manuscripts; science and history; time travel; elemental magic; English country houses and French chateaus. Lots of individual points of interest, but Harkness doesn't juggle the pieces well. As a result, this reads a lot like an early draft: there's a lot of promise, but there are also pacing issues and a lack of focus. It feels scattered, and reading it is sort of a slog at times.
I think the biggest weak point is the central romance between Diana and Matthew--we're told about how it develops, but I as the reader never feel it. It especially suffers because Matthew turns out to be every alpha male vampire cliche; I think I started rolling my eyes when he started using French endearments for Diana.
All that said, I can see how this novel became a hit, and I fully expect the sequel to be one too. The mishmash of genres and utter lack of subtlety reminds me a lot of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series; I imagine they share a lot of the same audience.
This is sort of a hot mess of a book: there's just way too much going on for any of it be done particularly well. There are witches, daemons, vampires; academia and manuscripts; science and history; time travel; elemental magic; English country houses and French chateaus. Lots of individual points of interest, but Harkness doesn't juggle the pieces well. As a result, this reads a lot like an early draft: there's a lot of promise, but there are also pacing issues and a lack of focus. It feels scattered, and reading it is sort of a slog at times.
I think the biggest weak point is the central romance between Diana and Matthew--we're told about how it develops, but I as the reader never feel it. It especially suffers because Matthew turns out to be every alpha male vampire cliche; I think I started rolling my eyes when he started using French endearments for Diana.
All that said, I can see how this novel became a hit, and I fully expect the sequel to be one too. The mishmash of genres and utter lack of subtlety reminds me a lot of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series; I imagine they share a lot of the same audience.
Just terrible. Squee’s review on Goodreads sums it up perfectly.
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It’s really hard for me to rate this book because there is potential there but man oh man did it fall flat. I enjoyed it until I got to a point where I was thinking, goodness I am almost done and I feel like we keep going over the same information. Then we had the same chain of events but just in different settings. Super frustrating.
I do love history, the details there were fun. I do love how the author tied science, DNA, and all that into the story. It gave it more depth than other vampire/witch books I have read.
****SPOILER****
I also hated how quick they jumped to the conclusion that time travel was for sure the way to go. Like uhhhhhh... sure okay. Yup you guys nailed it. Totally makes sense. And that was where I knew that there is more than likely not going to be a second book for me.
I do love history, the details there were fun. I do love how the author tied science, DNA, and all that into the story. It gave it more depth than other vampire/witch books I have read.
****SPOILER****
I also hated how quick they jumped to the conclusion that time travel was for sure the way to go. Like uhhhhhh... sure okay. Yup you guys nailed it. Totally makes sense. And that was where I knew that there is more than likely not going to be a second book for me.
Really, really slow. There were some genuinely interesting aspects to the story, and I liked how the Creatures were divided. The demons were my favorite - and of course, they were the least explored. Like so many vampire romances however, I was much more interested in the characters surrounding the two main ones than Matthew or Diana. What's up with Marthe? Why would a several-hundred-year-old vampire want to stay a housekeeper? Even the house had more personality (literally) than Matthew and Diana, who were two-dimentional at best. Matthew's only defining character trait seems to be random temper flares, and Diana's seems to be chronic helplessness. Plot is replaced with pages and pages of ridiculously long descriptions of wine and the endless repetition of Diana passing out or sleeping through the story. Diana faints all over herself like a Gothic heroine from the 1700s. For someone who is supposed to be brave and headstrong, Diana does an awful lot of wilting and hiding behind Matthew. They call it "shielding" in the book, but come on. Once was enough.
In the end, the story reads more like a how-to manual for joining a cult than a romance. Step one: fall for a (debatably) charismatic cult leader who will dictate every move you make. Step two: declare your undying loyalty to a guy you just met, even over the family who raised you. Threaten them with violence if they show concern. Step three: Let a guy you just met a few weeks ago marry you without your knowledge or consent, and then have his lawyer draw up papers so that you can sign over your entire estate to his family. Also without your knowledge or consent.
Unbelievably sexist story. When Diana asks why she feels as if all the women had been sent out of the room so that the men could talk politics over brandy, I thought to myself "because that's exactly what happened, you twit!" Not a single strong female in the bunch.
In the end, the story reads more like a how-to manual for joining a cult than a romance. Step one: fall for a (debatably) charismatic cult leader who will dictate every move you make. Step two: declare your undying loyalty to a guy you just met, even over the family who raised you. Threaten them with violence if they show concern. Step three: Let a guy you just met a few weeks ago marry you without your knowledge or consent, and then have his lawyer draw up papers so that you can sign over your entire estate to his family. Also without your knowledge or consent.
Unbelievably sexist story. When Diana asks why she feels as if all the women had been sent out of the room so that the men could talk politics over brandy, I thought to myself "because that's exactly what happened, you twit!" Not a single strong female in the bunch.
what starts out as an interesting premise in a vibey setting quickly devolves into twilight fanfiction