A Discovery of Witches
Ratings451
Average rating3.7
DNF @ page 120
These characters are annoying me, I don't care about this mysterious magical manifesto...I'm giving up. I'm disappointed because in theory this book has some great elements, but the way it's written is just not doing the concepts any favors. Why do authors insist on using first person perspective for the most DULL narrators?? Ugh. I'm also very tired of brooding, self-hating vampires (have some balls and rip some throats out!!! stop hunting deer goddamnit!!!) and woe-is-me witches (you have magical powers–use them!!! what the hell do you have to complain about!?!). Also these two main characters have zero chemistry it's almost hilarious. Except...actually it's just sad.
I could not finish. It was a slog to get thru and Diana and Matthew are incredibly unlikable.
Terrible book. Lots of basic mistakes made by the author that made the story drag on and on! What purpose did the she have to describe every single meal Diana ate or every time she slept?! Good writers have a purpose for every seemingly random situation in a book, and I kept trying to figure out what purpose she had for Diana's culinary narration. Finally realized that there was absolutely no purpose for it other than than Harkness's inexperience as a writer.
The romance in the book between the two main characters was cringy at most. Also, the book sets itself to build up to some intense climax to happen at the end of the book, and something did happen, but it was really disappointing. I don't know if I am being too harsh but given the amount of buzz around this book and the fact that they made a TV show about it I expected to be at least a decent read.
I've decided to reread this before reading the second book in the series. It's even better the second time around! Love this book!
Full-on honest review here. I read this book because I saw A Discovery of Witches and I need more imagery and action from Matthew Goode and Theresa Palmer, I did love their interactions and the sceneries in Oxford among others.
We can talk all day on how beautiful this book is, I have never read anything like it. The way colleges were described, it was as if I am walking the streets of the university, I was obsessed with it that fuck it if only I can go back and study history and all that.
What I didn't like about this book is that it was overly descriptive, I mean, I didn't have to know what the hell everyone had for breakfast you know. What is up with all the grand details of all things? I think the whole book was composed of unnecessary adjectives of whatnots. It was a drag to read this book, apart from the action that I enjoyed, why the hell bother with what cardigan is one wearing? I didn't need that.
While the book gave me all I wanted when it comes to the fight scenes, love interests, some sexual tension, and family drama, it would have been better for me it the tiny details of what color of pajamas anyone was wearing.
It's clear to me that I will read the next book but it will take a while because too much information on what colors of hair strands is not on my list right now.
I did not enter into this book looking for vampire smut, but that's what I found, and I am never not delighted to find vampire smut (even if it's relatively light smut). Always find it funny when the characters Richard and Kahlan it through a book.
The TV adaptation is better than the book, at least more entertaining and enjoyable.
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reread from back in high school. the only thing i remembered abut this series was 1. i remembered liking it better than twilight, and 2., good romance
things i liked about this book:
-writing style is high quality
-the academia mixed with magic. topic tier. love this
- could've been a little bit slower burn but romance is still good
things i didn't like:
DIANA doesn't freaking do ANYTHING for like the entire book. all of her decisions are so slow and felt so off-kilter. Like if I found out ashmole 29492340 was actually super important, the next page you'd see me go look for it again!! and figure stuff the heck out!! but this takes CHAPTERS to do. Why??? mostly because she's living a calm academia life and doing weird yoga with matthew. and then she finds out she has capabilities for a million gazillion witch powers. and does she do anything about it? NT FOR SO. MANY. CHAPTERS. like?? girl if you're so strong an independent why don't you go try to develop these powers instead of just being a victim and letting the situations PULLL them out of you?
Also, Matthew felt more inconsistent than the first time i read these. i was annoyed. Half of the time he's like no Diana i have to protect you. you can't do this. you can't do that. don't watch me eat animals even though we're married and i kno u kno i'm a vampire. u are only to be protected. but THEN (finally) he's also like “you need to become stronger and train”.
I just felt like diana was such a victim of the plot and didn't make a ton of decisions on her own. without being pushed into them CHAPTERS LATER than when she probably should have already decided.
Estúpidas sagas que me enganchan y me obligan a seguir leyéndolas cuando no sé si voy a poder enganchar el segundo en el reto de este año 😭 Tiene magia, tiene fantasía, tiene romance. No es un enemies to lovers, no es un romance toxi (aunq él tiene un carácter medio de mierda cuando quiere y cuando no quiere también) Me gustó el worldbuilding y que la protagonista femenina no sea una pibita sino una mujer adulta erudita de unos 40 años, hace q el romance con un vampiro de unos 1000+ años de antiguedad sea ligeramente menos creepy :v Tiene buena escenas de acción, buen desarrollo de personaje y una trama que me atrapó. Lo seguiré leyendo fuera del reto si es necesario 😛
The Discovery of Witches had all the makings of a great novel, but it ultimately fell short due to several issues. While the premise was intriguing, the story suffered from long-winded, unnecessary prose that bogged down the pacing. Deborah Harkness, as a first-time author, made several rookie mistakes, including an over-reliance on exposition and a tendency to mix too many genres—magical, historical, fantasy, and scientific—into a confusing blend. The book often felt like a drawn-out setup for the next installment rather than a cohesive story in its own right. The central point of the narrative didn't become clear until two-thirds of the way through, leaving the first portion of the book feeling aimless. Additionally, the action scenes, particularly the battles, were disappointingly brief, especially when compared to the overly detailed descriptions of sunrises. While there were moments of potential, they were overshadowed by the novel's many flaws.
