Review: A Discovery of Witches
A Discovery of Witches
By: Deborah Harkness
11/16/17 - 11/22/17
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I had mixed expectations when I was introduced to this book. I first came across is on a Bookbub list of 11 Magical Books to Read If You Love ‘Harry Potter’. Which, I did. But also on that list was The Magicians trilogy by Lev Grossman. I devoured that series. It's one of the few books that I'll reread over and over again. So I was intrigued by a book that could be in the same list as Harry Potter and The Magicians.
But I was a little hesitant, especially when I read the polar reviews on Goodreads. The readers either raved about how amazing the book was and how they read it all in one night. Or the readers hated obvious plot lines and ‘Twilight’ similarities.
For me, this was a solid, middle of the road, book. It wasn't mind boggling amazing but it wasn’t dreadfully awful either. None of the many characters were fully developed, but each had one or two distinct differences. The narrative was slow; it took nearly a third of the book to explain why no other creature could get the manuscript the same way Diana did: walk up to the desk and ask for it. I just couldn't get excited about this book either way; I wasn't racing to read the next chapter but I also wasn't so disappointed by it to not finish it.