Edward Cullen’s Point of View

Summary of Midnight Sun

Midnight Sun (2020) by Stephenie Meyer is the original Twilight story, but exclusively from Edward Cullen’s perspective. The book explores Edward’s history, darker side, motivations, and conflicted desire to be more than a monster. This story is a stand-alone novel that has sold more than a million copies. Fans have waited more than 10 years for this novel after first meeting its main characters in 2005.

Meyer released a partial manuscript of the book at stepheniemeyer.com after portions of the novel were leaked on the internet in 2008. On the last page of Midnight Sun, Meyer calls this story her “nemesis.” She wrote New Moon (2005), Eclipse (2007), Breaking Dawn (2008), The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner (2010), The Host (2008), and The Chemist (2016). In addition to all that, Meyer also was involved with five blockbuster feature films inspired by her novels.

Edward Cullen is an American vampire who was turned at 17 during the 1918 influenza pandemic. Eternity has a lot of downsides for him. He’s bored and, in a rut, as he starts high school for the umpteenth time. The younger his vampire clan or family begins in a new area, the longer they can stay in one place. It does suck to pose as a teenage boy repeatedly when you are actually about 100-years-old. The Cullens choose to settle in Forks, Washington, for this limbo installment as Edward sees it.

Edward goes through the daily motions of life without really living until Isabella Swan, a seemingly insignificant human girl from Phoenix, Arizona, comes to town. Bella is the daughter of the Forks Police Chief Charlie Swan. She has dark brown eyes, long brown hair, and pale skin. Additionally, she’s intelligent, clumsy, and an only child. So, what brings her to town? Her mother, Renée, remarried again; so, Bella decides to stay with her dad while her mom travels with her new husband (Phil), a minor league baseball player.

Edward’s superpower is mind reading. He can’t help but notice her because everyone is thinking and talking about her on her first day of school. He tries to ignore Bella, but she ends up as his lab partner in biology class. He scents her blood before she even sits down in the classroom. Immediately, his world is turned upside down, and he’s left without a good reason to bolt from class.  

His only solution is to run away to Alaska to get away from her. About a week later, Edward returns and tries to start an awkward conversation with Bella sheepishly. A tentative friendship develops, and as he gets to know her a little. Edward doesn’t know what to do with her. Does he eat her or date her? Bella’s blood calls to him, and Edward craves her. To make things worse, he can’t hear her mind. He draws a blank. Wait, what?! Yes. This innocent girl has been sent from hell to ruin him!  

Book Review

I’ve been anxiously waiting for this book ever since I finished Twilight in the mid-2000s. Midnight Sun’s release is long overdue. After reading the entire Twilight saga, I started reading different kinds of vampire novels and other paranormal romances. I developed a love for the supernatural fiction genre. At the time, the Twilight saga was something new, engaging, and meaty to read after finishing several Harry Potter novels by J.K. Rowling.

Midnight Sun’s ending is predictable and known. Meyer adds clarification to several unfinished plot points. I always wondered about them. For example, we learn about Edward’s rogue years, his internal conflict with breaking all the rules. We also gain clarity into the treaty history of the Cullens and the Quileutes. The author offers additional insights into the fate of the Port Angeles rapist and his cronies. We also figure out how James, the vampire tracker, and the Cullens get to the dance studio so fast. My favorite insight was learning how the Cullens created the cover-up story for Bella’s vampire-induced injuries.

For me, reading Midnight Sun is like revisiting with an old familiar friend. I found Meyer’s story plot additions and her telling of Edward’s story worthwhile. The first few times I read Twilight, I didn’t fully grasp that Edward was such an over-achieving fatalist and an intense worrier. I figured it out after I got a bigger peek into his mind. I also finally understand how deep his feelings are for Bella and how all-consuming his obsession is for her ran blood, body, and soul. He struggles with not being overprotective and controlling, yet he fails on occasion throughout the Twilight series. He isn’t as perfect as Bella makes him out to be. I am glad Edward has several redeeming qualities. For illustration, he proves time and time again that he has self-control, a moral compass for a vampire, and a desire to do good things.

