A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

It begins with absence and desire.
It begins with blood and fear.
It begins with a discovery of witches.

-A Discovery of Witches

I think I must begin by saying that A Discovery of Witches is an excellent title for a book. I know we shouldn't judge books by their covers, but I think it's fair to be enchanted by a good title. Well played.

A Discovery of Witches is the story of Diana Bishop, a historian working at Oxford. She is also, as it happens, a witch, though she does her best to suppress her natural abilities. Nonetheless, one day she calls up a most unusual book from the stacks at the library--a clearly magical book--and despite her best efforts, she can't deny her heritage any longer. She quickly becomes the center of the magical world, with witches, vampires, and daemons alike clamoring to get a hold of the book, long thought lost.

One vampire, Matthew Clairmont, takes a particular interest. He's an esteemed doctor at Oxford, an expert in multiple fields. He's also devastatingly handsome, bien sûr. His destiny is quickly tangled up with Diana's, to an extent that seems preordained. The story becomes one of supernatural romance and intrigue.

The romance develops quite rapidly--clearly an intentional move by Deborah Harkness. It's not supposed to feel like a traditional romance, but I think the rush made it a little harder for me to understand Diana and Matthew as characters. At a certain point I just went with it, and the last couple hundred pages flew by. Harkness also did an excellent job setting up her sequel, which does sound quite intriguing. I will certainly be on the lookout for it once I've put a bigger dent in the pile of books I already have.

Up next: Made in America by Bill Bryson

Dead Ever After by Charlaine Harris

The devil was eating beignets, fastidiously, when the businessman walked up to the outside table.

-Dead Ever After 

With Dead Ever After, we bid adieu to Miss Sookie Stackhouse, telepath and waitress extraordinaire. Quite a lot has happened to Sookie in the two-year period Charlaine Harris's novels covers. She's known love and death (probably more of the latter than the former, sadly). She's become acquainted with all sorts of fantastic creatures, for better or worse. She's gotten at least a little suntanning in.

Dead Ever After begins with Sookie trying to navigate the tricky politics surrounding her relationship  with Eric, and things only get more dire when she's accused of murder. There's a fair amount of reaching back to the earlier books, particularly in terms of the familiar characters who pop up all over the place. It's definitely not a novel one could pick up without having read the other 12--or at least I couldn't see that being a particularly enjoyable experience.

The story is undeniably over-stuffed, and I'm not sure I love the direction that Charlaine Harris decided to go in with regard to Sookie's love life, though it's not implausible. I don't think it will stand up as one of the best books of the series, but, that having been said, I still enjoyed spending time in Sookie's company.* There's something so comfortable and cozy about Charlaine Harris's books, despite the mayhem that inevitably ensues, and I think a lot of it is just Sookie. I'll probably read Harris's follow-up on the other characters of Bon Temps, which is to be published this fall, and perhaps I'll try one of her other series as well. For now, though, I still have close to fifteen unread books on my shelves, so I  won't be picking up anything new.** At least we still have the weird and wild True Blood.

Up next: Continuing with fantasy, A Discovery of Witches.

*I would be curious to go back through my posts and see how many times I've said that.

**Unless it looks really good. Or I've wanted to read it for a long time. Or, or, or...