Since beginning my English Literature degree just over 10 months ago I had done little to no personal reading, and by that I mean reading for leisure, not for a seminar or a module topic. After feeling desperate to read something for my own enjoyment I found myself standing in the all too familiar Science Fiction and fantasy section in Waterstone's searching through the hundreds of 'best selling' novels and novellas that of which none appeared to take my fancy; as per usual. After standing for a solid ten to fifteen minutes contemplating to ruin the ongoing tv series of Game of Thrones by purchasing the popular novels, when I stumbled across the book, A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness. After quickly skimming the blurb and spotting the comment from THE SUNDAY TIMES 'Intelligent and off-the-wall...irresistible to Twilight fans', I knew there was no going back. Let me explain myself before passing judgement on my evident favouring of the Twilight Saga.
After becoming hooked on the Vampire Diaries novels by L.J Smith, finishing the entire of the collection in a week and having now become an avid fan of the ongoing series staring Ian Sommerhalder and Nina Dobrev, it may be of little surprise to you that I am a huge fan of Vampire, Werewolf, Succubus, Mythical and Magical creature based fiction. Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit being no exception to this rule. And so this correlation made between Twilight and Deborah Harkness' ALL SOULs Trilogy struck me as solid ground to assume my enjoyment in this trilogy (I also much prefer a series of books within a story, a trilogy or the more the merrier).
I have now reached a mere chapter 10 in this 688 page, 43 chapter novel and I can safely say I am captivated and entirely consumed by the fictional world of Dr. Diana Bishop and Mathew Clairmont. The novel did come off to a slow paced start but this appears to have only enhanced the intensity which has become apparent will continue throughout the trilogy. Harkness has solidly managed to grab my attention and to lure me into this world of vampire's, witches and demons; unsurprisingly given the above statements of my genre choice. However, a novel including such mythical creatures is not solely enough to keep my attention and Harkness has managed to captivate me within her story even though I am only a short way into this trilogy. I decided to pause from my obsessive reading schedule to write this review or short praise I suppose I could call it so that not only could I then comment on the novel later on and also the rest of the novels within the ALL SOULs trilogy, but in the hope of reaching some avid Sci-fi/ Fantasy readers like myself and to tell you to not waste any more time in this life, but to go and purchase this book IMMEDIATELY and join this thrilling world of fiction which Harkness has created within these novels.
I can't stop reading....
