A Discovery of Witches: Book Review

It's going to be difficult for me to rein myself in and not be too terribly critical of this book. I don't want to hurt any feelings; I know several friends who loved this one. I wanted to love it too, and I really think it could have been a fantastic story. But it just wasn't. Before I go any further, I will say that I am not interested in witches at all, so that may have colored my thinking on it from the beginning. But I was willing to give it a try, based on the glowing reviews. I was surprised at the very beginning to find that witches aren't human! I had no idea they were an entirely different creature; I always thought they were just humans with special powers. So that threw me off from the beginning, and made it much harder for me to suspend my disbelief.

Speaking of disbelief, here is a list of some of my biggest disbeliefs (I'm told this isn't a word.) from this story:
1) Diana has this amazing job as a reputable professor and researcher, and her work is so important--SHE is so important. But from about 45% until the end, SHE DOESN'T GO TO WORK OR DO ANY RESEARCH AT ALL?!! How does that work? I want a job like that.
2) Diana obviously has super-human (super-witch?) intelligence, but is she really an expert in alchemy, history, chemistry, biology, poetry, literature, religion, and every other possible subject as well? Every single line of poetry or literature that was "murmured" by the ancient vampire, or anyone near her, she instantly recognized and could recall perfectly? Yeah right.
3) Diana has resisted her witchy (yet another non-word) skills her entire life, and all of a sudden she finds she possesses every single skill ever known to witches...and then some? Really? Unbelievable. It would have been much more believable if she'd had just one or two more than what is typical for "average witches."
4) Matthew is a vampire who has lived for 1500+ years. What? That's insane. I don't buy it. Even if vampires were real. Not only that but he was also right in the thick of every single human conflict in recorded history. Right. Oh, and he was also close and personal friends to just about every famous historical figure EVER. Honestly? Yes, and not only was he personal friends with everyone famous you've ever heard about, he also has autographed copies of their original manuscripts, drawings, paintings, and anything else these famous people could have ever created. Right.
5) No one seems to have a job, but they keep going places, spending money, doing things, taking private jets and private helicopters, renting cars, buying wine and tea, etc., and spending money! Where does all this money come from? How can you just not work for 40 days and sit around the house sipping tea and taking daily walks in the apple orchard? Once again, sign me up for one of those jobs!

I could go on, but you get the picture. The author was just so over-the-top in everything she pulled into this book that it was simply too far "out there" for me to take seriously.

Harkness writes well though. It's solid writing, and for that I am thankful. Otherwise I wouldn't have bothered to finish it. But the book could have benefited from some heavy editing. I got so tired of reading detailed descriptions of Diana's rowing, running, horseback riding, and yoga workouts; what kind of wine they drank and all Diana's cups of tea; not to mention all the times Diana slept and how long she slept (usually while big stuff was happening). The first half of the book was so tedious with all this tripe, and NOTHING HAPPENED! Seriously, nothing happened until the 56% mark (thank you, Kindle), and then it was like reading a completely different book. Almost as if there were two different authors. Then the action came too fast and furious for the most part, and so much happened but nothing was really significant. Sometimes the action was so briefly described, or described so cryptically that I had to read and reread the sections several times before really figuring out what had happened. New, interesting characters were introduced but you really learn nothing about them. Nothing from the first half of the book is really even mentioned, leaving you scratching your head. In the end, no questions are answered, nothing is wrapped up, and you really have no idea where the next book is going to take you.

The most interesting character in the entire book to me was the Bishop house. What a brilliant idea! And it was so well done - just the right level of reference and inclusion in the story, and it wasn't goofy or ridiculous. I wish we could have learned a little more about the Bishop family history and how it was intertwined with the history of the house. I kind of wanted someone evil or scary to show up, so we could witness the house acting up and maybe even spitting the person/creature out. That would have been great.

2.5 stars from me, and I'm not convinced I care enough to read the second book. Sorry, friends who loved it!

Buy the book on Amazon.

Read more about the author, Deborah Harkness on Goodreads.