A Discovery of Witches

Last year, my aunt bought me A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness and sadly with my primary focus being on school and my jobs, this book sort of waited on the sidelines; waiting to be read... Much like many of the books you find in my bedroom (I really should stop buying new books - although that is quite unlikely). Enough with the pleasantries, I want to talk to you about the first novel in the trilogy. Let me get it out of the way, I really enjoyed this novel. I really don't know where to start, I am sort of a scatter brain BUT here we go. The heroine of the novel, Diana Bishop is not a super bland character. I know that doesn't sound amazing, but I am so tired of this idea of the "bland" heroine that some sexy and extraordinary vampire finds interesting and watches her sleep. If that sounded like a call out on Twilight, it was. Not only is Diana smart, working on research at Oxford University, but the writing is smart. The story merges these ideas of folklore and alchemy so well, that I am actually interested in researching some alchemy. It's not often where I find myself wanting to study more than I already am. 
I am not saying though that this novel was perfect, it wasn't. I definitely had some issues with it; mainly being the pace, or rather the narration. Throughout the story, after reading the novel in its entirety there is obviously things happening in the background and I found everything came together, almost too quickly at the end of the novel. Like Harkness was at the end and decided she was going to add a cluster of details because she didn't want to extend the novel by 10 more chapters. 

---

Matthew Clairmont and Diana Bishop in the Sundance TV adaptation.

The pacing is fixed in the television series though. Obviously, it is easier to do that in a show versus a novel, especially with first person narration. It is interesting though, while most of the novel is told from Diana's first person view, there at times where it becomes a third person perspective but following Matthew. It didn't bother me or anything, it was ultimately a good choice for the story, but I wondered why it wasn't done for other characters rather than have that clustered ending. It was a long read. Definitely very wordy but I loved pretty much every second of it. If you're someone who liked Twilight as a kid, grew up liking Outlander and still crave some magic in your life that isn't a harlequin romance; I recommend. Not only would you get to enjoy a great read, but after your done, you can watch the television series which makes up for the few flaws in the book. It wraps things super well and I am really excited for season 2 which is set to drop some time this fall. Happy Reading! I can't wait to hear what you think of this read.