Score

On a scale of 1-10, I give this book an 8.

Melissa K. Cannell Copyright, 2020

Life Is Going To Be Harder Than He Thought

Summary of This Same Earth

Beatrice De Novo has a good life. No, make that a great life! Following her trauma on a Grecian Island, her scary nightmares have stopped for now, or have they? Her story is beginning to unfold as we see more into her mind and feelings about her perceived reality.

In This Same Earth (2011), the second book in the Elemental Mysteries by Elizabeth Hunter, vampire and professor Giovanni (Gio) Vecchio realizes something or someone is missing from his life. He let her go once but won’t let it happen again.

Beatrice or B is a human who caught his attention five years ago, and she’s still under his aegis whether she knows it or not. When B and Gio parted ways at the end of A Hidden Fire, B left determined and hopeful about escaping the supernatural world. In California, B has finished her graduate degree and attained her dream job at the Huntington Library. She also has her own house and a satisfying life with an adoring boyfriend named Mano.

If life is so good, then why keep accepting plane tickets from Gio to fly to the Cochamó Valley, Chile? B goes because she can’t get Gio out of her mind. She thinks, maybe this year will be different, and she’ll be with him again. Well, she hopes anyway.

Once a year, Gio sneaks into her apartment or home in the United States, leaves her a plane ticket and a postcard, but he never sticks around. B notices that his Chilean house smells like him–smoky. He clearly visits the place sometimes when she’s gone. However, he remains nowhere in sight. His pattern is to leave her a journal and lots of reading materials. B wonders why Gio seems to prefer lurking in the darkness and shadows.

B and Gio dance around each other for five years. On her last visit, B’s decided she is done with Gio, or so she tells herself. Determined to move forward, B goes home ready to take the next “big” step with Mano, whatever that is. B doesn’t care too much. For example, if Mano asks her to marry him, she tells Gio she intends to accept his proposal.

Two months later, and back at work, B’s boss Dr. Karen Stevens asks her to cover for the evening shift one night at the library. Dr. Stevens tells B to expect a group of visiting scholars from the University of Southern California, and another academic professional interested in the Huntington’s Lincoln archives. It is business as usual.

While studying some archiving letters, B hears footsteps and smells smoke before she sees HIS green eyes. “’I’m looking for Miss De Novo,’” Gio says (Hunter, 2011, p. 24).

“’Hello, tesoro,’” he murmurs to her (Hunter, 2011, p. 25), which is to say treasure, darling, honey, or sweetheart.

“Giovanni had expected her anger, but he hadn’t expected the sheen of tears that touched her eyes when they finally met his own” (Hunter, 2011, p. 25).

“’You don’t get to call me that anymore,’” B retorts (Hunter, 2011, p.25).

“…Why are you here?” she says. “’For you,’” Gio plainly says. “Her mouth fell open before she finally sputtered back, ‘Well, you are about five years too late’” (Hunter, 2011, p. 26).

So, where has Gio been?

He’s been traveling the world to look for Stephen De Novo, B’s father, a Dante scholar who disappeared about 15 years ago. Gio believes his son Lorenzo turned B’s father into a vampire. Stephen ran away from Lorenzo and stole a valuable alchemical manuscript that Lorenzo wants back desperately. Gio goes from country to country, and he can’t seem to catch the slippery young vampire. Stephen is always one step ahead of him. However, he does find clues left behind by Stephen that only B might understand.

In this book, Gio asks B for her help to find her dad, and he also asks for a chance to win her heart. B isn’t sure. She’s worried that Gio will abandon her again, and she is already in a serious relationship. Gio’s arrival brings with it the return of her nightmares, and she can’t shake the trauma she suffered when Lorenzo held her captive in Greece. She thought her life was safe, and she painfully learns that her perceived safety is an illusion. Her safety depended on Gio and not herself. Behind the scenes, Gio made deals and alliances to protect B.