Pretty torn over how to rate this book. I found myself really enjoying it, despite the nagging feeling that it wasn't all that good. One other reviewer expressed the same feeling as having been ‘enchanted', which is about right. Suffice it to say, I agree wholeheartedly with most of the criticisms levelled at this book in the many one star reviews, however, somehow, I found it compelling and enjoyable nonetheless. Averaging this out to 3 stars.
i thought this book was going to be more witch heavy but more than half the book was about her falling in love with a vampire who likes to be in charge in an annoying way ... the ending picked up again back to the witch business but too little too late. i started the second book bc i was hopeful that it would continue with the witch, heavy themes toward the end, but I'm 15% through a.m. this is not at all what I want from this series.. too many vampires, historical names and associations that get too complicated..
Okay, so this wasn't the most amazingly written book or anything, but it was so, so good. I adore the two main characters and there were many points throughout where I laughed out loud at their interactions. They made an amazing and wonderfully entertaining couple, and the whole story was incredibly entertaining. This is definitely one of my favorite books now. The characters were so fun and so likeable, and the various settings throughout were amazing. This isn't a masterpiece work of classic literature, but it's so good and so entertaining in its own right that I had to give it 5 stars because of how much fun I had reading it. Can't wait to read the next one!
This was a reread about 3 or 4 years after my first time reading this book and I still loved it. This book will always be firmly in my heart and will always hold my “witchy academia” interest. The blend on historical academics and magic bring on such a nostalgic feel. I've never once been to Oxford or England but the descriptions in this book make me feel like I'm sitting right there in the Bodliean with Diana.
This is one of those books I'd been meaning to read for quite a while and totally regret not reading earlier.
I'm not into vampires but this book was brilliant it's very well written I didn't feel like any parts of the book was too slow or could have been left out.
I can't wait to read the next books in the series.
I always include major spoilers (hidden), to help with my memory issues. Read them at your peril!
Beautifully atmospheric Oxford. The story does move on elsewhere eventually, but is the poorer for it. Still very good though. Paranormal creatures who are much less fantastical than in other works, so it's more believable that they get away with living in plain sight. A slow but, for me, fascinating start. There is scary action, but it's not mostly about that. It's more about the developing relationship between Matthew and Diana, meeting the other characters (mercifully, not a cast of thousands), and slowly revealing what is going on. Not much spice, even behind closed doors. In fact, I'm awaiting an explanation in the next book for why Matthew STILL won't consummate, even though she's taking birth control
Set in Oxford, where Diana first meets Matthew. As a witch & vampire they should be antagonists. She is researching in the Bodleian and requests a strange old alchemical manuscript. Suddenly all kinds of magical creatures are interested, and Diana is in danger from The Congregation, a group of 9 : 3 each of witches, vampires & daemons, who rule. They visit His 16thC home in Oxford, his mother in their French chateau (from whence Diana is kidnapped & tortured, & rescued), and Diana's family in the USA. Here their answer to the Congregation is formed - . a Conventicle of good guys . At the end D & M have Traveled back to 16thC England to find the original manuscript and find witches to train Diana
romance takes wayyyy more of a front seat than i expected it to from the synopsis
It had a solid start that hooked me in and I was getting more and more involved in the story excited to see where it led, but for me the story really fell short with the lack of world building. The characters were cool and I liked them but their history, how they worked, and their motives for why they do what they do all fell short for me. I was excited to learn more about how magic would unfold and what makes this world unique and learn how magic works but it's all just pretty vague without anything interesting going on. Im sure the following books will pick up but I did not enjoy it enough to continue the series.
The first times I read this book it was a 5/5 but I was younger and hadn't read a ton of adult fiction, was also before I understood how weird large age gaps felt. It still has a nostalgic feel for me so that definitely plays into my feelings.
I still do really enjoy this book, it is however very very slow and there are tons of moments where it feels like nothing but talking is happening but I really enjoy it. The focus on science and history is super fun to me. I love basically all the characters however as I've gotten older I've really come to dislike a lot of Mathew's traits sexism isn't cool and controlling behaviour like that shouldn't be romanticized. That is common in these types of books so not really surprised, especially for when this book came out.
In the end I still do love this book even though it has problems and will likely read it again.
I feel like this is the vampire romance that should have been in the spotlight instead of Twilight
After multiple rereads, this book remains one of my absolute favorites. Magic, romance, mystery, suspense, history, science, found family...the list is endless.
It's just as compelling now as it was the first time I read it, and the ending of book one still leaves me excited for book two. I highly recommend to anyone looking for a paranormal romance, but especially to those with an additional interest in history or science.
Can you believe it? I finally finished a book that I was reading just for me. Seems like ages... my Enginerd and I stumbled across the first season limited availability on Prime and binged the whole thing in about two days over the holidays. Then I bought the Kindle ebook on sale. I started into it and was fighting with myself of to stitch or to read and happened to find the Audiobook on #Libbyapp. I have to admit there is a 16-week wait as I returned the audiobook. I may admit that I enjoyed the drama bette, but I liked those actors for my imagined visual as I took in more details to the story. I'd like to continue, but have to watch for sales...
It took me two and a half months of leisure reading/listening to get through this book as my attention waxed and waned. Overall, I enjoyed the story and the world it introduced.