A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES: ALL SOULS BOOK 1

Before i bought the book i saw 1st 3 episodes of the series based on this book. I searched thoroughly about the trilogy and decided to abandon the series and read the book instead. Now that itself says something about the book. So I bought the book and couldnt wait to fininsh it.Yes its a fantasy novel, yes its about vampires, witches, daemons and an ancient book which is at the centre apart from the love story between Diana and Mathew, which is extraordinary because these people are not teenagers. Nowdays all fantasy romance novels are like young adult.so i particularly dont buy them.but this is a story for all ages and its so mesmerising. I loved every bit of it. The history part, the detailing,the characterisation,plot setting, everything is brilliant. Now this is a trilogy so i already ordered the next one and cant wait to read it.

I really enjoyed the pace. It is very well researched and written. I did feel that it is quite cut off from reality - a vampire eho drops everything to be with the witch; a witch/ scholar who drops everything for her life to start makes more sense. Looking forward to the sequel. More adventures and more characters will ensue.

Such a good story can’t stop reading this

Although i received a white cover one the book was remarkably well packed and it was an extraordinary read. i love it

Good read.....excellent writing

good product

A beutiful story that leaves you spellbound.

Start is too boring and very slow. In end book gets more interesting and you crave for more. Looking forward to read its next part hope it's more interesting then this one

A Discovery of the Witches "It begins with absence and desire. It begins with blood and fear. It begins with a discovery of witches..." The Discovery of the Witches is the most fascinating book I have ever read. My God, the amount of knowledge one must possess to be able to write a such complex story. It's not an easy read and don't go in hoping that it is. I think, that in order to completely enjoy and appreciate the story for what it is, and it is a piece of art, in my opinion, you have to have at least some basic knowledge about some of the significant historical events, old books or manuscripts, a little about biology or/and science. You don't have to know the exact details of the events or context of the manuscripts, but you need to at least have heard about dem. The rest is explained. If you think that the chromosome might be some kind of rare plant, that grows in the Amazons, and the DNA is a new boy band, fighting for the spotlight with One Direction, this book is not for you! The story starts with a witch, Diana Bishop, going out and about with her day, doing her research in Oxford's Bodleian Library, going through her everyday routine, but this time, she discovers a very rare manuscript (which actually exists in real life, or existed, to be precise), by accident (?). She is a historian and young scholar at the university, and the descendent of witches. She knows she is a witch, she have known that her whole life, but she refuses to use her magic, because of what happened to her and her family in the past. She wants to be normal. She is aware that the vampires and daemons exists. She can feel them, but refuses to acknowledge dem. The moment she touches the manuscript weird things start happening. Suddenly, she can feel every eye of every witch, vampire and daemon on her. And here is when we meet the vampire and the professor, Matthew de Clairmont. There is a lot of mystery surrounding de Clermont. Even though he is an employ of the university, he doesn't lecture or take on the apprentices. He is known for his studies of neutral mechanisms and prefrontal cortex (whatever the hell that means :-D), and his studies and publications on wolves. Which explains nothing about why he decides to approach Diana Bishop. And that's why Diana decides to dig around for information about him. Why the sudden interest? The more she discovers about him, the more suspicious he looks. But the thing is, Diana have enough secrets of her own. The most amazing thing about this story is the way author describes witches, vampires and daemons. She describes them based on her research, as a historian, and the tales that we (humans) have been passing on to the others, from generation to generation. There are a lot of actual facts. Regardless, if you believe that such creatures exists or not, there were times when people did believe that they did exist. Another thing that amazed me was the way author used historical events, the breakthrough scientific publications and well know classic literature, to twist/super-naturalize it, for it to suit the story, and make me believe that all I knew about it was not as important as I thought it was. It made me believe, that all that, was only a small pieces of the puzzle, of the bigger picture, in the Diana Bishop's and Matthew de Clairmont's story. It was mind blowing. It reminded me a lot of the move The da Vinci Code. That is the only thing that I can compare this book to. In the movie, at the end, outside the church, Tom Hanks says to what's-her-name "You know, we never actually found any evidence that Jesus was a "he" and not a "she."". Movie ends and you left thinking "WTF?!". That is pretty much how this book made me feel. It made me doubt everything that I know :). Usually, when I read a book in this genre, I adjust my expectations to sustain degree. I know that there will be either vampires, witches or daemons, that the story is fictional and that anything is possible. But with this story, it was hard to tell where the actual truth ended and the fiction began... This book can be analyzed from many different angles. One might think that it's about forbidden love and overcoming the obstacles. Others might think that it's about more important things like finding the answers to the questions like "Who are we? Why are we here? What's our purpose?". For me, it's about all of the above. The thing that makes this story so realistic is that witches, daemons and vampires are asking the same questions as we, humans, have been asking for centuries :-D. I don't blame those who gave up on this book halfway through. The first half of the book is slow-paced. Not as in it's boring, but there is not a lot of action going on (fighting, killing, sex and so on). The author goes into a great details explaining things that Diana Bishop comes across or remembers. This book focuses on the fact that knowledge can be just as powerful as the physical strength (Learning, planing, strategizing, then striking). But it suits the story. You can't rush when you are asking such an important questions, right? :-). It have to be properly explained. There are a lot of secrets surrounding two main characters, the mysterious manuscript and supporting characters as well. That is why the story can't be rushed. Even though the book was a 600 page brick and it took me a while to finish, I enjoyed it quiet a bit and can't wait to start the Shadow of Night. " Comperi, Comperi' she said. 'Merces amb tot meu cor' he said quietly. Al rebeire. Mefi. T'afortissi."

