A Discovery of Witches book review...sort of!

REVIEW FROM 2020

Long time ago in a world far away from my vintage crumbling apartment, I was an avid reader. I would stay up long hours cheering on heroes and cursing their villains. My bookcases were overflowing with well-loved books. From sonnets to comics my world was filled with words.

About ten years ago I fell and injured my neck. This resulted in chronic muscle pain and triggered terrible migraines. I had difficulty looking down for long periods of time and the constant pain in my brain made it impossible to read. I went from reading three to five books a week to once every six months. Eventually reading stopped all together.

I decided it was time to return to the world of books. I got a deal on the iTunes bookstore for A Discovery of Witches. This has been on my reading list since 2012. A historical fantasy was written by Deborah Harkness. I thought the 592 pages read would be a slower endeavour for my first read but I downed it in four days. So here is my best attempt at a spoiler-free review but just in case, SPOILERS!

What can I say about A Discovery of Witches? It is a story that takes place in Oxford. The main protagonist is a reluctant witch (Diana) who studies the history of alchemy. She meets a talk dark scientist who just happens to be a vampire (Matthew). It's your typical girl meets vampire story. He's dangerous and she doesn't care. Filled with tons of will they won't they sexual tension that leads to falling madly in love and then all chaos breaks out.

The book starts a bit slow as you learn about Diana's educational background and interests but about 200 pages in the story starts to progress. The book dangerously comes close to the eye-rolling cheese and desperation of Twilight, well any vampire romance really.

I feel Deborah Harkness was clever by distracting the reader with historical and scientific facts in the beginning. This made you believe that Matthew and Diana would be well formed adults based on reason and logic. This also made the quick over dramatic declaration of eternal love an easier pill to swallow. Though my eyes still rolled at the first, second and 90th "I love you forever" conversation. Like come on, the story takes place over a couple of weeks. I have had pj's older than their relationship that I'm not ready to make that kind of commitment to. And I really love pyjamas. With that being said I was invested in their romantic entanglement.

I'm a sucker for paranormal romances. Vampires and witches have been my go to source of reading and watching material since I was a wee lass. When I was twelve I wanted to be Buffy the Vampire Slayer while attending the wedding of Sabrina Spellman and Harvey Kinkle. So this book was the perfect choice for my re-entry into the world of novels.

protagonist

A Discovery of Witches has just enough history, drama and romance to keep me turning page after page. Each character was completely unique from the other and each vampire had just enough mystery that made you want to learn more. So if you like paranormal fiction and don't mind adults acting like love-struck teenagers, this book is a must for the shelf.