From the Bookshelf of Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge…

The novel tells the story (or at least the beginning of the story) of Diana Bishop, a non-practicing witch from an extremely powerful family (yes, those Bishops, from Salem). After her parents' deaths, Diana refused to practice magic or be trained in it. She still uses it occasionally, but it's clear she's unfocused and uncontrolled. Turn

The novel tells the story (or at least the beginning of the story) of Diana Bishop, a non-practicing witch from an extremely powerful family (yes, those Bishops, from Salem). After her parents' deaths, Diana refused to practice magic or be trained in it. She still uses it occasionally, but it's clear she's unfocused and uncontrolled. Turns out there's a reason for this, but we don't find that out until much later. Anyway, Diana is a historian working on a project about alchemy, a branch of science that extends into the mystical. In the process of her research at the Bodelian library at Oxford, Diana happens upon a mysterious book, referred to only as Ashmole 782. It turns out this manuscript is not only powerfully magical, but has been lost for centuries. Diana's ability to recall it so easily sets off alarm bells in all corners of the "creature" universe. In no time, Oxford is swarming with witches, vampires and daemons, all of whom have their own reasons for wanting Ashmole 782. One of these vampires, Matthew Clairmont, quickly becomes enamored with Diana and the two strike up a friendship and unlikely alliance when it becomes clear that Diana is no longer safe from the power-hungry creatures who want the book. Of course it takes very little time for this "unlikely friendship" to turn into "forbidden romance" (yawn). As creatures close in and the danger becomes more imminent, Diana's curiosity about Ashmole 782 only grows stronger.

Ok. There were certain elements of this that I really loved. In fact, the first 100 pages or so had me completely hooked. Here's what I liked:
- Oxford! I would kill to spend a week in that library, just wandering around looking at stuff. All of the scenes in the Bodelian were like book porn. It was almost as wonderful as the scene in the mayor's library from The Book Thief.
- History! I love a well-researched historical thriller. Emphasis on well-researched. It's clear Harkness knows her shit when it comes to historical background. I can tell a lot of time and effort went into creating the backstory for all of these characters.
- Speaking of history, Salem! I've been obsessed with the witch trials since I was in jr high (single greatest disappointment of my life? Seeing that most of Salem has been turned into a tourist trap. Woe). I both loved and felt teased by the tiny glimpse we got into Diana's family history with the witch trials. Hopefully that's something we come back to in the 2nd book.
- Matthew's chapters. He only had a few (and only Diana got to first-person narrate), but I found myself both enjoying and looking forward to Matthew's perspective. Probably because I liked Hamish and Marcus and wanted to spend more time with them.
- The house. Without giving too much away, I loved the (most of) scenes in Diana's aunts' house in Madison. The deus ex machina nature of the house was a little eye-roll worthy, however...

And here's what didn't so much work:
- France. I get what it was supposed to mean for Diana and Matthew's relationship, and I kind of enjoyed Ysabeau as a character, but the whole section in France dragged on interminably. It felt like an enormous amount of wheel-spinning until some action finally happened (sort of like the never-ending camping trip in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows). That whole interlude could have been many, many pages shorter.
- Honestly? The romance. It left me cold. Maybe I'm just not in the mood to read romance right now, but as swoony as Matthew was supposed to be, he just did nothing for me. I'd rather hang out with Marcus; at least he seems to have a sense of humor. The trope of the "strong protector" has never really appealed to me. I like to think of myself as a perfectly capable human being -- the idea of a man rescuing me is entirely unappealing...more than that, it makes my inner feminist grind her teeth in irritation. His constant need to protect her, growling when someone tried to separate them (gimme a break!), just rubbed me the wrong way.
- Branching off from that, parts of Diana's characterization irritated me. She's a strong, tough chick who has been independent for a long time and can clearly take care of herself. What's wrong with calling her that? Why does Matthew keep calling her "willful?" That's a seriously condescending adjective (and yes, I know he says that he loves the fact that she's willful, but that somehow makes it worse!). It's like he's patting her on the head "aw, look at you trying to be all tough! Who's a willful widdle witch? You are!" Ugh. So many of the aspects of Diana's personality that make her awesome (and also not Bella Swan) are presented in a negative light. She's "stubborn and willful" not "strong and independent."

Credit where credit is due, however, I will say that, France interlude aside, Harkness moved the plot along quite well. I mentioned in one of my reading updates that I was amazed the author allowed characters to both ask and answer questions fairly openly about the greater mystery so early in the novel. Diana and Matthew have a rather frank conversation about Ashmole 782, the nature of his scholarship, and why other creatures might want the book, within the first 200 pages of an almost 600-page book that's the first of a trilogy. Having spent so much of the last year reading YA series, this blew my mind. While I'm not sure this necessarily needs to be a trilogy (without all the time spent on romance and vampire marriage, we could easily lose 200 pages), the plot right now feels reasonably well-crafted. It could very well fall apart in the next book, but right now, I'm satisfied with where things are headed.