Sign in with Facebook
Anne's Reviews > A Discovery of Witches
A Discovery of Witches (All Souls Trilogy, #1)
by
by
2.5 stars
Hmmm. At first, I really thought this was going to be at least a 4 star book. It was interesting and full of detail!
Then suddenly, it wasn't.
Wasn't interesting, that is. Oh, it was still full of detail, don't worry.
Details about how they appreciatively sniffed wine.
Details about different kinds of tea.
Details about the layouts of old buildings.
Details about rugs and furniture.
And just when I started to think I couldn't take it anymore...MORE WINE AND TEA!
Yes, yes! I get it! She likes tea. He likes wine.
After 400 pages I don't give a shit what it smelled like. Enough already!
*deep breath*
Toward the end, the story picked up a bit and started moving forward again. But it was too little, too late.
Wait. Let me rephrase that, it was too much, too late.
Suddenly there were huge info dumps, which would have been great had they been spaced out over the entire book. Everything that should have been happening/discovered/talked about in the middle of the book (because we were busy drinking all the goddamn tea) was crunched into the last part of the story.
It looks like this is a trilogy, but I seriously doubt I'm going to attempt to read any more of these. It looks like the author did a lot of research to bring this book to life, but it just wasn't for me.
I'd recommend this to someone who enjoys slow-paced books with a lot of attention to detail.
Hmmm. At first, I really thought this was going to be at least a 4 star book. It was interesting and full of detail!
Then suddenly, it wasn't.
Wasn't interesting, that is. Oh, it was still full of detail, don't worry.
Details about how they appreciatively sniffed wine.
Details about different kinds of tea.
Details about the layouts of old buildings.
Details about rugs and furniture.
And just when I started to think I couldn't take it anymore...MORE WINE AND TEA!
Yes, yes! I get it! She likes tea. He likes wine.
After 400 pages I don't give a shit what it smelled like. Enough already!
*deep breath*
Toward the end, the story picked up a bit and started moving forward again. But it was too little, too late.
Wait. Let me rephrase that, it was too much, too late.
Suddenly there were huge info dumps, which would have been great had they been spaced out over the entire book. Everything that should have been happening/discovered/talked about in the middle of the book (because we were busy drinking all the goddamn tea) was crunched into the last part of the story.
It looks like this is a trilogy, but I seriously doubt I'm going to attempt to read any more of these. It looks like the author did a lot of research to bring this book to life, but it just wasn't for me.
I'd recommend this to someone who enjoys slow-paced books with a lot of attention to detail.
Sign into ŷ to see if any of your friends have read
A Discovery of Witches.
Sign In »
Reading Progress
December 13, 2010
– Shelved
May 1, 2012
–
Started Reading
May 8, 2012
–
Finished Reading
Comments Showing 1-50 of 177 (177 new)
message 1:
by
Leyoh
(new)
-
rated it 5 stars
May 01, 2012 01:29PM
I really enjoyed this. Hope you like it too.
reply
|
flag
Oh good! That makes me feel better!
Haha. Shame you didn't get on with it. I think my love of Oxford and it's Britishness got me.
Yeah, I really thought I was going to love it. Oh well, to each his own.
I've heard this is slow and boring from a number of people. I'll read it one day...
Yeesh. As long as you know what you're getting into...
It is reviews like yours that keep pushing this book deeper into my TBR pile. Great review, Anne!
message 8:
by
Jess ❈Harbinger of Blood-Soaked Rainbows�
(last edited Feb 20, 2015 12:29PM)
(new)
-
added it
I have two friends who are obsessed with this trilogy! One of them has probably read the series at least 8 or 9 times. (No joke!) She keeps trying to get me into them but it seems every one of my friends on here keeps rating this low, so I am very confused. I almost want to read the damn thing just so I can see what's up.
This book was SUCH a snoozefest. It was also the only time I ever got told in real life that I "read it wrong." Automatic 1 Star!
^^^This...THIS is what I'm talking about. All of my friends on here feel this way, but my real life friends can't get enough! Tell me the truth.....the universe is punking me right?
Yes! Didn't like this one at all. Kept waiting for something, anything to happen.
Jess wrote: "the universe is punking me right?"Dibs on Ashton Kutcher.
Kelly (and the Book Boar) wrote: "Jess wrote: "the universe is punking me right?"Dibs on Ashton Kutcher."
Fine, then I'm stealing this one:
Jess wrote: "Fine, then I'm stealing this one:"Them thar is fightin' words!
All in good fun;)
Whoosh! I leave you guys alone for a few minutes, and Jeff Goldblum pops up! Jeez.Jess, this was a snooooze with a kinda decent plot...somewhere between the tea and wine.
message 18:
by
✘✘ Sarah ✘✘ (former Nefarious Breeder of Murderous Crustaceans)
(new)
You're helping me do some serious cleaning up of my 'want to read' shelf Anne haha!
Anything I can do to help with that!
I'm usually pretty tolerant of details (for instance, I don't mind at all the long baking and daily life interludes in Sunshine) but I found this really dull. Didn't finish it.
I need to learn how to do that. I get almost obsessive about finishing. It's pathetic.
I often find myself eyeballing this book.Next time I do that, I will remember your review and poke myself in that selfsame eye.
You would hate this. Hate. Hate. Hate.
Oh, come on! Erica is interested in witches and booze and furniture, right?
Yeah I only got a few pages in. Sure made a library seem more boring than it already was.
Miriam wrote: "Oh, come on! Erica is interested in witches and booze and furniture, right?"Yes, actually, to all of those things. And I freaking LOVE tea!
However, I'm pretty sure Anne is right and this would make me stabby. I trust Anne.
