A Discovery of Witches (All Souls, #1) in SpecFic Buddy Reads

Mar 17, 2019 Alissa rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-ebooks

I picked this up because I truly enjoyed the TV series with T. Palmer and M. Goodie (which, I may add, I watched by chance with no expectations whatsoever, and it’s now one of my all time first-season favorites), after reading this novel I’m totally convinced the screen adapters, the whole cast and Harkness herself did a terrific job bringing this first installment of The All Souls trilogy to life.

I liked this book on its own right, and I’m not planning on waiting for season 2 to see how things ...more

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May 11, 2018 Ctgt rated it really liked it

I had no clue there was such a range of opinions on this book. Even amongst my friends the reviews range from loathing to loving. I fall somewhere in the middle.
This is one of my wife's favorite series so I didn't come in blind and knew there was romance and supernatural creatures but didn't know much more about the overall plot. Diana Bishop, who comes from a long line of witches has attempted to live her life without using witchcraft, but while doing research comes across a strange alchemic m I had no clue there was such a range of opinions on this book. Even amongst my friends the reviews range from loathing to loving. I fall somewhere in the middle.
This is one of my wife's favorite series so I didn't come in blind and knew there was romance and supernatural creatures but didn't know much more about the overall plot. Diana Bishop, who comes from a long line of witches has attempted to live her life without using witchcraft, but while doing research comes across a strange alchemic manuscript, a palimpsest. Apparently her brief glimpse at the unreadable hidden text has alerted many other supernatural creatures that this long lost text has resurfaced. Included in this number of creatures is Matthew Clairmont, a vampire who takes a keen interest in Diana as well as the text.
I had a couple of issues with the book. First was the length, this probably could have been cut down by a couple hundred pages and not lost any real plot points. The second issue was more troublesome and that had to do with the relationship that begins to form between the two main characters. Clarimont clings to some outdated ideas of gender roles, which I guess can be understandable given his lifespan but what bothered me more was the response by Diana to this attitude. I would have expected a much stronger negative reaction from her than she exhibited through most of the book. There were times when she seemed to stand up to his more domineering demands but not nearly as much as I would have expected from an independent, strong willed woman.
Those two problems aside I did enjoy the world building and the mystery behind the manuscript really drove the rest of the story. Each group of supernatural creatures is trying to get their hands on the manuscript and each has a different theory on what is contained in the manuscript. The clear cut separation between creatures sets up a nice amount of tension that builds throughout the book.
Add in a good variety of secondary characters and you have, what for me, was an interesting read.

7/10 ...more

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