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Wow, this has been a struggle to get through. If it weren't for my obsessive compulsion to finish what I start, I would have given up on this halfway through. The one star is for a the rich universe, and what seems to be an interesting main plot at the core of it all. The problem is that this main plot is hidden deep down, drowning beneath endless and pointlesssly annoying scenes about how amazing this old vampire is and how much Diana adores him and how weak and fragile she is. Multiple times per chapter we find Matthew, the centre of her universe, ordering her around, managing her, telling her what to do and what not to do, treating her like a helpless child. I lost track of how many times she passes out or sleeps for days because she's endured a small shock, surprise or a little torture (okay, that last one warranted some recovery time, I'll give her that).

Without spoiling more than the obvious, Diana is of course special. Super special. The most special of any witch ever, and naturally the most powerful. So special and powerful, in fact, that she manages to do all the witchy things that most people take years of practice to do, after just a few days or hours of trying. She also, of course, inhabits ALL OF THE THE POWERS, while it's common for most witches to only have one or two. The book even hints at her being the actual manifestation of the goddess she's named after, which might very well turn out to be the case, but I won't be reading the rest of the books to find out.

One scene I felt really represented the book for me, was towards the end, where everyone is gathered and discussing what to do next. There are nine people, four of them are men. Suddenly, one of the male characters exclaims "everyone leave the room - except for the three other men." The oldest witch asks why, and as a result is graciously allowed to remain in the room. The men, and the one woman, continue to talk strategy, while the other women are left to make dinner. Literally. My inner feminist shed a tear.

The writing itself seems impressive at first, with a rich language and descriptions, big words and an almost insane attention to detail at times. However, once you look past the linguistic distraction, it becomes evident that this is mainly a big piece of fanfic written for and by a history nerd who wants a clichéd vampire romance. The protagonist, Diana, reads as the Maryest of all the Sues, and it was at times embarrassing to read through some of the passages.

I usually don't write long, negative critiques on books I've read (in part because I've read few books I didn't like), but this has been an almost year long struggle and it deserves some attention for that. I will conclude on a positive note though: As mentioned initially, the universe is rich and the base plotline seems to be interesting, once you get to it, and as such the story has been given a show with HBO. My curiosity started me on it, and now, three episodes in, I'm finding the show way more enjoyable and interesting than its literary counterpart. (Amongst other things, Diana seems to actually have a personality on the show, and they've skipped a lot of the pointless "dominant and possessive vampire decides everything" scenes.) So if nothing else, this book might have created a good TV show, and thus is not a complete and utter waste. I might stick with the show to see how the main story ultimately ends.