Book Review: A Discovery of Witches

I just finished reading Deborah Harkness' A Discovery of Witches on my Kindle. I chose this book because it kept coming up on other blogs, bookstore websites (amazon, chapters) AND there was a poster for it on the subway (back when I lived in Toronto...ok so that was like 2 weeks ago). I was really excited for this book based on the title and what I gleaned from a quick glance at the "blurb" -I knew it was a modern day tale that involved witches and vampires.

From the author's website: "When historian Diana Bishop opens a bewitched alchemical manuscript in Oxford’s Bodleian Library it represents an unwelcome intrusion of magic into her carefully ordinary life. Though descended from a long line of witches, she is determined to remain untouched by her family’s legacy. She banishes the manuscript to the stacks, but Diana finds it impossible to hold the world of magic at bay any longer.
For witches are not the only otherworldly creatures living alongside humans. There are also creative, destructive daemons and long-lived vampires who become interested in the witch’s discovery. They believe that the manuscript contains important clues about the past and the future, and want to know how Diana Bishop has been able to get her hands on the elusive volume."


It took me longer than expected to read this book, I didn't realize it was so long because I didn't have  a hard copy- and I find that on my kindle the whole percentage of book read and location xx of 11559 doesn't mean much to me but apparently the hard cover book is actually 579 pages! I did enjoy this book but at the same time it felt like I was reading Twilight with adult characters.  There was a bit more of a  romance feel to it than I expected and it became a bot cheesy for me. I think Harkness did a good job with character development with a number of the characters-not just Diana and Matthew (the main characters). I liked the idea of different "creatures" witches, vampires, and daemons, and how they are at odds with each other and humans, and yet how some are trying to work together. The Globe and Mail's review does a pretty good job of summing my opinions too! I didn't realize this was intended to be the first book in a series (All Souls Trilogy), but based on how this novel ended with a lot of unanswered questions-I am happy there is more to come.

As I said I did enjoy A Discovery of Witches, but not sure that I would recommend it for others to read.

What are you reading now?