A review by yaelaed
A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

adventurous emotional mysterious slow-paced
  • Strong character development? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

2.5

Odd that this book is titled "A Discovery of Witches", as it is mainly about the main character learning about vampires. Some odd things of note: how does this professor of ancient alchemy know so much about designer clothes, rowing, yoga, horse riding, designer furniture, and wine?? There was also a lot of talk about predator nature and violence and how it relates to sexuality?? A nope for me, thanks. There are a lot of interesting concepts in this book: witch powers, the origins of witches/vampires/demons, and alchemy. They are just lost in the hundreds of pages detailing wine, furniture, castles, and food. One HUGE plus, however, is how trauma is portrayed. I have actually NEVER seen trauma portrayed this well in a book. The main character is tortured at one point, with the person enacting the violence being behind them. And then the rest of the story, the MC can not stand to have anyone behind them. It was really well done. 
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