A Discovery of Witches

Did not finish.

The ratings on this books a rather fun to read as they are so very mixed and all over the place. Some people love it, some people find it meh and others hate it. I'm happy that I'm in the first category. Found it to be a rather fun and entertaining story that while it was a big book never felt draged out or had boring moments for me. Intrigued enough to look for more books by this author

Thank goodness I'm finally finished with this book! It's taken me nearly two weeks to trudge my way through it.

The only reason I kept reading was that I thought something eventually would have to happen. And something finally did at about page 400. And even then, what happened was lame.

I've never read such a long book with so little plot. The main character went to yoga, ate a lot of meals, drank a lot of wine, rowed, went to the library and made out with a vampire. That's about it. There were pages and pages dedicated to the flavors and smells of wine and various food items.

I guess this book is a set-up for the other two books in the series. I think this is going to be the rare trilogy I don't actually finish.

This was a slow starter for me. Early on, I was pretty frustrated with Diana. It was like Harry Potter telling Hagrid "no thanks, I don't want to be a wizard" ... and there were times I wanted to kick her in the butt to get her moving.

But once it found its footing (or maybe it's better to say once Diana found her footing), I was enthralled. Didn't sleep, couldn't put it down, tore through my bookshelves the moment I completed because I was fairly sure that I had the second book somewhere. And I did. Hallelujah!

So yeah, I'll give this 5 stars. Any story that can so completely captivate me deserves nothing less.

I was expecting more magic and less romance

Ugh, blagh, bluh. DNF. I read half of this book and just couldn't go on.

Witch-in-denial Diana Bishop is the last of her line, the daughter of two of the most powerful witches of their time, who are now dead. Ever since their death Diana has suppressed her magic, choosing to excel in academia instead. Thus we find ourselves in Oxford's Bodlein library, where Diana is doing research on the history of science, alchemical manuscripts in particular (this is really cool but I recommend Neal Stephenson instead on this topic). Diana calls up a manuscript called Ashmole 782 (close enough) and sets off a sh*tstorm of magical activity in Oxford. Apparently everyone in all three of the magical types of creatures (witches, daemons (the only interesting part of this book) and vampires) want to get their hands on this thing. Of particular interest is Matthew Clairmont, a 1500 year old vampire who quickly falls in love with Diana, and she with him, and then they have adventures about the book and other stuff.

Then I stopped reading because Jeebus Criminy, Diana is such a Mary Sue. She is too stupid to live, but she does live, because she has all the witchy powers (even though she is too stupid to learn to use them) not to mention the devilishly handsome, tortured, and all-around awesome Matthew lurves her and wants to protect her. But we hear over and over how she is a strong woman, stubborn, makes her own decisions. And okay, I can appreciate a little vulnerability in my heroines, but there are only so many times you can be

carried up and down flights of stairs, ordered to nap, physically placed in a hot bath, and TUCKED IN before a pattern starts to emerge. Then there's the fact that she's full of all this power but chooses not to use it. Um, if I thought my powerful witch parents were murdered by humans, I wouldn't pretend to be human - I would study witchcraft until I was the BAMFest person in the room at all times. But that's just me.

I wanted to see how it ended, so I found some spoilers online. It sounds like it goes Twilight-bonkers. I'm sure they'll make a movie out of this hot mess. Oh, and the prose isn't very good.

A surprising way to learn family history and escape .

I saw that this book was recommended for people interested in magical realism/urban realism, but I couldn't find many redeeming qualities with the prose since it lacks atmosphere. The poor writing is apparent when irrelevant details are mentioned, like all the yoga pants and phone calls with family members packed into the beginning.

DNF @ Chapter 22.

Loved the atmosphere, the world, and the writing. Hated that it turned from plot-focused urban fantasy into a dreadfully boring paranormal romance with an overbearing, controlling, paranoid love interest who's completely unbearable and two characters whose behavior is entirely erratic.

Also, some elements were just too ridiculous to be taken seriously (vampire yoga? four bottles of wine between two people at dinner and both are totally sober? traveling by plane is so exhausting you have to be carried up the stairs? and who cooks a three course meal for a guest but doesn't prepare them all at once—you're telling me it was

planned to leave your date alone at the table after the first course while you fry up some rabbit or salmon or whatever it was they ate?).

Wanted to like it but it's just not for me.

Loved the story and plot.