Book one of the New York Times bestselling All Souls series, from the author of The Black Bird Oracle.
“A wonderfully imaginative grown-up fantasy with all the magic of Harry Potter and Twilight” (People).
Look for the hit series “A Discovery of Witches,” now streaming on AMC+, Sundance Now, and Shudder!
Deborah Harkness’s sparkling debut, A Discovery of Witches, has brought her into the spotlight and galvanized fans around the world. In this tale of passion and obsession, Diana Bishop, a young scholar and a descendant of witches, discovers a long-lost and enchanted alchemical manuscript, Ashmole 782, deep in Oxford's Bodleian Library. Its reappearance summons a fantastical underworld, which she navigates with her leading man, vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont.
Harkness has created a universe to rival those of Anne Rice, Diana Gabaldon, and Elizabeth Kostova, and she adds a scholar's depth to this riveting tale of magic and suspense. The story continues in book two, Shadow of Night, book three, The Book of Life, and the fourth in the series, Time’s Convert.
I almost gave up on it. It was long and it took a while for me to care for the characters. Maybe I'm getting tired of vampire stories. By the middle, I was slowly getting sucked in and it ends with a cliff hanger. Most likely I'll read the second book to find out what happens. There are a lot of witches, vampires, and daemons after her and the book she unwittingly discovered which they all want. The author offers a lot of detail and it got better and better as it went on. Overall I enjoyed it and I enjoyed the romance between Diana the witch and Matthew, the vampire.
