A Discovery of Witches - Deborah Harkness

Deep in the heart of Oxford’s Bodleian Library, Diana Bishop – a young scholar and the descendant of witches – unearths an enchanted alchemical manuscript.  Wanting nothing to do with sorcery, she banishes the book to the stacks.  But her discovery has set a fantastical underworld stirring, and soon a horde of daemons, witches, and other creatures descends upon the library.  Among them is the enigmatic Matthew Clairmont, a vampire with a keen interest in the book.  Equal parts history and magic, romance and suspense, A Discovery of Witches is a mesmerizing and addictive tale of passion and obsession that reveals the closely guarded secrets of an enchanted world.  (Back cover)

I’m on a short vacation right now, so I chose to read something very light and escapist.  I don’t want to think about anything too deeply, and this book fit.  I’m a big fan of magic in fantasy literature, so I found this interesting enough.  Another thing that I liked about it was that it dealt a lot with books and libraries.  Magic, books, and libraries – a winning combination. 

Although the book is a hefty 718 pages (mass market paperback), the back cover says about all it actually is.  The heroine, Diana, has been living in denial and suppressing her powerful magical abilities since a very young age.  She turns to the world of academia where she feels that she can accomplish much without needing to use any magic.  But she can’t escape her true nature.  So one day, she finds her hands on an enchanted manuscript.  She didn’t know, however, that for centuries all sorts of creatures have been searching for this tome, having each their own desperate agenda relating to it.  So when she opens the book, other creatures felt its magic as well and soon Diana is being hounded by other witches, daemons, and vampires.  And of course, once a vampire enters the picture, we all know how everything will turn out.  Yep, they fall in love.  Surprise, surprise. 

Matthew Clairmont is your average fantasy vampire.  Around and about him the author uses words like enigmatic, magnetic, tall, dark, mysterious, princely, knight-in-shining-armour, and the like.  You get the drift.  This vampire turns out to be scientist, too.  He is very curious about the genetics behind the different creatures out there – humans, vampires, witches, daemons, etc.  Turns out that the book Diana found may hold the key to his search for the answers he wants.  But of course, there’s a whole lot more they have to deal with.  Suddenly Diana is in terrible danger and Matthew then plays the role of protector.  As their relationship progresses, they find that a lot of things stand in the way of their romance.  Matthew carries a whole lot of history with him – 1500 years of it, to be exact.  Diana has to deal with that.  Then a long-ago covenant made between vampires, daemons, and witches actually forbids inter-species fraternization.  Add to that Diana’s raw magical power spilling out of her uncontrollably, coupled with a troubled past that she has yet to resolve.   So our pair has quite a lot on their supernatural hands. 

What made the book as long as 718 pages?  It was something pretty likeable and interesting, actually.  History, literature, and science.  Since the two protagonists are both scholars, and one of them apparently lived through all 1500 years of history, you get a crash course in those three fields of interest as you follow their tale of “the two of us against the world.”   Although the plot is basic and predictable, I did enjoy going through the crash course.  After all, you’d never get your genetics, physics and chemistry, literature, and history classes spiced up by romance, adventure, and suspense in a university course.  There’s an idea.  Why not throw in a magnetic, brooding vampire and a captivating, intelligent witch into a microbiology lecture?  I’m sure fewer students would be falling asleep as the professor drones on. 

So did I enjoy the book?  Yes.  It fit what I was looking for at the time.  I finished it in two days – all 718 pages of it.  Like I said, it’s light and doesn’t really require much of deep thinking.  You just sit back, imagine yourself in the wonderful world of Oxford, or a medieval castle in France, or surrounded by spectacular books in a great old library.  And oh, don’t forget to imagine yourself surrounded by unnaturally gorgeous peoples.  There.  Plus, I enjoyed the scholarly parts of the story, too.  I tend to read very fast when I’m actually having fun with the book.  So if you think all that’s appealing, then try the book and I hope you enjoy.   

The Foundation Series - Isaac Asimov

I experienced these five books through audio.  I listened to them as I was working on my latest cross-stitch project (The Kiss).  I have been dreaming of getting my hands on these books since high school (that was a long time ago) when I began to fall in love with sci-fi and fantasy.  Of course the first name in sci-fi is Isaac Asimov.  In the realm of sci-fi and fantasy (indeed, in all Literature) the man is a GOD.  Unfortunately I never did get a hold of them (so many destitute hours spent scouring second-hand books for a complete set because I couldn’t afford them brand new) and I despaired of ever acquiring the whole series.  Then through the miracle of modern technology, I got myself the audiobooks.  Hallelujah!   In this blog post I will not give you a summary of these books anymore since there are any number of synopses and summaries available elsewhere online (I know how terribly lazy that sounds but what the heck), so allow me to simply share some of my thoughts as I journeyed through this most spectacular and legendary series.

What I admired most about the whole thing was the continuity of the story.  Each ‘segment’ wherein the events of the series unfold was supposed to be centuries and light years apart, and yet it all seemed to make sense that the events were still related to each other and affected one another in profound ways.  It was just a hell of an IMAGINATION that put all of it together in such a plausible, believable set-up.   The cohesiveness astounded me.   The fact that it all melded and made startling sense attested to Asimov’s skill at construction.  And it wasn’t just that.   The characters were alive and human, with human strengths and equally human failings.  You learned lessons from them and they made you think on yourself and your life and how you deal with other people just as human as you.  It made you ponder deeply about the world and why we are here; why we struggle so hard for unnameable unseen things, and why we want to be free to live our lives as both individuals and as a society.  I am awed by how deeply and how clearly Asimov understood human nature and human struggle.  I wonder how long the author took to come up with ways to put all of it together.  But then, he was a genius.  It probably took all of five minutes.

