The All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness
A Discovery of Witches
Shadow of Night
The Book of Life
Deep in the stacks of Oxford’s Bodleian Library, young scholar Diana Bishop unwittingly calls up a bewitched alchemical manuscript in the course of her research. Descended from an old and distinguished line of witches, Diana wants nothing to do with sorcery; so after a furtive glance and a few notes, she banishes the book to the stacks. But her discovery sets a fantastical underworld stirring, and a horde of daemons, witches, and vampires soon descends upon the library. Diana has stumbled upon a coveted treasure lost for centuries - and she is the only creature who can break its spell.
Diana is a bold heroine who meets her equal in vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont, and gradually warms up to him as their alliance deepens into an intimacy that violates age-old taboos.
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This world of vampires, daemons, and witches is a world I never wanted to leave. I don’t know what it is about these books, what kind of drug is hidden inside, but I could not get enough of it and now that my journey is over, all I want is to delve in and start it again as if for the first time. I had no idea these books would impact me so much. It’s true what’s said, it is definitely a Twilight for adults but it’s everything that I wish Twilight had been back in the day. The lore that’s built up around these mythical “creatures”, the dark academic setting, the time travel (ok maybe not the time travel), the love story, the found family, it was all so encompassing and it felt familiar, it felt like home. It starts off as the kind of cheesy that’s so bad it’s good and it finished as such an epic tale of growth and love and magic. This has definitely become my new comfort read.
I see a lot of criticism surrounding this series, and I understand why, it’s not for everyone. Is it the best written book I’ve ever read? No. Is it entertaining, fascinating, and full of joyful moments? Yes. I don’t know if it was the initial similarities to Twilight and Anne Rice that drew me in and made it feel so familiar and comforting but it definitely diverged into a unique story entirely it’s own and I loved it. Book One was the exciting start to what you knew would be an amazing new adventure. Lots of people say it moves too slow but I really enjoyed the slow pace, the meandering around Oxford, the yoga classes. It was my favourite part of the book, those slow “getting to know you” moments between Diana and Matthew. It was dark and gloomy with little sparks of light, in other words the absolute perfect fall read.
Book Two wasn’t my favourite, the time travel had a lot of plot holes (as a Whovian, I am extra picky of Time Travel plots), and Matthew and Diana were extremely out of character for the entire first half of the book. I got to a point where I wasn’t sure where this series was going and was heartbroken that the amazing story I started in the first book had developed into this messy narrative with characters so unlike who I fell in love with at the start. And then, just like that, they were back. It’s as if the author awoke from a brain fog and remembered her original goal of the story. Halfway through Shadow of Night I had the story I loved back and better than ever. Matthew’s characterization at the start left me so heartbroken because, though he is overbearing in the first book (chalked up to vamp instincts), he is still generous and kind and so respectful of his partner and in the second book for a good portion he acted like a misogynistic brute with no care for his partners’ opinion. Diana was a bit unsure (and a bit of a Mary Jane) in the first book but still powerful and opinionated, but in the second book she was a doormat, letting her partner and his pals walk all over her, it was extremely disheartening. Once she got her spark back and started to fight for what she believed in, Matthew also, once again, became the caring passionate man she fell in love with. It was strange. I loved the Elizabethan London setting and the life they built together there, but a lot of it also felt like a waste of time.
Book Three. The amazing finish to a promising trilogy. I could not put this book down. There was excitement from start to end but not constant, it came in waves which made the build up more exciting, each small obstacle or climax building bigger and bigger until that final moment. Warning: there is a pregnancy trope in this book and it’s pretty clear from the start of the series that that’s the direction this story might go so, because it wasn’t a surprise, and because it was just as important to the plot as the ancient manuscript was, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Seeing them build this family was so heartwarming and real. Heroes don’t always have to go through it all alone, it’s nice to see a vast support system behind those lead characters. There were heart stopping moments as much as there were heart warming moments. The best part? The ending wrapped up so nicely, I wasn’t left with questions or second-guessing what I’d read. I absolutely loved it, my only criticism is that I hate that it ended.
In terms of characterization, it wasn’t perfect but I think that’s why I liked it. There were so many loveable and hate-able characters and there was a lot of growth and character development but there was also a lot of “convenient moments” ie characters conveniently being the perfect expert for this project in the whole world and “wow how lucky are we that he’s your brother so he can help us” (mainly the whole lab study in the third book with Chris’ team. If you know, you know). It broke the fourth wall a lot but looking past it, if that’s my only complaint on characterization that’s not bad.
I don’t want to get too much into the plot because, given this is three very long books, the plot went in a million directions. It lost itself sometimes, but always found its way back and, in hindsight, a lot of those divergences make total sense now. What I truly admired was the lore. The lore in this book was a type of magic system I completely wish was real. The world is made up of four races of creatures: Daemons, Witches, Vampires, and Humans. There’s a Congregation of magical creatures that keep the mythical world from clashing too much with the human one. As we start the book, none of these creatures interact much with each other (or so we are lead to believe) but the ancient history behind the creation of these creatures and where their magic stems from and how it all connects to the fateful Ashmole 782 is fascinating and extremely well done. In my opinion at least. I could read a million more books set in this magic system/mythological world.
I haven’t had a book hangover this bad for what seems like a long time. I’ve read many books that were better than these ones this year but none that gave me the comfort that these ones did. I can’t explain it but this book, if it’s your cup of tea, will stick with you long after it’s over. I gave various ratings for each book but on average 4 stars across the board.