A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

I’m not sure how I felt about A Discovery of Witches. One day, I really liked it and wanted to read ahead to see what would happen. The next day, I thought the story was too bogged down in unnecessary details. I definitely don’t need to know exactly what everyone eats or how the characters take their tea. In the end, things balanced out, more or less, and I would say I like the story more than not. Like most of the books I read these days, A Discovery of Witches involved paranormal creatures; in this case, witches, vampires, and some weird hybrid, daemons. The main character, Diana Bishop, is a witch who wishes she wasn’t. That’s not much of an option as, not only is she a witch, but a super powerful one descended from a long line of witches (you might recognize the name Bishop from the Salem witch trials). Blaming her parents’ deaths on witchcraft, Diana casts aside her magic skills – as best as she can – and concentrates on developing a career as a history professor. Her normal life rolls along pretty well until, while doing research at Oxford one day, she calls forth a very special book: an enchanted book, presumed lost, that appears from the stacks and opens easily for Diana. And that’s the point; it opens easily for Diana, but not for anyone else. Enter every paranormal creature in a 100-mile radius. Jealous witches, menacing vampires, and jittery daemons appear from every corner. Diana, not having educated herself in the ways of the paranormal, can’t figure out what’s up. A bit freaked out by the sudden attention, she is particularly surprised by the arrival of a handsome (aren’t they always?) vampire who literally sends chills down her spine. If you can’t figure out what happens next, you really aren’t reading enough. Clearly, the witch and the vampire fall in love, defying all of the rules of witch-vampire relations and setting off cataclysmic events that will undoubtedly require another book or two to resolve. Shortly thereafter, fearing for the life of his love, Matthew, our handsome vampire, whisks Diana off to his chateau in France (there aren’t any poor vampires either) where chaos ensues. The story is pretty predictable – but maybe that’s just because I’ve read a tremendous number of these types of books. That, however, wasn’t a problem as I thought the story was relatively engaging. The real issue was the overuse of detail. I love a good detail that helps me get a clear picture of the story, but sometimes it felt like way too much. I guess that’s what happens when the author is a history professor. Overall, however, A Discovery of Witches was a decent example of this genre and, if you’re a lover of series books (doesn’t anyone write just one book anymore?) then you’ll be happy to know that book number two is out and number three seems to be on its way. LAME FACTOR: I’ll have to give it a 1 out of 5 for too many details about wine cellars. OK; so not that specifically, just too many details in general. YOUR PARENTS WILL FREAK FACTOR: These characters are very well-behaved, so unless your parents are opposed to the paranormal, they’ll be fine. BRAIN POWER: The book is well-written and definitely targeted towards older – and better – readers.