A Discovery of Witches

When Dr. Diana Bishop, one of the last of the powerful Bishop line of witches and a visiting researcher at Oxford, unwittingly finds and unlocks a manuscript that has been lost in the Bodleian Library for over 100 years, she sets in motion a dangerous game of chess among witches, vampires, and daemons in which she is both pawn and queen. Standing as her guide and protector is Matthew Clairmont, a 1500-year-old vampire who has amassed not only great knowledge (he is an expert in genetics and corresponded with Darwin) but also untold power. Harkness blends these now-common elements into a richly detailed story, conjuring scenes full of rare manuscripts, charming ghosts that live in a highly opinionated house, and National Treasure-like riches. Equal care is given to the many settings of the novel, be it a French castle, Oxford, or an apple orchard in Upstate New York. Supporting the lavish description is a gothic tone that is dark and magical, with a heavy, portentous feel of discovery that is leavened by the romance that develops between Diana and Matthew and, particularly near the end, by the charming whimsy of Diana's childhood home (described in such a way that Harkness begins to evoke Sarah Allen Addison). Given all this attention to detail and the inevitable massive scale of storytelling that Harkness has to establish, the novel's pace is best described as languid and is particularly slow at the start. However, it picks up about half way through, as the story finally gathers enough of its threads to take off, rewarding readers with a satisfying, if unresolved, ending that leaves much more to tell in the projected second and third books of the trilogy. — Neal Wyatt, "RA Crossroads" Booksmack! 3/3/11