Book Review: "A Discovery of Witches"

A Discovery of Witches

by Deborah Harkness

Summary: Sometimes scholars should be more careful: Youthful researcher Diana Bishop briefly consults an medieval alchemical manuscript; then, after jotting down a few notes, sends it back to its prison in the stacks. Unfortunately for Diana, her quick dabbling has unleashed a long suppressed curse—and now only she can break the spell. Carefully researched, this debut novel will appeal to fans of historical novel infused with strong paranormal elements.

Review: I waited for three months on the library's waiting list before getting my hands on this book (and before that, I had been monitoring how long the waiting list was for at least six months to see if it would get shorter!).  Because of the wait, I had very high expectations for this book that unfortunately were not all met.  Ultimately, I had a lot of mixed feelings about this book. On one hand, I really enjoyed it. I loved the interactions between Diana and Matthew; their romance was very intense and passionate, and the author was able to express that very well. The book is also very smart too, in that it doesn't try to dumb down any of the plot points. The side characters are also all very well described and written; Harkness was able to make them all unique from one another in a way that really brought them to l     I had a lot of mixed feelings about this book. On one hand, I really enjoyed it. I loved the interactions between Diana and Matthew; their romance was very intense and passionate, and the author was able to express that very well. The book is also very smart too, in that it doesn't try to dumb down any of the plot points. The side characters are also all very well described and written; Harkness was able to make them all unique from one another in a way that really brought them to life.

On the other hand, however, there were some things about the book that I really did not like. The book really could have been trimmed down from 500 to 400, maybe even 300 pages. While I enjoyed all the details that brought the characters and the world to life, some details and parts of the book seemed extraneous. Also, there were too many plot lines that Harkness was trying to bring together in one book. It was a bit much for an introductory book in a trilogy. Like another reviewer mentioned, I felt that the book would have been much better if Harkness had an editor that helped trimmed off the excess descriptions and side stories.

Overall, I enjoyed it a lot. I just feel that it could have been better. Nonetheless, I'm looking forward to the next book.

Rating: 3/5