A Discovery of Witches

I quickly read through this book. I loved all the references to food and drink as well as a lot of the references to history and literary works.

The author keeps the story moving along and while it is in the same vein as the Twilight Series and The Vampire Diaries it more intellectual parts and adult thoughts and pastimes. I liked that there were three “monsters” with the witches, vampires and daemon who live in the same world as humans but hidden in plain site. The interactions between the species was interesting and I'm looking forward to getting to know each species more in future books and where the conflicts lead.

While this book was a little slow at the beginning, it didn't take long before I was on the edge of my seat trying to figure out what was happening to Diana. Deborah Harkness has created a world within our world full of witches, demons, and vampires using a new (to me, at least) and refreshing mythos.

Diana has spent her life as an alchemical historian, avoiding the use of magic and witchcraft since the death of her parents when she was 7. Unbeknownst to her, Diana is suppressing more power than any witch has seen in a very long time. Life as she knows it begins to unravel when she requests an ancient alchemical manuscript from the library. When it comes, she realizes it's bewitched and that all is not what it seems with Ashmole 782. But because she avoids magic, she sends it back when she is done with her ordinary alchemical research. This sparks a chain of events that changes Diana's life - and possibly the world as she knows it.

I didn't realize until closer to the end that this was the first in a series - and I absolutely cannot wait until the sequel arrives.

Really enjoyed this book - Looking forward to 2nd book.