A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness- Book Review
By Nadia Ranaputri
Deborah Harkness' novel A Discovery of Witches is set in the backdrop of Oxford University, where historian and witch Diana Bishop unintentionally finds, and opens, an ancient manuscript in the Bodleian that has been bewitched for decades, and that she had been the one to counteract said spell without ever realizing it. Afraid of its possibly dangerous contents, Diana sends the manuscript back to the stacks, never wanting to see or touch it again. Soon after, the Bodleian is packed with witches, vampires, and daemons that demand to discover the current location of the manuscript, one of them being Matthew Clairmont, a mysterious vampire with centuries full of an equally mysterious past.
Diana Bishop is a witch that hides her true identity in favor of Oxford and alchemy. She doesn't know how to fight, and doesn't know the potential in her, but that doesn't make her any less of a heroine. Diana's brilliance with alchemy is exceptional. Harkness isn't afraid to show her heroine's intelligence and passion for alchemy. This is a woman with smart wits and a stubbornly forward-thinking personality. Because this story is mostly written in first person, Diana's mind is one we read into the most. For a professor of alchemy, her insight into that particular field is always a joy to read. Harkness really knows her stuff, as she is after all, a historian herself. Though I'm not an expert on alchemy, Harkness' description regarding the field through Diana's eyes is enough to make readers want to reach the nearest history book.
Competing against Harkness' heroine is one of the creatures interested in her discovery of the ancient manuscript: the brooding vampire Matthew Clairmont, a biochemist at Oxford (Diana jokes about how she doesn't find it surprising that a vampire would be a biochemist, given that the field included the vampire's two favorite things: blood and anatomy) who also happens to be extremely fond of wine. Clairmont is no Edward Cullen for sure, despite their broodingly mysterious appearance, but Matthew is just so much better at conveying that broodiness and likeability. He's lived for centuries, and is not willing to share all he's done until the time is right. When he does share his tales of his life during the past centuries, it makes for a compelling read and exploration into Harkness' own little history lesson (his constant exclamation of "Dieu!" whenever he's agitated or just overwhelmed was a nice touch to his character).
The novel has a very promising start, and there's some great development between Diana and Matthew, from their constant banters and their trips to a yoga class full of vampires, witches, and daemons in one room (yes, that happens in the book), this is one of the more slow burn romance that surprisingly for me, is quite enjoyable. I'm not usually one for romance, and despite the romance being one of the central themes in the story; it really didn't bother me. I liked their back and forth banters and their constant need to protect one another. However, there are some issues regarding a few aspects of their relationship, especially sometime during the second half of the book.
A Discovery of Witches has the burden of balancing the elements of alchemy, history, and science to the world of the supernatural, but Harkness just nails that balance. From my own personal reading experience, I've never seen a novel that balanced these type of elements into one and incorporate it with something fictional. The more it goes in to the alchemy and the science, the more intrigued and more fascinating it gets. This was one of the book's strongest points, balancing elements that one might have never thought would be possible to put in a novel. Harkness' writing is obviously the biggest reason why many of these elements work. From Diana's insight of alchemy, to Matthew's complete interest in science, they could not be more different, but these two just click like magnets.
It's during the second half of the book however, when it hits its pacing issues, and things start to drag a little, to the point where you're wondering where all the tension has gone. Some things that happen feel like a set up for things to come in the future or in this case, the next book; rather than focusing on what's currently happening in this book. Because I had several expectations going into this book, it's possible that they factored into the novel suddenly screeching to a halt and dragging the plot across the ground for me. And for a plot that suddenly drags, some plot points are even resolved too quickly, where one thing suddenly becomes another without clear explanation. There were issues with some character developments during this stage, particularly Diana's, but I won't delve any further in case of spoilers to those who haven't read the novel and are interested to. Despite that, there are indeed some other more positive things that came out of the second half, such as room to develop more of Diana and Matthew's relationship, as well as some interesting insight into Matthew's family and past.
Nonetheless, I really did like this book. It's so rare for me to find a story with a romance centered around it that I actually liked and went along with, but A Discovery of Witches is one of those rare gems. The Oxford setting is also nothing short of brilliant and stunningly painted by Harkness in her descriptions, like the Bodleian library, or even the smell and taste elicited from Matthew's endless collection of vintage wines. The alchemy and science elements that are thrown into the world of the supernatural was one of the things that made this book a tremendously fun read and a fun exploration to the wide field of alchemy, not to mention a brilliant minded heroine to boot.
