I expected to have a nice standalone book or something to review today, but instead I started my year by finishing two series which have been on my TBR for a while and starting a third totally new series. It's a new one for me as I usually avoid series like the plague because I have commitment issues. One thing I hate about reading series, though, is how do you review? It's a stressful situation because you want to talk about them like any other book but if I've just binge read the series surely it makes sense to look at the series as a whole. But then how do you do that without spoilers? But I did want to review something today because it's been a whole so let's talk books!
So here we are and I'm going to figure out how we'll talk about the All Souls series. I admit I am only talking about the original trilogy here. I have not read Time's Convert and currently, I have no plans to read it. I loved the series and it did feel like there could be more, but it also felt like an ending.
I’ll link and give the summaries for the three books below so you have the details of the trilogy if you’ve not read it already. I know each book summary might have spoilers but the important things you need to know are Matthew De Clermont is a vampire from an important vampire family. Diana Bishop is a witch who doesn’t truly practise magic and instead pursued a career as a historian. The series focuses on their romance them navigating the world of vampires, witches and daemons. I think that’s all you really need to know but I guess we’ll find out.
A Discovery of Witches (All Souls #1) – Deborah Harkness
Published: 29th September 2011
Source: Purchased
Genre: Fantasy, Romance
My Rating:
Fall under the spell of Diana and Matthew in the stunning first volume of the No.1 internationally bestsellling ALL SOULS trilogy.
A world of witches, daemons and vampires. A manuscript which holds the secrets of their past and the key to their future. Diana and Matthew - the forbidden love at the heart of it.
When historian Diana Bishop opens an alchemical manuscript in the Bodleian Library, it's an unwelcome intrusion of magic into her carefully ordered life. Though Diana is a witch of impeccable lineage, the violent death of her parents while she was still a child convinced her that human fear is more potent than any witchcraft. Now Diana has unwittingly exposed herself to a world she's kept at bay for years; one of powerful witches, creative, destructive daemons and long-lived vampires. Sensing the significance of Diana's discovery, the creatures gather in Oxford, among them the enigmatic Matthew Clairmont, a vampire genticist. Diana is inexplicably drawn to Matthew and, in a shadowy world of half-truths and old enmities, ties herself to him without fully understanding the ancient line they are crossing. As they begin to unlock the secrets of the manuscript and their feelings for each other deepen, so the fragile balance of peace unravels...
Shadow of Night (All Souls #2) – Deborah Harkness
Published: 10th July 2012
Source: Purchased
Genre: Fantasy, Romance
My Rating:
It began with A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES. Historian Diana Bishop, descended from a line of powerful witches, and long-lived vampire Matthew Clairmont have broken the laws dividing creatures. When Diana discovered a significant alchemical manuscript in the Bodleian Library, she sparked a struggle in which she became bound to Matthew. Now the fragile coexistence of witches, daemons, vampires and humans is dangerously threatened.Seeking safety, Diana and Matthew travel back in time to London, 1590. But they soon realise that the past may not provide a haven. Reclaiming his former identity as poet and spy for Queen Elizabeth, the vampire falls back in with a group of radicals known as the School of Night. Many are unruly daemons, the creative minds of the age, including playwright Christopher Marlowe and mathematician Thomas Harriot. Together Matthew and Diana scour Tudor London for the elusive manuscript Ashmole 782, and search for the witch who will teach Diana how to control her remarkable powers... Fall under the spell of Diana and Matthew once more in this stunning, richly imagined, epic tale.
The Book of Life (All Souls #3) – Deborah Harkness
Published: 14th July 2014
Source: Purchased
Genre: Fantasy, Romance
My Rating:
After traveling through time in Shadow of Night, the second book in Deborah Harkness's enchanting series, historian and witch Diana Bishop and vampire scientist Matthew Clairmont return to the present to face new crises and old enemies. At Matthew's ancestral home at Sept-Tours, they reunite with the cast of characters from A Discovery of Witches - with one significant exception. But the real threat to their future has yet to be revealed, and when it is, the search for Ashmole 782 and its missing pages takes on even more urgency. In ancestral homes and university laboratories, using ancient knowledge and modern science, from the hills of the Auvergne to the palaces of Venice and beyond, the couple at last learn what the witches discovered so many centuries ago.
What I Liked
It wasn’t just vampires and they weren’t these weird recluses!
It was nice to have these various creatures all living within our world and whilst did have their own rules on how to live, none of them felt outside of our world and society. I know that sounds weird, but normally you read a vampire book and find yourself seeing this vampire that is almost totally separate from normal society. They seem to be otherworldly or whatever, and they are, but it's nice to see them just living a normal life and humans are aware there's something different about the creatures, be they vampire, witch or daemon, but they don't know what it is that's caught their attention. It was an intriguing concept even if it did have me rolling my eyes at how everyone seemed interested in Diana. It felt different, even though I know you guys can probably tell me a dozen other books doing this.
