Published
on: December 27 2011
By: Viking Adult
Number
of pages: 579
Reading
attempt: 1
Reading
time: 7 days
Rating: «««
Advice: The trilogy beginning of an adult “Twilight” mixed with “Harry
Potter”
Also available in French as: Le Livre Perdu des Sortilèges
The context
If I remember
correctly, I bought this book about 4 months after it was published, mainly because
the abstract attracted me. I
had truly enjoyed the “Harry Potter” series and I must admit that I had (and
still have) a soft spot for the “Twilight” saga. There I said it: I sometimes indulge myself
in the romantic cheesiness that comes with many of books found in the teen book
section.
Being close to
one of my bi-annual vacation, I told myself that this seemed like a good
contender for vacation read. As you have
already guessed, with my addiction to buying more books than I can read, I
delayed my reading of this novel of about 2 years. Oups!!
The story
The story line opens with Diana Bishop, a witch whose only desire is to be as normal and as
human as she can be. While researching references
in the Bodleian Library (Oxford) for an upcoming conference on the history of
science and alchemy, she comes across a bewitched manuscript named Ashmole
782. Now here is the catch: the above mentioned
manuscript hasn't been seen by any magical creature for the last 150
years. So how was she able to set her
eyes on it? Without wanting to, Diana
sets in motion a series of events that will blow beyond her control as every
magical creature (witch, daemon and vampire) tries to put their hands on the
precious manuscript that may hold the key to their origin and survival.
Among them, a
fifteen hundred year-old vampire and geneticist, Matthew Clairmont, who has
already laid eyes on the manuscript right before it disappeared and who believes that
his only chance at getting the book may well rest in the hand of a novice witch,
he will have to befriend. See me coming
so far?
The review
The author has built
here a well balanced mixture of fantasy, romance, history and suspense by
focusing mainly on the mysterious alchemy manuscript that is Ashmole 782. Her story is beautifully written and includes
a lot of details that helps the reader immerse him/herself into the
story. I particularly enjoyed her well
researched historical description as well as the description she makes of
Oxford and its campus and libraries. It
felt has if I was there instead of here when I read those. I felt committed to the story. Until...
Until, I
advanced further into the story and realized that it tended to resemble more
and more an adult version of Twilight.
At first it didn't truly bother me that much; should the author have
adapted the love story and sensual details to the fact that her two main
characters are in their mid-thirties, it would have probably been fine. The problem is that she didn't which makes
this part of the plot sound unrealistic and a tad bit too cheesy.
As for the
characters, I found that the author’s strength lied mainly with her supporting
characters (such as Marcus, Ysabeau, Sarah and Emily) more that with Diana and
Matthew, who are her mains characters.
As a matter of fact, their unrealistic and juvenile love story (and at
times, behavior) made them less likable and immature. I felt deeper connection to her supporting characters which to me, seemed more realistic emotionally.
All in all, a
dense book where immersing yourself remains a possibility as long as you’re
able to live with the occasional lack of realism of the two main
characters. As this is the first book of
a trilogy you can already guess that I have the second published installment on
hand. But it will have to wait a little,
as there’s a limit to the amount cheesiness I can take J
As always, keep
reading all of you bookworms and book lovers out there. Let me know what
you’re reading or how you found it. Who knows, you might inspire me my
next great read. Should you be wandering
what happened with “World Without End”, let’s just say I diverged from it a bit...
in hope to get back to it soon.
Until next time
Ladybug
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