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  • A Discovery of Witches
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A Discovery of Witches

By Deborah Harkness

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bookplatypus98's picture
May 29, 2012 - 7:56am — bookplatypus98

I honestly feel that this is a great book. It has cleverly weaven science and magic together, in a way that is so unique and individualistic, while also achieving the literary of a scholar. Deborah Harkness is a genius. This book is such an incredible read, probably the best book I've read so far. This is such a better read than Twilight (no offence to all you Twilight fans), as it strikes an impeccable balance between magic and passion, while Twilight seems to dwell only on the sickening romance of Edward and Bella. The only downside, I have to agree with the fellow reviewers however, is the unattractiveness of Diana. She started out as a mature and strong-willed scholar, only to weaken to an immature and pathetic (and portrayed as) someone who only wants to rely on her knight in shining armour (pun intended) and not use her magic to aid him. Therefore, she comes across as somewhat selfish. Hope the second book will shed some light on Diana's character and propel her to the strong witch she ought to be, while maintaining the wittiness of this debut novel.

March 29, 2011 - 1:00am — emlauritsen

A pleasant read....Twilight was more fun. I posted this review on Amazon earlier this week and I included the response of one reader, and then my response to her. It is a polarizing book, readers either love it as "the best they ever read" or dislike it as "boring and a waste of money." The first part is my review, the 2nd part is a comment, the 3rd is my response. I don't feel the need to recap the story as everyone who is reading a review already has an idea from the publisher and author what the book is about.

Part 1. I didn't "feel" the romantic relationship between Matthew and Diana. It was very shallow, lots of sighs and soulful looks but....something was missing, much like a "regency romance" set in contemporary times; Diana appeared very immature and childlike, not an educated professional. And then there were the long descriptions of Diana's choice of clothing, be it loose black trousers or leggings, loafers or socks.....it was very repetitive and felt like "filler" material. Some of it was downright boring.
I know the book was referred to as "Twilight for the tweedy set" in a popular magazine book review but I was very disappointed overall. However, that being said, I did find the science and history very interesting and wish it had been expanded. Overall, it didn't capture my imagination.

Part 2. XXXXXXXX says:
I think the "regency romance" you refer to is done on purpose. The reader has to remember that Matthew is very very old and grew up in a very different time period. He is unaccustomed to today's quick and hot love that burns bright and fizzles out. As far as Diana's lack of professionalism because of her clothing, I think that too was done on purpose to show the reader that these "little" things in life are not important to her, that her research is her main focus. She has had such trauma in her past, has made a point of rejecting her heritage and focusing on being "human" by being an intellectual, is simply puncuated by her lack of interest in clothing. Besides, recall she is rather a tomboy, which became a need to dispel excessive anxiety and adrenaline since she was a child. I have not read the Twilight series as I think it is most likely rather juvenile, although I stayed away from Harry Potter for the same reason, I do not think one can compare this to Twilight and it's "Tweedy set". I found Harry Potter series to be rather sophisticated for the target audience. I think it had wide appeal from tweens to adults.

Part 3: Elizabeth Lauritsen says:

No, I didn't mean that her clothing was a reflection of her lack of professionalism but rather it was tedious writing on the part of the author. It was repeated many times over and I felt it was filler. Often I got frustrated with the story because it got bogged down in repetitive details and tended to lag. I wanted it to move forward. I didn't refer to the character Matthew as a "regency romance" type of male protagonist but rather it is the slow pace of the story.

If you re-read my original comment, you will see that I quoted "Twilight for the tweedy set" from a popular entertainment magazine review of the book, which gave it very good reviews, by the way. "Tweedy" is a word that often describes those involved in academia. It is not an insult and does not have anything to do with "tween" etc. It actually refers to a type of fabric.