After a lot of persuading, flirting, and maneuvering by Gio, B finally agrees to partner with him to find her father, but she hesitates to let him back in her life as anything more than a friend. Does that change? You’ll have to read and find out. Gio and B do end up on another globetrotting mystery adventure, and B, unfortunately, has to quit her job. This life is not the one she planned!

Book Review

B expresses her feelings to Gio at the end of A Hidden Fire, and he admits he has feelings. However, he stubbornly refuses to explore the depth of those feelings openly with B. When Elizabeth Hunter left the story hanging like this, I screamed, “NO, you can’t leave them like this!”

In This Same Earth, Hunter tells a fascinating, emotional, and well-developed story as she helps Gio and B work through their relationship issues. I’d say it is about time these two quit tiptoeing around each other and get to the truth of their feelings for each other. Their relationship issues go from awkward and uncomfortable to complicated, deep, and very emotional. I blame a 500-year-old vampire who disappeared for five years when he didn’t have to.

B feels abandoned and resigned, but she still hoped Gio would come for her someday. She tries to move forward by throwing herself into school, work, martial arts in hopes of impressing Gio, and he doesn’t come for her. So, she tries making friends and dating other men. No one ever seems to measure up to Gio even though she develops a close attachment to Mano.

I love Gio’s character, but I find him arrogant and controlling as he attempts to give B the appearance of the everyday safe life. Maybe I shouldn’t have expected much since he is a vampire after all. I don’t understand all his reasons for stringing B along for years with yearly plane tickets to Chile. In my opinion, he was hedging his bets with her. I think he wanted to find her ready and waiting when he came calling. I find it a selfish and mean thing for him to do. His actions show that he wanted her to be independent yet still dependent on him all at the same time.

When Gio arrives to claim B as his woman, he finds her angry, sad, hurt, and unwilling to resume their relationship. I am glad B values herself enough as a character to stand up to him for being a jerk. It makes me happy when she doesn’t fall into his arms immediately. B does an excellent job humbling and chastising him. B grows into a more self-assured and mature character in Gio’s absence. In my opinion, Gio has a lot to answer for B due to his duplicitous way of handling their separation.

Hunter explores themes of love, friendship, truth, lies, trust, betrayals, family ties, and redemption via Gio and B’s friendship and relationship evolution. By analyzing Gio and B’s strengths and faults, I learned to take opportunities to love when they are presented because you don’t always get a second chance. These characters had to learn how to take risks and trust each other with everything to move through their pain. Gio underestimated the depth of B’s pain and her love for him. I also think he misjudged himself. He gets caught off guard by B’s initial rejection of him when he returns. I doubt many women have ever done that to him.

Trust is something that is earned and fragile. Love can also be tender, and therefore should be handled with care. In addition to all that, the story teaches that life is often more complex and layered than you might think. Life is like an onion, a food item with smelly layers and fumes that can cause tears when handled sharply or taste good when prepared or cooked well.

This Same Earth was an emotional reading experience for me. Hunter does a great job explaining her characters’ thoughts, wants, needs, and emotions. I experienced their lives with them and not as a detached observer. She communicates the story’s drama in a clear, believable, creative, well-planned, and engaging manner. The time it took to read the story passed by quickly because I was engrossed all the way through. This story is a fantastic repeat read!

Score

On a scale of 1-10, I give this book a 9.5.

Melissa K. Cannell Copyright, 2020

Work Cited:

Hunter, E. (2011). A Hidden Fire, [Kindle version]. Retrieved from Amazon.com.

