From the Bookshelf of Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge…

A Discovery of Witches (All Souls, #1)

Deborah Harkness

Start date: September 1, 2019

Finish date: September 30, 2019

Discussion: 2019 Monthly Challenge

Discussion leader: Kenya Starflight

Why we're reading this: Choice for the 2019 September group read: a book set on a college/university campus.
[close] Choice for the 2019 September group read: a book set on a college/university campus.

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What Members Thought

Sep 27, 2016 Debbie rated it liked it · review of another edition

I had very high hopes at the beginning. The rich, historical details and lush descriptions were wonderful and I thought of Anne Rice and Diana Gabaldon.

Diana Bishop comes from a long line of powerful witches, but she has refused to use her powers (at least, consciously) since her parents were murdered when she was a very young girl. She's a historian who studies scientific history, alchemy in particular. She's independent and intelligent, proud that she has found success in her field without ma ...more

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Apr 08, 2019 Debbie rated it really liked it

This book is not just about witches. I picked it up, thinking it would be something like Practical Magic, with witchy family members. It is not. But I don't think I'm disappointed by that.

First, yes, Diana is a witch with witchy family members that she is (more or less) in contact with. However, she tries very hard from the beginning to deny her magic and avoid using it in her scholarly work as a historian of alchemical texts.

The conceit of the book, though, is that there are not just humans an This book is not just about witches. I picked it up, thinking it would be something like Practical Magic, with witchy family members. It is not. But I don't think I'm disappointed by that.

First, yes, Diana is a witch with witchy family members that she is (more or less) in contact with. However, she tries very hard from the beginning to deny her magic and avoid using it in her scholarly work as a historian of alchemical texts.

The conceit of the book, though, is that there are not just humans and witches, but also demons and vampires, and all four creatures need to co-exist. So, there are guidelines between the witches, demons, and vampires about involvement with humans and each other. Not surprisingly, Diana gets involved in several situations that (unknowingly) break those guidelines and upset other people. There are a few power struggles going on.

That being said, at the heart of the story (ha) is a love story between Diana and the vampire who shows up in the first chapter, Matthew. Friends of mine who read this book felt like it was a rip-off of Twilight, and I see where they're coming from. Vampire falls for a warm-blood that he could kill at any moment, blah, blah, blah.

I think Diana is built of tougher stuff than Bella in Twlight is, though. She has this continual element of surprise - when will her magic work?! - and there are layers upon layers of secrets and plots that need to be uncovered in order to fully understand what's happening. Diana stands up to her vampire quite often, and these moments when she is brave to him or for him only endear him to her all the more. There is also the on-going negotiation between Diana the Witch and Matthew the Vampire and their family and friends, which appears in cycles that are both thrilling and funny. And, of course, Diana is not nearly at whiney as I felt Bella was, so that's a huge improvement. Diana doesn't always need to be rescued, as Bella was, because Diana has her own powers to rely on, as needed.

Finally, this book is steeped in historical tidbits that are accurate and interesting, and I write that as a person who is generally not interested in history. Harkness is a historian herself, and she uses her wide knowledge (and, I'm sure, connections to experts of time periods that are not her favored ones) to represent characters in flashbacks or memory-stories in a way that's interesting and engaging. A definite plus.

It speaks volumes that this book was long, but within the hour that I finished listening to it on Audible, I had purchased the second book and begun downloading it. A few others mention in their reviews that it needed some editing, and that might be true if I had read a physical copy of it, but I thought it was just fine as an audiobook. ...more

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