Vampire feeding wasn’t this whole killer situation.
The whole blood thing with vampires was dealt with very differently. I'm not saying vampires didn't drink blood, don't be ridiculous. But it was common for vampires to just drink animal blood. We didn’t have a whole Twilight thing with the Cullens valiantly resisting their killing urges. Instead, the issue with vampires was there was a blood rage lurking in certain vampires which meant that vampires had closely monitored their bloodlines. I won't say too much as it becomes a focus later on but it was nice to see vampires not presented as these bloodthirsty monsters (not to say they didn't have destructive tendencies). Vampires were viewed as deadly because they were strong and fast but it was almost more sinister as they all presented themselves to be so civilised so when they did become the killer they could be it was surprising.
The romance.
Look, I may be struggling to read contemporary romance right now but I did find the romance between Matthew and Diana addictive to read. I remember that was what really hooked me when I originally read the first two books (way back when the third book hadn't even been released). I think I liked the whole star-crossed lover thing they had going on. Sure, them having their whole special snowflake moments together was a little ridiculous but we are allowed to enjoy cheesy things sometimes. I loved them and was ready to fight anyone who got in their way. They were obviously meant to be and I enjoyed seeing them fall for one another.
The secondary characters
Every single one of these books was a tome. Like nearly 600 pages of drama (although they did drag at times) but they weren't painful to read because even when Matthew and Diana were being drips there were some amazing secondary characters to love. Ysabeau was spectacular as Matthew's mother, and I loved how she was just a total badass deceiving everyone as this pleasant cultured woman but she could just as soon rip your face off. And Philippe! I would die for Philippe, he deserved his own book to be honest and he was one character who could kill you without blinking but still made me cry. Don't even get me started on the rest of Matthew's extended family (where is Gallowglass's book I ask you?). I would happily have read a book about any of his family as they had so much history to explore (which is why I might eventually read Time's Convert). And let's not ignore Diana's family and friends either because they were just as brilliant. I appreciated seeing Chris later on in the series, he did make me smile with his ridiculous nicknames and his slight flirtation with Miriam. There was a strong cast of characters, which is probably why I can see this so easily translating well to TV because each character feels fully fleshed.
The history!
I know I’ve probably mentioned this a few times but I studied history at university. I chose the subject because I like learning and history seemed the place to be to just learn random stuff, sadly they expected me to write essays and a dissertation but that’s a whole other issue. One of the modules I did was the history of science so a lot of this book I was like I know these names! It was so much fun to read a book with historical info I actually knew about, not in detail because I was nearly 10 years ago I graduated, but still exciting. There was history galore here, especially within the second book, so if that appeals go and check them out.
And My Grumbles
They’re a little long.
I mentioned they were tomes, right? Because they were long, and I don't think they necessarily needed to be. The first book dragged for a good long while, and I get there was world-building to be done but good god I couldn't wait to be out of Oxford. And I swear there's one point in the first book I thought it was close to the end but then they're at Diana's family home and a whole bunch of nothing happens and it was boring. She was learning and exploring her magic, brilliant, but where was the nice quick montage to get through that I ask you? And the second book kept stopping and starting, it was a pain. I remember DNFing through one attempted reread of Shadow of Night, which is why it took so long for me to finish this series. I think the third book was the only one I didn't struggle with, but I also didn't do much else other than read to finish it because it was time-consuming. It also helped it was my first read of the third book so it was all new to me, a reread might reveal moments that dragged as well.
Matthew and Diana could be a little annoying (but I still loved them)
It was a little annoying how Matthew and Diana could become drips that were a little too invested in themselves and their love. I know I said I liked the romance, and I really did, but they were so very focused on themselves! It got a little frustrating because it was obviously meant to be some Romeo and Juliet type situation with everyone trying to keep them apart but they really didn’t think about how it affected others until after the fact. I get it, no one should be in the relationship but the couple but come on! They knew it would cause problems, but then if they didn’t get together there would be no series to enjoy so there’s that. But then after they’d dragged everyone into their relationship they forgot that might also mean others getting hurt! I enjoyed it but I could see that whole thing annoying me if I was in a different reading mood.
To be honest, there was more to love than hate with the books. I know they’re long and might not be for everyone but I really did enjoy reading. I will definitely revisit their world… but I might just binge-watch the show instead because finally I can without risking spoilers!
Have you read this series at all or have you seen the show? What are some of your favourite vampire romances because who doesn’t need more to add to their TBR?
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