Robyn's luxuriate book montage

The Book of Lost Things
Water for Elephants
A Game of Thrones
The Master and Margarita
David Golder, The Ball, Snow in Autumn, The Courilof Affair
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
1984
Born Free: A Lioness of Two Worlds
Ishmael
Coraline
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
The Historian
Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith
Edgar Allan Poe: Selected Works, Deluxe Edition
Animal Farm
Girl, Interrupted


Robyn's favorite books »

Friday, December 17, 2010

#96: Daughter of Blood, Anne Bishop

Romance Novel Meets Harry Potter.

Bishop's tale about a young girl becoming Witch (capital "W") entices the soul, but only slightly.  Her characterization is a complex web of confused individuals ranging from Saeten, to Daemon, to Lucivar (do you see a trend here?).  All flawed, but loving, the main characters are "the bad guys" gone right when a new (old?) witch is drawn to them.   I felt no connection to any of the characters, as I wish I did, I felt no sadness when the girls in the insane asylum were abused, I felt no happiness when Daemon came out of the "Twisted Web..."  The confusion between female witches ruling (ruining?) the world and the males saving (destroying?) all that is good is disconcerting.  The magic made by each of the characters is confusing - it is based upon each character's "jewel" he carries (or doesn't carry and instead hides in a chest that somehow hovers with him even though the witches want him to be powerless) causing the reader to refer to the list of jewels and their powers on the first page of the novel regularly. 

I couldn't put this novel down, but it may just have been book-candy since I was just finishing my first semester of graduate school....

1 comment:

  1. I think it just takes different tastes. I personally am enthralled with the world and the way it works. The characters do come to life for me. I am saddened that you found it so lacking. And I do take some offense to the 'Romance meets Harry Potter' Mrs. Bishops books were published long before Harry Potter and have nothing Potteresque to them. Maybe the reason some readers found the story lacking is because their imagination in reading is lacking and can't fathom a truly completely unique and outstanding world.

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