Series Review: A Discovery of Witches

Left: Wilbur curled up with a good book. Right: the entire All Souls trilogy.

My friend loaned me Deborah Harkness's All Souls trilogy (aka A Discovery of Witches series) after I mentioned how I'd been enjoying the TV show (from AMC, on Netflix). I wanted more character development, and she said it was in the books. The series includes: A Discovery of Witches, Shadow of Night, The Book of Life, and a companion novella, Time's Convert.

A Discovery of Witches follows modern witch, Diana, who is in denial about her powers and prefers to focus on her academic pursuits as a history professor studying alchemy and how it was an early form of science. On sabbatical to Oxford, she calls up an old manuscript, Ashmole 782, and discovers it's full of magic. After returning it to the archives, she learns this book has been missing for centuries and every creature wants it: witches, vampires, and daemons. Vampire Matthew Clairmont tries to solve the mystery of the book with her, and ends up needing to protect her as well. As the two search for answers about the book, they also learn about each other: that Matthew is more than a vampire biologist and Diana has more power than either of them anticipated.  The series follows their quest for the book and the lengths they go to stay together. 

This series is what happens when you mash dark academia with cozy fantasy. There's danger and libraries and secret magic, but there's also cooking spells in a quaint kitchen, very few on-page deaths, and a lot of sipping tea by the fire. I didn't mind that mash up, and I liked knowing more about the characters.  The books had a calm, often safe feeling, despite the stakes. A perfect escapist fantasy for escaping a stressful reality.

One thing I liked more about the show than the books (blasphemy, I know), was that the show followed the antagonists as well. I could see their plans form and they didn't just pop up out of nowhere, which is how the books felt. That's the price of sticking with mainly the FMC and MMC POVs in the book. There were a lot of side characters named, and I often just had to let those names float by me because I couldn't remember them all. Unfortunately, despite knowing the characters better, I still felt like the books and show shared the same problem: the romance goes from 0 to 60 in no time. And don't get me started on the resolution of it all, I was not satisfied.

This series is for you if you liked the Discovery of Witches TV show, enjoy cozier fantasy, want an older FMC than the usual 20-something, or enjoy dark academia but want it to be a little lighter. This series is not for you if you need a constant fast pace or high tension, if you dislike historical fantasy (most is modern, but the past becomes very relevant), if you dislike fated mates or big age gaps, or if you're not in the headspace to read about miscarriage or a complicated pregnancy. 


Have you read A Discovery of Witches? How did you think it compared to the show? Let's discuss in the comments!