A Discovery of Witches

A story about supernatural people, an ancient book lost in an Oxford library, secret societies and the promise of DaVinci Code-type adventure is the kind of book that piques my interest. This is a description of A Discovery of Witches which has been on my radar for many years but surprisingly, I just recently picked it up.

This is a large tome at 579 pages and it starts off strong with a story about a mystical book that is suddenly found by Diana, a Yale educated historian of alchemy who is also a witch but is unwilling to embrace her supernatural heritage. Sounds awesome, right? But this book was a huge struggle for me for several reasons.

First, it's extremely long-winded with info dumps about history, alchemy and DNA and there's a lot going on in the plot - clearly too much. I wanted the focus to be on the lost Ashmole 782 manuscript (which I often read as As*hole 782) but that plot was quickly forgotten as the focus turned to the highly dysfunctional relationship between Diana and Matthew, a 1000-year-old vampire with archaic opinions of women and a low libido t'boot. And don't forget the numerous descriptions where Diana and Matthew detail their yoga practice, the smells of the food they eat, the wine (and tea) they drink and how they each smell. At that point, try to find the plot - I dare you.

But it was how Diana was portrayed that bothered me the most. Diana is a highly educated woman who is well-respected in her field of historical alchemy and she's descended from a powerful witch family. She's got brains and brawn! So why does the author turn her into a simpering, unsure idiot in need of saving when Matthew takes an interest in her? Sure, he's a vampire who has great looks and bags of money (naturally) but, to me, he comes off creepy and controlling instead of sexy. Their love blossoms faster than flies on a corpse with Diana giving up all control to him as she waits for her cold and patronizing knight in shining Armani to tell her what to do. Not cool.

"Are you managing me?" I asked darkly.

"You've just now noticed?" He chuckled. "It's been my full-time job for weeks."
(page 493)

Readers are told their love is strong, but I didn't feel any sparks between them. It made me sad and irritated, to be honest. And any readers eager for romantic interludes will have to look elsewhere because apparently 1000 year old vampires are rather uptight in the boudoir.

Normally, I'd consider DNF'ing a book that I had so many issues with but for a painfully SLOW read, there was just enough historical/adventure to tempt me to continue (not to mention the staggering number of 4 and 5 star reviews). Needless to say, this trilogy and I will now part ways.

I wanted to love this book so much more than I did. Deborah Harkness has some great ideas but there's just too much going on in a story that needed more consistency and a healthy edit. I was happy to get through it which isn't an encouraging feeling when one ends a book. I should have clued in when other readers kept asking me on social media how I was liking it without sharing their praise of the book themselves.

My Rating: 2 stars
Author: Deborah Harkness
Genre: Fantasy
Series: #1 in All Souls trilogy
Type: Trade Paperback (579 pages)
Source: Local Public Library
Publisher: Penguin Books
First Published: February 2011

Opening Lines: The leather-bound volume was nothing remarkable. To an ordinary historian, it would have looked no different from hundreds of other manuscripts in Oxford's Bodleian Library, ancient and worn. But I knew there was something odd about it from the moment I collected it.

Book Description from GoodReads: Deborah Harkness’s 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.