Book Review: A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness 4/5
“It begins with absence and desire.
It begins with blood and fear.
It begins with a discovery of witches.”
This captivating tale of romance and magic gained enough traction that in 2018 the first episode of ‘A Discovery of Witches‘, the television show aired. As of January 9th, 2021 the show returned for its long awaited second season.
I quite enjoyed it and I hope you do as well.
Enjoy!
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Four Stars!
⭐⭐⭐⭐
My Review:
The first book in this series is a beautifully crafted story that, while absolutely worth the read, started off slow. Considering the amount of care that went into the details for seemingly everything.. I honestly didn’t know how far I was going to get. It was able to later redeem itself as things progressed and the mystery surrounding the ancient magical manuscript starts to unfold.
I loved that there was such a unique history behind Ashmole 782, the magic, and Matthew as a vampire geneticist(what?).
“Just because something seems impossible doesn’t make it untrue,”
While our main characters are interesting, the relationship between the two seemed to fall flat for me. I want passion! I want intensity! I want a deep and profound connection of epic proportions! A distinguished, centuries old, yoga loving vampire with serious personal boundary issues? (He breaks into her place on multiple occasions and just watches her sleep! Not cool, man.)
“My ideas about vampires may be romantic, but your attitudes toward women need a major overhaul.”
Their relationship gradually grows into something more desirable along the way but it mostly stays reminiscent of Bella and Edward for me.
Competition for the manuscript basically comes down to demons stalking her at the library in case the book appears.. And it sounds bad when I say it that way but, really, it’s just entertaining. I wouldn’t rate their demonic foes as particularly villainous and they don’t seem intent on much more than following Diana.
And our protagonist? We have this intelligent, driven woman, who loves books and just happens to be a witch. Okay! Due to past trauma, she refuses to use magic.. except when she does. Okay? Now there’s a magic book that will only show itself to her and more supernatural attention than she knows what to do with but, overall, I liked her growth as a character.
Fun fact? The author does such a splendid job weaving this elaborate world around you that you overlook the ‘what‘? moments.
I doth protest too much, however, because this series really does grow more complex as it goes. And even though I feel like you have to get through all of the books in order to appreciate the full scope of what the author has created here.. The first book is a beautiful step into a world that will transport you outside of time.
Reading Deborah Harkness is a worthwhile experience and I fully intend on looking out for her books in the future.. I hope you do, too!
Well.. That’s all folks! Happy Reading!
