A Discovery of Witches

Twilight for adults.

When a vampire appears, and he is describe as the most beautiful thing the protagonist has ever seen, and is carefully described as being perfect, with a reputation of seducing pretty much anyone he/she comes into contact with, you know where the book focus will be.

Read the top comments about the book, they pretty much nail it.

Read 1:30/23:57 6%

This book gets too confusing rather quickly. Too many subplots that don't mesh together well with little character development or world building. It seems that instead of committing to one plot and fully developing it, the author crammed every idea for a story into one story and didn't finish any of them. It simply left me scratching my head and wondering if this long book was going anywhere.

Actual Rating: 4.75

Started off the new year on the right foot!

I've been “reading” this book for ages (got it as a library book, ended up being due, was on hold for like a month +) but I basically read it in two days. It was so captivating and enthralling. I couldn't put it down. I was so eager to find out what happened next to all of my babies and I fell in love with the story.

I am so glad I accidentally picked up the third book in this series at the bookstore.

The plot is really good. While it may not be the most original plot- you've pretty much got your classic witches and vampires- it is still compelling and told in a very vivid fashion. Harkness' writing is very descriptive, which I loved, and it really just felt like the setting in each scene came to life. Of course, that was due in part to our darling Matthew.

The characters were phenomenal. I loved each and every one of them, and even hated the villains however briefly they were mentioned. My only complaint is that I would have liked more of Juliette. She seemed like a fascinating character who could have played a larger role in the book. But who knows! Maybe Harkness has plans for her ;)

THE ROMANCE. It was so good. For a little, I was torn as to whether it contained any elements of insta-love, but ultimately decided against it. I shipped them (Matthew and Diana!) so hard. They were perfect for one another and I felt as though the romance was really well written.

I foresee that this trilogy has so much in store and I am awfully excited to read the next book in (hopefully!) a few short weeks.

I wish I could give this book six stars out of five. How did I wait so long to read it?

On the surface it's a little like Twilight(at least with regard to not being a vampire and loving a vampire) but with intelligence and maturity and academia and history and tea and yoga, and a little like Outlander for the richly drawn history but even more ancient and modern. It defies description, really, but there's plenty of suspense and fantasy, woven with a strong thread of a love story that has an epic feel.

This goes on my keep-forever shelf.

It's an interesting story, but I felt like the writing could have been better. some of the wording and timing pulled me out of the flow of the story. I'm interested enough though to try book 2 of the series, and since this was a recommendation from a friend I already know what I'm getting myself into. Let's see how far the story can take me.

Love love LOVE this book. I thought trying to make the supernatural be somewhat scientific was also VERY interesting. A good change.

Can't wait to read the sequel!

Re-read

Some bits I liked - but huge chunks are basically: Oooooh, a hint of lavender and vanilla, somebody save me....swoon. Eyeroll. I attempted to timewalk my way to the end. Not my cup of tea.

Took a while to get into and then, towards the end, it was just rather long. But interesting characters and plot.

First read February 2013

For me, it was an okay book. The story is good, great characters but I found that it was too slow. I expected a little bit more action but instead got a lot of romance. It was an interesting story but the book could of been shorter and at one point there was too many characters.

Since it's a series, I will read the other two, hopefully it will get better.

Where to begin? Firstly, I'll disclose that I nearly left this book to languish in the depths of my TBR. When it first came out, I was charmed by the idea of an adult fiction book that housed witches, vampires and demons within its pages. As my TBR grew though, and the trilogy came to an end, I felt less and less inclined to pick this up right away. Then, during summer break, my cousin read this. I always pay special attention to the books she likes, as we have extremely similar tastes, and she adored A Discovery of Witches. So, back to the top of my reading list it went and, as soon as I had an available credit on Audible, I snatched it up. I'm so very glad that I did!

Deborah Harkness has captured my imagination. I fell into a world where paranormal creatures exist in plain sight, and yet manage to fly under the radar. Her characters quickly stole my heart, and I honestly couldn't have been more pleased with what a cultured bunch they were. My mind whirled as I was spirited from Oxford, to France, and back again. I was giddy at the prospect of real magic being done, and nervous over what Diana's background would bring. In short, this book made me feel. I love being wrapped in the lives of the characters I'm following, and that's exactly what happened here.

My only gripe, and it's one that I'm sure will be resolved in the next installment of this trilogy, is that there were a lot of very dense portions of this book. In order to build her world of cultured creatures, Harkness included a lot of explanations of alchemy, DNA, and many more heavy topics. While this didn't completely take me out of the story, it did make things drag on a bit in between the portions where new information about Diana and Matthew was brought to light. I'm well aware that this was a necessary addition. Knowing the history behind the very complicated circumstances surrounding Diana's life was invaluable. I just wish I was able to actually absorb more of it.

