Review: A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

Summary

NOTE: This review may contain spoilers.

I really wanted to love this book. I’m rather disappointed.

I listened to this as an audio book. I enjoyed listening to the narrator and I think listening to it as an audio book may be the reason I finished it. Reading it in print would have had me skimming more, skipping a few scenes, and putting it down more often.

Diana Bishop is a witch who doesn’t want to use her powers. She wants to live the life of a normal human, but can’t avoid the life she is destined for. She does pretty well at ignoring her use of magic until a special book and vampire Matthew Clairmont enter her life.

Matthew wants the book and he knows more about it than he lets Diana know. He knows Diana is in danger and enters protection mode immediately. Why? I’m not sure, I don’t think the book did a good job explaining this. Perhaps it was meant to be love at first sight?

Diana tries to ignore Matthew because a) he is a vampire and b) she is still trying to ignore her magical side. But, for some reason, she gets over this quickly. Why? My guess is because of food, wine, and naps.

The book overly describes Diana and Matthew’s meals. She not only researches food, but cooks for him; creating a multi-course meal that would make a king jealous. But, that’s not strange to Diana or Matthew. Instead, they spend hours discussing food & wine origins, tastes, and scents.

With each nap Diana takes, she grows closer to Matthew. Why does she nap so much? Perhaps it is the many hours she spends on yoga, running, or rowing.

As she grows to love Matthew, Diana begins to question his decisions less and lets him take control more. In the beginning, she fought against his arrogant protectiveness. As the book progresses, she simply goes along with his controlling nature.

Eventually, Matthew takes Diana to his mother’s house for protection. His mother hates witches due to a tradgey in the past. Ysabeau de Clermont has an immediate negative reaction to having a witch in her home, but after that, the hate seems to be forgotten. One declaration of love from Matthew to Diana has Ysabeau loving the girl and risking everything for her as well.

Ysabeau’s housekeeper, Marthe, likes Diana immediately. Diana doesn’t find this strange. In fact, she trusts Marthe without question. When Marthe insists on making Diana a special tea, teaching her how to make it, and insisting Diana drink it like daily medicine, Diana asks no questions. Having been told repeatedly not to trust any vampire, Diana has no problem going along with any of Ysabeau or Marthe’s plans.

When faced with danger, Diana will ask questions and rudely talk-back, even when the people around her, who obviously know a great deal more than she does, tell her to be quiet and get to safety.

Having said all of that, this book did have some positive aspects as well. There were several scenes I found myself enjoying. It’s too bad they were so few and far between. I highly doubt I will continue with the other books in this series.