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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An absolute triumph! Ms. Harkness has crafted a unique and excited world with spellbinding characters that won’t let you quit until the last page. So good!
The beginning of one of my absolute favorite series.
Didn’t want to put the book down. I loved how history and literature was mixed with interesting, supernatural characters.
If you haven’t read this first book int the All Souls Trilogy, start now. This incredibly smart paranormal historical fiction is being made into a TV series. Enter the word of vampires, witches and demons like they’ve never been imagined before. The author, Deborah Harkness, a historian, uses her extensive knowledge to intermingle the fantasy with real historical events going back centuries. I can’t express enough how interesting and entertaining this book is. You will simply fall in love with Mathew and Diana. A bonus for me was finding out that Diana Bishop was a descendant of Goody Bishop of Salem witch trial fame, who was also featured in one of my favorite plays, The Crucible.
Extremely well written. Appeals to the grammarian in me as well as the lover of the paranormal.
Loved all 3 books in the series!!
An enjoyable read with a new take on witches and vampires and things that go bump in the night. I could hardly put it down and have already read the second in the series, eagerly waiting to read the third book. I’m anxious to try other books by this author.
A Discovery of Witches is the first book in the All Souls Trilogy. In this series, Harkness has created a very detailed world, where Daemons, Witches and Vampires coexist with humans. I had a really hard time deciding how I feel about this book. On the one hand, it is a pretty interesting book. It is a testament to the authors skill that I wanted to keep reading, even when nothing much was happening, because the writing was so good. On the other hand, for long stretches of time there is not much going on. The book is highly descriptive. Long passages are devoted to food and eating, and to exercise, history lessons and old castles. At times I was just wanting something, anything to happen. The book flirts with scientific explanations, such as the DNA markers for witchcraft, but it never really goes into enough depth on this. The two scenes where Diana is being attacked are really the only excitement in the book.
So I have several complaints about the book. But I still enjoyed it. It had so much promise, and I can see how this could be a great series. It is just a little disappointing that the book didn’t live up to it’s potential. I would give this book 3.5 out of 5 stars.
I don’t understand the hate for this book. It’s excellent! You need to understand from the start that this is the first book in a trilogy – there will be unanswered questions, unresolved plot lines, and a lack of finality.
The first 100 pages or so starts off slow and you’ll have many questions, but then it picks up, hooks you, and doesn’t let go! This is not your typical vampire/witch/other creature story and I cannot wait to read the remaining 2 books in this trilogy. Give this book a chance!
One of the best books I’ve ever read!
I love this book and also the other two, I would love to see what happens to them in the future.
There is so much too this book, it is full of history and a great story. I love it and have reread it before and discovered new things, and look forward to rereading it again.
Great story that would make a fascinating movie. Has mystery, romance and the supernatural.
Ok phew, just seeing the sun after emerging out of a fog.
Deborah Harkness’s All Souls Trilogy was like a mirage in the desert for me. After countless attempts of trying to read it, when I am literally facing a time management crisis with the number of pending ARC’s, I sat to read this, now if that does not categorize me as crazy, I don’t know wat else will?
There are 3 parts of the story, one in Oxford, another in France and the third in New York and each one takes the reader to dizzying heights of unadulterated delight.
The story begins with a harmless alchemical book Ashmole 782 called for a reference by Diana Bishop but never in her wildest dreams did Diana imagine that her current life as a historian would go for a toss. Her firm decision to stay completely away from anything witchy backfires as daemons, other witches and vampires begin to take an obscene interest in her daily life and the Bodleian library becomes a hamper of otherworldly creatures.
The comparison to the much-loved Twilight saga is inevitable with a similar over-possessive and over-the-top controlling vampire Mathew as Diana’s love interest and honestly till about halfway thru that’s what I was constantly doing. Yes, of course, there are similarities no doubt about it but the common points are really quite few and far between.
The third part of the story that involves Diana’s witch aunts Sarah and Emily and laugh out loud crazy house was simply outstanding. Ha, what fun to have a house that keeps adding rooms even before the guests have arrived .
Diana was characterized quite brilliantly, her emotions and her deep love captured so gloriously. The fantasy world has never felt so alive and the twists and turns in the story as Diana learns of her parent’s death and Mathew’s past and how each link is interconnected to her life was mind-boggling and complex. To be frank, I was totally lost with the complexity of the plot as each thread unwinds for a new discovery and kept reading hoping for some relief from all the intricacies.
This is just book #1 and the author has already stumped me with the convoluted plot and book 2 goes back in time to Elizabethan England, I might as well stay away without giving myself a headache, but as Mathew wonders, I AM BEWITCHED and can’t wait to get to book 2.
Much to long and difficult subject matter at times!
I binged the whole series in the shortest amount of time I could listen to it in!! The Discovery of Witches quickly became one of my favorite series and I hope there will be many more books with other characters. Having seen ONE episode of the show, and seeing who was playing Matthew, I was done for. The whole thing was awesome!! Highly recommend it!!
Absolutely amazing! Fantastic world building – witches living in plain sight with humans. There was intrigue, espionage, and love (hot hot hot). Diana and Matthew are the perfect match in so many ways. Could not put this book down and I think I finished the series in two weeks – it was that good! Highly recommend!!!
This book had me hooked right away.
I absolutely adored this book. The characters were amazing, the magic was intriguing, and the romantic elements were perfect. The only reason I didn’t give it five stars, was due to certain things that happened in the second half of the book. As the main character gained countless new abilities, it began to get a little…old? And there were too many convenient coincidences and other elements bordering on ridiculous that pulled me out of the story. I may have even rolled my eyes a few times. On the other hand, other elements were wonderful. Perhaps all of those confusing and/or too convenient things will be explain in later books. I hope so, because it’s a really great story, and I definitely intend to read more in the series.
Awesome Book! Absolutely loved each one in the series!