A review by toni7tess
A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

adventurous dark emotional tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

First, this is a slow read. Although I very much enjoyed that, especially the elaborate descriptions of tastes and architecture, I can see how it could easily annoy others. 

I feel like this book probably deserves fewer stars than I gave it, because it made me feel very uncomfortable a few times. However, I genuinely enjoyed reading A Discovery of Witches. The academic context is original, the historical details are intriguing, and I adored the worldbuilding and the slow, descriptive writing style. 

Diana’s struggles with anxiety were well written and it was refreshing to see a protagonist have more realistic responses to traumatic situations and memories. 

Now onto the bad stuff. The worst thing about this book was how controlling Matthew was. While he is an interesting character, the way he treats Diana is disturbing at times. She calls him out occasionally, but only a proper confrontation around his behaviour, or maybe some consequences, would have redeemed their relationship for me. This dynamic is handled better in the TV series. 

It’s amazing to (in theory) have a strong, intellectual heroine who knows her place in the world. But Diana’s academic work seems to serve as a really strong motivator sometimes, just to be completely forgotten about other times. It’s also strange that a scholar of history of science and alchemy would not name the ouroboros when she first sees it in Sept Tours, that really took me out of the character. 

Diana never actively tries to make up her mind about who to trust in the complicated power struggle she finds herself in. This results in a very reactive protagonist. Her personal motivations around her career and childhood trauma quickly take second place to the romance and by the end it feels like she just keeps getting pushed around by other characters. 

Finally, the book glorifies feudalism and a very outdated upper-class lifestyle. The characters spend a lot of time drinking expensive alcohol, riding horses side-saddle etc, and it gets annoying.
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