I feel like I've just woken up after finishing this book. It's the first of the All Souls Trilogy and it is simply beautiful.
Setting the scene - Ok, forgive Harkness but she spends 200 pages setting the scene. I gave up on the novel when I reached page 200 (281 to be exact) and didn't touch it for days. But the cover was so pretty so I kept reading anddd trust me, it was worth it. It is set in Oxford, England. There is this scholar -Diana Bishop (in her thirties) who spends her days in some prestigious library researching the origins of alchemy because that's what she's decided to focus her life on. Quite literally, you get 281 pages of her doing that. I do not need that many pages to understand the concept of reading because, ironically enough, that's exactly what I'm doing. One day, she comes across this book that gives off a really weird vibe, which she decides to ignore. Turns out that book is pretty epic in the world of the supernatural. Soon enough, there are daemons, vampires and witches stalking Diana and overcrowding the library in hopes of uncovering her secret method of summoning the book. Unbeknownst to her, a magical tale unravels and an ancient vampire enters her life.
Don't roll your eyes at the vampires in this one. This novel is more mature fiction, so these vampires do not sparkle, stalk their loved ones, profess their continual undying love etc. This vampire is an intelligent scientist, who was a poet decades ago, a medieval knight centuries ago and a warrior millenniums ago. He has had wine with William Shakespeare, Henry VIII, and a whole string of famous historians and nobles I don't know.
The writing - Harkness' writing is flawless. It's so beautiful the way she weaves her words when she describes people, scents and scenery. She does it in a way where she doesn't try in vain to set an image in your head - instead, she creates the tone. She makes you feel a certain way about a tree, instead of making you see the tree for its every detail (she did not actually talk about a tree). Having said that, she does describe its appearance briefly, but she focuses on making the words form a feeling inside you. She creates an environment. I remember bursting into tears over her description of a kitchen that Diana returns to after a long time. You just feel like you're there, through everything.
She takes us from Oxford to France to ..some other place I can't pronounce nor name.
Her pacing was pretty good too, spare the first couple hundred pages..but there's the other 500 pages to make up for it. It was a blend of action, peace, suspense and tenderness. Her action sequences I found a tad lacking though. Before I could actually realize something big was going to happen, it had already happened. LOL. But then again, I could just be slow.
The characters - The plot is very much driven by the characters.
Diana is a witch, who spent most of her life suppressing all her powers in an attempt to lead a human life. The magical manuscript she uncovers kind of ruins things for her though. Challenged by the supernatural that find their way into her life, she has to learn to fight for herself with her witch prowess ;). She is likable, original, strong and she is readable. She lacks charm and quirkiness, but that's not to say she's uncharming or bland. Uncharming is not a word.
Oh one thing that did tickle my nerves a bit, was this thing she did. I can't recall what it was, but oh wait i do remember. Someone dangerous came, and she said like, a sentence or something to him. And then everyone was all 'hoooory shieeet she's so brave and courageous'. I was just like really? Really? It happened a few times. Like sometimes when she did something as self defense, there'd be an ALL HAIL for her brave actions. When it was more instincts than anything. Like, I could see she was a brave girl, Harkness did not need to try to make us see that through words she forcing other characters to say.
Matthew Clairmont is a French vampire who's been alive before a lot. He, in current time, is a scientist with a focus on figuring out the origin of life. Of not just humans, but vampires, witches and demons. He finds that after existing for so long, its the only question worth answering (dw, he's not depressed). When he is alerted of the sighting of the book/manuscript, he finds himself in Oxford, watching Diana like every other super being to see if she could do it again. And then, typical of vampiric traits, he becomes territorial of her, which transforms into lurrve. Vampiric is not a word.
He does something really cute btw. It's supposed to be sultry and sexy but I think its just darn adorable. He likes to smell wine- he says it brings him back to passages in the past and he reminisces and recalls memories and moments etc. All I can imagine whenever he does that though is a massive nostril suctioning all the smell from the glass of wine until it all evaporates up his nose. Mmn.
The side characters are awesome. I would not even call them sides, they're all separate entities and half of me wants to write about them all, but then this post will be as long as the book. They are not there to support Diana, they are there because they exist and they hold stories and motives and missions of their own. They have a life outside of Diana.
