REVIEW: A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
A Discovery of Witches
by Deborah Harkness
I have had this book on my kindle for ages!! When someone had requested via Instagram that I do a readalong, I was so happy to have the motivation to finally start it rather than having it sit in limbo (it had already been far too long).
Thanks to everyone who joined in! A fun, on the lighter side, October read - see what I thought below:
Publish Date: February 8, 2011
Kindle Edition
594 Pages
Series: All Souls Trilogy #1
Genre: Paranormal, Fantasy
Deep in the stacks of Oxford's Bodleian Library, young scholar Diana Bishop unwittingly calls up a bewitched alchemical manuscript in the course of her research. Descended from an old and distinguished line of witches, Diana wants nothing to do with sorcery; so after a furtive glance and a few notes, she banishes the book to the stacks. But her discovery sets a fantastical underworld stirring, and a horde of daemons, witches, and vampires soon descends upon the library. Diana has stumbled upon a coveted treasure lost for centuries-and she is the only creature who can break its spell.
My Review:
Ok, I think there's a reason I'm a binge reader. I feel if I let a book go on for too long, it's just my natural inclination to not like it as much as I thought it would. In this case I'm not even sure if it's the book's fault or my own for being oh so VERY busy while trying to read this. I started this on the 19th and am just now finishing (on the 31st). Highly recommended to me by quite a few people, I was so excited to do a read-along as suggested by a fellow bookstagrammer. Thanks so everyone who participated!
I did enjoy this book for the most part. However, I did think it dragged on quite a bit in a few places and was a bit over detailed/descriptive in certain parts. I felt myself getting lulled into a hypnotic state during these - maybe it was the witch! We have the usual independent female who meets a male who frustrates the ever living shit out of her... sign everything that they are going to fall in love... but not without some things getting in their way first! Then it's the I'll save you, you save me back and forth that I hated about Outlander.. but that's a whole other story.
I love any fresh new take on how vampires, witches and any "creature" live and what happens in these new worlds created by fresh minds such as Harkness. Also taking into consideration this was her debut novel, huge props to this world that she created. A Romeo & Juliet type romantic scenario stuck in a world full of witches, vampires and daemons living in the "human world". The history of these characters, their families and how they've come was quite interesting but not enough to really satiate the fact that the book never really quite got anywhere. It read more to me as a set up for the next two books in the trilogy and I think (hope) there will be more action coming in books two and three.
While this has been likened to a Twilight for adults, I felt like it was a cross between Twilight and Outlander. And as a book catered for adults, I did feel it read more like a YA. Also, I need more bad guys - they just seemingly pop up here and there with no particular rhyme or reason. If you're going to get detailed oriented and long winded, it's in these sections that I'd like to see it the most.
Liked but didn't love.
★★★
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