Wednesday, January 23, 2019

A Discovery of Witches (All Souls Trilogy #1) by Deborah Harkness

🌟🌟🌟 out of 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Deep in the stacks of Oxford's Bodleian Library, young scholar Diana Bishop unwittingly calls up a bewitched alchemical manuscript in the course of her research. Descended from an old and distinguished line of witches, Diana wants nothing to do with sorcery; so after a furtive glance and a few notes, she banishes the book to the stacks. But her discovery sets a fantastical underworld stirring, and a horde of daemons, witches, and vampires soon descends upon the library. Diana has stumbled upon a coveted treasure lost for centuries-and she is the only creature who can break its spell.

I enjoyed the beginning of Discovery of Witches. It caught my interest right away and I wanted to know more about Diana and why she was so against any form of magic use in her life. I liked her as a character because she intrigued me with her struggles with anxiety, love of history, and her stubbornness. I thought that I was going to be swept away into the story, not returning until it came to an end. The weird part about this book is that it pulls you in even if you don't know why and you just want it to be over. I kept thinking that this part or that part of the story would make a great stopping point for the next book to continue the story but the book feels never-ending. The odd part is that it still managed to keep my interest regardless of me feeling like the book dragged on and on with no end in sight. I wish I could explain how the author was able to maintain my interest and attention but I really have no idea. I don't feel like the book needed to be as long as it was and that portions of it could have been edited out. Since it was able to hold my attention and the book didn't feel like a rehash of something else that had already been written, I gave it three stars. 

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