Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - A Discovery of Witches

Wow. I felt like a child reading my favorite series while reading this book. It has every element I love: beautiful prose, logical storyline, high stakes, imaginative world-building, intellectual content, and not to mention the romance of all romances.
The story follows Diana, who studies the history of alchemy. The witch who represses her magic comes across an enchanted book in Oxford and returns it when she is unable to understand its magic. The plot takes off once creatures start pressuring her to recall the book for their own selfish reasons. Matthew, an old and well-respected vampire, originally wants the book for his own noble reason and they proceed to fall in love in their quest to understand the book, why everyone wants it, and why Diana cannot control her magic.
Diana and Matthew's love lifted off the pages and felt sincere in a magical way. I loved the slight enemies to lovers and later, a touch of fate. Harkness takes care to develop these characters with all their faults, personalities, and past creating dynamic characters whose actions made sense.
I loved the historical aspects of the book. I learned so much about European history which made reading such a fun learning experience. I also loved the way vampires, witches, and daemons were very sophisticated creatures that were explained adequately.
As someone who watched the show before reading the book, many of my questions were answered and I was very intrigued the whole way through. I prolonged this read as much as possible because I didn't want it to end.
I definitely recommend this book to people who like historical settings, calls to philosophical and historical texts, a plot of mystery, fantasy that blends into the real world, and romance!

Content Warnings

foldingthepage_kayleigh's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional lighthearted mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I was expecting a fast-paced, plot-focused fantasy novel. What I got was a very cozy paranormal romance. This book was filled with so many scenes of dining together, going for long walks, family bonding, and dark academia (my favourite). I wasn’t a fan of the insta-love & slow burn, which I’m hoping will ramp up more in the next book, which I do plan to read. Overall, a nice read that I’d recommend to anyone who likes cozy fantasy.

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myworldtoread's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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joey_paige's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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flyintothestorm's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Mira que soy fan de los finales abiertos, pero dejar una historia a la mitad y que quede bien es más difícil que pase y no es el caso para mí.

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vilde_a's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Absolutely devoured this book! It’s definitely twilight for adults, but infinitely better written. The descriptions are just lovely and so detailed. If you enjoy fantasy, I would definitely recommend this. Even if you’ve seen the tv show, I would read this.
The Norwegian translation seems good as well.

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sadgirlsidney's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny lighthearted mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

Way to long in comparison to the events that occur. What happens is interesting but it fucking draaaaaaaags. Did we really need to have an entire yoga practice desribed to us? Was that really necessary filler??

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laurenleigh's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I unknowingly sat behind this author at a Leigh Bardugo book signing! Thank goodness Leigh posted a pic of them together with a tag so I could discover this book. I love me some witches, demons, and vampires, oh my! My favorite aspect is the scholarly slant. Our main characters are professors and researchers, and Harkness has clearly done a ton of research herself. I loved the depth and complexity this gave to the story! I hesitated when I saw it compared to Outlander(ew), but I see they have a similar episodic story structure. I sometimes struggle when a love connection turns so deep so fast, but who am I to argue with some star-crossed lovers? Definitely recommend you give this a chance if you like magical fantasy and adventure!

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