I loved the voice of Larry McKeever.  He gave the story such life and the characters distinct personalities.  As I listened to him narrate and dramatize, I could almost see the story unfold with my own eyes.  Nothing, but nothing beats a great story told by a great story-teller.  Through his voice the series was given thrill, mystery, drama, and even comedy at times.  He pulled you in and didn’t let you go until the last word.   Listening to him was an absolute pleasure. 

Altogether I listened to five books: Foundation, Foundation and Empire, Second Foundation, Foundation’s Edge, and Foundation and Earth.  While I found most every character engaging and interesting, I had a few favorites here and there.  First was Hari Seldon (of course!) – the Godfather of the Foundation, the Big Daddy, the Mover and Shaker.  He came up with the science of psychohistory, which predicted the future by looking at the trends of mass motions.  At the beginning of Foundation, he predicted the inevitable downfall of the Empire and the virtual collapse of human society on a galactic scale.  Thus began the events that enabled Seldon to set up the Foundation in order to save mankind from itself – an effort that will take thousands of years to reach full circle.  Second favorite character was Bayta Darrell (Foundation and Empire).  I love these strong, intelligent women with enough heart to temper their coolness.  She was the one who prevented the Mule (major baddie) from discovering the location of the Second Foundation, thus saving the galaxy from the tyrannical rule of a slightly deranged megalomaniac with some extraordinarily impressive mutant abilities.   Third favorite was Golan Trevize (Foundation’s Edge, Foundation and Earth), who staunchly refused the idea of all the galaxy becoming a “unified mind” or “a unified organism” where all its constituents are constantly aware and connected to each other.  In other words, he didn’t like the idea of eventually wiping out individuality.   Even though “unification” has it’s obvious advantages, he persisted on fighting against the idea, going around the galaxy to find an explanation for this dilemma, and trying to stand up for the individuality that he believed made people “human.”  Did he find the answers he desperately searched for?  Did Hari Seldon manage to save the world?  I leave it to you to discover for yourself, and I wish you as much fun in the journey as I had.  

More information about The Foundation Series.

Nation - Terry Pratchett

I don’t even know how or where to begin.  This is seriously one of the best books I’ve ever read in my life.  Thank all the gods that I was born at such a time that I am able to read this story.  Terry Pratchett is just… well, there are no words.   This novel is quite the departure from the other ones he wrote.  Although it does have his signature humor and irony, this story is so much more emotional, deep, and thought-provoking.  I loved every word.

“Nation” is set in an alternate world, but quite similar to ours in many ways.  They have kings, princesses, pirates, bureaucrats, island tribes, and even seriously vicious harridans of grandmothers.  I imagine the story happened during a time comparable to the heyday of Christopher Columbus or Ferdinand Magellan, where the European nations were clamoring for claim on “newly discovered” lands, and the sciences were turning the “civilized world” on its ear with its new logic and new discoveries. 

On one of the obscure little islands in the middle of the Great Pelagic Ocean, a boy named Mau was about to row a canoe back to his home island, having completed the trials he needed to pass to qualify for manhood.  At the same time, a girl named Ermintrude (139^th in line to the throne) was aboard a ship called The Sweet Judy.  Then the great wave struck.  Mau’s entire village – including all the island’s dwellers – was wiped out.  It also brought The Sweet Judy crashing onto Mau’s island.  It left Mau and Ermintrude the only two people alive. 

Thus begins a story of survival, friendship, family, respect, politics, religion, and science.  Oh, yes.  I don’t know how Sir Pratchett managed it, but he definitely put all of that into one incredibly enlightening novel for young adult readers.  The book deserves every award and acclaim it got, and it ought to get more.  Every human being should read this book.

I loved all the characters.  Of course, Mau and Daphne (Ermintrude – the book explains how it changed) were my favorites, but you get to love them because their characters developed through their interactions with each other and with the rest of the cast – they learned and they grew because they were not alone.  Mau’s strength and determination was admirable, but I love him just as much for his doubts, his insecurities and uncertainties.  Daphne was just as impressive in her own way.  I love how easily she was able to adapt and let go of her stiff, elitist upbringing because of her open-mindedness and cleverness.  There ought to be more characters like her – young ladies who actually think and act, rather than moon over boys all day.  Even the villains were perfectly villainous – First Mate Cox and Grandmother.  One of my favorite scenes was when Daphne’s father finally gave Grandmother what was coming to her.  I wanted to applaud and cheer and maybe do a cartwheel if I could. 

One of the most striking aspects of this novel for me is that it questions god and religion at the same time that it questions science.  As Mau struggles to cope with the grief of losing his entire family he questions the gods that his race has worshipped since time immemorial.  Even as the voice of his ancestors clamor and scream in his mind, he resists, rebels, and tries his best to reconstruct the history of his people, and piece together the reason behind the existence and the demise of the only life he had ever known.  In the meantime, Daphne grapples with the contradictions she encounters as she tries to survive in a world so vastly different from her own – trying to find a resolution between what she knows to be logical and scientific and what is mystical and spiritual.  How does she rationalize the voices in her own mind, teaching her and guiding her?  There was so much she needed to learn, and she needed to find her own place in a world where she is an alien, a ghost – despised and feared.   For me, more than any other book about religious belief and faith, this book has so much more to learn from.  When much is taken, something is returned.  Isn’t that the central tenet to every religion?  Karma, Do unto others, etc., etc.  Even science itself – For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction (Newton).  Where can we draw the lines between god and magic, magic and science, god and science?  Aren’t they all different words for the same thing?  Seems like it to me.

The ending was – well, I don’t want to spoil it for you.  I thought it was appropriate, given the circumstances.  Let’s just say that many things went well, and there was plenty of hopefulness to go around, which is always a good thing.  I wish more people will get to read this wonderful book.  We all deserve to learn from it.