I found Deborah Harkness’ A Discovery of Witches a big disappointment. The book begins with an American historian, Diana Bishop, finding a bewitched book in Oxford’s Bodleian Library. The book, the object of centuries of searching by witches, demons, and vampires, reacts to Diane’s touch. So far, so good. But the story goes off the rails for me when Diana falls in love with a vampire named Matthew. The story then becomes more about their banned union rather than the magic. At 579 pages, A Discovery of Witches is way too long: 200 pages could have been cut easily. I did not have to go to Diana’s yoga classes or go through a wine-tasting every other chapter (Deborah Harkness has a wine blog). There must be a market for this kind of “witch-vampire romance” because A Discovery of Witches is moving up the Best Sellers list. But it’s not my cup of tea. GRADE: C
Sounds like she threw everything in in the hope of finding a market.
You’re right, Patti. A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES is a kind of an “everything but the kitchen sink” kind of a book. It just didn’t work for me.
Looked at this over the weekend but did not buy. Seems like my Karma was good there. Thanks
You saved yourself some money and hours of frustrated reading, Scott. A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES needed an editor badly.
The title and cover alone would have been enough to turn me away, and as soon as I discovered the vampire romance angle I would have dropped it like a hot potato.
Yet A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES is a best seller, Rick. Obviously, there are plenty of readers (unlike you and I) who want to read about a witch-vampire romance.
See, we depend on you to steer us away from this crap, George. Not that we’d be likely to read it, but you never know. At half the length, maybe Jackie might try it.
A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES turned into a major disappointment after a promising start, Jeff. And, the excessive length was a drag.