Book one of the New York Times-bestselling All Souls trilogy—“a wonderfully imaginative grown-up fantasy with all the magic of Harry Potter and Twilight” (People). Look for the hit TV series “A Discovery of Witches,” streaming on AMC Plus, Sundance Now and Shudder. Season 2 premieres January 9, 2021! Deborah Harkness’s sparkling debut, A Discovery of Witches, has brought her into the spotlight … sparkling debut, A Discovery of Witches, has brought her into the spotlight and galvanized fans around the world. In this tale of passion and obsession, Diana Bishop, a young scholar and a descendant of witches, discovers a long-lost and enchanted alchemical manuscript, Ashmole 782, deep in Oxford’s Bodleian Library. Its reappearance summons a fantastical underworld, which she navigates with her leading man, vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont.
Harkness has created a universe to rival those of Anne Rice, Diana Gabaldon, and Elizabeth Kostova, and she adds a scholar’s depth to this riveting tale of magic and suspense. The story continues in book two, Shadow of Night, and concludes with The Book of Life.
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I adore this series of books!!!
This was such a great series! I’ve bought the DVD of the show that was made.
One of the best books (and series) I’ve ever read.
I enjoyed it in spite of the fact that the romance is a little slow.
The Discovery of Witches series are the best books I have ever read, and I should know because I’ve read them numerous times. The characters are intriguing, the storyline fascinating, never did I figure out something ahead of time, I was always on the edge of waiting to discover what happens next. It really grabs your attention from the start. I can’t tell you how many times I stayed up way past my bedtime indulging in these books. Highly recommend the series.
Welcome to Trope City!
A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES by Deborah Harkness is a contemporary urban fantasy. I enjoyed the first 100 odd pages because the premise is interesting, but the book is so long I lost the will to live. If you were generous, you might say the story unfolds with a measured pace and takes its time to establish character and introduce the plot. No problem with that, providing you don’t have to sit through the following over and over:
– Endless meals described in such detail you will renounce food and live on pranayamic air instead.
– Supernatural yoga classes (don’t ask).
– So many wine tasting scenes you will campaign for the return of Prohibition after the fiftieth flowery description of a two-hundred-year-old bottle of red.
– Numerous visits to the library where the same thing happens every day.
– Page after page of architectural/pseudo-scientific/alchemic/historical (possibly hysterical) discussions that will make you want to pack your ears with expanding foam.
– Our heroine’s exercise routines—see her run, row, and ride horses until you feel you are trapped in a 1980s tampon advert.
– And, her obsession with tea, which is scary even for a Brit (me not her).
– Finally, the smells. Yes, use all the senses when writing, but variations of “darling, you smell of poo and dead frogs” pop up so often your olfactory organs will go on strike.
Now we come to the main characters:
Diana is an independent and serious-minded historian who denies her magical powers until she meets Matthew. Then her wilful and feisty persona changes into a clingy and subjugated doormat. Even after Diana starts using her powers and morphs into Super Witch, she still dithers about obeying or upsetting him. Boy, does this woman have some serious daddy issues!
Matthew also has problems, the first being his lack of dinner suit and an opera cape to complete the caricature of the suave vampire. At least he doesn’t say “I vant to suck your blood.” He is also an overbearing arse of a control freak. He carries Diana around as if she’s a Victorian TB patient, and monitors her food and sleep to the point she should slap a restraining order on him.
Other delights include:
– Nasty witches with sadistic tendencies.
– Nasty vampires with ditto.
– Daemons who come across as stoners or speed freaks.
– Witch Vs Vampire Scrabble smackdowns.
– POV switches from Diana to an omniscient third person, which is a tad confusing.
– A cast of characters, some good and some bad, but they are all overshadowed by the Witches’ House. I wish the book had spent more time there.
If you prefer action to the minutiae of life, this book will not entertain you. However, if you like literary mash-ups and are stuck on a long haul flight, enjoy the story of when THE HISTORIAN met TWILIGHT via ROMEO & JULIET, and they all hooked up with HARRY POTTER.
Boring, boring, boring. I skipped to the end to read how it ended up. It started out interesting, but the male lead was basically a selfish jerk. If you know you are not available, don’t led someone on.
This book was so much fun to read.
This first book in the trilogy is wonderfully entertaining, as are the 2 that follow it. The author, Deborah Harkness, who is a professor of Science and History at USC, has woven a marvelously engaging tale. I highly recommend this whole series.
This is a book that gets better with every re-read, even though the first read is already a delight. Diverse characters, a witch falling in love with a vampire, beautiful locations, time travel, action, family feuds, historical background information – what’s not to like when this book has got it all?
One of my all-time favorite books!
Great series
After watching season 1 of the series, I bought all three of the books and loved every one of them. It’s a great story and the characters are great!
Loved this book! It was filled with descriptive details and emotions. so much so that I read it twice as well as the other two books in the trilogy.
Absolutely my most favorite read in ages!!
I love this series! I was heartbroken when Deborah Harkness stopped writing about witches. This is a delightful book that is easy to read, clean, witty and fun.
Loved it and now watching it on the screen. A new turn on Romeo and Juliet, but with better story.
I absolutely loved this series! The writing is so fluid and graceful, quietly building an entire world that that Harkness is able to allow the reader to see with her words. It is a melding of several different genres done exceptionally well. A must read!
It was thrilling and almost scary to fall so deeply into the world that Deborah Harkness built in “The Discovery of Witches.” To be so invested in the book and the characters meant that I felt their emotions like my own, and became a part of the fantasy and intrigue of the brilliantly written novel. I simply loved it, and have the utmost respect for the talented weaver of words, worlds, and of course, spells.
Very interesting with great characters.