Thoughts on : A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
Narration : Jennifer Ikeda
Genre : Paranormal Romance
Series : A Discovery of Witches
About the Book :
Deep in the stacks of Oxford’s Bodleian Library, young scholar Diana Bishop unwittingly calls up a bewitched alchemical manuscript in the course of her research. Descended from an old and distinguished line of witches, Diana wants nothing to do with sorcery; so after a furtive glance and a few notes, she banishes the book to the stacks.
But her discovery sets a fantastical underworld stirring, and a horde of daemons, witches, and vampires soon descends upon the library. Diana has stumbled upon a coveted treasure lost for centuries-and she is the only creature who can break its spell.
Diana is a bold heroine who meets her equal in vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont, and gradually warms up to him as their alliance deepens into an intimacy that violates age-old taboos.
I’ve tried to read this book countless times over the years, yet every time it felt like something didn’t quite click. Eventually I gave away my hardcover copy and got the book on audio when on sale, thinking maybe a different format would help. It did, but not much.
On paper I should have loved this book: it has vampires, witches and demons, it has magic, mysteries and romance, all things I absolutely love. But despite all this, as I listened, I kept wondering : why is this book so long?
I’m not someone who prefers short or fast paced books, but here it felt unnecessarily long and slow. The story is stilted by superfluous details and descriptions that don’t really expand the world building or help immerse you into the world. Disappointing when the setting is actually an interesting one.
The romance is very reminiscent of YA romances from the Twilight era (which I see now that many other reviewers have noted, but I had somehow missed that). It’s fine, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but as it’s not my favorite type of romance, I didn’t connect with Diana and Matthew’s relationship, which is such a huge part of the story.
A Discovery of Witches certainly isn’t a bad book, it has some cool ideas, but it wasn’t the book for me. And I wanted to like it so bad! But I didn’t care about the main characters or the main storyline. I already have the second audiobook (from a time where I would buy several books in a series before even starting them… I know, I know), so I might give it a try, but I’m not super excited about it for now.
This is exactly how I felt about it! I listened to it while driving cross-country to Boston in 2014, and I just felt like some sections were a slog, but enough held my interest to keep going. I once tried to listen to the sequel, but it was even worse and I quit pretty early on.
I’m glad it’s not just me! And I was so sure I would love it. Now I’m curious to know what I’ll think of book 2, but I think I’ll follow your lead and DNF it if it doesn’t work for me since these books are so long.