Type of Read:
Fantasy/ Romance
Plot Summary:
Diana, a historian and witch, and Matthew, a vampire, have fallen in loved and been married even though it is strictly forbidden. (I know you just thought of Twilight and inwardly sighed, but stay with me. It gets good!) Because the two of them broke the rules, they are being hunted by the Congregation, an organization that is responsible for keeping order and distance between the three types of creatures-vampires, witches and daemons. In order to find answers to both Diana's powerful magic and the mysterious book known as Ashmole 782, they travel back in time to 1591. While they search for the manuscript that might hold answers to the origin of all creatures and help Diana find a teacher to help her control her magic, they also must navigate through the treacherous world of political intrigue during the last years of the Tudor reign.
Strengths:
Deborah Harkness is a fantastic writer. I feel that every word she chose was purposeful and lent to the story. She is descriptive and witty. Unlike Stephenie Meyer, you can see why the vampire fell in love with the unsuspecting witch. Also, their relationship is believable. Poor Matthew is plagued by loss and regret in his long life, and it effects not only him, but also Diana. Plus he is still a scary vampire, not sparkly.
Harkness is also a historian so she really knows her stuff. You might ask, "What makes her a historian?" Well, she has multiple degrees in history from Mount Holyoke College, Northwestern University, and the University of California at Davis. She has researched for the past 28 years the history of magic and science in Europe during the 1500s through the 1700s. She's worked in multiple libraries and currently teach European history and the history of science at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Not to mention she has published multiple historical papers and books (deborahharkness.com). So when this woman says that the Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolf II acted like a spoiled child and was in search for the philosopher's stone, I'm inclined to believe her.
One last strength is how Harkness approaches time travel. Instead of sticking with the age old 'butterfly effect' she puts forth the notion that what is meant to happen, will happen. They do have some control over the past and future, and they leave behind noticeable changes. But when they try and make big changes such as rescuing a specific witch from burning, it doesn't work. No matter what they do, the witch will still burn. (This isn't really a spoiler, I promise.) I think this was an interesting approach and brought to mind the differences between one's destiny and one's control.
Weaknesses:
This is a deceptively long book and it takes a few hundred pages to find the rhythm of it. I really enjoyed the first one, but it too took a while for me to gain interest in it. And this is not a book that you can skim. If you do, you will miss important information and subtle hints of what is to come. The writing is beautiful, but I wish that there was a quicker way to draw the reader in so they don't give up before it gets really good!
Also, as a fair warning, this is a romance book. I did not realize this when I read the first book in the series and was a little disappointed. For some reason I had expected an adventure story featuring a librarian. There are several explicit scenes in the book, but at the same time, they are married so I guess that makes it a little less shocking...(So I'm a bit of a prude, sue me. According to Wikipedia that means I am an honorable woman in Old French)
Opinion and Recommendation:
I would highly recommend this book, but be warned that it will take some time to read. Stick with it though. The writing is magnificent and the historical accounts are probably as accurate as they can get (I personally am not a historian, but I definitively used Google to check facts and rumors that surrounded some of the main characters during the Elizabethan period...Don't lie. You would have done it too!) I would buy the trade back copy for sure.
No comments:
Post a Comment