The plot - is divine. Like I said, it starts off slow, but I think that was necessary. It was like a massive, huge-ass quiet-before-the-storm. So that the reader, after reading the last page, can reflect and go 'oh my, what a journey. Diana's life was so blissfully quiet and peaceful until BAM'. The issues the characters come across in the novel are really ..I don't know how to describe it. It was one central issue that sparked others. Imagine a tree, with branches coming off. And they're all intertwined and it wasn't going to be a love conquers all kind of bullshit. And I don't know. I don't want to spoil anything. Twas a magical journey.
It involves, literally - KNIGHTS IN SHINING ARMOUR, FRANCE and ENGLAND, MOATS, TEA, CASTLES!!, TOWERS!!, SPELLS, PAST ROYALTIES, HAUNTED HOUSES, THE FRENCH LANGUAGE, BOOOKS OLD AND NEW, SCROLLS, MANUSCRIPTS, A PUSSYCAT, A LOT OF TREES (forest)
I've just been reminded of some inconsistencies in the book omg. Still love it. There was also a typo. Still love it.
Historical non-fiction - The author is a scholar and historian herself so she incorporates facts on alchemy, folklore and chemistry into the story. Her own beliefs shine through too, and she enhances all this with small tweaks that make it weave in seamlessly with the story. I learnt some interesting shit. Are alchemists classified as scientists btw? Every time I think of them, I think of people peeing into a jar then boiling it as a lame attempt to make gold. And they just mix stuff together and see what goes BOOM right? Surely that doesn't make them a scientist? I probably sound very naive and ignorant right now. I'll do some research. Yeah, according to the very reliable Wikipedia, alchemy blends in elements of metals, mythology, religion and spirituality. It is classified as a protoscience which is not the modern science we know today, but was an equivalent long, long, long, long, long, long, long ago. We have, since then, evolved and drawn away from the idea of a philosopher's stone/elixir of life/everything alchemy stood for. Harkness talks about alchemy as the central nerve of science quite a bit in the first 281 pages of the book, I so do not believe that! But my opinion is unfounded LOL.
Mythology - I don't know if I should call it mythology. But Harkness/Matthew's take on vampires, daemons and witches is very interesting. He says '1 species, or 4?'. In like, every book and every story we read, we portray these creatures as exactly that. Creatures. Out-worldly creatures who do not belong with us. Matthew spends forever exploring the possibility that weeee are all part of one descendant. Harkness references some past journals that elude to this as well (throughout the entire book, she refers to real works that support what shes saying). Matthew explains how like we distinguish between each other based on race, gender etc, we should also distinguish each other based on habits. Vampires for example, have a habit of feeding on blood as opposed to cooked food. What if we all came from the same tree? Again with a tree reference LOL I can't stop :(.
Harkness is able to group humans, daemons, witches and vampires into five families. It's quite interesting.
The humans are rational beings who turn a blind eye to abnormalities around them in and choose to remain ignorant to the paranormal.
The daemons are mentally deranged but brilliant. They are poetic and romantic, but they're crazy, possibly due to their unknown origins as they are born human, then become daemon.
The witches are a close knit community who value family and draw from nature to craft spells.
The vampires are elegant and charming, which lures their prey. In the presence of blood, a darker, suppressed side of them is unleashed. They enjoy wine because it takes them to their pasts. so they sniff that shit up like its happy gas.
I thought those descriptions were nice. :). Funnily enough, the symbol for daemon is the symbol for pharmacy. The two snakes around a staff with wings. What's goin' on BP271?
I do not believe in witches, vampires or daemon btw. Just saying. I believe that people eat leaves and a placebo effect makes them feel a certain way. I believe some people crave blood in hopes that they'll be a 'vampire'/immortal. And I believe some people are just evil.
After that positive review, I would not recommend this book. It's a marvelous book. I dunno why though, I just don't think you'd enjoy it. It's fantasy, historical, adventure, romance, suspense in a big whirlwind. It's one of those books that are hard to get into. It doesn't leave a message relevant to us. If you're into paranormal/historical fiction, read it. It's a love/hate book.
But it's worth a read.
I'm not making sense again :( .
Just randomly, I have NO IDEA WHY, but throughout that book, I could not stop thinking about trees!! It was just a mental image stuck there zz.
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