Scan barcode
A review by darquedreamer
A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
A Discovery of Witches felt like Twilight meets Harry Potter with a dose of science mixed in. Don’t let that fool you though, it had a large dose of originality to go with it. Harkness must have taken ages to develop the world she created in this book. Every detail was there in vivid color.
It’s been marketed as an adult book, but it honestly felt like it sat a little on the older side of young adult, or even new adult. It was certainly more mature than Twilight, but had a similar feel, and Matthew definitely took on the stalkery vampire role. Though, I was grateful that Harkness managed to explain that a little more in terms of predatorial instincts and a vampire’s nature and behaviors.
This was a long book, though. It was a really long book. My copy had 579 pages and small print, but it wasn’t the length of the book that made it feel so long, it was the detail and development that was packed in to it. Harkness cleverly incorporated alchemy, chemistry, biology, and science in general, in to her world, the history of the trilogy, and her characters. That was one of the main things that made the book feel different than any other paranormal story I’ve read recently.
Was this book perfect? No. I really felt Twilight vibes from it, and sometimes became annoyed with the characters and their choices and mannerisms. It was also A LOT of information and world building packed in to one book. Sometimes I became lost in that instead of the story itself. Did I enjoy it? Yes. Despite my issues with the book, something kept drawing me back. I was spellbound, just like Matthew was to Diana.
A Discovery of Witches had its powerful moments. I got the feels from time to time. There was some comic relief mixed in. I enjoyed the unique aspects of the story, characters and world building. I enjoyed the passion I felt between Matthew and Diana, and also enjoyed that it was never too explicit, because honestly, we don’t always need a full-blown sex scene to get the point across. But what I enjoyed the most was the fact that, even though there was a lot of information and the story wasn’t always the most exciting, it kept drawing me in, and I was left wanting to read the next book.
It’s been marketed as an adult book, but it honestly felt like it sat a little on the older side of young adult, or even new adult. It was certainly more mature than Twilight, but had a similar feel, and Matthew definitely took on the stalkery vampire role. Though, I was grateful that Harkness managed to explain that a little more in terms of predatorial instincts and a vampire’s nature and behaviors.
This was a long book, though. It was a really long book. My copy had 579 pages and small print, but it wasn’t the length of the book that made it feel so long, it was the detail and development that was packed in to it. Harkness cleverly incorporated alchemy, chemistry, biology, and science in general, in to her world, the history of the trilogy, and her characters. That was one of the main things that made the book feel different than any other paranormal story I’ve read recently.
Was this book perfect? No. I really felt Twilight vibes from it, and sometimes became annoyed with the characters and their choices and mannerisms. It was also A LOT of information and world building packed in to one book. Sometimes I became lost in that instead of the story itself. Did I enjoy it? Yes. Despite my issues with the book, something kept drawing me back. I was spellbound, just like Matthew was to Diana.
A Discovery of Witches had its powerful moments. I got the feels from time to time. There was some comic relief mixed in. I enjoyed the unique aspects of the story, characters and world building. I enjoyed the passion I felt between Matthew and Diana, and also enjoyed that it was never too explicit, because honestly, we don’t always need a full-blown sex scene to get the point across. But what I enjoyed the most was the fact that, even though there was a lot of information and the story wasn’t always the most exciting, it kept drawing me in, and I was left wanting to read the next book.