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Novel rec
Guys, I must tell you about this book I'm reading. (Okay, listening to, as I bought the audiobook, but it's the same thing.) It's A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness, and you know what I love most about it? The author assumes the reader is very smart and will keep up. Do you know how rare that is, especially in paranormal fantasy?
It's set in a version of our world, but one that has witches, vampires and daemons. So far so cliche, right? Except not. Though the names are the same not much follows the traditional myths, yet there's a logical explanation for this right there in the story. It's not spoon-fed to the reader; you have to figure it out after one character partially explains it. But it's there and it's not sparkly-vampires-are-sparkly, either.
Witches: not devil-worshippers, can't fly, not inherently evil. Vampires: drink blood, but the rest of the mythology is crap. These are also fairly standard for the modern genre, but the big surprise for me is the daemons. They are fascinating people - yes, people - not from Hell, not evil, just very not human. Yet Hamish, a daemon, is one of the most human characters I've met so far.
The novel is fairly exposition-heavy, and I know some people hate that, but I'm loving it, because the exposition is so damn smart. The major characters are academics, each the leading expert in their field: Diana, the witch, is an historian researching the history of alchemy; Matthew, the vampire, is a biologist specialising in neuroscience and evolution; Hamish is a leading economist. Their conversations are not difficult to follow, but at the same time, like I said above, the author pays the reader the compliment of assuming you can keep up. It's chock full of references to historical events spanning millennia, up-to-date scientific theory (DNA and the Human Genome Project), Yoga and Eastern spiritualism, natural history...the discussion of how the theory of alchemy might have inspired Darwin's theory of evolution is brilliant, and I found it very plausible, too. (Actually, that was the passage that pushed me from "I'm really enjoying this" to "OMG I must tell my friends about this book!"
There's a plot, too. Diana is at Oxford university doing research and she comes across an ancient book that turns out to be heavily enchanted. She's a witch, but she's sworn off magic after a childhood trauma. Opening the book opens a can of worms for her: suddenly she's surrounded by supernatural beings all of whom seem to want something from her. Among them is Matthew Clairmont, vampire and love interest. But this is no teen romance: both characters are mature adults and behave like it. So much so I'm honestly not certain at this point whether they are going to be a couple by the end of the novel. I'm a long way from the end.
I won't have a critical opinion of the novel until I reach the end, but for now my only negative point is specific to the audiobook: if one is going to narrate a novel set in Oxford, one should learn how to pronounce the names of the colleges! An American accent is no excuse for mispronouncing Magdalen.
Anyhow, that's my book rec.
It's set in a version of our world, but one that has witches, vampires and daemons. So far so cliche, right? Except not. Though the names are the same not much follows the traditional myths, yet there's a logical explanation for this right there in the story. It's not spoon-fed to the reader; you have to figure it out after one character partially explains it. But it's there and it's not sparkly-vampires-are-sparkly, either.
Witches: not devil-worshippers, can't fly, not inherently evil. Vampires: drink blood, but the rest of the mythology is crap. These are also fairly standard for the modern genre, but the big surprise for me is the daemons. They are fascinating people - yes, people - not from Hell, not evil, just very not human. Yet Hamish, a daemon, is one of the most human characters I've met so far.
The novel is fairly exposition-heavy, and I know some people hate that, but I'm loving it, because the exposition is so damn smart. The major characters are academics, each the leading expert in their field: Diana, the witch, is an historian researching the history of alchemy; Matthew, the vampire, is a biologist specialising in neuroscience and evolution; Hamish is a leading economist. Their conversations are not difficult to follow, but at the same time, like I said above, the author pays the reader the compliment of assuming you can keep up. It's chock full of references to historical events spanning millennia, up-to-date scientific theory (DNA and the Human Genome Project), Yoga and Eastern spiritualism, natural history...the discussion of how the theory of alchemy might have inspired Darwin's theory of evolution is brilliant, and I found it very plausible, too. (Actually, that was the passage that pushed me from "I'm really enjoying this" to "OMG I must tell my friends about this book!"
There's a plot, too. Diana is at Oxford university doing research and she comes across an ancient book that turns out to be heavily enchanted. She's a witch, but she's sworn off magic after a childhood trauma. Opening the book opens a can of worms for her: suddenly she's surrounded by supernatural beings all of whom seem to want something from her. Among them is Matthew Clairmont, vampire and love interest. But this is no teen romance: both characters are mature adults and behave like it. So much so I'm honestly not certain at this point whether they are going to be a couple by the end of the novel. I'm a long way from the end.
I won't have a critical opinion of the novel until I reach the end, but for now my only negative point is specific to the audiobook: if one is going to narrate a novel set in Oxford, one should learn how to pronounce the names of the colleges! An American accent is no excuse for mispronouncing Magdalen.
Anyhow, that's my book rec.
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(Anonymous) 2011-02-24 04:14 am (UTC)(link)How's your dog doing?
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