"Shadow of Night" by Deborah Harkness

Since I finished "A Discovery of Witches" by Deborah Harkness in September 2011, I'd been looking forward to reading the sequel, "Shadow of Night", like a little kid looks forward to Christmas. And then the other day, it arrived in my mailbox and suddenly all my excitement vanished because what if... oh dare I write it... it didn't live up to the expectations set by the first book in what will in time be a trilogy? So I braced myself for disappointment and started reading, almost sure that I would not fall in love. 
How wrong I was (once I again - I never seem to learn) because although the first few pages were a warm-up session where I re-acquainted myself with Diana Bishop and Matthew de Clermont, I quickly settled back into the story and found as much to love in "Shadow of Night" as I did in "A Discovery of Witches". 

The story starts right where the story in the preceding book left off and if you haven't read that one, this will make little sense, I'm afraid but I will try to avoid spoilers by not explaining too much.  Matthew, a vampire, and Diana, a witch, have come to realise that in order to gain access to the mythical manuscript that might hold the key to the secrets of witches, vampires and daemons, they will have to travel back in time. Using Diana's newfound skills as a timetraveller, they journey back to 1590 where Matthew was a part of a circle around Queen Elizabeth I and friends with all sorts of notables. Even Shakespeare makes an appearance and although this could lead to some cringing, Harkness manages the staging of real historical persons in a paranormal setting much better that most. Kudos to her, I'm actually really impressed. 
The couple, whose love is illegal in the eyes of the Convention governing the Creatures (vampires etc.) are also hoping to find a teacher for Diana in this distant past. Somehow who can decipher her unruly magic and teach her how to harness it. Easier said than done.
Instead of spending a couple of weeks in the past, as originally planned, they end staying for a year or so and during this time, they accomplish an awful lot including traveling from Oxford to London to France and to Prague. I won't go into more detail here - keeping the spoilers at a minimum - it suffices to say that there is drama and romance enough for all in this tale!

Drama and romance is not enough, as we all know, and then it's rather luckily that not only can Harkness make up a great paranormal historical fiction piece, she can also write. And she has the research background and understanding of history that makes this stand out for it authenticity - yes, I said authenticity about a book with vampires in it, deal with it. 
Harkness is an inspiration in that her book is such a piece of quality work. It has obviously taken time and hard labour to produce but it has been worth it for it is splendid. The characters are fascinating and has plenty of psychological depth, the plot is well thought out and gripping and although a few too many historical celebrities have cameos, it is well-written with a mature tone to it that I find lacking in most paranormal stories. 
Summing it up, I'd say it's a triumph for Harkness. Now please go back to writing so we can have the last book in the trilogy. I can't wait!

A Prostitute, A Highwayman and A Pirate Walks into a Bar...

I have officially become a convert to the fandom of Erica Jong. Before I brought "Fear of Flying" with me no holiday and realised that Jong is a genius, I was terribly prejudiced and sure that she was one of those horribly 1970's shouting feminist, burning bras and condemning the use of mascara. How very wrong I was, this is one cool woman! I love her books and currently, I'm working my way through her many great novels.

On the menu this weekend was "Fanny", a novel that sounds like it was a bit of project for Jong. This is not just any old novel, it is a novel published in the 1980s but written 18th century style yet with a very modern heroine.

Fanny Hackabout-Jones is a fierce young woman who has to go through an awful lot at a terribly young age.
Orphaned at birth, she was left in the care of Lord and Lady Bellars at Lymeworth and grew up as a child of the household. The rakish Lord Bellars is never at home, preferring the parties and women of London but when he returns to Lymeworth after a two-year long absence, he falls violently in lust with the beautiful 17-year old Fanny. All red hair, white skin and large bosom, the beauty is both Fanny's best asset but also her downfall. Raped by her stepfather, she flees Lymeworth to seek her fortune in London, hoping to make it as a female bard, a writer. Quite a dream for a girl of her age and her time and as in all good fairytales, she has to go through an awful lot of ... well ... awful stuff before she can fulfill her destiny.
On her way to London she takes part in a witches' ritual, loses a close friend and is robbed by highwaymen who abduct her. 
Eventually she makes it to London where she has to make a living in the oldest way possible... From there her adventures become more and more daring and dangerous and along the way she meets secret societies, sadistic sea captains and honourable pirates. 

This is a romp through another time. Full of rump. Like a Georgette Heyer with more sex and more drama. The plot is not believable at all but that's the point - it's not about the plot, it's about the spirit. And if there's something that Fanny is full of, it's spirit. She's a feisty young lady with plenty of courage and her story is well worth a read. 

Read it if: You like your women like you like your chili pepper: redheaded, fiery and full of power. 