The Attraction

Summary of A Hidden Fire

In A Hidden Fire (2011) by Indie Author Elizabeth Hunter, we meet Dr. Giovanni Vecchio. Giovanni is a 500-year-old Italian vampire who enjoys a good hunt, whether it is for rare books or humans on a Friday night. He is fond of fine whiskey, as well as his peace and quiet. Thankfully, life is routine until his friend and fellow vampire, Tenzin, calls with a request.  She insists he translates a copy of an ancient Tibetan manuscript for her at Houston University’s library. When he enters the Special Collections reading room, he doesn’t meet Charlotte Martin as usual, but instead, he meets B, her assistant.

“’Oh wow, Char wasn’t lying,’” (Hunter, 2011, p. 7). B seems to murmur to herself.

Giovanni hears her quiet voice and peers around the corner. He smirks when he finds an attractive twenty-something librarian blushing behind a desk. B is decked out in a fitted skirted and knee-length Doc Marten boots, which he rather likes.

“‘What’s your real name?’” (Hunter, 2011, p. 9) Giovanni asks her. “‘…My real name is Beatrice,’” B says, “‘But I hate it, so please just call me B. Everyone does…’” (Hunter, 2011, p. 9).

“‘Of course,’ he said with a small smile. ‘I was simply curious. For the record, however, I think Beatrice is a lovely name.’ He made sure to pronounce her name with the softer Italian accent it deserved” (Hunter, 2011, p. 9).

Beatrice De Novo (a.k.a. B) is a college student, librarian, and fluent Spanish speaker. She is also beautiful, intelligent, observant, and kind of a loner. Unfortunately, she’s been through a lot in her short mortal life. First, her mother abandoned her as an infant, and then her father, Stephen, a renowned Dante scholar, was murdered while on a research trip in Italy. His murder was never solved. There was also no body to bury. Her grandparents raised her in Houston, Texas. Beatrice’s chance meeting with Giovanni launches her into a supernatural and mysterious world she never knew existed.

Book Review

A Hidden Fire is the first book in a series of vampire novels by Elizabeth Hunter, who is from Central California. This book is a paranormal romance and mystery novel, which I think is a great combination. To date, she has written more than 50 books. Hunter writes in the romance, contemporary fantasy, paranormal mystery, urban fantasy, and metaphysical fantasy genres. She is a graduate of the University of Houston Honors College in English and a former English teacher. Additionally, Hunter is an international bestselling author and a USA Today Bestseller novelist.

Hunter creates an entertaining and believable work of fiction that tells a new tale of an alternate vampire underworld hidden in plain sight. For example, only ancient vampires can be day walkers yet still indoors, and each vampire has an elemental power such as fire, wind, water, or earth. The most shameful kind of vampire to sire is a fire vampire.

Another creative example is that vampires can’t handle electronics without shorting everything out, so they have to depend on day-people or humans to use computers, cell phones, or drive newer model cars. However, lower-tech gear doesn’t seem to be affected by their touch. Younger vampires have to sleep for at least 12-hours daily and usually in a secured, safe room for their protection.

At first, Houston, Texas, seems like a strange setting for a vampire novel, but it works for the story. Hunter does a great job describing the city’s ambiance and Spanish/Mexican culture. She weaves the vampire experience into the human world effortlessly. I felt like I was part of the festivities when Giovanni joined Beatrice and her grandmother for the Día de los Muertos (The Day of the Dead is an annual celebration also known as All Saints’ Day).

A Hidden Fire is a slow burn love story between Giovanni and Beatrice. No pun intended. Hunter examines themes of family, friendship, honesty, secrets, lies, loyalty, new love, corruption, and revenge. Giovanni and Beatrice spend a lot of time talking, flirting, and bantering. They enjoy one another’s companionship, and they share a few compelling, intimate moments. However, they spend most of their time dancing around their feelings for each other. To me, Giovanni and Beatrice’s stubbornness and inability to communicate is intolerable at times. Their so-called relationship in this book is one missed opportunity after another. I wanted to pull my hair out in frustration alongside their loved ones. By the end of the book, their issues still aren’t resolved. Hunter’s ending left me hanging and wanting more.

