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A Discovery of Witches
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A Discovery of Witches- SPOILER thread
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I did enjoy this book but found myself enjoying it less as it went on. The beginning in Oxford was great, the revelations about her parents and the atmosphere kept me on edge... but I found myself getting less interested when they went to the chateau, the excitement disappeared, everything fell a bit flat. I found Matthew a grown-up version of Edward Cullen (controlling, proud, and remarkably doting on non-vampire character - who I found myself disliking as she was cast in a very Bella Swan-mould - unaware of the world she'd stepped into, remarkably reliant on said controlling vampire) and that whole parallel put me off a bit. Also the nickname 'ma lionne' put my teeth on edge every time it crept up.I did enjoy the quirky Bishop family home and the ghosts but by then the revelations were coming thick and fast and I got a bit confused. I felt she was sort of packing them in as she got towards the end. I had started skim-reading as well which didn't help!
In all a great concept and interesting story but I felt the characters were quite two-dimensional - I thought she could have left quite a bit out and maintained the great fast-paced mystery of the first section.
I, too, enjoyed the beginning 2 acts but by the final act was less enthused and agree with the poster above who mentioned feeling that the characters were 2 dimensional. A great start but a disappointing finish.
Mod
Yes, formulaic. That's a better way of putting it.
I did get the feeling that this was written with the intention of making it a more adult twilight and there is nothing wrong with that IMO. The whole relationship is very similar - boy meets girl, there is an obvious (to the reader) attraction, he is strong, she repeatedly puts herself in danger because she is naive which he likes to see as strength, he leaves, she is heartbroken, he returns and is sweet and supportive - the list of similarities in their relationships goes on. There are more depths to these characters and a main plot to the books which makes it more than just a troubled romance. The genetics, alchemy and historical facts are quite in depth but I thought they didn't really need to go into quite as much detail - it almost seemed like it was an attempt to make the book more of a supernatural book to be taken seriously. I know that even now a week after I have finished their doesn't seem to have been as much detail but I remember thinking it at the time so that's why I thought I'd mention it. I do like the facts the book contains and I think the genetics of the 3 + humans makes for some interesting hypothesis. It's something I've never come across - how did these beings come into existence? and I find it really interesting.
I didn't really feel as much for Diana as I thought I would at the start of the book. I don't think her reluctance, and her reasoning behind her reluctance, really made as much sense as if magic had really had a negative influence on her life (her knowing it had been the reason for her parents death or something like that). I also don't understand why it no-one had ever figured out that her powers were bound when she suddenly was incapable of using them effectively after being so promising as a young child but Matthew's family figured it out so quickly. I also found it the whole alpha male thing a bit overdone and it didn't really go with the Diana that had been described. When I put it down for a few days his attentiveness to her and his pet names suddenly bugged me.
I guess I'm just rambling incoherently (my kids are making this difficult but their grandparents have just left and I'm trying to remember my thoughts) and it sounds like I had a lot of issues with the book but they really didn't bother me as much as it sounds.