Donovan wrote: "Yeah I only got a few pages in. Sure made a library seem more boring than it already was."I have friends who loved it, but I thought it was a snore. Glad I'm not the only one.
Miriam wrote: "Oh, come on! Erica is interested in witches and booze and furniture, right?"Hahaha! How 'bout, 'Erica is a witch who drinks booze on the furniture'? Lol!
Erica, I think we both have a low tolerance for this sort of book.
I feel unfair dissing someone for going on about wine and tea and antiques because I am prone to that myself, but they are only interesting if you are actually consuming or looking at them. Drinking and discussing = fun; hearing someone else describe wine that you don't have = boring.
Anne wrote: "Miriam wrote: "Oh, come on! Erica is interested in witches and booze and furniture, right?"Hahaha! How 'bout, 'Erica is a witch who drinks booze on the furniture'? Lol!
YES! YES YES YES YES YES! And now I must write a story about this, a story that will be much more exciting than the one you just read.
Erica, I think we both have a low tolerance for this sort of book."
I had the same thought while reading your review. I was all, "Ohhh, that would piss me right off. That, too. And that. And that, also..."
Miriam wrote: "I feel unfair dissing someone for going on about wine and tea and antiques because I am prone to that myself, but they are only interesting if you are actually consuming or looking at them. Drinking and discussing = fun; hearing someone else describe wine that you don't have = boring."
I think you've hit the nail on its boring head.
See...this! So much this! My friend was JUST telling me yesterday about how she couldn't put this book down and how much she loved it.......And she couldn't believe there were people who DIDN'T like it.....it's like there are two different books. One for my GR friends and one for my RL friends....
Jess, this is just one of those books. I think Tadiana would probably dig this book, if that puts it into context. If you like 'lush' descriptions, then you'll want it. If that sort of thing annoys you, stay away.Also, my RL friends read more books like this, because they tend to only read 10 books a year. So....
Yeah ok, that's true.......I may give it a try but if I don't like the first one, I won't continue. One of my RL friends did say she liked the first two a lot but really didn't like the third.....which is another trend I'm seeing on here......I dunno.....maybe if it goes on sale for kindle or I see it in a thrift store.....until then, back to the gigantic pile...
I know, right?! I've got so many book I already know I want to read, that when it's an 50/50 thing, I tend to skip them.
Wow - this is really sad! I had it recommended to me by a RL friend and found I really enjoyed the whole trilogy! Plus, I got the audiobooks, and those probably take several times longer than actually reading them myself. (This one was about 24 hours long.)I thought they were suspenseful, and didn't find them boring - it really kept my attention.
Also, I felt like Harkness really got into the heads of the characters, and made me relate to them.
I guess you're right, Anne - to each his (or her) own...
And, wow - looking at the ŷ reviews, while there are a few 3 stars, it seems to be mostly split between the "loved it" and "hated it" crowd. Interesting! It's funny how personality really plays into tastes and what sucks you into a book.
And, can I like your review, even if I don't agree with it? Oh, too bad - I did anyway. Insightful review!
See?! That's exactly what I meant by knowing what your friends like to read. You are the type to enjoy the slower more thorough look into characterization. I'm not saying that's bad, at all! I think you just have to know your own preferences. Still friends? lol!
Of course! Ha! It's a great learning process to be able to amicably disagree! :)
Jim wrote: "And, wow - looking at the ŷ reviews, while there are a few 3 stars, it seems to be mostly split between the "loved it" and "hated it" crowd. Interesting! It's funny how personality really p..."I just read that DUFF book, and there were plenty of haters for that one, too. I really liked it, but it's a hit-or-miss book, just like this one.
It's funny how that works.
And it's funny when you despise something everyone else loves - you feel so vindicated when you find one other person that hates it as much as you. I'm still looking for that person for The Hobbit movies!! :)
Anne wrote: "I just read that DUFF book, and there were plenty of haters for that one, too. I really liked it, but it's a hit-or-miss book, just like this one."Me! That was me! I was the hater for that one! Ooooh, the hatredy I had. But on my GR friend feed, only one or two others didn't like it and everyone else really liked it or laaahhhved eet. I was definitely the outlier.
And that right there should make me question this book only...I know I'd start it and be all, "Oh, this is so amazing! It's beautiful! I am loving this...wait, no, no more loving. Ok, now it's pissing me off. OMG, JUST STOP ALREADY! I hate this book." Actually, that would probably be the trail of statuses, verbatim, were I to read this book.
My challenge to you: Check this out from the library, and see what you think.I still (regardless of DUFF) think you'd hate it. Regardless of the YA disagreement (you are wrong, naturally), our mutual loathing for the majority of classics will always bond us together.
That is true - those classics, man, they suck (mostly). We will always be in agreement on that.Yeah...I'll wait to read this one still. I'm having a good streak with most of my books and don't want to intentionally break it. Ok, I've started to hate Enchantment but I didn't have any hopes for it, either way; it was merely available and I took it so it doesn't count toward the good book streak.
One day, when I'm feeling resilient, I'll give this one a try.
I liked it but I LOVED the movie. I thought it was HIGHlarious.
Ok, you're the second person who's told me that. Sesana was raving about the movie a while back. I'll see if my library has it.
It's probably a bit dated now. I think it's from the '80's and if I thought it was that funny when I was a kid, it might not be so funny, after all. However, I still quote it in bits and pieces from time to time so it has obviously stuck with me.
Well, I'm going to go into it knowing that, but I've heard it's good silly fun. Besides, it's too late to talk me out of it, I just requested it from the library.
Bwahahaha!Look at you, being all risky and stuff.
You're totally out of control, here.
Intervention! Intervention!