And so, I had to buy the next book, This Same Earth.

Score

On a scale of 1-10, I give this book a 9.

Melissa K. Cannell Copyright, 2020

Work Cited:

Hunter, E. (2011). A Hidden Fire, [Kindle version]. Retrieved from Amazon.com.

She’s Done Running

Summary of The Book of Life 

In the final installment of the All Souls Trilogy, The Book of Life, Diana Bishop and Matthew Clairmont are back in the twenty-first century following their timewalk into the 1590s. They are hopeful their future is bright after they faced many trials in the past. Diana and Matthew return fully-mated under vampire law and officially married under pagan and human traditions.

The couple’s goal is to keep two secrets for as long as possible. First, Diana is a powerful weaver, a rare kind of witch that can create new spells. Second, Diana is pregnant with twins, and Matthew is the father.

Upon arriving at Sept-Tours, the ancestral home and fortress of the de Clermont vampire clan, Diana and Matthew learn everything isn’t as it should be—Emily Mather is dead. Sarah Bishop is Diana’s aunt and witch. She is also Emily’s partner, and she is beside herself with grief. Diana fears the same goddess who saved Matthew’s life following his ex-lover’s brutal attack took Emily’s life in exchange for his life.

Diana won’t stop until she knows why Emily died and who is responsible. She’s done running from her and Matthew’s enemies.

Is it the Congregation behind it all? Is it Peter Knox and Satu Jӓrvinen again?

Matthew and Diana agree to search for the missing pages of Ashmole 782, an alchemical manuscript, and The Book of Life. They already have one page because Diana’s parents left it for them in Madison County, New York, before they died. Together, the couple must find the other two pages and put the book back together. That’s the only way they believe anyone will find out the book’s real secrets.

The adventure includes Andrew Hubbard, Corra (Diana’s familiar), Jack, Ysabeau, Hamish, Nathaniel, Sophie, Marcus, and Gallowglass. We also meet Diana’s best friend and fellow Yale University professor, Christopher (Chris) Roberts. Again, readers meet a new villain, Benjamin Fuchs. He lurks in the darkness with his nefarious plans, and unfortunately, he is also family.

Book Review 

Deborah Harkness, author of The Book of Life and All Souls Trilogy, does it again, WOW! The Book of Life was released in 2014. The book provides answers to my remaining questions about creatures. Harkness tells the final story with clarity, depth, intelligence, knowledge of her subjects and locations, and humor.

I am fascinated by how Harkness weaves science and magic for a believable and entertaining series. Matthew’s DNA study focuses on the creatures (daemons, witches, and vampires) genome, and the lab techniques he uses are employed in real labs. The author kept my attention throughout The Book of Life. Harkness’s writing is still intelligent and witty. I related and sympathized with her characters and their challenges. As I read this book, I squirmed, and I screamed. I cried, and I laughed too. This book is excellent storytelling.

My favorite part of this book is Diana coming into her full power. I love how she handles Peter Knox, Satu Jӓrvinen, the Congregation, and Benjamin Fuchs! Diana rocks! I can’t get enough of her bow and fire arrows, and spellcasting. I’ve watched TV shows and read books with other witches, and their abilities pale in comparison to Diana’s weaver powers.

In The Book of Life, Diana and Matthew achieve trust, balance, and healing. Finally, they also learn to trust and accept themselves.

Score

On a scale of 1-10, I give this book a 10.

Melissa K. Cannell Copyright, 2020

Well, That Didn’t Go As Planned

Summary of Shadow of Night

In Shadow of Night, the second book in the All Souls Trilogy, by Deborah Harkness, Diana Bishop, a witch and historian, and Matthew Clairmont, a vampire and biochemist,  learn that the best-laid plans can go wrong.  At the end of book one, the pair made a so-called simple timewalk, and instead, it turned out to be a hot mess.