To touch on the audio book version of this, please know that I highly recommend it! Jennifer Ikeda does an excellent job of bringing each character to life, and her accents blew me away. By the time I reached the ending, I couldn't have pictured these characters any other way. This will definitely be a series that I finish solely in audio book format. I'm thrilled about that!

So, to sum up this rather rambling review, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this first book in the All Souls Trilogy! I'll be pushing the next two of these to the top of my reading list, and I'm excited to see where Deborah Harkness takes me next.

I haven't been this sucked in by a book since I read Diana Gabaldon's “Outlander”. Can't wait to pick up the next entry. Very promising series!

For more of my reviews, check out my blog.

This is absolutely one of my favorite series – I think this was my...fourth or fifth reread? I'm not sure but that should tell you how much I enjoy the All Souls Trilogy. Now, the books definitely aren't perfect, and this series definitely isn't for everyone. There's insta-love, there's an extreme alpha male, there's some hand-waving over certain explanations. And YES, this book does take a bit to get into, but I've always been of the opinion that its absolutely worth it.

A Discovery of Witches is about Diana Bishop, a witch who doesn't use her magic, and Matthew Clairemont, an ages-old vampire. They navigate the world of creatures, and of the rules set down long ago that say that they are not allowed to love each other. There's ghosts and daemons and other vampires and death and magic. THERE'S A MAGIC, HAUNTED HOUSE. The world set up in this series is just phenomenal, and it only gets better the further into the series you go.

I personally adore Matthew and Diana's relationship because they are both immediately 100% in. They are all about protecting the other, and making sure their love is known. It's a bit cheesy, but this series is one of my comfort reads for a reason. It makes me happy, and I hope that it does the same for you, too.

I'm torn. On the one hand, it's incredibly dull and exceedingly repetitive, and the eye rolls...oh, the eye rolls I have for this book. But that being said, things finally started to get interesting the last 80 pages or so (and believe me I was pissed at having to wait that long) so I'm now curious to see what happens next. Still, this book was overall way too ridiculous for me and I won't be picking the second up for a while.

There were things I liked about this book, the history parts for example. But I couldn't like Diana an Matthew. I especially had problems with their relationship, it's one of my pet peeves when a person doesn't believe their significant other, or trust them to do anything, so that set my teeth on edge. I'm not sure I'll continue with the series.

Enjoyable and engaging. I really loved the characters and the world Harkness created. Looking forward to the next part of the story!

A long, but satisfying read. I enjoyed how clever the plot was and the research it must have taken to have some many literature references. I'm sure the next book will be a treat to read especially with Christopher Marlowe as a character!

I have mixed feelings. The witch-in-love-with-a-vampire part was stupid, but the main character's occupation as an early modern European historian kept it from being totally worthless fluff. I enjoyed the parts about historical research much more than the ridiculous love story. I would read the sequel if I found it at the library or from a friend, but I wouldn't pay $15 for it.

Urgh. This is quite possibly the worst book i've read in a long time. Firstly it's not a story about witches or magic it is a witch-vampire romance and a pedestrian one at that. It's the usual over bearing and controlling vampire with a passive witch. The real shame is the missed potential to tell a really good story. But instead it got lost in describing the romance and the unnecessary historical detail. I struggled for three weeks to get through it and it wasn't enjoyable. The only highlights were the witches house which has a character of its own and Tabitha the cat. They were enough to earn one star. But unfortunately neither are good enough for me to recommend anyone to read this.

Why is it that I often get almost totally through a book before realizing it's part of a series, and no plot wrap-up is coming my way? Anyway, I liked a lot about this book, and I am not a history fan by any means, so that kind of surprised me. It started out thin, then got really good ... then felt a little thin again at the end.

That said, I cannot recommend this book to anyone trying to go sober. The extensive and heavily descriptive wine tasting scenes left me jonesing for a glass – even when I was reading in the morning.

This was my 100th book this year. I wanted it to be an awesome book and I wasn't disappointed. The characters were very entertaining and I can't wait until the second one comes out!

At first I was pretty enthusiastic about this book with the focus on a female researcher and all the digging about she does, but as the book wore on, the plot became a monotonous progression of romance/sex scenes and the main character (a witch) becoming an annoyingly submissive partner to her main love interest (a vampire). Guess I'm just beyond that type of paranormal romance plot.

A spectacular book- beautifully written, and magically enchanting. Well worth the read! Am eagerly awaiting the next!

Really enjoyed this one, I can't wait for the next book!