Book Review: A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

Summary:
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.

Debut novelist Deborah Harkness has crafted a mesmerizing and addictive read, equal parts history and magic, romance and suspense. 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. This smart, sophisticated story harks back to the novels of Anne Rice, but it is as contemporary and sensual as the Twilight series-with an extra serving of historical realism.

My Review:

       This was such a long and complicated read. Deborah Harkness is just a genius though. The storyline was just right. The plot was organized in the most perfect way that somebody might be capable of, at least to me. And although the book was full of some historical stuff - which was kinda perplexing at some points - I, nonetheless enjoyed the book SO MUCH!

      In a world full of witches, vampires, daemons and humans. Diana Bishop tries to live what she calls a normal life, ignoring the fact that she was a witch, but not only a witch, just a very powerful one. Not until she meets Mathew that her life changes. It was with letting just one vampire into her life, some secrets unravel and some discoveries were happening. And she falls in love.

      The world-building was surprisingly brilliant and so well-laid. Unfortnunately though, the romance was just enveloped in what seemed like a Twilght-ish wrapping yet to me it was a bit more sweeter. Nonetheless, you'd be surprised at the amount of emotions in this book, from every single character. It was just whiskful of emotions blended together - love of all sorts, longing, fear, sadness - and the lenght of the story gave a way for the author to bring all what she had out and it was masterful. The characters were all well-written and seemed authentic to being fictional charaters and Diana herself - regarding how long the book was as I said - went through courses of showing different aspects of her personality and it just deepened my connection to her. 

     However, Deborah's style of writing wasn't the easiest to read, it leaned toward being complex. Despite the fact that I loved her usuage of other languages and especially French but the writing itself was perplexing but it was still well-researched and written too.

     Overall, this book was really good which I kind of didn't expect, there was something enthralling about it. And witches, vampires and history..... it was a good mix. An enjoyable storyline, averagely detailed and easy to imagine, along with a sweet love story that will make you heart flutter. So if you are a fan of Twilight and fantasy novels in general but maybe won't mind much details then I recommend this book for you. Can't wait to start reading the next book!

Title: A Discovery of Witches
Author: Deborah Harkness
Series: All Souls Trilogy
Published: February 8th 2011 by Penguin Books
Source: Owned
Links: Goodreads
Rating: 4/5

Happy Reading!
xoxo, Mariam