A Discovery of Witches (All Souls, #1) in Nothing But Reading Challenges

Apr 27, 2018 Kavitha Sivakumar rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: ir-armchair-2020, ir-armchair-2018

Unputdownable! Love it! I love Bishop's house to pieces :) The witches are more fun than the vampires :)

Palimpsest - a new word I learn! Looked at Bodleian library images online...wish I get an opportunity to go there. I always like stories with library settings. With Diana being a historian and Matthew being a vampire, a lot of glimpses into the past. This is a fictional story and can't expect truth in historical tellings, but I am intrigued enough to try to read couple of books about the topi ...more

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Apr 23, 2015 Michelle rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed, 2015

I really enjoyed this book. In fact, I have read it three times, and I still give it a 3 star rating. I want to rate it higher, but it always ends up at 3. Maybe 3 1/2 if I could do half stars, but alas I cannot.

Things I love: The Bodleian. Oxford. Matthew's home (England and France). Ysabeau and Marthe. Hamish. Marcus. The Knights.
Things I don't love: The ridiculousness of the villains and how everything is drawn out--overly so. The Congregation. Diana.

It's a testament to the series that I enj ...more

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Dec 07, 2020 Midu Hadi rated it it was ok

Shelves: series, us-author, vampires-and-other-bloodsuckers, serial-killers-and-other-murderers, witches, first-in-the-series, premissing, reviewed, blue-cover, 2011

As I was reading this book, something about it felt off. I couldn't put my finger on it. Then, I watched the first episode of the series based on it. Naturally, it got me looking up stuff about it. An article pointed out how deeply it was inspired by the Twilight books. A bulb went on inside my head and my imagination replayed the scene. In it, the vampire asks our heroine to slowly walk past him while he heroically tries to master his desire to drain her of all her blood. And that's when things ...more

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Jul 04, 2014 Michelle rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed, calibre, fantasy, read-again, 2014, x-reading-university, romance, paranormal, 2017, 2018

Second read-through of the book. *Disclaimer: I like my book relationships to be very different from my real-life marriage. If my husband tried controlling me like Matthew does with Diana, I'd punch him in the face, then walk away. But since it's a fantasy, I'll allow it.

This book has a lot going on. Vampires, witches, magical manuscripts, time-travel, haunted houses, and daemons. Not my usual fare, to be sure. I rarely, if ever, read paranormal romance. But I love historical fiction and I like ...more

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Nov 19, 2014 Andrada rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-english, 2015

My Goodreads adding-books-without-reading-their-description rampage will someday turn against me. For a full review check out: http://chapter26.net/2015/12/27/a-dis...

I have already outgrown my vampires-and-witches-books phase, but I honestly couldn’t resist this one after reading (just) its title. After buying it from the local bookstore and reading about 50 pages I started studying the back cover and the praises, one of them mentioned a resemblance to “Twilight” which is one of my least favou My Goodreads adding-books-without-reading-their-description rampage will someday turn against me. For a full review check out: http://chapter26.net/2015/12/27/a-dis...

I have already outgrown my vampires-and-witches-books phase, but I honestly couldn’t resist this one after reading (just) its title. After buying it from the local bookstore and reading about 50 pages I started studying the back cover and the praises, one of them mentioned a resemblance to “Twilight” which is one of my least favourite books; immediately after discovering this my attitude towards the book (which wasn’t great in the beginning, by the way) changed even more and at some point I actually disliked reading in. One thing I have learned from all this, always read the description before buying books (I know, I’m reckless & be warned that some spoilers lay ahead).

And now, to the book itself. Our main character, Diana Bishop, is a witch living in a world where human, witches, vampires and daemons coexist. Her parents passed away when she was little, both being powerful witches. After their violent death Diana refuses to use her powers or even learn how to control them, she tries to live like a human and chooses an academic career relating alchemy. Thus begins her journey and we find her in an Oxford library, rummaging through books. She accidentally finds an old manuscript, a bewitched one, she opens it with the idea in mind of studying it only for its alchemy purpose and blocks out the magical part. The manuscript turns out to be an important one for all three unhuman races: witches, vampires and daemons. After the discovery she meets a charming vampire, Matthew Clairmont, with whom will later start a romance. Other pay her visits after opening the manuscript, witches who threaten her, daemons who seek her help and also other vampires who are not as friendly as Matthew.
The book unfolds through a series of adventures and keeps you quite alert until the unexpected end.

A good read for those into the vampire&witches books and I also advise you to be patient because at some point things will get quite exciting and I think that it is worth finding out what the story of the manuscript is.

For more don't forget to visit our new and awesome website: http://chapter26.net/ - book-reviews at their finest!
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Jul 20, 2011 Delitealex rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: vampire, witches, favorites, fantasy, own

This book was nothing like I expected. The writing was so descriptive. I loved the parts about Diana's alchemical research and Matthew's experiments. Also the descriptions of each creature were interesting. I loved the characters and can't wait to learn more about them. The mystery of the manuscript and the interactions between the creatures really kept me interested and I loved the chemistry between Diana and Matthew. I'm definitely continuing on to the next book. ...more

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Feb 10, 2012 Irene Hollimon rated it it was amazing

It was long in parts but worth it. It definitely has the feel of the first book in a series. The world is built and the mystery is set up but there is no resolution. We don't know what's in Ashmole 72 and we don't know how the relationship between Diana and Matthew will go. We do know that the goddesses will extract a big price for Diana's bargain when she saved Matthew and we're also clued by Diana's vision of Sarah being sad. The parents never do make an appearance in this book which surprised ...more

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Aug 25, 2011 Mary (Biblophile) rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: in-my-collection, paranormal, audiobooks

Wow! This book could use some serious editing. It took me weeks of on and off listening to finally finish it. I thought it would never end! (Apparently it hasn't as there must be a sequel.)

I didn't hate the book, it just didn't grab my interest, though the historical stuff was interesting. The Twilight romance was old before it started. Way too much padding to cover the lack of a real storyline. Perhaps the next book will improve. ...more

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May 04, 2012 Aimee rated it really liked it

This book starts with a good amount of back story into Diana's life. The story basically sticks with Diana as the main narrator but occasionally turns to Mattew. I enjoyed the historical aspects added in, it made i more 'real'. I did feel like the 'marriage' between Diana and Matthew seemed to happen a little too fast. I also did enjoy the ending where you got to really meet Diana's aunts. There were many twists but only one section towards the middle that had me on the edge of my seat. This boo ...more

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