All Diana and Matthew wanted to do is to find a place to hide from the Congregation. So, they figured why not hide in the past—Elizabethan England in the 1590s. They decided time walk to England for a few weeks, find a witch to train Diana, and recover the ancient manuscript, Ashmole 782 before it gets damaged. It sounded easy enough in theory, but the lovers find themselves in a world of Renaissance politics, intrigue, spies, prejudice, fear, plagues, religious turmoil, and witch hunts. Uh oh, yeah, that! Now, what do they do? Is this going to be a one-way trip?

Together they will have to learn to rely more on each other. In this story, Diana and Matthew face their old enemy the Congregation, and one or two new and unknown enemies, who are bent on destroying Matthew and the de Clermonts no matter when. Matthew’s previous lives and secrets are going to haunt them. Diana’s past and secrets won’t be easy to reconcile either. How do you reconcile your past, present, and future while living in the past?

Diana and Matthew’s travels take them from England to France, then from Prague to England in months rather than weeks. Along the way, the two gain personal strength. Their relationship grows and adapts with the assistance of the School of Night, Philippe de Clermont, a boy named Jack and a teenager named Annie, a firedrake, and Goody Alsop, a witch.

The world of creatures is brutal no matter when or where it is. Diana and Matthew learn you can’t run from your past. Lies and secrets have a way of catching up with all of us, and we have to face our fears and ourselves. If and when Diana and Matthew return to the 21st Century, they may only begin to realize how their timewalking journey changes them for good.

Book Review

Once again, Deborah Harkness does a fantastic job! Her writing comes across well-researched, educated, and knowledgeable. She turns her professional interests in medieval and Renaissance history into a believable world of fantasy. Four words describe the Shadow of Night’s plot–entertaining, fun, dark, and tangled. Harkness makes readers feel they are part of the environment of Elizabethan England on the streets of London, or in the queen’s drawing rooms. The author’s words have a way of evoking the smells, sounds, and textures of the multiple settings. I love seeing interactions between Diana and Matthew, Walter Raleigh, William Cecil, Kit Marlowe, Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II, and Queen Elizabeth I. Harkness brings readers into the reality of the fear associated with the duplicity of politics and unsteady alliances in the 1590s. Vividly, she describes the real dangers people faced, whether a creature or human. I enjoyed being educated and entertained at the same time.

I liked A Discovery of Witches, but I like this book better.  I sank into the story more profoundly, and I understood  the characters’ personalities and motivations in-depth. The author’s character development answered many questions for me while it created others. I identify with Matthew because I can sympathize with him over all the loss he’s endured. He isn’t perfect, and he needs Diana’s love and protection as much as she needs him. I empathize with Diana, who underestimates her value and magical abilities, because I can relate my own life experience with anxiety and fear.

The book left one open-ended storyline for me. I wanted to know more about daemon society and culture. I still want to know why daemons are unstable and treated as second class citizens of the creature world. This book doesn’t cover it for me.

Score

On a scale of 1-10, I give this book a 9.5.

Melissa K. Cannell  Copyright, 2020

A Witch With No Use For Magic

Summary of A Discovery of Witches

Diana Bishop is a curious and independent Yale University professor and historian. Unbeknownst to most colleagues and a few friends, she is also a witch, who has no use for magic. She is the last surviving descendant of Bridget Bishop, a witch who was executed during the Salem Witch Trials. Her parents died in a tragic turn of events in Africa, which scarred her from a tender age. Diana is raised by her aunts in Madison County, New York, before she pursues her education. 

Every summer, Diana travels to Oxford, England, to work and study alchemical manuscripts in the Bodleian Library. While furthering her research at the library, Diana sends for an ancient manuscript with the call number, Ashmole 782, and a few other books from the subterranean stacks. She opens it, and a surge of power is released, catching the attention of other creatures (daemons, witches, and vampires). 

