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 loved this so much I read the whole trilogy. It takes you places you never thought you could go, Definitely one that is hard to put down at 1a.m. when you should be getting up for work in a few hours!
The characters are fascinating only helped by the faces already provided by the tv drama running now (I stopped watching as the book was so good).
The imagination of the author is amazing, I will always look out fir more of her books.
Five stars for me
I never thought I would like a story like this, but I couldn’t stop reading. It is such an original story, like no other. I’ve re-read it four times and learned something new each time. You have to try it……….you will never forget it.
I enjoued the worl of witches and this hooked me to the series.
Need mire of her work!
I could read this trilogy again and again. This is the second time that I have read it, and it is just as captivating every time. The characters are so well drawn, the plot is fantastic and the writing is amazing. I can’t recommend this book enough.
I give this book a 4, almost a 4 ½, but I’m sticking with a solid 4.
This is the story of Diana Bishop, a witch who doesn’t want to be one. That in itself is enough to see that something somewhere along the way is going to go wrong. Diana uses magic even when she’s not trying to and accidentally opens a “Pandora’s Box” in the form of an alchemical manuscript, so of course all hell breaks loose. In this world where the peoples of the earth include humans, witches, vampires, and demons (though we’re not talking fallen angels), Diana is left running for her life while trying to figure out who she can trust, including the seductive vampire that’s latched on to her.
There is so much about this story I love, but the few little things I don’t like were enough to keep me from giving it a 5 star rating. First off, the plot is pretty good. I can relate to stories about self-identification and purpose; I wrote a story about that myself. What Deborah Harnkess has done with A Discover of Witches, I wish Stephanie Meyer could have done with Twilight. That’s not a put down to Meyer in anyway, I just prefer books written for adults. If I were a YA fanatic, I don’t think I’d like this book very much.
This book is beautifully written and very descriptive, but that’s actually one of my issues. I love vivid descriptions that pull you into a story and show you what your mind wants to see and Harkness has done that here, but sometimes she went too. I don’t think it takes much imagination to figure out how to apply an adhesive strip (a ban-aid for those who I just lost). I could also tell that Harkness had done quite a bit of research to prepare for this publication or was already a student of pagan cultures and practices. I must admit I found that to be a little creepy, but I understand that it was necessary to tell the story and have it feel real.
With stories like this, I find that there is always an issue with action versus romance. The premise of the story is ideal for both, but they don’t always mesh well. This story it seems, leans more towards the theme of romance, at least to the extent of portraying a love that surpasses physical desire and is worth literally killing for and dying for. Don’t get me wrong, I liked that part of the story very much, but I do wish there had been more action. When there was an action scene, Harchness did not hold back. She did a very good job describing blows, blood, and reflexes; that’s why I wanted more.
The last and final reason, I couldn’t give this wonderful book a 5 star rating is a little petty, but it tugged at my brain the whole time I was enjoying the story. Harkness only acknowledges four entities in this story: humans, witches, vampires, and demons (again, not fallen angels), but on at least two occasions, she eludes to the presence or existence of some type of creature that may shape shift into a wolf or werewolf. The passages are so small and quick, you may not notice them at all, and the subject is never addressed. Was this intentional? I don’t know, but it bothers me still.
This is a good read for an adult couple as long as they are both into dark themes.
I picked up this book to learn more about witches (I’m writing a witch trilogy myself) and am glad I did. It is wonderfully written. At the beginning if the book, Ms Harkness uses words I had to look up, but as soon as the story moved away from the Bodlean library, so did her word choice.
The world building is fantastic. She uses all senses to make you feel you are really there, be it in a small Cambridge apartment, a French castle, or an American home.
The story is a true romance, i.e. everything revolves around the two love birds. From the beginning, sparks are flying. I’m a bit disappointed that that was all that was happening between the two, but on the other hand it suggests that people can have fun without going all the way.
What I didn’t like was the passive role Diana, the MC, was given. Yes, she was head strong, but only in a reactive way. Matthew, her love interest, was the one pulling all the strings. And she let him, obeying him like a good, little puppy. That didn’t sit too well with me. In this day and age, one would expect the female MC to have a bit more oomph. At the start of the story, she is a professor, doing well on her own and making a name for herself. In the end, she is an emotional wreck, doing dumb things, and dependent on this guy she hardly knows. I hope the sequels improve in that respect. Oh, and that’s another thing that bothered me. The story didn’t end. You’ll have to read the sequel(s) to find out if there’s a HEA.
Overall, it is a splendid, entertaining read that is a head above the average indie author.
I liked how she brought in so much science. It is very brilliant. It is a bit too wordy, detailed and mundane is some places. But over all, a great read!
I loved this book. I thought it was really different to some others in this genre. I can’t wait to read the next one in the series
This book was great! I loved it as much as I love the TV series that was adapted from it.
Like Diana Gabaldon, Deborah Harkness is an actual genius — and it shows in the exhaustive research she’s done to build Diana and Matthew’s world. While some laugh that this is the “grown-up’s Twilight,” it has the intoxicating romance and intrigue so often found in vampire/witch stories, which is why we can’t get enough. Harkness is a master, and DISCOVERY OF WITCHES will become a classic.
I read this several years ago and it still ranks up there as one of my all time favorites. A young woman who has rejected witchcraft as part of her life,is a professor working on research at Oxford ‘s Bodleian Library when she obtains a book thought to be long lost. She ends up sending it back into the stacks and then the fun begins. If you have the chance you should read the entire All Souls trilogy it is well worth it.
Well, I finally picked this one up, it has been sitting on my shelves since 2011 when it came out. Yes, I do know how that sounds. Feel free to shame me now.
There for a long time I felt guilty reading new books because I have so many other books just sitting on my shelf not read. Well, that has changed as you can see in my last months wrap up I read more books that I bought this year than my backlist books…Oops.
So how did I feel after letting this sit on my shelf for 8 years? I enjoyed it. Funny enough I don’t think I would have liked it back then so it sat there for a reason.
Now before you go and pick up this book, let me warn you its a long one and the first 2/3 of this book is slow. At one point I really considered DNF’ing it due to the slowness but when I thought about it I really liked it and just sat it down for a few days and came back to it. I believe that the slowness is due to the author trying to lay out so much at one time. This book gives a lot of backstory and history that I am really hoping was needed for the next book in the series.
I will be picking up the next book in this series because I really did like it and my only drawback was the pacing in the first 2/3 of the book and that is a lot of pages when the book is 579 pages long. If you don’t mind a slow story then this is for you!
I’m late to the party for this trilogy, but my book club just finished A Discovery of Witches, and I really enjoyed it! The story sucks you in, and I loved the characterizations of witches, daemons, and vampires. It’s a great balance of mystery and romance. Have you read it yet? What did you think?
Greatly enjoyed this book – the entire All Souls series by Deborah Harkness. I highly recommend it.
The All Souls trilogy is a treat for anyone who loves a good long read, intricate world building, and getting to know characters. The pace of this, this first book, is a little slower as all of the intricacies of Diana and Matthew’s pasts are revealed and the pair slowly fall in love and throw their lots in together against the forces that would keep them apart.
I loved it.
An amazing and captivating read!! Very well written.
The only thing better than this book is the audiobook. Both are brilliant.
Great book. Reread many times. Best introduction to “witches”.