I will freely admit to just not feeling it when it comes to the undead. After Buffy is there really anything left to say?
That said, I thought Deborah Harkness' Discovery of Witches started off really well with mysterious books in the Bodleian, atmosphere of Oxford, spooky, medieval, and delightfully musty. I could practically smell the old leather bindings. The first few chapters are great, appealing heroine Diana Bishop- a hereditary witch descended from Salem witches but with attitude, who is trying not to use magic (well it's true she seems a bit smug), a mysterious, spooky back story, cool old manuscript with magical properties, gathering gloom. The atmosphere is pretty nice. Then in my opinion it goes all to hell.
A 1500 year old vampire shows up And the story starts to become so ridiculous I had to stop reading. I don't know if it was the idiot arty "daemons," Diana's irresponsibility for all supernatural creatures (and Oxford is lousy with them -who knew?), the vampire-witch yoga class (yes really!), or the way that ancient vampires can get tenure, academic funding, and be scientists "since scientists work alone" -(they do? No they don't!) Or that he can still look 30 after a career that spans about 40 years and no one notices. I left before the love story really got going. Frankly I don't get the appeal of the vampire as a love interest ... Just imagine his breath! but that's just me. I've read it gets better as you go along but I'm afraid this one lost me. I'm too ready for the vamp craze to end.
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