Ten Things I Love About ... "A Discovery of Witches" - you need to read it!

I often find that the books that I not just enjoyed reading but actually LOVED are the ones that are the most difficult to review. When something is so good, it is just hard to really do it justice and I end up being so worried by my own ability to share the wonderful-ness of a book that I just don't review it. How sad is that?? So now I am going to stop being such a book-coward and will review one of the best books I have read in 2011. "A Discovery of Witches" by Deborah Harkness. However, as it is such a great book, I am going to go about reviewing it an slightly different way than normally because otherwise I will just end up rambling. They who call it "Twilight" for adults have gotten the wrong end of the stick because this book is so much more than that.

The story is impossible to sum up really but it all begins with American historian Diana Bishop who is doing a stint at University of Oxford as a visiting professor. Diana comes from a long line of witches and her family story goes all the way back to the witch huntings in Salem. However, Diana want nothing to do with all that. She just wants to be a regular historian and she has devoted her life to the academic world. One day the peace is shattered when she comes across a magical book in the Bodleian and unleashes a string of events that she had never thought possible.
Suddenly she is surrounded by magical creatures - witches like herself, vampires and daemons. Especially one vampire, Matthew Clairmont, a gorgeous professor, is constantly following her around and Diana has to find out if he - and the others - are friends or enemies and why they are all going crazy for the magical book.

So here are ten things I love about this book:

1) First of all: Diana Bishop herself. This is a cool chick - best paranormal heroine, I have ever come across. This is not a girl but a real woman, an intelligent woman with a career in academia and an independent spirit. No little-girl-whimpering here, no ma'm. This witch is a kick-ass lady who rows to get energy out of her system and who has been taught to stay well away from vampires. Which brings be to number 2...

2) Matthew Clairmont. This guy is in a league of his own when it comes to the dream-man-factor. First of all, he is hot, like sizzling hot. He is also a professor, specialized in genetics. He is French and has a family castle somewhere in a lovely, rural part of La France. He does yoga but not in the girly way - in the I-am-so-much-man-that-I-can-do-this-without-coming-across-like-a-metrosexual kinda way. If you gave me the choice between Mr. Darcy and Mr. Clairmont, I would actually have trouble choosing!

3) The title. "A Discovery of Witches". Just that was enough to make me want to read it.

4) Diana's relationship with food. This is a woman who (like myself) will get really grumpy when she is hungry. No salads or fat free options here, it is a fry up all the way.

5) The bad guys. Harkness does "bad guys" very well, making them mysterious, yet humane and interesting. There are no real black/white personalities but lots of grey areas and it seems like a lot of the evil stems from ambition and greed. I like that - it always frustrates me when an author introduces characters that are just evil without any sort of explaining factor.
The size. This is a long book and I am so very grateful for that because it is so good that I just wanted to keep on reading.

6) The locations. If you have ever dreamt of studying at Oxford or going to stay at a French chateau then this book will definitely reignite those dreams.

7) The value put on family and friends. One of the things that often annoy me with the paranormal romance genre is that family and friends are somewhat "lost" as all focus is on the lovers. Even in aforementioned "Twilight" which has a rather strong cast of friends, they are not really that important. In this book, they are and family plays a really important role as well as the safety net that will always be there. Good strong values.

8) The dry humour. Diana is a girl with a really dry sense of humour and even when the action begins to unfold there is room for observations of the comical. She is one of those girls that you would love to have a cup of tea with while discussing all of the foolish things that humans do.

9) The supernaturals. These are better than in most other paranormals. Often the authors fall in the trap of making everything so strange (like sparkling in sunlight or tattoos randomly appearing??) that it is hard to keep a straight face but in this one, the differences are more in temper and habits which makes it so much easier to accept.

10) The fact this this is the first in a trilogy! I was so worried that this was a stand alone because I want more! Luckily Harkness is already working on the sequel "Shadow of Night" and though I don't like that title as much as I loved "A Discovery of Witches", I am still really looking forwrad to getting my hands on it.

If you are looking for the perfect Christmas holiday read, look no further but to "A Discovery of Witches"

Thank goodness for sequels!

To whoever invented sequels: I thank you!! Have finished Deborah Harkness's AMAZING, WONDERFUL book "A Discovery of Witches" and luckily there is a sequel!! Not yet but it is in the making. Dear Deborah Harkness, of course I appreciate that it takes time to write such great books but please hurry up. If I be of any help walking your dogs, doing your dishes or something along those lines so that you have more time writing, please let me know. Until the second book in this trilogy comes out, I will be daydreaming about Matthew Clairmont.

Ps. For more info about the delicious Matthew, please watch this space as review will be posted soon.