A Discovery of Self

Many could ride this off as an adult version of Twilight but that couldn’t be further from the truth. This book, story isn’t just about a girl falling for a vampire. This is a book about a witch who has been blinded by her parents, her aunts and everyone else in the magical community about who she is and what she can do – all saying for her own protection.  Even though that does turn out to be true, for anyone that would come as a shock that you were sheltered from who you are – sheltered from the truth. This first book in the series is about Diana and the search for her self.  Yes, she is attached to a vampire by the hip but the vampire doesn’t make her who she is – she is the only one that can do that. 

I had an immediate reaction to Bella in Twilight and to Katniss in Hunger Games.  With Diana, there was no initial reaction of I liked her or didn’t like her. I was indifferent toward her and the same with Matthew.  With each new supernatural book I read, another element keeps getting added on. 2 elements were added in this book – the main character is a witch and both of the main characters are older, more mature. 

So what does the reader know? The reader knows that Diana is a witch and Matthew is a vampire. They know that Diana is different – she is a different breed of witch that no one has seen either ever or in millennium.  They know that someone knows who she is and is willing to do anything to use it to their advantage no matter the cost to her life or the lives of everyone and everything she loves. That does not make finding out who you are easy. And that is all Diana is trying to do. She knows that things were kept from her to protect her by her parents and even though she is upset that they bound her powers, with the recent events she can’t blame them.  She knows that she never would have been able to make it through anything without Matthew and her parents knew that as well.  But no matter the reasoning for binding her and making her wait for her “prince charming,” she is just simply trying to find out who she is and where she belongs. 

The story and the writing style was hard to get into.  I found it easier to read on my Nook than an actual book probably because the physical book is so big and thick it was overwhelming to read.  It turned me off. But the nice thing about the Nook is that you can’t physically see how large a book is – you only see what page you are on and how many you have left.  That makes it easier to read.

Hollywood secured the rights to make this book into a movie – another example of the lack of imagination in today’s movie industry but that is another story entirely. This book being made into a movie is a scary thought because this book is extremely heavy in plot, emotion and understanding that it is going to be extremely difficult to put all of that on screen. The Hunger Games tried and they only succeeded by a fraction of the intensity of the book.

I am sitting here, trying to figure out what else to say about this book.  It was enjoyable, making me want to read the rest of the series as they come out but on some level it was just the same as any other vampire supernatural book I have read (and yes I am contradicting myself).  It has mystery, a forbidden love, a connection that no one can break, and a spell or two that sets up a way for the 2 main characters to be together forever.  The one thing this book has that is different is there isn’t any inkling that Diana will become a vampire and live forever with Matthew.  With Diana being a rare witch the possibilities of her powers are endless; for all we know she could live forever just like a vampire but something tells me that isn’t the case. Something tells me that the love they have won’t end well and honestly, I would rather see that than a picture perfect, happily ever after ending.  And with this being an adult book, that just might happen.