Crap, she can’t hide anymore! The book has a spell on it. Now, she’s being watched; so, she sends the manuscript back. 

Matthew Clairmont, a vampire and Oxford University professor, is close by in the shadows along with the other creatures, and when he senses the change in the air. He investigates the power disturbance and finds a blond-haired, blue-eyed witch behind it. Diana fascinates him; so, he observes her movements. Matthew has been looking for The Book of Life or Ashmole 782 since 1859. He wants to understand his species origins, and he believes that the manuscript holds the answers.  

It is going to be a problem for him to get the book away from the witch. Life just got more complicated. Sigh. Matthew is having a bad day. 

Book Review  

A Discovery of Witches (ADOW) is a paranormal romance and historical fiction novel all rolled into one story. Deborah Harkness wrote the book in 2011, and it debuted No. 1 on New York Times Best Seller List. Harkness is a college professor, historian, and author from Southern California. Academic specialties for her include European history, the history of science and medicine, and Renaissance studies. This book is her first work of published fiction. 

Harkness has reimagined the world of vampires, witches, and daemons. She has a fresh twist on a well-worn genre. The author takes traditional paranormal lore, discusses it, and then she creates her own world’s reality with a different set of rules. For example, her novel lets vampires walk during the day and night, witches don’t fly on brooms, and daemons aren’t the spawn of the devil. All three groups live among humans in plain sight as anyone’s accountant, religious leader, teacher, doctor, college professor, librarian, or holistic practitioner. 

ADOW is a complex love story of two people, who isolate themselves from the reality of the world around them due to their emotional and mental wounds. Diana Bishop and Matthew Clairmont seem to be numb and just going through the routines of life without really living. Chaos and change ensue for them after Diana asks for Ashmole 782 at the library. 

Vampires, witches, and daemons aren’t supposed to be friends, date, or intermarry according to the Covenant, established by The Congregation. This council is the executive and judicial governing body for all creatures. Its policies over the centuries have incited prejudices, biases, and even racism between creatures. Diana and Matthew by just being together, break all the rules, which could mean death. 

Harkness blends the lives of Diana and Matthew in an intelligent, witty, fun, and emotional way. Diana and Matthew are believable and interesting characters. The cat and mouse games they play kept me up late reading more than once. I have the dark circles under my eyes to prove it. To me, that’s the sign of a good story. I can’t help but connect with the plight of these lovers. Diana and Matthew pull on my heartstrings. 

The overall storyline is excellent and in-depth. Harkness’s plot has a sustainable conflict and is entertaining throughout the piece. She tells a complicated story well with stacked themes, such as; prejudice, racism, tolerance, love, death, family, loyalty, survival, fear, courage, personal responsibility, and accountability. 

Harkness describes the settings with a true understanding of the locations of Oxford, Venice, France, and New York. I could feel the room temperatures, see the decorations, and sense the emotions of the characters interacting with Diana and Matthew. When Ysabeau de Clermont, Matthew’s mother, and maker, scolds him for bringing Diana to the castle and for other forms of so-called thoughtless behavior, I felt like a naughty little kid right alongside Matthew. My favorite place is Matthew’s tower at Sept-Tours in Saint-Lucien, France. Matthew’s hideaway is a place I could find myself retreating to for an escape. 

There are two things I didn’t get with this story. First creature yoga, the idea of vampires, witches, and daemons doing yoga in the various company seemed over the top and bit corny. Secondly, I wanted more of a backstory on the Congregation and its members earlier in the novel. It was long and difficult to figure out who and what the council was about. I didn’t find the Congregation threatening enough. The villains like Peter Knox, and Satu Järvinen needed more depth and explanation in the narrative. 

ADOW is worth your time, and energy. It is a good read worth repeating. 

Score

On a scale of 1-10, I give this book a 9. 

Melissa K. Cannell, Copyright 2020 

of Weber State University in Ogden, Utah.