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A Discovery of Witches (All Souls Trilogy)…
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A Discovery of Witches (All Souls Trilogy) (edition 2011)

by Deborah Harkness (Author)

Series: All Souls (1)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
11,554731580 (3.78)452
Witch and Yale historian Diana Bishop discovers an enchanted manuscript, attracting the attention of 1,500-year-old vampire Matthew Clairmont. The orphaned daughter of two powerful witches, Bishop prefers intellect, but relies on magic when her discovery of a palimpsest documenting the origin of supernatural species releases an assortment of undead who threaten, stalk, and harass her.… (more)
Member:maryintexas39
Title:A Discovery of Witches (All Souls Trilogy)
Authors:Deborah Harkness (Author)
Info:Penguin Books (2011), Edition: 1st, 579 pages
Collections:Your library
Rating:*****
Tags:None

Work Information

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

  1. 245
    Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (Anonymous user, SunnySD)
    Anonymous user: Both are epic fantasy novels...time travel, mystery, unlikely love interests.
  2. 204
    The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (clamairy)
    clamairy: Similar themes of magic and academia.
  3. 151
    The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe (bnbookgirl)
  4. 41
    Interred with Their Bones by Jennifer Lee Carrell (SunnySD)
    SunnySD: Scholarly heroines, mysterious goings on, and much time spent in libraries...
  5. 20
    Overseas by Beatriz Williams (rlb0616)
    rlb0616: No witches or vampires, but it does have time travel. Also, there are many similarities between the two male leads.
  6. 31
    City of Dark Magic by Magnus Flyte (thenothing)
    thenothing: alchemy, time travel, romance, mystery
  7. 20
    Labyrinth by Kate Mosse (DowntownLibrarian)
    DowntownLibrarian: If you enjoy learning some history along with your fantasy....
  8. 20
    The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman (tralliott)
  9. 20
    The Immortal City by Amy Kuivalainen (Dariah)
  10. 10
    The String Diaries by Stephen Lloyd Jones (debbiereads)
  11. 10
    This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar (lottpoet)
    lottpoet: intense fantastical love story
  12. 11
    A Hidden Fire by Elizabeth Hunter (Friederike.Geissler)
  13. 01
    Sunshine by Robin McKinley (lottpoet)
    lottpoet: magic users, demons and vampires aren't supposed to mix; an intense magic user-vampire relationship under extreme pressure
  14. 79
    Northern Lights by Philip Pullman (bookwyrmm)
  15. 1619
    Twilight by Stephenie Meyer (happyhinsons)
  16. 05
    Ghostwalk by Rebecca Stott (Mumugrrl)
    Mumugrrl: Not the same kind of feel as A Discovery of Witches, but it does involve Oxford, alchemy and the ghost of Isaac Newton.
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» See also 452 mentions

English (711)  Dutch (3)  Finnish (2)  Hungarian (2)  Piratical (1)  French (1)  Spanish (1)  All languages (721)
Showing 1-5 of 711 (next | show all)
Sometimes when I go out of my reading comfort zone I learn something new, find a new favorite author, or find myself proven wrong about a misguided bias I held. Other times, I smack my head, growl, and curse myself for wasting so much time. This was one of those cases...

This book seems to contain everything but the kitchen sink: witches, demons, vampires, time travel, inter-species romance, complex DNA sequencing, alchemy, charmed manuscripts, math, secret socities, yoga, haunted houses, European history, and much (MUCH) more. There is so much going on the author needn't worry about the quality of the writing as readers are simply trying to just keep track of it all. It's simultaneously [b:Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone|3|Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter, #1)|J.K. Rowling|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1474154022s/3.jpg|4640799], [b:Outlander|10964|Outlander (Outlander, #1)|Diana Gabaldon|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1402600310s/10964.jpg|2489796],[a:Dan Brown|630|Dan Brown|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1399396714p2/630.jpg] and [a:Ken Follett|3447|Ken Follett|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1480592356p2/3447.jpg]. They're all fine on their own, but mixed together it's quite a lot to digest.

I suppose there are a few more subjects, characters, and concepts the author could introduce: werevolves, aliens, dentistry, magic carpets, the global financial system, etc. There are two more books in this series (which I won't be reading) so perhaps the author does get to these... ( )
  jj24 | May 27, 2024 |
love story tra strega(storica) e vampiro(genetista) e guerra interspecie ( )
  LLonaVahine | May 22, 2024 |
So far, I'm drawn into this book - I look forward to getting back to Diana and Matthew every night to see what they are doing now. I'm thankful it's a trilogy. I haven't been so quickly drawn into a world since I read the Outlander series 10 years ago. ( )
  ThiaCoan | May 20, 2024 |
Found it hard to put this book down. I didn't realise it also had vampires in it, which initially made me groan inwardly (goddamn Twilight and its shiny, wooden vampires) especially when it became clear that this would be, in part, a love story. However, I persevered, and I'm glad I did.

