I saw the trailer of the series and I had to get the books before I watched it. Before people judge me, I loved Twilight Series when I was young, Vampires have since then made a space in my mind. But for a long time, I was craving a big book with fictive facts, logic, and research in its story. This book is an answer to my discovery.
A Romeo-Juliet love story set in Oxford University. Diana Bishop is a historian with acclaim and a witch in denial, she is terrible at spells, haunted by the murder of her parents and she avoids her witching community, though the Bodleian library is stacked with creatures. With autumn equinox nearing she finds the bewitched Ashmole 782, missing for 150 years. After glancing through it she returns it!
Mathew Clairmont a fellow professor at Oxford and member of Royal Society and a vampire as old as time, finds her. After initial anger, chasing and hissing, few yoga dates and sexual frustration later, they fall in love. A love against the congregation that forbids inter-species love.
The best thing about the book is its detailed research, and the underlying themes of extinction, ignorance, and fear. People are after Diana because she is the twisted key, a broken chosen one who chose to be blind to her powers. Mathew is equally flawed, he will kill to protect Diana and has no remorse at times. He is no saviour, he protects only what he wants to and loves. He will burn the whole world down if it means protecting his family. They both are not perfect together, they are ticking time bomb even their 'madly in love' is scary to themselves, as they escalated to love with weeks of knowing each other.
I loved the communication this couple has as they talk with each other and discuss plans and still end up taking stupid steps, neither do they trust each other's decision making completely. Despite all the threat and danger from evil witches and vampires, they don't stop admiring books and history around them. They literally Geek about the books Mathew has collected over the centuries.
The range of women characters is so refreshing! A lesbian couple for aunts, ghost grandmother, evil witches, matriarchal vampire, disoriented assassin vampire, scatterbrained daemons! Each woman giving her opinion or piece of power to Diana.
Mathew and Marcus are finding information about all the lineages and explain that the three magical creatures are dying through years of research he has accumulated gives us the overwhelming sense of time's cruelty. Even 3000 years is not enough to solve the mystery of life and death.
At times Diana is frustrating, he is so rigid and stubborn. She can read through texts after text, has a Ph.D. in the history of science and is studying Alchemy, yet she refuses to learn her spells properly and gives up easily. Even Mathew goes frustrated with her, but what's a damsel that's not distressed?
I loved all the information about alchemy that was presented in the book, through poetry and literature of old. Book also explains every tropey legend with a logic and science behind it. The reference to Shakespeare, the fictional confirmation of public's curiosity if Marlowe was gay, the tiny passing remarks on Medici family and the question what did Lazarus became after he was revived? Most probably the first vampire!
And there is time travel, a very logical one on top of that!
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