Ms. Harkness’ world of magic and history, combining mythical species, set in a contemporary world, is well written. The characters come alive from the pages. Diana is engaging, amicable and easy to relate to from the beginning. Reluctant to be drawn into the Oxford Coven, despite Gillian’s attempts. As the last of the Bishop witches, she was coveted. “When my mother was lit up with magic, you couldn’t tear your eyes away from her.” Raised by her Aunt Sarah, Diana’s memories of her parents, behind closed doors, were conflicting. Her mother was unpredictable—her powers unstable. I adore this world. The beautiful prose, the series is truly addictive. Diana’s first encounter with Ashmole 782, calling to her, I loved reading all over again.

The book appeals to a reader on so many levels. There is an epic battle for a right to choose who one can love and be with. There is magic (and most of us wishes for some in our lives) and creatures living undetected among humans. There is the good versus evil struggle between wonderfully developed characters. The plot is intriguing and twisted, the locations beautifully presented. The history and art of the days gone by forming a charming and convincing background. There's also a message the trilogy is sending us- we are all one big human family, and the differences between people or people and creatures are artificial and slowing our progress.

This book has been widely billed as `Twilight for grown-ups' - but it's so much more than that! The few striking similarities are superficial and - much as I love Twilight - Deborah Harkness has created a much richer and more complex world. Despite that complexity, and its daunting length, A Discovery of Witches is compelling and very readable - so much so that I've just read it for the second time in a year. I'll get the Twilight parallels out of the way first. Matthew Clairmont is (like Edward Cullen) a centuries-old vampire who belongs to an influential vampire clan. Diana Bishop (like Bella Swann) finds herself first curious about and then enthralled by the vampire. They defy convention and indeed common sense by falling in love. That's pretty much where the similarities end; the differences are far more numerous and significant. Unfortunately, this 700-page doorstop of a novel can't be easily described in a paragraph or two. I'm really struggling to find a way to describe it that does it justice without spoiling it or anticipating any of the strands of the story that you'll uncover and weave together as you read it. But I'll try to give you the sense of it without any spoilers... As well as being a witch, Diana Bishop is an American academic researching alchemical texts at Oxford University, having largely ignored her magic since the death of her parents when she was a child. When she calls up a particular manuscript and immediately finds herself attracting the attention of every witch, vampire and daemon in Oxford, she turns to her new acquaintance, Matthew Clairmont, for explanations. Together they start to piece together the mystery surrounding the manuscript, Diana's role in things and the nature of the magic she's brushed aside for so long. Inevitably, they quickly move from being strangers to becoming lovers; this complicates things further as it draws the attention of the Congregation (a council of representatives from each species of creature). In a whirlwind few weeks that takes them between Oxford, France and the US, Diana and Matthew begin to realise that everything is interlinked: Diana's relationship to her magic, the alchemical manuscript, the long-ago death of her parents, and her relationship with Matthew. Deborah Harkness is an academic herself, a fact which comes through in the rich depiction of the world she creates. Careful attention is paid to how three different types of creature can live alongside and largely undetected by humans, and the frequent references to real historical figures revealed to be witches, vampires or daemons are a nice touch. And - although my understanding of alchemy remains as weak as it was before reading the novel - I found the scholarly aspects of the story interesting. Likewise, Matthew's research into non-human DNA and genetics adds an interesting twist that isn't found in the other vampire, supernatural or fantasy literature I've read. This academic background perhaps also explains the sheer level of detail throughout A Discovery of Witches. Quite aside from the intricacies of the plot, everything is described in extreme detail - from the stretch of the leggings and turtleneck that Diana pulls on each morning, to the warmth and smell of the tea she constantly drinks. Some people might find this style irritating, and certainly the novel would be considerably shorter without it, but it didn't bother me. Instead, it really helped me conjure up vivid pictures of Diana's college rooms or Sept Tours (Matthew's family home in France). So while some of the descriptions might be a little unnecessary, they didn't feel overly frequent or repetitive and they helped to carry me along and immerse me in this version of the world. As I heroine, I found Diana fairly easy to like. She's a tad annoying early on, constantly claiming not to want to use her magic but calling on it whenever her washing machine leaks or she needs to reach something on a high shelf. She's also infuriatingly selfish at times: I really felt sorry for her aunts back in the US as she deliberately ignored persistent phone calls and frantic answerphone messages. But she's an interesting character shaped by a fascinating history: it's obvious that her parents' death in Africa a couple of decades earlier will become significant and that her relationship with her slightly eccentric (and very witchy) aunt has an ongoing impact on her behaviour. I've read some reviews complaining that Diana transforms from strong, independent woman into defenceless, swooning maiden as soon as Matthew comes onto the scene, but (although the sheer speed with which fictional relationships often develop doesn't sit well with me) I didn't read it this way. Diana becomes more vulnerable because she realises that she's inadvertently put herself at the centre of something big and daunting, and because she suddenly understands how weak she is against such adversaries having sidelined her magic and witchcraft for so long. That her confidence and self-sufficiency waver is understandable. She turns not just to Matthew but also to her aunts and to Matthew's family for guidance. Even as she falls for Matthew, she fights to retain her independence and individuality. I suspect the style and story of A Discovery of Witches is not for everyone, but I loved it. This is the first of the All Souls Trilogy and the complicated story unfolds across all three books, rather than each one being a self-contained episode. So, despite the length, little is resolved by the end of the novel, and the cliffhanger at the end makes it almost impossible not to continue straight on to the sequel, Shadow of Night.

Muhtesem bir kitapti. Diziyi izlerken cok keyifli okudum.