Looking forward to the next instalment. ( )
  punkinmuffin | Apr 30, 2024 |
This book was recommended to me by a parent of a student many years ago. I've had it on a list all of this time and finally listened to it.

The book was not what I was expecting. It's very scientific with history wrapped within. I don't feel the chemistry between the two characters, but that's not bothering me. Perhaps it's because I'm listening instead of reading? Nonetheless, I listened intently until finishing and very much look forward to listening to the second book.

As an English teacher, I enjoy the use of the Bishop family after having taught The Crucial so many times. I also like that vampires can be out in the sun and have families--those they've turned. I like that the demons, vampires, and witches are all coming together and forming their own family. I like that the vampires are not evil--although they are definitely capable of violence. ( )
  acargile | Apr 6, 2024 |
Showing 1-5 of 711 (next | show all)
"With books about fictional witches, it’s all too easy to fall back on tongue-in-cheek descriptors like “enchanting” or “spellbinding,” but both adjectives aptly describe the superbly entertaining saga Harkness has crafted. This is a riveting tale full of romance and danger that will have you on the edge of your seat, yet its chief strength lies in the wonderfully rich and ingenious mythology underlying the story. Entwining strands of science and history, Harkness creates a fresh explanation for how such creatures could arise that is so credible, you’ll have to keep reminding yourself this is fiction."
 
As will be obvious by now, this is a very silly novel. Characters and relationships are stereotyped. The historical background is a total pudding. The prose is terrible. And yet, the ideas have just enough suction, somehow, to present an undemanding reader with some nice frissons. I liked, for example, the way Diana tries to sublimate her magic powers in running and rowing and doing yoga – at a mixed vampire-witch-daemonic yoga class, participants struggle not to levitate during their vinyasas. And I liked the way Matthew and Diana smell to each other like Jo Malone candles: Diana is "horehound, frankincense, lady's mantle", Matthew is "cinnamon and clove".
 
"a thoroughly grown-up novel packed with gorgeous historical detail...Harkness writes with thrilling gusto about the magical world. Whether she's describing a yoga class for witches, daemons, and vampires or Diana's benignly haunted house, it's a treat to suspend disbelief. ... As the mysteries started to unravel, the pages turned faster, almost as if on their own. By the most satisfying end, Harkness had made me a believer.
 
"a romantic, erudite, and suspenseful first novel by Deborah Harkness. The first in a planned trilogy, it sets up blood drinkers and spell weavers as enemies for eternity in a feud as old as the Crusades; the duo confront social disapproval and intolerance as they elude evildoers and puzzle out enigmas throughout history. ...Harkness attends to every scholarly and emotional detail with whimsy, sensuality, and humor.
 
The protagonist is a witch. Her beau is a vampire. If you accept the argument that we’ve seen entirely too many of both kinds of characters in contemporary fiction, then you’re not alone. Yet, though Harkness seems to be arriving very late to a party that one hopes will soon break up, her debut novel has its merits; she writes well, for one thing, and, as a historian at the University of Southern California, she has a scholarly bent that plays out effectively here.
added by Shortride | editKirkus Reviews (Dec 15, 2010)
 

» Add other authors (23 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Harkness, Deborahprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Bützow, HeleneTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Belanger, FrancescaDesignersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Goretsky, TalCover designersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Ikeda, JenniferNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Epigraph
It begins with absence and desire.
It begins with blood and fear.
It begins with a discovery of witches.
Dedication
For Lexie and Jake, and their bright futures.
First words
The leather-bound volume was nothing remarkable.
Quotations
The King just sits there, moving one square at time. The queen can move so freely. I suppose I'd rather lose the game than forfeit her freedom.
´Normal`is a bedtime story - a fable - that humans tell themselves to feel better when faced with overwhelming evidence that most of what's happening around them is not ´normal`at all.
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
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Wikipedia in English (2)

Witch and Yale historian Diana Bishop discovers an enchanted manuscript, attracting the attention of 1,500-year-old vampire Matthew Clairmont. The orphaned daughter of two powerful witches, Bishop prefers intellect, but relies on magic when her discovery of a palimpsest documenting the origin of supernatural species releases an assortment of undead who threaten, stalk, and harass her.

No library descriptions found.

Book description
Discovering a magical manuscript in Oxford's library, scholar Diana Bishop, a descendant of witches who has rejected her heritage, inadvertently unleashes a fantastical underworld of daemons, witches and vampires whose activities center around an enchanted treasure." - NoveList Plus
Haiku summary
Witches, vampires
and daemons all want to read
book on alchemy.
(passion4reading)

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Deborah Harkness is a LibraryThing Author, an author who lists their personal library on LibraryThing.

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Average: (3.78)
0.5 17
1 150
1.5 16
2 245
2.5 39
3 583
3.5 157
4 1034
4.5 103
5 966

 

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