Rating: 3.5/5
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| Image source: Goodreads |
Deborah Harkness' novel A Discovery of Witches is set in the backdrop of Oxford University, where historian and witch Diana Bishop unintentionally finds, and opens, an ancient manuscript in the Bodleian that has been bewitched for decades, and that she had been the one to counteract said spell without ever realizing it. Afraid of its possibly dangerous contents, Diana sends the manuscript back to the stacks, never wanting to see or touch it again. Soon after, the Bodleian is packed with witches, vampires, and daemons that demand to discover the current location of the manuscript, one of them being Matthew Clairmont, a mysterious vampire with centuries full of an equally mysterious past.
Diana Bishop is a witch that hides her true identity in favor of Oxford and alchemy. She doesn't know how to fight, and doesn't know the potential in her, but that doesn't make her any less of a heroine. Diana's brilliance with alchemy is exceptional. Harkness isn't afraid to show her heroine's intelligence and passion for alchemy. This is a woman with smart wits and a stubbornly forward-thinking personality. Because this story is mostly written in first person, Diana's mind is one we read into the most. For a professor of alchemy, her insight into that particular field is always a joy to read. Harkness really knows her stuff, as she is after all, a historian herself. Though I'm not an expert on alchemy, Harkness' description regarding the field through Diana's eyes is enough to make readers want to reach the nearest history book.
Competing against Harkness' heroine is one of the creatures interested in her discovery of the ancient manuscript: the brooding vampire Matthew Clairmont, a biochemist at Oxford (Diana jokes about how she doesn't find it surprising that a vampire would be a biochemist, given that the field included the vampire's two favorite things: blood and anatomy) who also happens to be extremely fond of wine. Clairmont is no Edward Cullen for sure, despite their broodingly mysterious appearance, but Matthew is just so much better at conveying that broodiness and likeability. He's lived for centuries, and is not willing to share all he's done until the time is right. When he does share his tales of his life during the past centuries, it makes for a compelling read and exploration into Harkness' own little history lesson (his constant exclamation of "Dieu!" whenever he's agitated or just overwhelmed was a nice touch to his character).
The novel has a very promising start, and there's some great development between Diana and Matthew, from their constant banters and their trips to a yoga class full of vampires, witches, and daemons in one room (yes, that happens in the book), this is one of the more slow burn romance that surprisingly for me, is quite enjoyable. I'm not usually one for romance, and despite the romance being one of the central themes in the story; it really didn't bother me. I liked their back and forth banters and their constant need to protect one another. However, there are some issues regarding a few aspects of their relationship, especially sometime during the second half of the book.
A Discovery of Witches has the burden of balancing the elements of alchemy, history, and science to the world of the supernatural, but Harkness just nails that balance. From my own personal reading experience, I've never seen a novel that balanced these type of elements into one and incorporate it with something fictional. The more it goes in to the alchemy and the science, the more intrigued and more fascinating it gets. This was one of the book's strongest points, balancing elements that one might have never thought would be possible to put in a novel. Harkness' writing is obviously the biggest reason why many of these elements work. From Diana's insight of alchemy, to Matthew's complete interest in science, they could not be more different, but these two just click like magnets.
It's during the second half of the book however, when it hits its pacing issues, and things start to drag a little, to the point where you're wondering where all the tension has gone. Some things that happen feel like a set up for things to come in the future or in this case, the next book; rather than focusing on what's currently happening in this book. Because I had several expectations going into this book, it's possible that they factored into the novel suddenly screeching to a halt and dragging the plot across the ground for me. And for a plot that suddenly drags, some plot points are even resolved too quickly, where one thing suddenly becomes another without clear explanation. There were issues with some character developments during this stage, particularly Diana's, but I won't delve any further in case of spoilers to those who haven't read the novel and are interested to. Despite that, there are indeed some other more positive things that came out of the second half, such as room to develop more of Diana and Matthew's relationship, as well as some interesting insight into Matthew's family and past.
Nonetheless, I really did like this book. It's so rare for me to find a story with a romance centered around it that I actually liked and went along with, but A Discovery of Witches is one of those rare gems. The Oxford setting is also nothing short of brilliant and stunningly painted by Harkness in her descriptions, like the Bodleian library, or even the smell and taste elicited from Matthew's endless collection of vintage wines. The alchemy and science elements that are thrown into the world of the supernatural was one of the things that made this book a tremendously fun read and a fun exploration to the wide field of alchemy, not to mention a brilliant minded heroine to boot.
Rating: 3.5/5
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