A Discovery of Witches

A Discovery of Witches

Title: A Discovery of Witches
Author: Deborah Harkness
Published: December 27, 2011
Publisher: Penguin Books
Length: 592 Pages













In the first book of the All Souls Trilogy, A Discovery of Witches introduces the reader to a world in which humans unknowingly live in the same world as daemons, witches, and vampires. Witches, daemons, and vampires of course no about each other but they are not allowed to associate with each other. At the beginning of the novel, we are introduced to Diana Bishop, a witch who doesn't want to be a witch who was born into a very long line of witches. In fact, her ancestral roots trace back to the Salem Witch Trials. Her parents were two very powerful witches, Stephen Proctor and Rebecca Bishop, who were both killed when Diana was seven years old while they were in Nigeria.

Within the first ten pages of the book, Diana calls a manuscript called Ashmole 782, which sets the events of the book into motion. After returning the manuscript, it becomes apparent that every witch, daemon, and vampire has become increasingly interested in the manuscript since it had not been opened in hundreds of years. Diana eventually meets a 1,500 year old vampire named Matthew Clairmont who comes to her aid when a witch attempts to enter her mind.

Over the course of the story, Matthew and Diana fall in love, get married in a quick vampire wedding, and decide whether to attempt to open Ashmole 782 again. They are quickly attacked by witches, vampires, more witches, and then more vampires as Diana learns her lengthy list of talents. They eventually come to head with the Congregation, a council of three witches, three vampires, and three daemons, before timewalking into the 1500s.

The story starts off painfully slow with Diana going to the library and reading old alchemy manuscripts while daemons, witches, and vampires gawk at her. She goes home to drink some tea at night and exercise, then the next chapter is rinse and repeat. By the time I was into a third of the book, I was ready to throw in the towel. When the rinse and repeat was over, the story picked up quickly. In fact, the story went from crawling at a snail's pace to moving at the speed of light.

Many of the problems with the writing weren't even the author's fault, but mistakes that her editing company never picked up (missing periods, commas, quotation marks). There were several places were it seemed as if she wanted to go back into the text to add more detail, but simply forgot so there are gaping holes in some of the thoughts and dialogue pieces.

Once the story picked up (at around Chapter 12), I was hooked. The rising action became intense with plot twists, new information unveiled about vampires, and the introduction of new characters. I'm not exactly sure whether the lack of climax was due to the fact that this is the first book in the trilogy and the author hasn't gotten to that point yet or whether the author didn't know how to write a story will all of the elements of plot.

I know it seems as if I had butchered this book, but the story was actually really interesting and I do plan on reading all of the books in the series. A Discovery of Witches is definitely not an adult version of Harry Potter, as Deborah Harkness described it, but it is an enjoyable light read that will lightly savor your mouth, making your crave a little more vampire/witch love action.