Review: A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

Review by Chronic Betty


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. 


I loved this book, y'all.  And if you've read many of my reviews, you know that's not something I just come out and say very often.  But Deborah Harkness, with her debut novel A Discovery of Witches, has knocked my socks off.


Dr. Diana Bishop is doing nothing more than some research, and stressing out about a paper for an upcoming conference, when she stumbles across Ashmole 782.  She's unknowingly called up a magical manuscript that's been missing for 150 years.  Knowing only that it's magical, and that she has renounced all magic, she returns the book to the library.


Suddenly the library is filled with the three creatures of the magical world, other witches, vampires, and daemons, all waiting for her to do it again.  And there's one vampire in particular who won't leave her alone.


Matthew Clairmont is a scientist and a vampire.  He wants the information contained in Ashmole 782.  But maybe he wants Diana more.


It's hard to know what to say about this book, beyond "I loved it!"  It clocks in at a hefty 579 pages, and a lot of stuff happens on those pages.  But the story unfolds in an almost leisurely way at times.  There is a scene early on when Matthew takes Diana to a yoga class.  It was so beautifully described that it felt like I was there as I was reading it.  And yet, the scene also gives the reader vital information about the world the author has created and relations between the three species of creatures, as well as information about Diana and Matthew.  


There were multiple scenes like that, where one character or another displayed a deep knowledge of not so every day topics, like alchemy, history, genetics, rowing, horseback riding, billiards, wine appreciation, and probably others that I'm forgetting.  The only scene that wasn't illuminating for me in some way was the billiards scene, although someone familiar with the terminology might have gotten more out of it.


Although it's not a perfect comparison, in some ways the book reminded me of Sarah Addison Allen.  It's darker, more intense in spots, and not as charming as a Sarah Addison Allen (that's not a negative so much as a point of reference, since I find SAA exceptionally charming).  But the gentle way the story flows at times definitely reminded me of her work.  Also, Matthew sometimes reminded me a bit of Barrons from the Fever series by Karen Marie Moning, although Matthew was more willing to explain things when necessary and didn't make me want to kick him in the taint so often.


Lest I leave you with the impression that this is the wimpiest paranormal ever written, there are many things more evil than Matthew that want to get their hands on Diana and Ashmole 782.  Diana and Matthew go through two significant attacks, their families are both in danger, and an organized group of very bad dudes are willing to go to great lengths to get what they want.  I can't really say more than that without getting into spoiler territory.  But let me reassure you, it's not all wine tastings and yoga classes.  Big stuff happens here.


As for Diana and Matthew, there's some serious character growth from both of them.  Diana goes from wanting to ignore and deny her power to desperately trying to learn to harness it.  That's a big shift in terms of accepting who she really is vs who she was trying to be.  Matthew's changes weren't as obvious, partially because the story is told mostly in 1st person by Diana.  But the way he treats her, his willingness to share with her and to let go some of the events from his past show how far he's come.


A word about POV.  As I said above, most of the story is told in 1st person from Diana's point of view.  But occasionally it shifts to 3rd person for a chapter, to show things that Diana could not possibly know.  The first time it happened was (the very short) chapter three, and I found it extremely jarring.  I read the next few chapters just waiting for it to happen again.  But after that, either because I knew to expect it or because I was so involved with the story, the transition was perfectly comfortable and not jarring at all.  I know not everyone is a fan of the shifting POV, so I thought I should mention it.  If you can get past the first one, it gets much better.

A little bit of good news: even though the book weighs in at nearly 600 pages, you're going to want more.  Word is that this is just the first book in the All Souls trilogy, so there is much more goodness to come.  I haven't heard anything about when the next book is due, however.

Brace yourselves.  I give this one an A.  It's a fascinating, well written story with engaging characters.  And even more than that, it's got that It factor that will keep you reading way past bedtime and have you thinking about it for days.

I was lucky enough to win an advance copy through GoodReads First Read program.  A Discovery of Witches goes on sale next Tuesday, February 8th, just in time for Valentine's Day!