Skip to main content

More Thoughts on "A Discovery of Witches" by Deborah Harkness

 This review contains no spoilers or trigger warnings. Thank you so much for contributing your review, Taya! *smiles* 

-Melanie 

FINICKY FYCTION STAR RATING SYSTEM

* Ugh. I just cannot with this book!

** Oy – not a fan. DNF’d before page 50. 

*** It’s a good story in general.

**** Great read – highly recommend! 

***** OMG I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH I WANT TO LIVE IN IT!

 

Finicky Fyction Book Reviewer Rating: ****4/5****

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

Book 1 – The All Souls Trilogy

A wonderful, forbidden love story with no hint of a sparkle.

*Minor Spoilers

I truly loved A Discovery of Witches. A fresh, expansive urban setting with a forbidden paranormal romance between a vampire and a witch.

This had a definite adult feel to it, rather than the Young Adult romance we are used to. Vampires, witches, and daemons all existing within modern human society, but governed by higher laws and all with dwindling powers makes for an enjoyable and tension-filled read.

Harkness writes Diana, a witch who refuses to use her powers in first person, while Matthew, the vampire with the darkest of pasts and a deep need to find the truth is written in third, giving the story a different feel to many. Their love story is epic and a joy to watch unfold.

The academia side, where the author prattled on about DNA and the book of life was overdone, but I think that happens when they know the subject too well. It was an interesting concept and gave the series great subplots, but over the trilogy it becomes too much. A little more trimming in that area would have kept the concept thought-provoking, but alleviated the glazed look I had to fight off on occasion. This is why it has four stars.

*Book 1 ends with a cliff hanger.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why I've DNF'd **2** Books in January

  FINICKY FYCTION STAR RATING SYSTEM * Ugh. I just cannot with this book! ** Oy – not a fan. DNF’d before page 50. *** It’s a good story in general. **** Great read – highly recommend! ***** OMG I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH I WANT TO LIVE IN IT!    *sigh*   I hate to start a new post off this way, but I have to be honest. I have two titles that I Did Not Finish (DNF) this month, and I’m quite disappointed that these particular titles were added to that category of my Read books for 2021. What are those two books, you ask? The first is The Lake House by Kate Morton, and the second is The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein. I’ll try not to be too long-winded, but I also won’t tip-toe around my reasonings for adding these titles to my DNF list. A shared complaint for both works is the amount of factual information that is included within the narratives. Now, don’t get me wrong: I’m totally okay with true facts being included in fiction. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

"The Two Lost Mountains" by Matthew Reilly - Review Contributed by Melanie Delaney

This review contains no spoilers or trigger warnings. Thank you so much for contributing your review, Melanie! *smiles*  -Melanie FINICKY FYCTION STAR RATING SYSTEM * Ugh. I just cannot with this book! ** Oy – not a fan. DNF’d before page 50. *** It’s a good story in general. **** Great read – highly recommend! ***** OMG I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH I WANT TO LIVE IN IT!    Another stellar installment by the master of high-octane action-adventure. *No Spoilers The Two Lost Mountains is the 6 th book in the Jack West series. The novels are a cross between Indiana Jones and Jason Bourne, complete with ancient treasures and conspiracies all rolled into one. The scope and grandeur of the settings are phenomenal and the clever way legends, ancient cultures, and buildings are woven together make me sit back and marvel at the level of research it must take to make it all believable. You need to strap yourself in when you read any Matthew Reilly book, and this one is no ...
Post a Comment
Read more

"A Discovery Of Witches" by Deborah Harkness

  A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness   Finicky Fyction Book Reviewer Rating: ***/* 3.5 Stars ***/* It’s a good story in general, and there were times when I couldn’t put the book down!   *This review contains no spoilers.     Diana Bishop is a witch.   However, she’s not just your everyday, run-of-the-mill, all-gothed-up and brewing potions type of witch.   If you were traipsing through the corridors of Oxford College in England, Diana Bishop wouldn’t look any different from the faculty, staff, and students going about their day.   And whether Diana likes it or not – and she really does not like i, at first – she is a very different type of witch, indeed.   It isn’t long until Diana finds herself digging into her past, a past that was supposedly buried along with her parents after they were killed in a car crash. This chapter in Diana’s life begins when Ashmole 872 – an ancient text on alchemy, which is...
Post a Comment
Read more