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Edit 5/25/18 I intended to just skim through this re-reading while I was reading The World of All Souls but once I started I could not do anything but look even closer at the story thinking about the history I was getting from the companion book and about all the knowledge and research Deborah went into to write it. This trilogy becomes more amazing every time I read it. AMAZING!

Edit 5/18/18 I am also reading the new The World of All Souls and just had to pick this up and start it for maybe the fourth or fifth reading. The new companion book just makes this trilogy all the more fascinating. The real history of people who actually existed, places that exist and have for centuries - when I read the author was a historian, I had no idea how deep she was into history long before she wrote this novel!

Edit#2 Re-reading for second time

Edit: Listening to on audiobook when I drive and LOVE the audio. I only read the book a little over a month ago but it's good enough to re-read and sure to listen to! finished the audio and it is wonderful.

Wow! This is the best book I have read this year (2011) other than the final book of a favorite series and that doesn't count! This is what I would call an epic novel. It was recommended to me on an Outlander thread and I was a little unsure why fans of a great epic historical novel series would be interested in a book about witches. Now I understand. It's not a quick read which is part of what I loved about it as I wanted to absorb every little detail of the history, the science, the romance, the characters who simply came alive the longer I "knew" them. It's a book I did not want to finish because I wanted to remain in this story, and it left me thinking about it.

The two main characters in this book are Matthew Clairmont who is a M.D. although not practicing medicine, a famous geneticist, and esteemed scholar. He is also a 1500 year old vampire. It is through Matthew's life experiences that we see back into history that he lived and the famous people he knew including Darwin. Matthew was there during the Knights Templar, a physician in WWI and that is only the tip of the iceberg of course. Through Matthew this is a historical novel and a study of his vampire family. Most of the book is written in the first person by Diana Bishop who is also a scientist and has a position at Oxford University. There are some parts where Diana is not present that are told in the third person, but I didn't even notice the transition. Diana comes from a famous old family of witches going back to and before Salem, but she has renounced her powers and believes that she only uses them a few times a year for simple things- like stopping her washing machine from leaking. Both of her parents were murdered in Africa when she was seven and she has been raised by her Aunt Sarah and her companion, Em. Through both Matthew and Diana we are introduced to fascinating families, Matthew's vampire mother in France, Diana's witch aunt in America, and the wonderful house that Diana grew up in. In this house, populated not only by Sarah and Em, but by the ghosts of many of their ancestors, the house is "alive" and does things like adding a room when someone is coming to visit, hiding things and producing them later. In this world there are also deamons who are often gifted artists, musicians, scholars, and somewhat eccentric. Then of course there are humans.

Matthew is definitely a vampire. He is domineering, has a temper, passionately protective of those he cares about (and a passionate vampire with a temper is not a safe "person" to be around). He is also loyal with experience gained in not just living 1500 years but using his time to study and research. Diana is a strong woman, secure in one way but very insecure in others. She has been diagnosed as suffering from too much adrenalin and to counter that she runs, rows, and does yoga. In actuality it is her magic hidden deep within her with a binding spell that causes her problems. Diana's reluctance to accept some of Matthew's traits makes interesting reading and her realization that falling in love with a vampire is not going to be the same as interacting with a human man is part of the story too.

I don't want to do spoilers but wanted to give an example of the writing that I particularly liked.
I skipped a bit and just my favorite parts from a page or two below.

"Contemplating the sleek black car and the elegant vampire, I felt unaccountable cross....." 'You think a subcompact would be better subterfuge?' he asked... ""Not really, no'. Standing in the fall twilight, he positively screamed vampire, yet the rising tide of undergraduates and dons passed him without a second glance. If they couldn't sense what he was --- see what he was, standing in the open air--the car was immaterial."

Later in the book:

"'So you're the vampire,' Nathaniel said, giving Matthew an appraising look. 'My mother warned me about you.' 'You should listen to her,' Matthew suggested, his voice dangerously soft."

"'Are you certain of him, Diana?'he asked. Em wiped her hands on her apron and left the room, giving me a sad look. 'Yes' I met his eyes, trying to make my confidence in Matthew clear. Hamish nodded, unsurprised. 'I did wonder if you would take him on, once you knew who he was -- who he still is. It would seem you're not afraid to have a tiger by the tail.'"

I have discovered that the author is a historian and in so many ways this is indeed a historical novel covering many centuries through the experiences of the vampire who lived them. It is a different kind of romance and this part of the story is sensual but nothing in it that a teen should not be reading. The only reason it is an adult book and not a YA is that it is deeper and more detailed than a teen book and the main characters are in their thirties. I would definitely recommend it for older teens.

This is the first book of a series. So how does it end? Beautifully. The last chapters bring together the characters we have come to know and some very interesting new ones who are united in what is obviously going to be a war of some kind. Matthew and Diana have broken long standing laws by being together, but it is more than that. The two of them are going on a quest that you need to read the book to understand, but the ending is one of hope and optimism. The last line of the book is, "'It's time.' Together we lifted our feet and stepped into the unknown."

I already know I will love the next book and will read this one again before then. I need to slow down and look closer at the details I probably missed in reading to find out what would happen.