

S'està carregant… El descobriment de les bruixesde Deborah Harkness
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Best Fantasy Novels (187) Top Five Books of 2013 (758) Top Five Books of 2017 (231) » 23 més Top Five Books of 2014 (696) Female Protagonist (177) Books Read in 2019 (388) Books Read in 2020 (911) Books Read in 2016 (4,217) al.vick-series (7) Great Audiobooks (72) Academia in Fiction (66) Books Read in 2012 (128) KayStJ's to-read list (671) First Novels (191) No hi ha cap discussió a Converses sobre aquesta obra. I have to admit that I did not finish reading this book. I wish I had read all the reviews describing it as "Twilight for adults" before I picked this book up so that I would have known better. ADW reads like the fantasy diary of the worlds most boring person. It is nice to know that someone's idea of a perfect fantasy world involves all magical (species? races?) getting together in mutual tolerance and respect to do yoga together. I just don't find it interesting. Also, the fact that the boring MC was descended from one of the witches in Salem.......that didn't sit well with me. That just validates the whole witch trial hysteria......stop already and go do something more constructive with your time.......piss on Cotton Mather's grave if you want to make a really witchy statement. Okay, so the parts that didn't bore me were incredibly annoying. That is why I stopped reading and would not recommend this book to anyone.....ever. The book focused way too much on the romance angle when there was so many other interesting concepts that would have added so much more to the story...but that is just my opinion...remember that I am a person that likes very few romance stories. Instead of more interesting concepts we get Diana...who it seems along with being a witch with powers that she is just starting to understand and learn to use, seems to also be a damsel that stays in constant, almost agonizing distress and totally needs a man to save her. Really??? Just use those budding powers and turn the guy into a frog and save yourself! Several of her aunts try to help but it seems the only person she believes can actually help her and who she puts her entire trust in…is a vampire…a guy she just met and feels she is "madly" in love with. I just found the entire storyline to be frustrating and the character of Diana “out to lunch” most of time. Anyone that is really into romances and doesn’t require any character to be anything but a damsel in distress…will more than likely really like this book. 3 stars because on some basic level it did have promise. I was looking for a book to lose myself in, a richly detailed world with an intriguing plot and fascinating characters. This was NOT that book. The one redeeming quality about this book is it's mind-numbing soporific power - I only had to read a few paragraphs of this book and could feel my eyes getting heavy and my brain shutting down. I've read reviews describing this as Twilight for adults but I think I actually prefer glittery vampires to a book that felt written in monotone. Also, aside from the boredom factor, too many awkward plot transitions and implausible personality changes made the characters difficult to connect with and the story altogether frustrating and unconvincing. I am thoroughly unimpressed. I was looking for a book to lose myself in, a richly detailed world with an intriguing plot and fascinating characters. This was NOT that book. The one redeeming quality about this book is it's mind-numbing soporific power - I only had to read a few paragraphs of this book and could feel my eyes getting heavy and my brain shutting down. I've read reviews describing this as Twilight for adults but I think I actually prefer glittery vampires to a book that felt written in monotone. Also, aside from the boredom factor, too many awkward plot transitions and implausible personality changes made the characters difficult to connect with and the story altogether frustrating and unconvincing. I am thoroughly unimpressed.
"With books about fictional witches, it’s all too easy to fall back on tongue-in-cheek descriptors like “enchanting” or “spellbinding,” but both adjectives aptly describe the superbly entertaining saga Harkness has crafted. This is a riveting tale full of romance and danger that will have you on the edge of your seat, yet its chief strength lies in the wonderfully rich and ingenious mythology underlying the story. Entwining strands of science and history, Harkness creates a fresh explanation for how such creatures could arise that is so credible, you’ll have to keep reminding yourself this is fiction." As will be obvious by now, this is a very silly novel. Characters and relationships are stereotyped. The historical background is a total pudding. The prose is terrible. And yet, the ideas have just enough suction, somehow, to present an undemanding reader with some nice frissons. I liked, for example, the way Diana tries to sublimate her magic powers in running and rowing and doing yoga – at a mixed vampire-witch-daemonic yoga class, participants struggle not to levitate during their vinyasas. And I liked the way Matthew and Diana smell to each other like Jo Malone candles: Diana is "horehound, frankincense, lady's mantle", Matthew is "cinnamon and clove". "a thoroughly grown-up novel packed with gorgeous historical detail...Harkness writes with thrilling gusto about the magical world. Whether she's describing a yoga class for witches, daemons, and vampires or Diana's benignly haunted house, it's a treat to suspend disbelief. ... As the mysteries started to unravel, the pages turned faster, almost as if on their own. By the most satisfying end, Harkness had made me a believer. "a romantic, erudite, and suspenseful first novel by Deborah Harkness. The first in a planned trilogy, it sets up blood drinkers and spell weavers as enemies for eternity in a feud as old as the Crusades; the duo confront social disapproval and intolerance as they elude evildoers and puzzle out enigmas throughout history. ...Harkness attends to every scholarly and emotional detail with whimsy, sensuality, and humor. The protagonist is a witch. Her beau is a vampire. If you accept the argument that we’ve seen entirely too many of both kinds of characters in contemporary fiction, then you’re not alone. Yet, though Harkness seems to be arriving very late to a party that one hopes will soon break up, her debut novel has its merits; she writes well, for one thing, and, as a historian at the University of Southern California, she has a scholarly bent that plays out effectively here. Pertany a aquestes sèriesAll Souls (1) Contingut aTé l'adaptacióAbreujat aTé una guia de referència/complementTé un comentari al text
Witch and Yale historian Diana Bishop discovers an enchanted manuscript, attracting the attention of 1,500-year-old vampire Matthew Clairmont. The orphaned daughter of two powerful witches, Bishop prefers intellect, but relies on magic when her discovery of a palimpsest documenting the origin of supernatural species releases an assortment of undead who threaten, stalk, and harass her. No s'han trobat descripcions de biblioteca. |
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Still, I'm reading a book about witches who can start fires with their fingertips, vampires, and daemons. Somehow, it just seemed best to suspend disbelief (or maybe discontent?) and just get caught up in the story. And Harkness shows her stuff in the different periods in history and the world-building and weaves them together well.
Once the inclusion of Matthew Clairmont as a main character comes into the story, the storytelling strengthens and we are dealing less with Diana Bishop's personal angst and more with a real plotline. It is heavy on the romance side of things but Harkness also decides that in her world, pretty much anything can happen. And it does. Diana's avoidance of her magical abilities becomes a frustrating, repetitive bit of angst, lending only a little bit of insight into the origin of witches. In fact, both the vampire origins and histories as well as the explanations of the daemons are much better prepared than those of the witches. Maybe the latter will be explained better in her later books? Or maybe Harkness is making a point about earlier times?
I'll eventually pick up the second and third in this series, maybe from the library, just to see how everything works out. (